Authorizing Readers: Resistance and Respect in the Teaching of Literature

Author(s): Peter J. Rabinowitz, Michael W. Smith

This provocative conversation between a college professor and a high school English teacher brings to life the working relationship between theory and practice while discussing some of the key questions teachers of literature face. Can teachers claim to have taught well if their students have not learned to recognize and respect the ways authors expect them to read? Shouldn't students also be taught the critical skills to resist authors' and teachers' views of the "right reading"? With practical suggestions, theoretical insight, and extended discussions of real students' responses to a variety of popular literary texts, Authorizing Readers will interest English educators and literature teachers in high schools, two-year colleges, and universities.
174 pp. 1998. NCTE and Teachers College Press. Grades 7–College. ISBN 0-8077-3689-9.
No. 40890

ISBN: 0-8077-3689-9

Grade Level(s): College