Why Literature Matters

Author(s): Tim Gillespie

Reviewed work(s):
Source: The English Journal, Vol. 83, No. 8, Literature, Queen of the Curriculum (Dec., 1994),
pp. 16-21
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/820324 .
Accessed: 01/10/2012 19:59

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

National Council of Teachers of English is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
The English Journal.

http://www.jstor.org
 Why Literature Matters
TimGillespie

hy should we teach literature?"is other Englishteacherschallengeher:"Waita

the question on the floor.The prag- minute!Whose culture?Which books?"We
matists, clear-eyedand realistic,are quarrelabout the literarycanon, tradition,
unsure literature has sufficient exclusion, multiculturalism. Meanwhile, I
value. I'mattendinga before-school notice, the pragmatists,ever oriented to the
staff meeting of teachersfrom vari- future, are looking at the clock and rolling
ous disciplines to discuss restruc- their eyes skyward. See? I imagine them
turing the high school; morning thinking, thesebookloverswill endlesslyargue
light sifts through the classroom aboutwhichliteraryangelsfit on the headof a
windows. Here as elsewhere, prag- pin; meanwhile,the real businessof the world
matic demandsof the workplacedi- goes on unaffected. So, our own in-family
rect much of the discussion about school English teacher disagreement scuttles the
reform.Literature,it strikes me, has a hard discussion.The meetingwinds down with a
time adaptingitself to this languageof "job- shuffleof dissatisfaction.The issue of the lit-
force erary canon, though critically important,
literacy."
Here is the pragmatists'argument:No nonetheless eclipses the larger question,
one needs literature to be a productive without which it appearstrivial:Who really,
worker,competitivein the global economy in this modern world of commerce, needs
In fact, one can be highly successful in the literatureof any kind?
marketplacewith no knowledgewhatsoever The questionstayson the floor.Teachers
of literature;real-worldexamplesare plenti- startto leave. The firstperiodbell rings,and
ful. The importantreadingmatterof the fu- students pour in. One drops her eight-
ture will be information,and the main pound literatureanthologyat my feet with a
readingskillsinformation-gathering and infor- clunk.
mation-processing. Literatureis more rightly WHO NEEDS LITERATURE?
regarded as something like opera-an ar- In the months since that earlymorning
cane art form, a spice of life, to be sure; a
Practically meeting, these questions stick with me:
seasoning.But not a main course. So, since Who really does need literature, anyway?
speaking, literatureis not essential,why should it be
What'sit for?How do we justifyits centrality
doesanyone such a majorpartof the curriculum?
to the Englishcurriculum?They are reason-
need My friend Gloria wonders how she is able questions, I think. Next to claims for
literature? going to revampher literaturecurriculumto
fit one of the school'snewly-stipulatedcareer helping studentslearn what it takes to get a
Theauthor job and do meaningfullife-longwork, litera-
pathways."Ifthe theme aroundwhich I am ture can appearextraneous.The discussion
saysyes. to organizeall my curriculumis Traveland
Tourism,"she asks, "how am I supposed to pressed me to re-examinemy belief in the
importanceof literature.I want to have sen-
get literaturein? What happens to Romeo sible answersto offerthe pragmatists.
andJuliet?"
Aftermuch reflection,I decided that the
"Maybeyour kids can make a travelbro-
most traditionalclaims for literatureare the
chure for Verona?"a colleague tentatively
ones I am most eagerto defend. Primarily,I
suggests. believe literatureis justifiablein the modern
"The question is," says a pragmatist, curriculumfor its contributionsto the culti-
"who really needs to know about Shake- vationof imaginationand of empathyTomy
speare these days?This is an enthusiasm,a
leisure-time pursuit, but not a necessary way of thinking, these are crucial skills for
the twenty-first century, essential for our
skill for the twenty-firstcentury"
Another English teacher earnestlytries thriving,pragmaticto the core.
to make a claim for literatureas part of our Why, then, is literatureso easily deval-
ued in the conversationabout communica-
culturalheritage.As she talks,the words cul-
tions skills of the future?Clearly,traditional
turalliteracyleak fromher lips. Immediately,
claims for the functions of literatureneed

