The Idea of Difficulty in Literature (SUNY series, Literacy, Culture, and Learning: Theory and Practice) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0791406733 ISBN 13: 9780791406731

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 1991

Synopsis

This book redefines the nature of textual difficulty in literature and shows the implications of the new definition for teachers at all levels of education. Contrary to the traditional use of grade levels or readability formulae, the authors redefine difficulty in terms of readers and the texts they meet. They base their arguments on contemporary linguistic theory, on historical and comparative studies of criticism, on literary theory about readers and texts, on post-Freudian psychology, on empirical research concerning the nature of reading literature, and on studies of classrooms, curricula, and testing. What emerges is a coherent work that builds a case for seeing difficulty in literature as a human phenomenon more than a textual one.

About this title

About the Author

Alan C. Purves is Director of the Center for Writing and Literacy, and Professor of English and Humanities at the State University of New York at Albany.

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0791406733
• ISBN 13: 9780791406731
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: Purves Alan C.