Reading Of Literary Texts Research Articles

Bleibende Aufgaben einer phänomenologischen Literaturtheorie

Abstract What sort of object is a literary text? From a phenomenological point of view - phenomenology considered as both a radical theory of reading and a theory of radical reading - a range of answers arise, many of them tinged with deconstructive momentum. This paper aims at pointing out some basic issues in reading literary texts, offering ten theses on the enduring tasks of phenomenological literary theory.

As práticas de letramento de crianças e adolescentes da biblioteca comunitária amigos da leitura

Neste artigo objetivamos analisar as práticas de mediação de leitura realizadas em uma biblioteca comunitária, investigando as estratégias de formação de leitores desenvolvidas. A Metodologia constou de um mapeamento das atividades de mediação de leitura realizadas na biblioteca, observações sistemáticas e entrevistas com mediadores de leitura e gestor da biblioteca. Diferentes atividades eram desenvolvidas na biblioteca: organização da biblioteca e planejamento das atividades; atividades que promovem a leitura de textos literários; outras atividades que não envolvem leitura de obras literárias. A principal ação identificada foi a de mediação de leitura, que consiste na participação e envolvimento da comunidade nas ações realizadas pela biblioteca de maneira criativa e prazerosa.
 Recebido em: 25/04/2019Aceito em: 18/07/2019

Ortega Y Gasset, la Sociologia, le Parole

By considering the wide Jose Ortega y Gasset’s contribution to a sociological perspective, this paper is aimed at showing the relevance for social theorists of his insights in the field of language, in particular in his conceptualization of the act of saying and of the act of listening to, in their multiple expressions such as reading, translating, creating and reading literary texts, etc. In particular, I will highlight how language is not only a crucial field in which the relation between the individual and society is constituted but, more relevant, that it represents the context in which an original theory of the production of new meanings and insights is latently proposed by Ortega, based on the concept of utopia and on the character of “privilege and honor” connected with it. In order to show this, in conclusion I will take into consideration his work of debut, Meditaciones del Quijote [1914], which can be considered as a general proof of a method consisting in a dialog with a literary masterpiece aimed at producing new insights and keys in order to interpret reality.

The Role of Memory and Language in Transformation: Crucial Issues in American Indigenous Poetry

The integration of the personal and the political has been an engaging topic in analyses of literary texts by authors whose works are known for their political content and activism, as well as an emphasis on social justice. Literary audiences in the United States have been familiar with Joy Harjo and John Trudell, two well-known contemporary Indigenous poets, who have voiced out the concerns of Indigenous people in the face of colonization and injustice happening in their homeland. Within the fusion of the personal and the political, as well as the mythical, the idea of transformation is paramount for Indigenous authors since to move from the state of being colonized to one of being decolonized, transformation is undoubtedly crucial. This paper focuses on the role of memory and the power of language in the process of transformation in the three poems by Joy Harjo and John Trudell. The analysis uses a qualitative methodology in the form of a close reading of literary texts to uncover the interconnectedness of memory and language in transformation. I argue that Native poets experience personal transformation that is critically influenced by the role of ancestral memory and social and historical consciousness in the broader context of Indigenous people’s struggle and resistance, as well as the power of language to see reality differently and affect its change. The analysis is intended to show to what extent the concepts of memory and language are critical in the process of decolonization and the manners in which these texts can be empowering for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences in response to forms of injustice through the integration of the personal, the political, and the mythical.

Using Disciplinary Approaches for Reading Literary Texts in Developmental Literacy Courses

This forum article discusses using disciplinary literacy approaches for reading literary text targeting interpretation as a goal. Disciplinary literacy approaches make the assumption that literacy tasks and processes differ based upon the demands, goals, and epistemology of each discipline and that identifying these differences is key toward creating instruction for students. As such, we explicate a disciplinary approach to help build interpretation skills of developmental readers while working through literary texts within English language arts contexts and settings.

Teaching SF: A Way to Explore Human's Stance in the Era of Advanced Science and Technology in Lois Lowry's The Giver

The present study suggests that science fiction is a beneficial teaching resource to encourage students to develop ethical creativity. Liberal arts education is to cultivate a free and/or flexible thinker and introspect humanity and reading literary texts can help enhance ethicality as well as empathic understanding under the contexts of social acts of human relationships and interactions. Including these two features, science fiction suggests how to cope with two-faced future technology with both benefits and harm for humankind. This quality of science fiction helps students think critically but flexibly so as to make thoughtful choices considering humanity. Lowry's The Giver throws a question on the balance between technology and humanity, showing that memory and emotion are the most fundamental and essential value to be true humans. This study presents the reason why literature is beneficial to construct ethical reasoning by identifying the two key factors – memory and emotion – to understand humans and humanity. Also, the study attempts to share some ideas of how to adopt the text to help students enhance ethical/moral thinking skills, discussing the idea of humanity.