16 December1994
reassertingand updating.Moreimportantly, as weapons.Menckenled him to SinclairLe-
though, I worry that, in the words of the wis' MainStreetand Babbitt,then to Theo-
literary characterPogo Possum, "We have dore Dreiser's fiction, then to novel after
met the enemy,and he is us."That is, I fear novel that revealed to him new ways of
we too often neglect to addressin the con- thinking about his own circumstancesand
temporaryEnglishclassroomthose habitsof the wider world:
imaginingand empathizingthat seem to me I hungeredforbooks,newwaysof
literature'sgreatestbenefitand value. lookingandseeing.Itwasnot a mat-
Let me elaborate on these themes of terof believingor disbelieving
whatI
imagination, empathy, and teaching prac- read,butof feelingsomethingnew,of
tices. beingaffectedby somethingthatmade
the look of the world different. . . it
IMAGINATIONAND EMPATHY wasnothinglessthana senseof lifeit-
PresidentBill Clinton often uses a line self.(272-74)
thatregisterswith me as a teacher:"Children In a speech made at last year'sInterna-
can't be expected to live a life they can't tional ReadingAssociation conference and
imagine." We rightly worry that many reported in ReadingToday(1994), editor
youngsters'lives are circumscribedby pov- WalterAnderson,who grew up in a violent,
erty, discrimination,low expectations,cul- impoverished environment, said his place
tural insularity,and other conditions that of solace and retreat was the library: "I
may renderthem unable to see beyond the could open a book, and I could be anything.
limits of their immediate horizons. Litera- I could be anywhere.I could be anyone...
ture does offer-inexpensively?a vision of I read myself out of poverty long before I
otherlives and othervistas.One of its poten- workedmyselfout of poverty"(1).
tial benefits is to enlarge a reader'ssense This is the firstargumentI would like to
about the many possible ways to live. This offer for literature,its capacityto stimulate
enlarged sense seems to me an important the imagination,to offer differentperspec-
part of our traditionalnationalethos. Hope tives and widerworldsthatthe young reader
fora betterworld and beliefin the possibility can wander at leisure and experience in
of re-makingoneselfor improvingone'ssitu- safety, without pressure or judgment. We
ation breed optimism and elbow grease. read ourselvesimaginativelyinto other lives
(Need I point out that these qualities have and by this act expandthe pagesof our own.
economic implications?)We have rich testi- If we keep following the track of our
mony about this imaginativefunctionof lit- imaginativeresponse, other argumentsfor
erature. literatureemerge.As a reader,I readnot only
In the lovely essay,"Ghostsand Voices: to find myself, I also read to lose myself.
Writingfrom Obsession"(1990), for exam- Sweptalongby the magicof narrative,I give
ple, SandraCisneroswritesof her childhood, myselfover to otherlives, landscapes,points
of checking out from her neighborhoodli- of view. In this experienceis the cultivation
braryVirginiaLee Burton'sclassic TheLittle of a deeper form of imagination,the empa-
House seven times in a row, of being en- thetic identification with other humans,
tranced by books such as Island of the Blue often people quite unlike ourselves.
Dolphins and Alice in Wonderland.Through Through literature, readers travel to different
those books, she says, she was transported locales, to the past and to the future, and
to other worlds, instructed about other peo- learn during their travels about other cul-
ple and possibilities, offered hopefulness, tures and peoples. Literature offers students
and inspired to be a writer herself. diversity that their neighborhood may not.
Richard Wright tells in BlackBoy (1945) As Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has said, "No hu-
of being forced to pretend he was checking man culture is inaccessible to someone who
out books for a white co-worker, since Jim makes the effort to understand, to learn, to
Crow laws didn't permit him to borrow the inhabit another world" (1991, 1). And lit-
books himself. In these forbidden works, erature can be a form of this habitation.
Wright found himself electrified by the fiery The effort to understand advances what
writing of H. L. Mencken, which gave him Percy Bysshe Shelley called the "moral
the idea that words could be effectively used imagination," a capacity to occupy another

