This book argues that the history of English Studies is embedded in its classroom practice, and its practice in its history. Some of its foundational struggles are still being lived out today. English is characterized as a 'boundary' subject, active in dialogue across a number of imagined borders, especially those between academic and non-specialized readerships. While the subject discipline maintains strong pedagogic principles, many of its principles and values are obscure or even invisible to students and potential students. The book cross-fertilizes the study of English as a subject with the analysis of selected literary texts read as pedagogic parables. It concludes with a call for a return to the subject's pedagogic roots.

Autorentext
Ben Knights is Emeritus Professor of English and Cultural Studies at Teesside University, UK, and a former director of the UK HE English Subject Centre. His research concerns the history and day-to-day practice of English and related subjects. His most recent book was Masculinities in Text and Teaching (edited) (Palgrave). 

Inhalt
Introduction: Pedagogic Criticism.- Chapter 1 Heroic Reading.- Chapter 2 Turning the Screw of Criticism.- Chapter 3 Imaginary Burglars: English Studies and the Hinterland of Thought.- Chapter 4 The Hidden Aesthetic of English Teaching.- Chapter 5 Pilgrims and Progression.- Chapter 6 Fragments and Ruins: Teaching in the Shadow of Catastrophe.- Chapter 7 Getting Close: Masculinities in Literary Pedagogy.- Chapter 8 Writing as Teachers.- Afterword.