John Reichert

Bio: John Reichert is an academic researcher from Williams College. The author has contributed to research in topics: Literary criticism & Interpretation (philosophy). The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 4 publications receiving 37 citations.

The Reader, the Text, the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work

Abstract: Louise M. Rosenblatt s award-winning work continues increasingly to be read in a wide range of academic fieldsliterary criticism, reading theory, aesthetics, composition, rhetoric, speech communication, and education. Her view of the reading transaction as a unique event involving reader and text at a particular time under particular circumstances rules out the dualistic emphasis of other theories on either the reader or the text as separate and static entities. The transactional concept accounts for the importance of factors such as gender, ethnicity, culture, and socioeconomic context. Essential reading for the specialist, this book is also well suited for courses in criticism, critical theory, rhetoric, and aesthetics.Starting from the same nonfoundationalist premises, Rosenblatt avoids the extreme relativism of postmodern theories derived mainly from Continental sources. A deep understanding of the pragmatism of Dewey, James, and Peirce and of key issues in the social sciences is the basis for a view of language and the reading process that recognizes the potentialities for alternative interpretations and at the same time provides a rationale for the responsible reading of texts.The book has been praised for its lucid explanation of the multidimensional character of the reading processevoking, interpreting, and evaluating the work. The nonliterary (efferent) and the literary (aesthetic) are shown not to be opposites but to represent a continuum of reading behaviors. The author amply illustrates her theoretical points with interpretations of varied texts. The epilogue carries further her critique of rival contemporary theories.\

Conducting Women: Gender, Power,and Authority in the Rhetoric of French and English Conduct Literature of the Later Middle Ages

Abstract: Conduct and courtesy literature have a long history, its vernacular tradition extending back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. We are familiar with modern versions of this literature: Ann Landers’ advice column, women’s magazines, and even modern books that tell us about etiquette. My dissertation examines English and French conduct literature of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries addressed to women. These texts build rhetorical authority in various ways. At one end of the spectrum of rhetorical authority there are texts that build credibility through charismatic and familial authority; on the other end there are those that build it through abstract means such as the use of allegory and visionary inspiration. I locate these different approaches in relationship to other medieval literary traditions such as the recording of visions, the generation of mental images as a means of mnemonic practice and meditation, the debate on women, and the use of exempla, a prominent rhetorical feature of pastoral medieval sermons. My initial chapters explain my theoretical approach and examine conduct literature written by women for women. Christine de Pizan’s Book of the Three Virtues reveals that medieval pedagogies directed at women are not always concrete and experiential for her text engages in visionary practice, employs allegory, and self-reflective debate. Anne of France’s Lessons for Her Daughter relies on more familiar constructions of authority but is also part of a family tradition of royal instruction directed at children. In my fourth chapter I analyze the English translations of The Book of the Knight of La Tour Landry which were produced between 1422 and 1471 and in 1484. This male-authored text adopts a

Reflections Upon The Teaching of EFL Literature as a Means for Promoting Students’ Active Learning

Abstract: The present thesis attempts, through empirical research, to measure active learning in the literature classroom. The analysis of the findings of the study indicates that literature teaching is still bound to traditional approaches that do not emphasise the students and their active role in constructing knowledge. The students are always seen as empty vessels to be filled up with knowledge by teachers who favour unidirectional lecture methods .The study has also revealed that the exploitability of the literary text is at minimum: little is done with the literary text in the classroom, this in turn has increased students’ passivity. It has also been revealed that teachers tend to show a striking reluctance to incorporate active learning strategies which have the potential to encourage the students assume more participatory roles. In response to this situation, some general recommendations and other practical suggestions have been accordingly made to promote active learning. Key-words: Literature – approaches /methods – active learning– active learning strategies MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ABOUBAKR BELKAID UNIVERSITY-TLEMCEN FACULTY OF LETTERS AND LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Thesis Submitted to the Department of Englsih in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctorate in Didactics of Literature and Civilization Texts. Presented by: Supervised by: Mr. KHELADI Mohammed Prof. HADJOUI Ghouti Reflections Upon The Teaching of EFL Literature as a Means for Promoting Students’ Active Learning

The reduction of metaphysics and the play of violence in the poetry of Wallace Stevens

Abstract: ions’, derived from ‘the One’, a Parmenidean conception which is apparently demystified through its connection to ‘philosophy’. 589 Ibid., p. 61. 590 John Burnet, Early Greek Philosophy, p. 174. 591 George Santayana, Interpretations of Poetry and Religion, p. 16. The inference could be seen to be that without it people are as good as dead, disconnected from ‘reality’ that