EnglishJournal 17
 mind and feel the emotionalpulse of an- valueof reading
literature.
So,evenwhenthe
otherheart."Moral" is a trickyword here; contestwasover,I keptluggingaroundthat
people such as former U.S.Secretary of Edu- box.
cationWilliamBennettare speakingmuch Therewasmuchto admirein those121
latelyaboutthe moralvalueof stories,but I stories,particularly the ampledisplayof so-
hope the moralopportunitiesof literature phisticatedwriting craft.Lotsof the young
aren'toversimplified.Literaturedoes not authorshadmasteredthe trickof writingat-
teach moralsin a didacticway; rather,it tention-gettingleads, high-impactbegin-
givesus a chanceto experience moraldilem- nings that grab readersby the collarand
mas. And qualityliteraturedoes not over- yanktheminto the story.Manystorieswere
simplifythe dilemmasof the world.Unlike ripe with sensoryimagesand detailedde-
the glib,materialistic,quick-solution visionscriptions. Many had snappy dialogue.
of life offeredon much literaturepor-Someone,I thought,has been talkingwith
TV,
trayslives thathave complicatedproblems thesestudentsaboutliterarytechnique.
and toughchoices,andinvitesus to engage Yetin all thisexerciseof writerlycraft,I
withthem,to imaginelivingoutlife'svexing felta kindof emptiness.Whatseemedmiss-
dilemmas along with the characterswe ing fromtoo manyof the storieswas that
meet.By its truthfulportrayalof life'scom- rareexperienceof gettinginsidethe skinof
plex moralchoices,literaturedrawsus in, anotherhumanbeing.WhenI thinkof the
submerges us intoa story,andsummonsour fictionI love, I think of vivid characters,
imaginativepowerto identifywith charac- fromJaneEyreto MarieKashpaw, YuryZhi-
ters.Literature thusmightbe oneantidoteto vago to Huck Finn to WillTweedy,Scoutto
the diseaseof disconnectionthatafflictsus. Setheto JuneWoo.ThesearepeopleI have
Assaultingsomeone, tagginga wall with come to know well. In theirengagingsto-
spraypaint,sexuallyharassinganother,or ries, I learn somethingabout them, and,
yellinga racialslurareall actsthatshowan throughthem,othersandmyself.A handful
incapacityto empathize, to imagine an- of the studentswho enteredthe contestdid
other'sdeepestresponses,to considerthe createsuchabsorbing in theirsto-
characters
real consequencesof actionson others.In ries.I won'tsoon forgetthe dyingfarmerin
the fractiousworldwe inhabit,empathyis a one student'sstorywho leaveshis homeand
much-neededskill,and literatureis a form startshitchhikingwith his dog to see the
in whichwe canpracticethisskill. countryin springtimebloomone last time.
And I won'tsoon forgetthe young girl in
CONNECTIONS TO THECLASSROOM another
The fuzzyrelationshipbetweenmy be- story,livinga constrictedlife as a
servanton a turn-of-the-century Oregon
lief in this empatheticfunctionof literature
ranch, dreaming of escape to the nearby
and my classroominstructioncame into
townto the onlylifethatseemsa liberation,
clearerfocusforme lastfall.AfterI agreedto
thatof a barmaid.Forthegiftof allowingme
help judge a fiction-writingcontestfor ex-
to cometo knowandunderstand theselives,
ceptionalhigh schoolwritersin my state,I I was
foundon my frontporcha cardboardbox exceedinglygratefulto thesestudents;
thiswasthe delightofjudgingthecontest.
filledwith 121 manuscripts,averagingabout
The dismay came from the shortageof
ten pages apiece. For the next two weeks, I
such vivid charactersand what I felt was an
kept the box in my car. Wherever I went, insufficient exploration in many of the
whenever I could, I read stories: during
lunch break,in the quiet of late night, wait- pieces of characters'motives, complexities,
and changes.What I mostly found was non-
ing for soccer practiceto finish.
stop action, special effects,and greatgobs of
Reading all this student fiction offered violence in many forms. Charactersin vari-
equal parts delight and dismay,and caused ous storieswere:shot, knifed,hit by a truck,
me to ask myself againone of the firstques-
killed in an earthquake,attacked by killer
tions of the educationalendeavor:Why are
we doing this?What on earthis the value of midgets, beaten with an ax and fireplace
poker, bashed with a sledgehammer,
having students write fiction, or poetry, or stabbedwith a broomstick,eaten by croco-
any form of literature?And this, of course, diles, conked on the head with a gravestone,
sent me back to my ruminationsabout the
rippedup by a grizzlybear,and on and on. I

