Literature & Pedagogy

Building upon the approach to reading literature pioneered by Dr Bruce Gardiner at the University of Sydney for over four decades, Literature and Pedagogy is devoted to the way that texts, literary texts in particular, seek to instruct us.

Bruce Gardiner has inspired generations of professionals in the field of literary criticism. He stands, if you like, for a scholarly ethos, which is at risk of disappearing. His distinctive academic career, which was almost entirely devoted to teaching, invites us to think about the relationships between literary studies and pedagogy. It also invites us to ask what role a unique pedagogical style plays in the evolution of a discipline. How does intergenerational transmission between teacher and student play out both with and beyond disciplinary boundaries?

This collection explores these questions as a contribution to efforts to resist the neo-liberalisation and neo-conservatism of contemporary academic culture. Contributors draw from inspiring encounters with Bruce Gardiner to reflect upon the reading of pedagogy in literary works, put this method into practice by offering new interpretations of pedagogical mechanisms employed within important literary works and cultural phenomena, and present pieces inspired by Gardiner such as poetry, art, translation and creative non-fiction.

Techniques and methodologies of education are traditionally believed to offer students the keys with which to unlock the secrets of literature and foster its appreciation. Literature and Pedagogy offers a new perspective, showing teachers and students of both education and literature how literary works present their own methods for reflecting critically upon how and why we learn, read and teach.