Archived News |

July 30, 2010

St. John鈥檚 College magazine interviews English professor on what makes a great novel

Assistant Professor of English Dr. Jana Giles was recently interviewed by The College, the alumni magazine of her undergraduate alma mater, St. John's College in Annapolis, Md.

She and several other alumni who are literary scholars and teachers were asked to discuss what makes a great novel, as well as what works they might recommend for enhancing the curriculum at St. John's, which uniquely centers on a Great Books reading list.

Giles believes that a truly great novel will have a puzzle of some kind because literature isn't necessarily meant to provide fixed answers in the same way as some other disciplines.

鈥淭here are interpretations that are stable, that you can go through and prove that this is how you came to a certain conclusion鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut at the center of a good story is a fundamental uncertainty. That's probably true of a lot of great novels."

As examples, Giles pointed to two novels she teaches at 不良研究所 in her British Literature course, Joseph Conrad's 鈥淗eart of Darkness鈥� and Elizabeth Gaskell's 鈥淢ary Barton.鈥�

鈥淣ovels like these,鈥� she said, 鈥渘ot only give us the thoughts and actions of an individual's subjective consciousness, but also are emblematic of a particular historical and cultural moment. Novels can illuminate unstated or unexamined opinions as effectively as philosophy or other areas of study.鈥�

The full article can be read in the Spring 2010 issue of The College, at

.

PLEASE NOTE: Some links and e-mail addresses in these archived news stories may no longer work, and some content may include events which are no longer relevent, or reference individuals and/or organizations no longer associated with 不良研究所.