ERIC Number: EJ926299
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-May
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-8274
EISSN: N/A
Seriously Popular: Rethinking 19th-Century American Literature through the Teaching of Popular Fiction
Gatti, Lauren
English Journal, v100 n5 p47-53 May 2011
Curious about the connections between the author's students' reading tastes and those of 19th-century readers, the author read Nina Baym's excellent text "Novels, Readers, and Reviewers: Responses to Fiction in Antebellum America" to gain a sense of how readers in the 1800s might have thought about the texts that they read. Nineteenth-century readers wanted their novel to be a "story proper" (or a "novel proper") with a beginning, middle, and end. There could be complicated action and nonlinear events, but the events needed to cohere; plot was essential (Baym, Novels 71). To see where her urban high school students lined up with Baym's synthesis of what 19th-century readers looked for in novels, the author generated a chart outlining her findings and asked students to agree or disagree, making sure to provide reasons. The students analyze differences between their own reading tastes and those of 19th-century readers, and in the process they breathe new life into several canonical texts. The author points out that, by choosing to complicate, historicize, and reframe 19th-century American literature units through the inclusion of 19th-century popular fiction, English teachers are allowing their students to take part in important debates that English teachers and readers enjoy. As a result, all students, not just those in Advanced Placement classes, are invested in a deep and engaging exploration of the canon. (Contains 2 notes.)
Descriptors: Advanced Placement, English Teachers, United States Literature, Novels, English Instruction, Literature Appreciation, Fiction, United States History, High School Students, Urban Schools, Comparative Analysis, Reading Materials, Authors, Reading Material Selection
National Council of Teachers of English. 1111 West Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096. Tel: 877-369-6283; Tel: 217-328-3870; Web site: http://www.ncte.org/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: High Schools
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A