ABSTRACT
When students embarking on 16–19 courses are asked about their decision to study English literature, many of them will refer to their experience of reading novels. They are more likely to have a favourite novel than a favourite poem or play, and the novel is the type of text that they’re most likely to encounter in their reading outside the classroom, embedded in their consciousness since childhood as a source of enjoyment and escapism. Yet its very familiarity means that the novel can be an extremely difficult genre to teach. It is often in studying the novel that the difference between reading for pleasure and reading as part of an academic discipline is felt most acutely. Some students resent the fact that the novels set for 16–19 study are not texts that they would choose to read. While the 16–19 canon has widened considerably over the past decade or so, there is still a marked difference between the literary fiction prescribed by awarding bodies and the thrillers, chick-lit and vampire romances that many contemporary teenagers might prefer. In addition, students can have strong emotional reactions to the novels they study, and while this might lead to a highly productive engagement with the text, it also risks descending into naive readings in which characters are treated as if they are real people and the development of narrative is viewed as little more than an opportunity for speculation and gossip. Because of this, it’s in teaching the novel that teachers are perhaps most likely to be accused of ‘spoiling’ the experience of literature for students who want to enjoy their set texts on a much more simple level: there’s a sense that while drama and poetry are fair game for academic analysis, the novel should be left alone.