18 December1994
know we live in a violence-drenched cul- just hints on techniquewhen they are ex-
ture,and I believewritershave to confront perimenting with fiction.Tipson writinga
the givenworldanddealwiththeirdeepest catchylead,usingsensorydetails,or "show-
fearsanddesires,but I wasstilltakenaback ing insteadof telling"maybe lessimportant
by all the violence.My surprisewas less to young fictionwritersthan supportfor
aboutthe quantitythan aboutthe poorly- imaginingwhat might be motivatingan-
imaginedqualityof muchof it. Mostof the otherperson,payingcloserattentionto hu- Unlike
mayhemin these storieswas unnecessary, man interactions, and portraying life in its theglib,
unearned,emotionallyflat, painless,and fullcomplexity. I need to focuson the peo- materialistic,
lackingconsequence,likewhatwe see in so ple in my students'fiction,notjuston tech-
manymoviesandTVshows. nique.
quick-solution
Don'tgetme wrong;I lovethecraft-talk visionof life
Readingthisworkfromsomeof thebest
writersin mystatecausedme to re-thinkmy of writing,andI enjoysharingauthors'lore offeredon
claimthatliterature canenlargeourcapacity with students.Youngwritersareinterested muchTV,
forempathy,thatreadingfiction-and writ- in colorfullanguage,dialogue,richdescrip- literature
ing it-offers us a chanceto imaginehow
anotherhumanmight live, think, dream,
tion, invitingleads,all thatgood stuff.Yet
craftin writingmust servecontent;tech-
portrayslives
thathave
and feel.Believingfictionto be a meansfor niqueoughtto be employednot forits own
practicingmoralengagement,I was con- sake but in the serviceof some truththe complicated
cernedafterreadingthissmallsampleof sto- writeris pursuing.Whena fictionwriteris problemsand
ries.I wishedmoreof theseyoungwriters' usingflashytricksbut lacksfeelingfor the toughchoices.
imaginative andempathetic skillswereasre- characters, it feelslike manipulation to the
finedas theirtechnicalskills. reader, a lack of commitment, stylewithout
substance.Wemissmuchin ourteachingif
TECHNICAL PERFECTION VS.
MORALINSIGHT we don'taddressdeeperreasonsbehindthe
devicesof writing.Forexample,I havetold
My thinkingon theseissueswas deep-
ened when I re-readRalphEllison'sessay studentsin pastclassesto "describe charac-
ters using lavish details,"as if this were
"Twentieth CenturyFictionand the Black
Maskof Humanity" (1964)notlongafterhe merelya ruleto followor anotherrhetorical
died.In the essay,Ellisoncriticizesmodern- device for the writer'sbag of tricks.It is
ist writerswho seek "atechnicalperfection more,of course.Offeringcharacters in their
ratherthan a moralinsight"(38) and frets fully-detailed complexity is notjuststraining
about excessive absorptionwith literary foreffect,it is tenderingrespect.Totreatour
characters respectfully is to makea generous
techniqueandwhathe seesin moderncriti-
cismas a confusionof technicalsophistica- effortto get to know themwell, the same
tion with significance.This intriguedme, way we show respectin our nonfictional
walking-around life.
comingfromthepen of a greatliterarytech-
nicianandinnovator, authorof thesophisti- WhatI wantto learnas a teacherof fic-
catedandexperimental Man.Yet,I
Invisible tion-writing,then, is how to help young
mused,Ellison'snovelspeakseloquentlyto authorscultivatethisspiritof generosityIn-
me not becauseof his masteryof innovative steadofjust teachingcraft,I needto talkto
form and technique, but ratherbecause of them in ways that challenge them to learn
the movingly-renderedhuman being who more about their characters:Why did that
calls out from his invisibility,tryingdesper- characterdo that? What's motivatingher?
What do we know about her background,
atelyto be known.
This threadof thoughtled me to consid- her dreams,her fears,her wishes? I would
er my own teaching.I looked at some of the like to discipline myself so my first re-
writing resourcebooks on my shelf, and I sponses to a piece of fictionwould centeron
looked at my own habitsas a teacherof crea- the qualitiesof empathyand understanding:
tive writing. The sight was striking: both What'sat the heart of this human you are
tended to stress,in Ellison'swords,technical workingto portray?And if you do decide to
knock aroundor kill off this character,how
perfectionover moral insight. That is, more
time was spent on writing techniques than will you make it so we all feel the true hurt?
on the human issues in students'stories. I
realized that my students need more than

