Overview
- Explores the importance of literature not as a spiritual or utilitarian discipline alone, but rather as a useful spiritual discipline
- Seeks to examine the uncertain future of the “general education” status of literary studies by learning from its past
- Accelerates progress in debate over the value of literary study by explaining and evaluating arguments from Western educators
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About this book
This book argues for the importance of literature studies using the historical debate between the disinterested disciplines (“art for art’s sake”) and utilitarian or productive disciplines. Forgoing the traditional argument that literature is a unique spiritual resource, as well as the utilitarian thought that literary pedagogy promotes skills that are relevant to a post-industrial economy, Guiney suggests that literary pedagogy must enable mutual access between the classroom and the outside world. It must recognize the need for every human being to become a conscious producer of culture rather than a consumer, through an active process of literary reading and writing. Using the history of French curricular reforms as a case study for his analysis, Guiney provides a contextualized redefinition of literature’s social value.
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Keywords
Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“This is a rare and invaluable book that is thoroughly grounded in a particular socio-historical context while also offering a compelling resolution to a problem that is both current and urgent: why and how to teach literature in a general education curriculum. It is essential reading for those invested in the teaching of literature.” (Cristina Vischer Bruns, author of Why Literature? The Value of Literary Reading and What It Means for Teaching)
“The arguments in this book will echo far beyond the walls of French literary pedagogy. Guiney draws on reception theory and cultural studies, and makes a strong case for including economic theory in a new, robust defense of the teaching of literature and the humanities. His book is a must read for anyone attempting to defend a liberal arts education today.” (Dana Lindaman, Associate Professor of French Studies, University of Minnesota Duluth, USA)
“This book offers a wide-ranging, cogent analysis of the crisis of French literary pedagogy. Guiney’s illuminating study sheds light on the urgent need to reinvent the literary pedagogy practiced in French high schools today in order to address its students’ experiences and concerns.” (Ralph Albanese, Professor of French, University of Memphis, USA)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
M. Martin Guiney is Professor of French in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Kenyon College, USA. He has published on literary pedagogy in France and the United States, as well as on twentieth-century literature and film.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Literature, Pedagogy, and Curriculum in Secondary Education
Book Subtitle: Examples from France
Authors: M. Martin Guiney
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52138-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-84830-3Published: 01 August 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-52138-1Published: 31 May 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 305
Topics: Early Childhood Education, Literacy, Curriculum Studies