The Value of Studying Literature: A Review of the English Higher Education Curriculum in Sweden

Katherina Dodou

doi:10.35360/njes.549

Abstract

The article addresses the academic study of English literature as an educational project, with special focus on knowledge mediation and its vindication. It is based on an examination of the academic curricula from all universities and university colleges that offered English studies in Sweden in 2016. The article shows that, despite local variations at the level of theme, there was a widespread consensus nationally about the goals of literary studies and largely also about the underlying conceptions of literature and of the value of its study. The latter, it concludes, relied mainly on the perceived affordances of literary reading and on the potential of literature to provide worldly knowledge.

Highlights

The question “why study literature” has been debated since the origins of the discipline: both the value of studying literature, as opposed to other artefacts, and of studying literature, as opposed to merely consuming it (Graff 2007:1-15; Eagleton 1996:15-46)
It is often linked to perceived pressures to account for the uses of literary studies, and of the Humanities more broadly, in the face of political utilitarianism and market-driven rationales for higher education, and in relation to the understanding of complex social problems (Eaglestone 2019; Waugh 2016; Iversen, Nielsen & Alber 2011:10; Nussbaum 2010)
4.4 Scholarly attitudes To turn to the fourth cluster of objectives, a key goal with literary studies in English curricula nationally was the understanding of the principles underlying scholarship: both scholarly practices that are discipline specific and conventions that are generic

Summary

Introduction

The question “why study literature” has been debated since the origins of the discipline: both the value of studying literature, as opposed to other artefacts, and of studying literature, as opposed to merely consuming it (Graff 2007:1-15; Eagleton 1996:15-46). 4.1.2 Subject matters thematised Syllabi frequently made explicit pronouncements in learning outcomes and in content descriptions of thematised matters and aspects of literature explored While these point to the thematic orientation of specific courses, the pronouncements, taken together, reveal recurring topics across institutions and educational levels. About 40 syllabi—for, or including, introductions to literature, survey courses, and thematic courses—only referred to the period or geographical areas addressed, without reference to the issues explored in relation to the literary works To these, another 20 syllabi for academic writing courses and thesis courses (mainly at advanced level) can be added, as those did not, by nature, reference specific subject matters. Some 45 clustered keywords featured in three, or more, syllabi

13. Ideology

12. Structuralism

Findings

The “What” and “Why” of English Literary Studies