Cirrus@Austlit

'The First World War was a conflict of unprecedented proportions that saw staggering loss of life. The catalyst for huge political and social changes, the war was in part shaped through propaganda, film, photography, poetry, memoir, and music. These artistic realms, in turn, influenced gender roles, the fate of empires, extreme political movements, and new aesthetic formations.The volume s scope reflects the vibrancy of today s instructors as they contend with the many issues critical for teaching the First World War in a variety of classroom settings, including Critical paradigms used in thinking about the war, such as its relation to modernism The global reach of the war s representations, including the Middle East and South Asia Cultural motifs connected to the war, from psychiatry, pacifism, and consumer culture to the 1918 influenza pandemic."' (Publication summary)

'Australia and New Zealand, united geographically by their location in the South Pacific and linguistically by their English-speaking inhabitants, share the strong bond of hope for cultural diversity and social equality—one often challenged by history, starting with the appropriation of land from their indigenous peoples. This volume explores significant themes and topics in Australian and New Zealand literature. In their introduction, the editors address both the commonalities and differences between the two nations’ literatures by considering literary and historical contexts and by making nuanced connections between the global and the local. Contributors share their experiences teaching literature on the iconic landscape and ecological fragility; stories and perspectives of convicts, migrants, and refugees; and Maori and Aboriginal texts, which add much to the transnational turn.' (Publication summary)

'A prolific and enduringly popular author—and an icon of American fiction—Jack London is a rewarding choice for inclusion in classrooms from middle school to graduate programs. London’s biography and the role played by celebrity have garnered considerable attention, but the breadth of his personal experiences and political views and the many historical and cultural contexts that shaped his work are key to gaining a nuanced view of London’s corpus of works, as this volume’s wide-ranging perspectives and examples attest.The first section of this volume, “Materials,” surveys the many resources available for teaching London, including editions of his works, sources for his photography, and audiovisual aids. In part 2, “Approaches,” contributors recommend practices for teaching London’s works through the lenses of socialism and class, race, gender, ecocriticism and animal studies, theories of evolution, legal theory, and regional history, both in frequently taught texts such as The Call of the Wild, “To Build a Fire,” and Martin Eden and in his lesser-known works.' (Source: MLA website)

'The novels of the South African writer J. M. Coetzee won him global recognition and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003. His work offers substantial pedagogical richness and challenges. Coetzee treats such themes as race, ageing, gender, animal rights, power, violence, colonial history and accountability, the silent or silenced other, sympathy, and forgiveness in an allusive and detached prose that avoids obvious answers or easy ethical reassurance.' (Publication summary)

'This collection of thirty-two essays in the MLA series Options for Teaching offers an array of solutions to these challenges, reflecting the wide variety of institutions, courses, and students described by the contributors. An annotated bibliography is provided, with a listing of useful Web sites.'