Intuition and Method in the Teaching of Literature

29 INTUITION AND METHOD IN THE TEACHING OF UTERATURE Charles Olstad Charles Olstad (B.A., St. Olaf; M.A., State University of Iowa; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin), now associate professor of Spanish, has been at the University of Arizona since 1960. He has published articles on Picasso, Baroja, and Sender. This paper was originally read at the 1967 RM-MLA meeting at Albuquerque. My reference in this paper is primarily to the standard introductory survey course of Hterature in a foreign language. Such a course usually follows the second year of college Spanish or the fourth year of high school Spanish. It is generally required of all majors and minors. (My remarks might be applicable to any first course in a foreign literature, and perhaps also to a first hterature course in English. ) The paper deals with the problem of what might be called a "knowledge gap" or perhaps an "intuition gap" between student and teacher. The young student is very likely having his first serious brush with literature, previous English classes notwithstanding. The young teacher, on the other hand, has probably just finished some six years of concentrated literary study and now considers it his profession. It is clear, I think, that we have some kind of real gap here, whatever its exact nature. A pedagogical method in this context has three facets, not entirely separate. (1) A pedagogical method can order and relate the professor's intuitions, acquired over years of study. (2) It can revise, select, and make more immediate the professor's store of notes. (3) It can prime the student , organize his receptive faculties (if any) so that they are more compatible with the purposes of the class. Let me stress at this point that I refer to pedagogical method, not critical method. I am talking about a principle of organizing and conducting the teaching experience in the classroom, not about another New Criticism. I might make some other points before I reach the body of my paper. I am assuming here a literature course, not a translation course, a conversation course, or a civilization/culture course. I am assuming, further, a critical approach which places major attention on the literary work itself, while still leaving time for biographical and historical considerations. And finally, I am assuming a course conducted in the language of the literature. This is not a necessary assumption, but it is the practice I am familiar with. It is also, I think, a practice increasingly common in our undergraduate hterature courses, which makes all the more necessary some 30RM-MLA BulletinMarch 1968 pedagogical method, some instructional pattern discernible to the student even through the foreign language filter. Now what might such a method be? At a rather primitive level it might involve nothing more than a simple checklist such as some of us knew in undergraduate days: plot, character, action, thought, diction, style. Other checklists could involve additional points such as narrative point of view, etc. In any case, the purpose of such a checklist is to remind both student and teacher not to overlook major facets of a writer's art because of inexperience or because of overriding concern for, say, thought alone. And naturally, the success of the learning experience, here as everywhere , depends on the presence of the professor for two main functions: ( 1) he must be constantly guiding and prodding during class discussion, and (2) he must provide a lucid summary or synthesis. Something more than a simple checklist is possible where study is limited to a single hterature, a single genre, or a single period. It is then worthwhile to establish a series of major topics (a refinement of the checklist ) with perhaps subheads under each topic. Then, for each topic the professor can furnish suitable discussion, with examples drawn from the hterature under study. Naturally he will add to his discussion as the course progresses and the students gain experience. Finally, the professor can prepare study-guide questions based on the topics. These questions will form the kernel of the discussion for each lesson and will orient the student toward those matters the professor wants to stress and which he will deal with in...