Educación y diversidad: Interpretación de El Huésped, de Guadalupe Nettel

El presente artículo es producto de una investigación sobre la pertinencia de la hermenéutica literaria en la formación de profesionales de la educación. Esta orientación de la lectura de textos literarios se considera idónea como enfoque filosófico que se aplica a los fines de la educación. Es decir, se interesa en atender a la pregunta por el tipo de ser humano cuya formación se promueve a través de la lectura. Como productos de la indagación se elaboran estudios críticos sobre narrativa literaria como propuestas de lectura que, a través de la interpretación, apoyen la construcción de valores con la mediación cultural que propicia la narrativa literaria. El tema específico en el cual se centra la reflexión es la formación de valores de sensibilidad hacia la diversidad. En el presente trabajo se intenta una comprensión de las personas con ceguera como diversidad ontológica que tiene repercusiones en la condición sociocultural de quienes se encuentran en esta circunstancia. La obra narrativa que se interpreta desde esta perspectiva es la novela El Huésped, de la escritora mexicana Guadalupe Nettel. El análisis de la novela está centrado en la comprensión de la transformación del personaje narrador en su proceso de debilitamiento visual que la involucra en un mundo de marginación de los sujetos que viven en esta diversidad. La metodología utilizada corresponde al enfoque de la hermenéutica de Giorgio Agamben con la teoría de las signaturas, como análisis del discurso, así como a la teoría narrativa de la hermenéutica de Paul Ricoeur, en el seguimiento de la trayectoria del personaje.

Ḥammūd Ramaḍān: Modernity and Poetry in Algeria

Abstract Starting from Pierre Bourdieu’s claim that “the impetus for change” — what I identify with modernity — “resides in the struggles that take place in the corresponding fields of production” (Bourdieu 1995: 81), and from a reading of literary texts I discussed elsewhere (Guardi 2016), in this paper I will present the life and work of Ḥammūd Ramaḍān (1906–1945). My aim is to highlight the “impetus for change” that occurred in the Algerian literary field long before 1962. Ḥammūd Ramaḍān, an Algerian poet and intellectual, thoroughly discussed the role of poetry in society and proposed new ways of writing in a changing era. He can be considered the first Arab poet who challenged the classic mode of Arabic language poetry in Algeria, and this happened before the emergence of the free verse movement in Iraq. His work will be analysed not only within the general framework of Arab modernity with the aim to provide a new definition of the Arab modernity’s canon, but also within the framework of Algerian literary production in Arabic. My main focus will be on some of his theoretical writings, in which he urges his fellow poets and intellectuals to make fundamental changes in their use of language in poetry so as to get closer to society. Although well versed in classical Arabic and in the Arab-Muslim classical heritage, Ramaḍān sees all this not as a chain that keeps the poet tethered to the past, but as a springboard to jump into the future.

Graphic Novels: Understanding How Fifth Graders Read Literary Texts through Eye Movements Analysis

The use of multimodal texts as a teaching resource is believed to be one of the fundamental requirements in keeping abreast with the rapid evolvement of literacy. This practice is reflected in the teaching of literature at primary schools in Malaysia when graphic novels, an example of a multimodal text, are introduced as one of the contemporary literary texts. The unique combination of language and images to make meaning in new ways is considered to be one of the main attributes why graphic novels are relevant in promoting multimodality in literature learning. Although its benefits are extensively explored, little research has been conducted to investigate how graphic novels are read. Do the readers actually effectively use the textual (language) and visual (images) elements when reading graphic novels? To this end, a study to investigate the patterns of visual behaviour of good and poor readers was conducted to observe the moment-by-moment processes during reading. Forty-nine Year 5 primary schoolers participated in a reading experiment using the Tobii TX300 eye tracking machine. Twelve pages of graphic novels from the Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew series were used as stimuli. Utilizing gaze plot and heat map analysis as the eye movement measure, this paper reports the eye movement behaviours of these young readers when reading graphic novels in three categories, namely, the sequence of panels, the reading path and the textual or visual focus. Results indicate that the participants, irrespective of their reading ability, had difficulty to follow the correct sequence of panels when the layout of the stimuli involves ‘staggering’ and ‘blockage’ manipulations. Although the majority of the participants followed the “left-to-right and down order” or the “Z-path”, when reading graphic novels, greater amount of attention was given to the textual elements compared to the visual features which were overlooked when navigating the stimuli. Results from this study highlight the educational implications that the importance of visual processing and its integration with textual elements should be taught to young readers to assist comprehension.

