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The sociologist Sherry Turkle wrote:
“Pay attention, but let your mind wander. Focus on detail and discover the hidden dimensions of ordinary things. Slow things down so that they can be opened out.”

This advice, drawn from the world of psychoanalysis, is just as applicable to the study of Literature: we read carefully but creatively; we pay attention, and we let the text act on us.

But the study of Literature, is far from a solitary activity. Professor Rick Rylance observes that “The mode of knowledge with which we engage when we discuss literature – open, discursive, provisional, revisable, intersubjective – is emblematic of the way values should operate in society.” Through our study of Literature, we learn more about ourselves, about others and about the communities in which we participate. It is right that we bring something of ourselves to the reading of Literature, and it is right that every person reads a text in a slightly different way. This is the fundamental tenet of Literary Theory.

At Downside, the English curriculum is constructed around balance: of old and new, of male and female, of well-established authority figures and of new, under-represented voices. We acknowledge but question the canon; while recognising that our subject owes a great debt to dead white men, we welcome and celebrate the new approaches which have championed new voices and fresh perspectives in, especially, the last half-century. To this end, pupils at Downside will find the texts and topics they study drawn from this same sense of balance; in Third Form a half-term on Romeo and Juliet might be followed by half a term studying the 21st century verse novel The Poet X by Dominican-born spoken word poet Elizabeth Acevedo; at GCSE, themes encountered in John Steinbeck’s classic Depression-era novella Of Mice and Men might be picked up in work on modern texts exploring the journalist’s role in society, or a wartime speech by Winston Churchill might be compared to that of Malala Yousafzai speaking to the United Nations as a 17-year old schoolgirl.

English Literature should never lose sight of the fact that at its heart lies a timeless activity: a pupil sitting alone with a book. But alongside this, English allows for a multiplicity of approaches and activities, and English lessons as Downside might include include: delivering speeches; engaging in class debates on moral and ethical issues raised by literary texts; drama activities to explore texts perhaps from empathetic perspectives; journalistic assignments; group discussion and flipped learning; a combination of individual endeavour and group collaboration.

Anything done in the classroom is always supported by wider reading habits, and our regular visits to the beautiful Petre Library are a chance to browse the shelves for perhaps a brand-new award-winning work of Young Adult Fiction, a classic novel which has been thumbed by generations of Downside pupils, or literary non-fiction to help explore and develop areas of individual passion and knowledge.

The critic Jonathan Bate comments that the study of literature “transports us out of our own world in such a way that when we return home, we sense that we have become more human.” Our aim at Downside is to ensure that pupils leave school equipped with the tools and habits to continue a life-long habit of reading, exploring and thinking about great literature.

ANDREW O’SULLIVAN 
Head of English
AOSullivan@downside.co.uk

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