The Popular Arts and the Teaching of Literature.

In teaching literature appreciation, study of the academic criticism concerning a literary work may prove neither relevant nor more comprhensive to students. Moreover, attempts to overcome this difficulty by conducting classes in which students discuss the work freely often degenerate into cliche swapping and the cataloguing of superficialities. One solution to these problems is to take advantage of students' immense experience with the popular arts, considering literature as anything with a strong verbal element--including music. Students' internalized knowledge of these arts provides great enjoyment and an understanding of their structures. Thus, effective descriptive criticism in literature study can both proceed on the assumption that all works are contrived from similar conventions and structures, and lead to comprehension, discussion, and appreciation of less familiar areas. (JM)