Reading Oneself in the Text: Cavell and Gadamer’s Romantic Conception of Reading

ABSTRACTCan we gain knowledge by reading literature? This essay defends an account of reading, developed by Stanley Cavell and Hans-Georg Gadamer, that phenomenologically describes the experience of acquiring self-knowledge by reading literary texts. Two possible criticisms of this account will be considered: first, that reading can provide other kinds of knowledge than self-knowledge; and, second, that the theory involves illegitimately imposing subjective meaning onto a text. It will be argued, in response, that the self-knowledge gained in reading allows one to gain other sorts of knowledge too, and that the reading process described by Gadamer and Cavell avoids excessive subjectivism.

PROJETO “GINCANA LITERÁRIA”

A escola se apresenta como um espaço essencial ao incentivo à leitura. Apesar disso, o ensinamento da literatura tem sido negligenciado nos educandários, uma vez que é tido como pretexto para a prática da língua, propiciando o desinteresse dos alunos pela leitura. Este artigo resulta da elaboração e aplicação de um projeto de leitura denominado “Gincana Literária”, em uma turma de 8º ano de uma Escola Estadual, na cidade de Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, e objetiva discutir como o trabalho do professor com projetos voltados para a leitura de obras literárias pode estimular o aluno ao gosto pela leitura.

Taocriticism in an Essay on Man

Taoism, as a distinct type of philosophy, radically differs from many other philosophies in China, such as Confucianism and Mohism, by taking a much broader, much greater and more transcendental view of the world. Many similar notions of Tao have been found in the “An Essay on Man” in four epistles penned by Alexander Pope. Therefore, a challenging and daring approach to employ Taoist perspectives to interpret An Essay on Man penned would shed light upon new ways of undertaking literary criticism, namely, using non-western philosophical outlooks to re-read western literary works. The Taoist ideas used herein include oneness, small knowledge, instrumental mentality, and yin-yang. The method of using Taoism to read literary texts is dubbed Taocriticism.

Literature for Class Reproduction: Balibar and Macherey’s “On Literature as an Ideological Form”

전 세계적 자본주의가 완성된 현재야말로 자본주의 비판으로서의 마르크스주의가 본격적으로 시작되어야 할 시점이다. 마찬가지 이유로 마르크스주의 문학 비평도 이제 본격적으로 시작되어야 한다. 기존의 마르크스주의 문학 비평이 별 성과를 거두지 못한 이유는 문학 물신주의에 몰입되어 있는 부르주아 문학관에서 벗어나지 못하고 있었기 때문이다. 마르크스주의 문학론을 정립하기 위해서는 문학에서의 계급투쟁, 즉 부르주아 계급이 피지배계급에 대하여 벌이는 비가시적인 계급투쟁을 주목하여야 한다. 이 논문은 지배계급이 주도하는 계급투쟁을 문학 영역에서 분석하는 에티엔 발리바르와 피에르 마슈레가 함께 쓴 이데올로기 형체로서의 문학에 대하여 를 주목한다. 발리바르와 마슈레는 국가의 교육 기구가 문학 교육을 통하여 피지배 계급을 지배 계급에 종속시킴을 그들의 논문에서 밝히고 있다. 이들은 문학의 역할이 피지배 계급의 언어와 이데올로기를 지배 계급의 언어와 이데올로기에 포섭되게 하는 것임을 밝힌다. 이로써 문학이 현존하는 지배 체제를 재생산하게 한 다는 것이다. 발리바르와 마슈레의 문학 이론이 시사하는 바는 마르크스주의 문학비평가의 시급한 과제가 계급 재생산 기능을 수행하는 문학의 이데올로기적 작용을 드러내 밝히는 것임을 말해준다. 마르크스주의 문학 비평가는 문학 텍스트의 내 적 파열이나 전복을 말하는 문학의 구조 이론에서 벗어나서 지배 계급의 편에서 벌이는 문학의 계급투쟁에 관심을 기울여야 한다고 이 논문은 주장한다.Marxism as a critique of capitalism is urgently in need today when capitalism has reached its highest stage on a global scale, even though or just because historical Marxism has declined throughout the globe. Likewise, Marxist literary criticism is in need for a proper critique of bourgeois literature that functions to reproduce the ruling class ideology for the reproduction of the current capitalist social system. This essay aims at, first of all, demystifying literary fetishism and then constructing a proper Marxist literary criticism for the critique of capitalist ideological reproduction system in literature. For this, this essay recalls Étienne Balibar and Pierre Macherey’s coauthored “On Literature as an Ideological Form,” almost a bypassed literary theory even among Marxist literary theoreticians. This essay reads Balibar and Macherey’s literary theory in the trail of Louis Althusser’s “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” and argues that literature is an ideological state apparatus for the reproduction of the class division and reproduction in society. With an expository reviewing Balibar and Macherey’s article in the tradition of philosophy and Marxist literary theory, this essay argues that the imminent task of Marxist literary critics should be to disclose the ideological function of literature in the class struggle for the ruling class rather than hastily reading absences or subversions in literature. The capitalist ruling system does not go away with Marxist critics’ historical optimism in reading literary texts; the urgent task should be to demystify the ideological function of literature in the capitalist society.

