This book is an attempt to offer a justification for the teaching of literature in schools and universities, and is intended as a contribution to the philosophy of literary education. The issues which Dr Gribble discusses could all be bracketed under the general heading of the relationship between literature and life. The book is written for those readers and teachers of literature who step back from their immediate engagement with a novel, play, or poem and ask such questions as 'What knowledge or understanding, if any, have I gained from the work? Of what significance is the author's...