EnglishJournal 19
 LITERATURE AND HUMAN This is the way we want studentsto experi-
EXPERIENCE
ence literature,a way that allows them to
All this thinking about writing finally
exercisetheirempatheticimaginations.
brought me back around to literature.I'm Think, then, about how literature is
ready to talk to the pragmatistsnow. Here's often taughtin high school:Outlinethe plot.
A skillat what I will say:
Identify the theme. Detail the setting. List
ormal The callingof literatureis to explorehu-
main charactersand supportingcharacters.
man experience in all its dimensions and
iterary Commenton the structureof the work.Note
possibilities.Literaturedeals with our most
analysismay descriptiveand supportingdetails.Analyze
pressing concerns-family, death, religion, the mood. Look for certain literary tech-
be usefulfor a love, good and evil, destiny, will, justice,
niques: irony,symbolism,author'ssignature
few college character,courage-issues not oftencovered
style. Considerthe narrativepoint of view.
courses,butit in an Applied Communicationsor Business
Definethis work in termsof the SevenMajor
is nota highly Writingunit. Informationmost often repre- Plots, the Seven Forms of Ambiguity,Four
sents humanexperiencein abstractand gen-
marketable Universal Themes, Kohlberg's Stages,
eralized forms: facts, statistics, data.
skill,nora Literaturerepresentshuman experience in
Bloom'sTaxonomy,whatever.Writeup some
cornerstone
of the very specific individualterms of a story biographicalinfo on the author.Answerthe
questionsat the end of the selection.Makea
workplace or poem.
list of new vocabularywords. And on and
competence, Furthermore,literatureoffersa different on. I am as guiltyas anyone.
norsomething form of learningthanjust processinginfor-
Jumpingtoo quicklyinto these kinds of
mostfolks mation;it requiresus to experience,to par-
follow-up activities, we miss the boat, I
needas ticipate. Works of literature are not just think. Certainlythere are formal and aes-
abouthuman issues; the power of literature
theywalk is that it makes issues come alive for the
thetic issues to explorein all worksof litera-
aroundin ture, and I want my students to have a
reader. Think of the experience so many
theiradult vocabularyof literaryanalysis.But if that is
young readershave with Anne Frank'sdiary.
my primaryor only instructionalconcern,
lives. Whatis learnedof the Holocaustin thatlittle
the pragmatistsare completelyjustified in
book is learnedin a powerful,moving, pro-
questioning the value of the literaturecur-
foundlyintimateway.Withchillinglyevil in- riculum, their criticismcorrectlyaimed. A
sight, Hitler's propaganda minister Josef skill at formalliteraryanalysismay be useful
Goebbelssaid thata singledeathis a tragedy,
for a few college courses, but it is not a
a million deaths a statistic. We must, of
highly marketableskill, nor a cornerstoneof
course, confront the statistics about the
workplacecompetence,nor somethingmost
Holocaust, we must know the information folksneed as theywalk aroundin theiradult
thatmillions of lives were taken.Butto fully
lives.
understand,we also mustfeel the tragedyof If the heartof literatureis its exploration
single deaths, experiencethe loss in a way of human experience,considerationof the
we can shed a tear over, put faces on those
formaland aestheticpropertiesof a work of
numbers.Thatis the functionof literature.
literature must be secondary to consid-
Manyyounger readers,it seems to me, eration of the social values and ethical di-
already know this. As a parent and some- lemmas presented by the work. Bertolt
time teacher of elementary schoolers, I am
Brecht once said he didn't want people to
often amazed to see what can happen when
leave his plays thinking about the theater, he
avid young readers plunge into literature.
wanted them to leave his plays thinking
They may cry when the dogs die in Where about the world. In like fashion, our stu-
the RedFern Growsor the father comes home
dents want to use literature to think about
in Sounder. They feel in their marrowbones
the world, not just to think about the formal
the awful injustice of racism when they read
Rollof Hear My Cry.They share pio- aspects of literature. To explore the deepest
Thunder, with Laura Ingalls Wilder human concerns is why people read litera-
neer hardships
ture, and why they write it. That is what
and rehearse the demands of friendship with
enthusiastic younger readers know, and
Katherine Paterson. They care desperately
that'swhat we don't want to stifle in our high
about the fate of characters, laugh out loud,
school students by focusing too soon or too
gasp, sigh, get scared, or shiver as they read. much on technical elements of literature.

