Authorizing Readers: Resistance and Respect in the Teaching of Literature

by Peter J. Rabinowitz, Michael W. Smith, Wayne C. Booth (Foreword)

A discussion of a central paradox faced by literature teachers - have teachers taught well if their students have not learned to recognize the way authors expect them to read? But shouldn't students be taught the skills of resisting what authors expect and what teachers see as the right to reading?

Genres: Education, Theory, Nonfiction

173 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 1997

Reviews

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rabinowitz and Smith do a good job of balancing theory and practice while advocating for authorial reading. One of the biggest weaknesses of the book though is how dated it feels. Most of the pop culture references they make come from the 90s and may not even be intelligible to new teachers in 2016. More importantly though, the discussion of homosexuality is outdated. Of course the authors can't be faulted for not having anticipated the dramatic cultural shifts that have taken place in the last eighteen years.

Having said that, this was an assigned text in a graduate course I took in 2012, so at least in my professor's opinion the ideas expressed still have currency. I tend to agree with her, but the book needs an update to address not only the cultural references and societal shifts, but also the developments in literary and pedagogical theory over the last two decades.