# content
In most English classes the short story has become a kind of literary specimen to be dissected. Every time a story of mine appears in a Freshman anthology, I have a vision of it, with its little organs laid open, like a frog in a bottle.

I realize that a certain amount of this what-is-the significance has to go on, but I think something has gone wrong in the process when, for so many students, the story becomes simply a problem to be solved, something which you evaporate to get Instant Enlightenment.

A story really isn’t any good unless it successfully resists paraphrase, unless it hangs on and expands in the mind. Properly, you analyze to enjoy, but it’s equally true that to analyze with any discrimination, you have to have enjoyed already, and I think that the best reason to hear a story read is that it should stimulate that primary enjoyment.

Flannery O’Connor, Mystery & Manners. Emphasis mine.

There is a lot of hand-wringing going on about reading (alt) – especially among parents, teachers, administrators, etc.

My 11th grade literature teacher’s best move was assigning a summer reading list with an astonishing range of options across every category (including length, reading difficulty, and if you like X, then read Y). Same story with my Literature 1102 professor at the University of Georgia.

I think screens are the proximate cause, but screens are not the only variable. When I see a lot of how literacy is taught in the US and around the world, sometimes I think we’ve just lost the plot.

# contentMap.en
In most English classes the short story has become a kind of literary specimen to be dissected. Every time a story of mine appears in a Freshman anthology, I have a vision of it, with its little organs laid open, like a frog in a bottle.

I realize that a certain amount of this what-is-the significance has to go on, but I think something has gone wrong in the process when, for so many students, the story becomes simply a problem to be solved, something which you evaporate to get Instant Enlightenment.

A story really isn’t any good unless it successfully resists paraphrase, unless it hangs on and expands in the mind. Properly, you analyze to enjoy, but it’s equally true that to analyze with any discrimination, you have to have enjoyed already, and I think that the best reason to hear a story read is that it should stimulate that primary enjoyment.

Flannery O’Connor, Mystery & Manners. Emphasis mine.

There is a lot of hand-wringing going on about reading (alt) – especially among parents, teachers, administrators, etc.

My 11th grade literature teacher’s best move was assigning a summer reading list with an astonishing range of options across every category (including length, reading difficulty, and if you like X, then read Y). Same story with my Literature 1102 professor at the University of Georgia.

I think screens are the proximate cause, but screens are not the only variable. When I see a lot of how literacy is taught in the US and around the world, sometimes I think we’ve just lost the plot.

# name
Flannery O’Connor on Teaching Literature

# nameMap.en
Flannery O’Connor on Teaching Literature

# preview.content
In most English classes the short story has become a kind of literary specimen to be dissected. Every time a story of mine appears in a Freshman anthology, I have a vision of it, with its little organs laid open, like a frog in a bottle.

I realize that a certain amount of this what-is-the significance has to go on, but I think something has gone wrong in the process when, for so many students, the story becomes simply a problem to be solved, something which you evaporate to get Instant […]

# summary
In most English classes the short story has become a kind of literary specimen to be dissected. Every time a story of mine appears in a Freshman anthology, I have a vision of it, with its little organs laid open, like a frog in a bottle.

I realize that a certain amount of this what-is-the significance has to go on, but I think something has gone wrong in the process when, for so many students, the story becomes simply a problem to be solved, something which you evaporate to get Instant […]

# summaryMap.en
In most English classes the short story has become a kind of literary specimen to be dissected. Every time a story of mine appears in a Freshman anthology, I have a vision of it, with its little organs laid open, like a frog in a bottle.

I realize that a certain amount of this what-is-the significance has to go on, but I think something has gone wrong in the process when, for so many students, the story becomes simply a problem to be solved, something which you evaporate to get Instant […]