Changing Ideas In Literature Education In British Universities Across The 20^th Century

This paper aims to sort out different ideas of literature education in British universities across the 20th century with 1904,1944 and 1979 as critical junctures,during which the ideas of literature education were transformed from philology to literature,from literary works to theory,from English literature to world literature.In 1904,Raleigh became the first holder of the Chair of English Literature at Oxford University and started to reform literature education in its English School.Later,English and literature were divided into two separate exams.The Butler Education Act of 1944 was regarded as the turning point of British modern education.With the development of British education of literature,the teaching ideas changed from Leavisism to cultural studies.From 1979 to 1997,Margaret Thatcher's government implemented a policy of privatization which had great impact on literature education.Since literature was a form of ideology,the focus of literature education was not about how to define literature but how to illuatrate.In short,literature in British universities was no longer a simple tool of learning Greek,Latin and English language but a subject with unique methods and principles.Regardless of whether teachers taught from the perspectives of philology,history,theory or culture,the British education of literature consistenetly adhered to the principle of humanism and science as well as the ideas of"life,literature and thought".The first chapter traces back to the history of education of literature in British universities.At the very beginning,education of literature was affiliated with the teaching of Greek,Latin,elocution and rhetoric.Owing to utilitarianism and idealism,English gained its full development in the UK with the help of English literature.The literary teaching idea of UCL was to combine the study of the history with the moral literature,whereas the literary teaching idea at Oxford English School was to study literature from the perspective of language,philology and history.The idea of teaching literature at Cambridge attached importance to philosophy and modern literature.The second chapter is an introduction to the representatives of literature educators and their thoughts before and after the Newbolt Report.Raleigh and Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch made criticism part of the literature exam papers.Raleigh changed the trend of literature education having nothing to do with the modern works,while Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch set the pace in academic criticism at Cambridge.Newbolt Report in 1921 officially established English literature as a subject,a decision which acknowledged,on the one hand,that the education of English language and English literature was the basis of national education,and approved,on the other hand,that teachers have the rights to design their own syllabus and use their own teaching methods.Students were encouraged to read extensively and perform plays etc.Along with I.A.Richards and W.Empson putting forwarded the semantic criticism,the focus of literary education switched from writers to texts.The third chapter introduces Leavis's moral criticism and the idea of the elites education.The method of "close reading" helps the circulation of poetry criticism from exterior to interior and to exterior again.Basil Willey was regarded as the first scholar who put forward the idea of biological criticism and presented a new perspective to future literary studies.The teaching ideas of literature varied from the 1950s to 1960s.In 1967,Helen Gardner,Oxford literature professor,suggested the idea of interdisciplinary integration in the education of literature.In addition,she defined criticism as judgment.Students were expected to read for pleasure not only extensively but also impartially.Cultural study was also the main teaching method during this period with the focus of teaching literature expanding from literary works to other fields,including culture,history and film.The fourth chapter illustrates the changes in literary education under the influence of market economy.The British literature education now entered into a theoretical era.Eagleton discussed literature in terms of ideology,while Peter Widdowson analyzed modern fiction from the angle of literature and history.Literary criticism followed the routine of combining the London model with the Cambridge model,and the contents of literature education included not only English literature but also world literature.