So you chose Literature A level English Literature

So, you chose Literature. A level English Literature at The John Lyon School Jonathan Peel JLS 2017

Why? A very good question. The next few lessons will help you to engage with wha tthis study actually means… Jonathan Peel JLS 2017

A project: Presentations in 3 weeks (venue and date TBD) Pairs of students will research writers and socio-historical contexts which relate to our set texts The idea is to build an awareness of the contexts of the writers and their writing before we begin to study them in depth. In A level study, contexts are not only an examined strand (AO 3), but are essential to the interpretation and understanding of the works under discussion. Jonathan Peel JLS 2017

CHOICES Boccaccio, Dante and Medieval Italian Literature French Romantic Literature and Fabliaux of the 14 th Century The birth of the Romantic age Wordsworth: The Prelude book 1 and Lyrical Ballads American social history 1845 -1880 The world Post WW 1 American writers: Hemmingway and Faulkner Approaches to criticism 1: Femininsm Approaches to criticism 2: Marxism Approaches to criticism 3: Eco-criticism Approaches to criticism 4: post Colonialism Marlowe, Webster and the London Theatre Non fiction writing in World War 1 Jonathan Peel JLS 2017

What is Literature? Let’s explore this…. What constitutes a ‘good book’? The exam boards expect texts of ‘literary quality’ to be examined. What does this mean? Who decides what you will read and why? What do you understand by ‘the canon’? How many female writers or writers of colour can you think of who are taught in schools? TASK: for the next lesson, get together and prepare ‘your’ canon for a 21 st century school. Be prepared to justify your choices. Jonathan Peel JLS 2017

Canon Let’s hear your thoughts…. You will have to justify them. Jonathan Peel JLS 2017

Readers…. Comment on this quotation by Barthes (1977): “Classic criticism has never paid any attention ot the reader; for it, the writer is the only person in literature. We are now beginning to let ourselves be fooled no further by the arrogant, antiphrastical recriminations of good society in favour of the very thingit sets aside, ignores, smothers or destroys; we know tha tto give writing its future, it is necessary to overthrow the myth: the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the author. ” Jonathan Peel JLS 2017

Rights of the Reader Jonathan Peel JLS 2017

Ok, you know your rights…. Discuss them (and be grateful to Daniel Pennac for writing them). Then: HOW MANY OF YOUR RIGHTS ARE INFRINGED BY THE STUDY OF A LEVEL LITERATURE? Jonathan Peel JLS 2017

Thinking: How often do you fail to finish a book? How often do you re-read a book out of choice? Have your reading habits altered over time? If so, when and how? Are there any righjts you would include? Jonathan Peel JLS 2017

Texts and thunks Why do we study Shakespeare? Is it the right of all students to study Shakespeare at school? Analysis ruins a good book Young people are more attuned to Eastenders than to Charles Dickens There is no such thing as a moral book Poetry is much harder to understand than prose Reading improves you. TASK: choose one of the above and write it for discussion. 1 of the class will present for discussion. Jonathan Peel JLS 2017