ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the visions of literary study that have been offered by various schools of thought at different points in history, and advocates specifically for the importance of young people having what we term ‘authentic’ reading experiences when they study fiction. A key area informing conversations about the aims and purposes of English in general and studying fiction specifically are questions about equity in education. There are specific challenges for studying fiction as an aspect of the academic curriculum which has a direct correlate, reading for pleasure, out in the world. Conflicting ideas about the focus of English as an academic discipline, as well as an uneasy marriage between language and literature, also arose around the subject when it was introduced in universities, as well as in schools. Part of this shift in the emphasis of language study, and therefore English, arose much later, in the 1940s and 1950s, with the emergence of ‘London English’.
