Vectoring Genre and Character: A Pedagogical Model for Chaucer's<i>Troilus and Criseyde</i>and Other Multigeneric Texts

Pedagogy Apr 2008

Vectoring Genre and Character: A Pedagogical Model for Chaucer's<i>Troilus and Criseyde</i>and Other Multigeneric Texts

Tison Pugh

Abstract

Troilus and Criseyde is a work of magnificent scope and intimidating breadth. A strategy that I have found effective for addressing the potentially overwhelming pedagogical task of teaching this masterpiece is to ask students to analyze the relationships between genre and character. Through this process, I encourage students to engage in vectored analysis, which I describe as the examination of a text from at least two converging yet separate perspectives. Encouraging students to examine literature from complementary and vectoring perspectives enables them to make the cognitive leap from a static analysis of one issue to a more vibrant exploration of textual interplay. Vectored analysis provides a pedagogical foundation for students of all abilities to approach multigeneric texts and to reach deeper insights about them. In this essay, I demonstrate this approach with Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, but it could be readily reformulated for a range of multigeneric texts.

Journal: Pedagogy
Published: 2008-04-01
DOI: 10.1215/15314200-2007-044
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multimodality

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

Brockman (2010)

Taking Stock

Pedagogy

Cites in this index (0)

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