The Joys of Teaching Literature, started in September 2010 and with a Spanish version since July 2021, is a blog for ranting and raving about teaching and researching English Literature, Cultural Studies, and Gender Studies, and other aspects of the Anglophone world. I publish a post once a week, usually on Monday. Please, download the yearly volumes for free or read the volume collecting some of the entries (Passionate Professing: The Context and Practice of English Literature, 2023). The comments option is not available, sorry, but you may contact me through my e-mail address, Sara.Martin@uab.cat. The contents of this blog are protected by a type 4 Creative Common License (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (by-nc-nd)).

  • BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED AUTHORS TALK ABOUT THEIR CRAFT (AND I PARAPHRASE THEM WITH SOME COMMENT)

    M. John Harrison won yesterday the Booker Prize with his science-fiction novel The End of Everything. There will be endless pieces about whether sf fans have reason enough to feel happy that the genre has been finally recognized as a potential source of literature, but that’s not what I want to discuss. I found Harrison’s…

  • LOS AUTORES FINALISTAS DEL PREMIO BOOKER HABLAN DE SU OFICIO (Y YO LOS PARAFRASEO CON ALGÚN QUE OTRO COMENTARIO)

    M. John Harrison ganó ayer el Premio Booker con su novela de ciencia ficción The End of Everything. Habrá innumerables artículos y posts sobre si los fans de la ciencia ficción tienen motivos suficientes para alegrarse de que el género haya sido finalmente reconocido como fuente potencial de literatura, pero eso no es lo que…

  • NOVELS ARE NOVELS: AGAINST THE PREDOMINANCE OF ‘LITERARY’ FICTION

    I’m using for my subject Contemporary Literature in English passages from Robert Eaglestone’s Contemporary Fiction: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2013). This is a slim volume, as it corresponds to the series, with accessible language (unlike most literary criticism), and quite bold in its approach to a daunting topic: how to define and understand current…

  • TODAS LAS NOVELAS SON NOVELAS: CONTRA EL DOMINIO DE LA FICCIÓN ‘LITERARIA’

    Estoy usando en mi asignatura Literatura Contemporánea en inglés pasajes de Contemporary Fiction: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2013) de Robert Eaglestone. Es un volumen breve, como corresponde a la serie, con un lenguaje accesible a diferencia de la mayoría de la crítica literaria, y bastante audaz en su enfoque sobre un tema abrumador: cómo…

  • THINKING ABOUT FILM STUDIES IN EDUCATION: A GLARING GAP

    Today I’m discussing film education. In Spain, ‘Educación Plástica, Visual y Audiovisual’ (EPVA) [Plastic, Visual, and Audiovisual Education] was introduced in 1990 as one of the main subjects to be taught along the three secondary education years of the compulsory secondary education course ESO (ages 12-16). The EPVA block now called ‘Image and Visual/Audiovisual Communication’…