Kultura czytelnicza nastolatków w świetle badań sondażowych. O wartości lektury tekstów dawnych na temat obrzędowości

The proposed article describes the readership culture of teenage recipients. The text consists of two parts. The first one is theoretical in nature. It focuses on the young human and the issues related to the construction of the broadly-understood identity. Two main ways of seeing teenagers in scientific discourse were brought up, and the research on the perception of self, peers and the surrounding world by young people was mentioned and shortly described. The second part of the text points out to the person of a teenage recipient in the perspective of hardships they can encounter while reading the text, old one as well, describing the ceremonial. The considerations focus on the readership experience and competence of a young reader. Some basic information on the ceremonial and its traces in the Saint John’s Eve Song About Saturday Festive Night (Pieśń Świętojańska o Sobótce) by Jan Kochanowski has been brought up. The further part presents the results of empirical data regarding the opinion of teenagers on the value of reading literary texts about the rituals, morals and customs. The results of the empirical material analysis bring up valuable information on the readership culture of teenagers. It proves that young recipients perceive a broad range in interacting with such texts. They can be a basis for initiating contact with texts presenting the ceremonial.

An Intertextual Approach to Reading Literary Texts in English in Teacher Education

AbstractThis article discusses how an increased focus on intertextuality may contribute to the development of reading skills among ESL/EFL student teachers. When we read literary texts, there is often an element of recognition and intertextuality involved. By working with what the students already know, we may facilitate the development of their aptitude for reading. The rationale for approaching literature in this way is to suggest answers to the underlying question: How can we work with literature in the classroom to make it worthwhile and stimulating for more students to read literary texts? A group of teacher training students of English and their teacher studied excerpts from an example novel, When Jays Fly to Bárbmo, and its intertexts. The data were collected through a single-case study of a teacher/researcher’s observation log and field notes of the teaching scheme and group discussions in class. The students saw how narrative formulas are repeated. For instance, the students identified the Bildungsroman – portraying a young character’s identity quest – as an important genre of children and young adults’ literature. The article argues that the identification of intertextual references will help them and serve as scaffolding in the reading process. An enhanced knowledge of such intertextual traits may facilitate the development of metacognitive strategies for reading. A raised awareness among the students about the phenomenon of intertextuality is important when developing strategies for reading narrative literary texts.Keywords: ESL/EFL in Teacher Training, reading novels, intertextuality, metacognition, When Jays Fly to BárbmoEn intertekstuell tilnærming til lærerstudenters lesing av engelskspråklig skjønnlitteraturSammendragDenne artikkelen diskuterer hvordan et større fokus på intertekstualitet kan bidra til utviklingen av leseferdigheter hos engelskstudentene i lærerutdanningen. Når vi leser litterære tekster, innebærer det ofte et element av gjenkjennelse og intertekstualitet. Ved å arbeide med det studentene allerede kjenner til, kan vi legge til rette for utvikling av deres leseferdigheter. Begrunnelsen for denne tilnærmingen til litteraturundervisningen er å søke svar på det underliggende spørsmålet: Hvordan arbeide med skjønnlitterære tekster i klasserommet slik at flere engelskstudenter oppfatter lesing som verdifullt og stimulerende. En engelskklasse i lærerutdanningen og læreren deres leste utdrag av en eksempelroman, When Jays Fly to Bárbmo, med vekt på intertekstuelle referanser. Datagrunnlaget for studien består av en enkel casestudie av lærerens/forskerens observasjonslogg, feltnotater fra selve undervisningsøkten og gruppediskusjonene som læreren/forskeren og studentene hadde. Studentene oppdaget hvordan narrative formler gjentas. De identifiserte Bildungsromanen, som omhandler en ung hovedpersons søken etter identitet, som en sentral sjanger i barne- og ungdomslitteraturen. Artikkelen argumenterer for at identifiseringen av intertekstuelle referanser vil hjelpe dem og tjene som stillas i leseprosessen. Mer kunnskap om intertekstuelle trekk ved tekster kan støtte utviklingen av metakognitive lesestrategier. En større bevissthet blant studenten om fenomenet intertekstualitet er viktig når man utvikler strategier for å lese narrative skjønnlitterære tekster.Nøkkelord: Faget engelsk i lærerutdanning, lesing av romaner, intertekstualitet, metakognisjon, When Jays Fly to Bárbmo

