Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-jwnkl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T02:15:29.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pourquoi? Explaining Ourselves to the Literature Major

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

H. Jay Siskin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Sir Toby. Pourquoi, my dear knight?

Sir Andrew. What is “Pourquoi”? Do or do not? I would I had bestowed that time in the tongues that I have in fencing, dancing, and bear-baiting. O, had I but followed the arts!

–William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1.3)

I was asked to address thequestions “why major in literature?” and “What do we tell our students?” I make this assignment explicit because my initial reflections left me bewildered. Is not the study of literature part of the humanistic mission of the liberal arts? Or has the major changed in some way that would prompt these questions? To be certain that I had not missed any reconceptualizations of the discipline, I decided to investigate the rationales for the study of literature over the past century.

Type
The Changing Profession
Information
PMLA , Volume 117 , Issue 3 , May 2002 , pp. 515 - 519
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Altman, Clara. “Before the Arches Crumble.” Modern Language Journal 24 (1940): 612–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, Morris. The Twilight of American Culture. New York: Norton, 2000.Google Scholar
Bernhardt, Elizabeth B. “Teaching Literature or Teaching Students?” ADFL Bulletin 26.2 (1995): 5–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Churchman, Philip H. “The Study of French Literature.” Modern Language Journal 2 (1917): 53–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Salvio, Alfonso. “A Few Words of Warning and Exhortation.” Modern Language Journal 9 (1925): 265–78.Google Scholar
Dickman, Adolphe J. “The Foreign Language Requirement in the Liberal Arts College: A Justification.” Modern Language Journal 31 (1947): 335–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downer, Charles A. “The American Association of Teachers of French.” French Review 1 (1927): 5–10.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, Daniel. “A Hispanist's View of the Boom in Spanish Enrollments.” ADFL Bulletin 28.3 (1997): 46–47.Google Scholar
McCarthy, John A. “W(h)ither Literature? Reaping the Fruit of Language Study before It's Too Late.” ADFL Bulletin 29.2 (1998): 10–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mulvaney, Helen. “Popularization or Prostitution?” Modern Language Journal 14 (1930): 97–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musumeci, Diane. Breaking Tradition: An Exploration of the Historical Relationship between Theory and Practice in Second Language Teaching. New York: McGraw, 1997.Google Scholar
McKendree, Petty. “Reflections on the Prospects of Another Spanish Boom.” Modern Language Journal 26 (1942): 288–91.Google Scholar
Queenan, Joe. Balsamic Dreams: A Short but Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation. New York: Henry Holt, 2001.Google Scholar
Sandrock, James P. “Languages and the Humanities: Our Roots and Responsibility.” ADFL Bulletin 4.2 (1972): 15–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uber Grosse, Christine, and Voght, Geoffrey M. “The Evolution of Languages for Specific Purposes in the United States.” Modern Language Journal 75 (1991): 181–95.Google Scholar
Uber Grosse, Christine, and Voght, Geoffrey M. “Foreign Languages for Business and the Professions at US Colleges and Universities.” Modern Language Journal 74 (1990): 36–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waxman, Samuel M. “Fulminations of a College Professor, with Special Reference to Spanish.” Modern Language Journal 4 (1920): 397–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whiteson, Valerie, ed. New Ways of Using Drama and Literature in Language Teaching. Alexandria: TESOL, 1996.Google Scholar