Universities teaching literature students how to cope with long novels

Critics blame GCSE English for deterring teenagers from the subject, describing the literature syllabus as boring and repetitive

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/universities-teaching-literature-students-how-to-cope-with-long-novels-8bwgscp7k

https://archive.ph/GVOaE



Universities are teaching English literature students how to concentrate long enough to read lengthy novels. Some institutions are offering “reading resilience” courses for students facing long texts and reading lists while others are using book jacket design as part of the assessment process. Academics said students in the past five to ten years, who had grown up with phones in their pockets, could be intimidated by reading long, older or more difficult books and the jump in pace from A-level.

Robert Eaglestone, the literary critic, is professor of contemporary literature and thought at Royal Holloway University, which gives advice to first-year students on how to tackle the required reading. He said: “Across the board there’s a worry about reading. Of course it’s hard with a phone by your bed to start reading a novel — I don’t think anyone is immune to that or taking it lightly. At degree level, students are still reading whole novels and plays. However, there are lots of initiatives to help students read. Some universities do reading resilience courses.

“One thing we do, as do lots of places, when we induct our students on to the course, we give them advice on reading: put the phone out of the room, concentrate on your reading. Find somewhere comfy. Do it when you’ve got time. Be aware it takes time to get into the rhythm of a novel.” John Mullan, professor of English at University College London, said: “In the last five to ten years, it’s true that fewer students are used to reading very long books. Most on our course at UCL are still willing to take on demanding texts, but that may not be typical. I do have friends in other universities who feel students are less willing to tackle older books or more difficult books.

“Some students are not used to sitting and reading a book for five or six hours. When we’re doing course planning, we’re thinking about that a bit more than we used to do. “We react to unwillingness or difficulty with reading lengthy material by trying to get them to do it and not compromising too much. All first-year students have to do Old English, read the whole of Paradise Lost by their fifth week of term and Wordsworth’s Preludes by the tenth week. Some bluff their way, but even to have to bluff with these texts is strenuous.”



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