A MONOGRAPH IS NECESSARY. A MONOGRAPH IS IMPOSSIBLE

It is difficult to imagine the history of literature devoid of such mode of research expression as monography. It is still a popular form of synthetic expressions (after all the history of literature is condemned to synthesis). At the same time, however, a literary historian can base his actions less and less often on the theoretical-literary reflection. What vectors could turn us today towards a contemporary reading of literary texts – the reading which is far not only from ingenuous naivety but also from dangerous confidence in the power of individual research concepts? Some contemporary postulates of reading ethics give answer to these questions. They induce us to be distant towards any theoretical-literary or ideological prejudices and hence to the responsibility for the research method and the language describing a work of art. It seems that a thought which returns in the reflection of literary studies about the subjectivity of reading, about the necessity of considering the sphere of values in the process of reading (which modern ethics of reading calls for) induces to turn towards interpretation, return to the author and to axiology.

Managing reading of literary texts as a process of search for meaning

Managing reading of literary texts as a process of search for meaning

Does Literature Matter Today? Thoughts of the Outside

The paper celebrates the publication of Ranjan Ghosh and J. Hillis Miller's Thinking Literature across Continents as a significant event in the age of neoliberalism. It argues that, in spite of the different premises and the resulting interpretative procedures respectively championed by the two co-authors, both of them anchor their readings of literary texts in a concept of literature that is diametrically opposed to neoliberal rationality, and both impassionedly safeguard human values and experiences that resist the technologisation and marketisation of the humanities and aesthetic education. While Ghosh's readings of literature offer lightning flashes of thought from the outside of the Western tradition, signalling a new culture of reading as well as a new manner of appreciation of the other, Miller dedicatedly speaks and thinks against the hegemony of neoliberal reason, opening our eyes to the kind of change our teaching or reading of literature can trigger in the world, and the role aesthetic education should and can play at a time when the humanities are considered ‘a lost cause’.

O lugar da Literatura dos currículos: o caso dos exames de Língua Portuguesa do sistema educativo inglês

O sistema de habilitações inglês disponibiliza uma variedade de exames de línguas estrangeiras (LE). Estas são estudadas sobretudo enquanto línguas de herança mas estão sujeitas às pressões que se fazem sentir sobre as disciplinas mais populares (francês, alemão e espanhol). Em consonância com a política geral da comissão de avaliação OCR para as LE, a reforma dos exames de português Advanced Level eliminou a lista de obras literárias que até 2009 fizera parte dos programas de estudos. A análise dos documentos orientadores e dos exames indicia que a leitura literária era tida como instrumento do estudo avançado de LE e do treino da capacidade de raciocínio, sobretudo em relação à escrita. Apesar do capital de prestígio que detém enquanto forma de aprendizagem avançada, a leitura orientada do texto literário poderá não alinhar com uma política educativa de popularização do estudo de línguas, de padronização de resultados e de instrumentalização económica.

Investigating Iraqi EFL Intermediate School Students’ Difficulties in Reading Literary Texts

The current study aims at identifying intermediate school students’ difficulties in reading literary texts from teacher’s viewpoints, and identifying and classifying intermediate school students’ difficulties in reading literary texts from students’ viewpoints. To achieve the aims, two samples were used, fifteen teachers and thirty students/forth preparatory, were used. The researchers constructed two types of questionnaires to determine the difficulties faced by intermediate school students from both teachers and students points of view. The items of the questionnaires have been collected on the basis of the related literature, interviews, the open ended questionnaire, the information found in the teacher's guide, previous studies which deal with teaching techniques and experts opinions. In the light of the results obtained, recommendations which are concerned with teachers and students are put forward.