A Novel Way to Treat a Writer

January 2009

"Hi Sue, I'm doing your book, we have to read it and just wanna say it's the most boring crap book I ever read, so thanks a lot for ruining my life. Cheers."

"Hi Susan, we're doing your book, I've gotta do coursework only I don't understand about context, what is it, and I don't no any other gothic writers and we've got to compare you, what's gothic anyway. Pleeeeze reply asap."

"Hi. I've got this essay to do for tomoz, it's about I'm the king of the castle and does the setting play an important part in the story. Can you reply tonight and do it in bullet points so I can copy and paste it straight in. thanks you're a star in advance, cheers..."

"Hi, we have to do this essay on context with your book, and cultural context so what are those please, please explain carefully, I don't get it."

Those are genuine, and very representative, emails from school pupils, sent via my author website. The books they refer to are I'm the King of the Castle, set for GCSE English, and The Woman in Black (Theatre Studies). I also receive (far fewer) questions about Strange Meeting, set for the A-level module on the First World War.

Two years ago, inundated by questions on the books, I set up a special section of my blog in which I answered some of the Frequently Asked Questions on all three novels and occasionally took up a particular topic related to one of them and wrote about it at length. I hoped this would ease the flow of emails I had to answer. It didn't. I don't think any of them got beyond "Contact Susan" before firing off their query - looking into the FAQs seemed too much trouble. But then, so, quite frequently, was reading one of the books themselves, or reading all of it rather than bite-sized chunks - let alone actually answering questions, writing an essay, doing coursework. Why bother, when the author was there to do it for you? Worse, I have had questions not just from pupils but from teachers explaining that they are studying the books via videos of old TV versions and reading only short sections of the text itself. "They find it hard to read a whole novel," one teacher apologised. In that case, they should not be doing GCSE literature at all.

I am happy to reply to the cries for help. It has become distressingly clear to me that too many school pupils are taught badly, lazily, unintelligently and cursorily. They are not taught how to read and understand novels or to write essays and coursework and answer questions about them. Judging by the evidence of their emails, many should not be studying English literature at all, but with guidance, understanding and above all enthusiastic teaching they could certainly be helped to get more out of books - any books - than they are.

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Imtheotherdave

January 5th, 2009
4:01 PM

Websites like the below are unhelpful too, I found. Students far too often read the summaries and wrote their essays accordingly. Do not ask how I know this. http://www.novelguide.com/thecatcherintherye/novelsummary.html

David Hepworth

January 5th, 2009
10:01 AM

You're so right. I have read hundreds of books for pleasure but I had never heard of some of the literary devices my own children (none of whom read for pleasure) were expected to spot in their English Literature studies.

Clair Woodward

January 5th, 2009
12:01 AM

I understand that some A-Level boards do not even require the reading of a whole Shakespeare play any more, simply extracts. How can any children learn anything if they aren't allowed to esxperience a play as a whole? This is a wonderful feature, and ought to be required reading for anyone involved with education - particularly students, who could learn some basic courtesies from it, if nothing else.

Susan Hill

December 31st, 2008
1:12 PM

I read books to a deadline for O Level, A level, and a BA in English Honours. I was between the ages of 14-21. I don`t have to use my imagination, just my memory

Danny

December 31st, 2008
11:12 AM

As a teacher, I agree with Susan that perhaps not all students should be studying Literature but English teachers with a passion for Literature are stuck between a rock and a hard place. It is not easy to be faced with twenty students in a bottom set who have no interest (genuinely) in reading or making the effort to understand a novel/poem and no skills with which to do so but teachers are often forced into what they teach by their schools and by exam boards and what we try to do is make the most of a bad situation. This does often result in reading only extracts of texts and relying on TV Dramas to relate the whole story and then trying to design sign-posted essay plans that lead students to some sort of answer that might gain an E/F or even G grade. One might argue that this is not really teaching Literature at all but what is the alternative? To simply teach the new Functional English? In my dept we find ourselves trapped between the possibility of English becoming a very dull, life-serving process based subject or trying to help students capture some essence of the magic of Literature through the teaching of novels and poems as described above. The result is that we try our best to do both. As a writer I agree that Transformational Writing at A Level is not a good thing. If there are genuinely talented young writers in a school then they should be given the opportunity to develop their own voices. They should not be attempting to mimic Hemingway or Woolf. Maybe the exam boards should bite the bullet and create a fully fledged Creative Writing Qualification instead of trying to attach it somewhat tenuously to the study of Literature.

Dave Weeden

December 22nd, 2008
9:12 PM

'"They find it hard to read a whole novel," one teacher apologised. In that case, they should not be doing GCSE literature at all.' Dear Ms Hill, I don't know if you know this but math is hard, science is hard. GCSE students presumably find these subjects hard. Like PE and history and geography... I read novels from quite an early age. I grew up in a bookish house. But reading a book to a deadline is the most unnatural thing and having to give assessments of same (assessments which may be condescended to, sneered at, and rubbished) is worse. You're a novelist; use some imagination. Teenagers don't have the self-confidence to defend their positions. They'd rather be right.

Susan Hill

December 22nd, 2008
5:12 PM

Thank you. I hope you are in the process of developing said passion, Tom.

Tom Hatton

December 21st, 2008
9:12 PM

Great article. As an A-level literature student I can sympathise with a great deal of what Susan Hill writes, particularly the lack of emphasis on enjoying novels, and learning to develop a passion for reading.

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