Category: Reading

Posted on

An Experiment in Criticism: Seven Takeaways

CS Lewis published An Experiment in Criticism in 1961, and its as close to a general statement of interpretive principles as he ever wrote. The book’s basic premise is that evaluative criticism often hinders our reading experience. In matters of taste, Lewis proposes, we should spend more time thinking about HOW we read rather than WHAT we read. An Experiment in Criticism is a provocative (and short) book, and it’s not just polemic. Lewis’s gracious and direct style is one of the book’s main attractions. Here are some things I learned…

Continue reading “An Experiment in Criticism: Seven Takeaways”

Posted on

This week we finished up our examination of English medieval literature with a short look at The Canterbury Tales. Not only was the language more modern (as symbolized by the textbook creators assuming you could read it without a translation), but its portrayal of English life was contemporary. Beowulf and Gawain were poems about the pagan and Christian past respectively. The Canterbury Tales was a representation of English life and people in the late 14th Century as it was happening.

With some very small adjustments you could easily write a 21st century adaptation of the pilgrimage Chaucer has his characters go on. Continue reading “”