ABSTRACT
English Literature is a widely taught subject in Hong Kong universities but it is often considered a subject for the ‘elites’ in secondary schools. It is then a subject that is more likely to be associated with cultural capital and status in Hong Kong than it is in the university systems of native English-speaking regions. Hong Kong is an extremely competitive and stratified educational environment and recent studies reveal students are suffering from high levels of stress. This chapter examines how English Literature can act as a subject that can help change or enrich the ‘success narratives’ of young people. The chapter examines the ‘success narratives’ and responses of 510 secondary school students, a large majority of whom have not studied English Literature, to questionnaires on university and also the ‘reflections’ of third and fourth year university students on an English Literature course in Hong Kong.