20 December1994
The skill our studentsmost need to learn "Sharing of Storiesis CommonThreadin Wide-
fromliterature in this pragmatic go-getter of Ranging LiteracyConference." 1994. Read-
11.5
ingToday (April/May): 1.
a societyis how to betterunderstand them-
Stotsky,Sandra.1989. "Literature Programs and
selvesandothers. theDevelopment of Civic TheLeaf-
It behoovesus then,to startourdiscus- let88 (1): 17-21. Identity."
sion of everyworkof literature open to the Wright,Richard.1945. BlackBoy.New York:
human issues dramatizedin it. Our first Harper& Row
questionsoughtn'tto be about form,vo- TimGillespie,pastpresidentof the OregonCouncil
cabulary, or literarymoves.Wehaveto give of Teachersof Englishandco-directorof theOregon
studentsa chance first to chew over the at WritingProjectat Lewisand ClarkCollege,teaches
LakeOswegoHighSchoolin Oregon.
quandariesof the characters, the questions
of rightandwrongtheyface,justifiableand
unjustifiable actions,admirable or antisocial 11I.
.v..E. .$.A.O .
qualities,choicesand limitations.(In this AXat~~ eflv
We......
way, as both SandraStotskyand Robert
Coleshavepointedout,civicsandsocialin- W
....................
.
quirycanbecomethe provinceof literature world
i~th... .w .de .$...... s
study as much as it is of the social studies
curriculum.) In our classrooms, we haveto th.Th~~h I~ss ~
teflctbn~t0$ X.
use literature's mainattractions, the oppor-
~oo~r~ye*s pbi~iXon
tunityto tryoutotherlivesandconnectwith
otherhumansthroughtheexerciseof imagi- ~ o ....p
.........,.....
Tenys~n~ . ........
t41 e wh
nationandempathy
Tosumup, themainclaimforliterature
thatI wantto offerto myworkforce-oriented
colleaguesis this:Weneedliterature to learn
to get along.Literature andlife convergein
thefieldof humanrelationships. Whatchar- tT~1ox
acterizes quality literature-refusal to 1NT~cON ~ .......
... E
or
stereotype generalize, fidelity to the
.OE~tLO..........M
whole complicatedtruthin all its breadth 9 .....
..$.........nb..
and subtlety,energyandinventiveness, elo-
quence,payingcarefulattention,discomfort .Nahsi
at patanswers,anda generosity andsympa- .6..t .......e
thy with others-also characterizes thought-
ful life.Thegreatdangersof ourfindesiecle
period-nihilism,barbarism, theinabilityto
the
acknowledge humanity othersoutside
of Th~p i~....... .~
......we
.N~W xr~mbev (o~
~ar~seIX.
one's own tribe, cynicism,boredom-are
perilsliterature attemptsto combat.
So let's be clear-eyed,realistic,prag-
matic.Who needs literature?We all do.
WorksCited .9: eve, t~a ynti4g
Sandra.1990."Ghosts
Cisneros, andVoices:
Writ-
ing fromObsession."
MexicanAmerican
Litera-
ture.NewYork:
Harcourt
Brace
Jovanovich. ST... .......
.... Ui . na,
Coles,Robert.1989. TheCallofStories: and
Teaching ...t ......
......y ~*
theMoralImagination. Boston:HoughtonMif-
flin. T61801,1.1*iau~ ~i~
Ellison,Ralph.1964. "TwentiethCenturyFiction p e.r.h. .........
and the Black Mask of Shadow
andAct.New York:Random Humanity."
House.
Gates, Henry Louis,Jr. 1991. "'Authenticity,'
or
the Lesson of Little Tree."New YorkTimes
BookReview(24 November):1.

Journal
English 21