1st Edition
Living Literature Sharing Meaning and Experience in the A Level Classroom
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Chapter One: In Decline: A Level English Literature Today
Richard Jacobs, Sean McEvoy and Martin Nichols
Chapter Two: The Introductory Course
Richard Jacobs
Chapter Three: Othello - Teaching A Level for the First Time
A. A. Tyrrell
Chapter Four: King Lear and the Pleasures of the Chunky Text
Carol Atherton
Chapter Five: ‘O, brave new world!’ Teaching The Tempest
Jo Soliva
Chapter Six: ‘Slippery Iced Pavements’ – Teaching and Directing The Duchess of Malfi
Cathy O’Neill
Chapter Seven: Finding Paradise Lost
Sammy Wright
Chapter Eight: Paradise Lost: ‘A jangling noise of words unknown’
Camellia Fiore
Chapter Nine: Close Reading
Malcolm Hebron
Chapter Ten: ‘Life’ and History: Teaching Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Sean McEvoy
Chapter Eleven: Teaching Wide Sargasso Sea
Barbara Bleiman
Chapter Twelve: Death of a Salesman: Even Now, Now, Very Now: Attention Must Be Paid
Martin Nichols
Chapter Thirteen: Beckett, Theatre and the A Level Classroom: Waiting for Godot
Richard Jacobs
Chapter Fourteen: Poetry, Pleasure and Pedagogy: the Joy of Meaning-Making
Gary Snapper
Chapter Fifteen: The Difference between ‘lie’ and ‘lay: Giving Students the Right Tools to Think
about The Handmaid’s Tale
Alice Jahanpour
Chapter Sixteen: Conclusion: A Manifesto for Change
The editors and contributors
Index
Biography
Richard Jacobs is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Brighton, UK. He has previously authored A Beginner’s Guide to Critical Reading (2001), Literature in Our Lives (2020), and Literature and the Critics (2022) all published by Routledge.
Sean McEvoy is a fellow of Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge. His recent books include Shakespeare: The Basics (4th edition; 2024), and Theatrical Unrest: Ten Riots in the History of the Stage, 1601-2004 (2017) both published by Routledge.
Martin Nichols was formerly Head of English at a Sixth Form College and is currently a Senior Examiner for one of the major examination boards
This crucially important book comes at a critical moment for the subject. The editors and contributors include national leaders in debates about English at secondary level: everyone teaching, or supporting, the discipline should read this book and engage with its ideas and arguments.- Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway, University of London
‘This book hurts. It's a story of stories: how and why reading, thinking, talking and writing about literature in schools is under threat. But this is no view from on high - it comes hot from the chalkface (the bookface, actually) with thousands of hours of hard work in the classroom to back up what's being said here. That's why this book is authentic and urgent.’ Michael Rosen, author.
