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Full-Text Articles in American Literature
William Carlos Williams’ “The Young Housewife”: A Postcritical Reading Vis‐À‐Vis Shel Silverstein's 'The Giving Tree', Sue Norton
Books/Book Chapters
Using the framework of Rita Felski in her 2015 book The Limits of Critique, this essay offers a postcritical analysis of William Carlos Williams’ 1915 poem “The Young Housewife.” Its intention is to show how Williams’ poem or any poem can be approached through a variety of critical lenses, but that these may get in the way of more immediate, rewarding ways of reading. Shel Silverstein's well-known 1964 short book The Giving Tree is similar at the level of “plot” to “The Young Housewife.” Taken in tandem, these two texts neatly exemplify the value of postcritical/non-resistant reading.
Incorporating One’S Own Literary Criticism Into The Curriculum: The Teachable Essay Via John Updike’S Short Stories, Sue Norton
Books/Book Chapters
University students are approaching literary study at a time when social justice occupies centrality in public discourse, a time when racism, sexism, Eurocentrism, and Americentrism are commanding unprecedented levels of interest and analysis both inside the academy and out of it. If students in the literature classroom are encouraged to postpone ideologically driven readings, just initially, they will be better able to observe how fine literature achieves its artistry. They may then become more ardent, attentive readers who can interpret the world and the word with refined criticality.