Let "The Road of Literature" Be Rehabilitated
为英语"文学道路"正名

The road of literature" has recently become a pejorative term. Behind such a phenomenon lurks a prevalent assumption: that English education is a matter of ingesting information, of mastering technique, of acquiring facts and know how, whereas literature is a soft option, an indulgence or a mere trimming to decorate the hard center of the market oriented syllabus. In order to counter such a trend, we need first of all to address the following theoretical issues: What is the primary task of an English department in China? Is the teaching of English literature relevant to the Chinese market economy today? If yes, in what way is it relevant? How does one persuade a member of modern Chinese society that there is a profit in reading, say, Chaucer and Shakespeare in harkening to any non Chinese and, "worse", non modern non Chinese voices? While re examining those questions, we need to improve some of our teaching methods that are still prevalent today, in order to make sure that literature is given its due status in English teaching programs.