Fictional Pedagogy: The Depiction of Teaching in Literary Works

Date of Award

Spring 6-12-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. in English

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Literary Arts

First Advisor

Patrick Cottrell

Second Advisor

Joanna Howard

Third Advisor

Graham Foust

Fourth Advisor

Jennifer Pap

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Pedagogy, Teaching, Schools, Novel, Fiction

Abstract

When literary scholars turn to representations of teaching in fiction, they tend to focus on character, politics, history and form. Writing on the bildungsroman, for instance, scholars have drawn on scenes of teaching for insights into nationhood, childhood, neurodivergence, and social class. From the tutors in James Joyce’s novels to the gendered strictures of Jane Eyre’s boarding school, or the representation of impossible forms of pedagogy in science fiction—such as those depicting characters rehearsing magical spells—the focus has not been on pedagogy as such, but on the myriad methodological approaches popular in literary studies. Scholars have thus neglected what “scenes of instruction” can teach us about pedagogy. My dissertation addresses this gap by staging pedagogical encounters in a novel titled Remembrance Day to explore what representations of pedagogy make possible at the intersection of education and literary art. In this novel and in its critical preface, I defend and explore literature’s longstanding interest in envisioning forms of education. The novel project realizes the critical initiative, which coins for these forms “fictional pedagogy.” What are teaching and learning? How do literary characters behave when pedagogy transpires? What can pedagogy look like? And what do depictions of sharing and acquiring knowledge offer to literary scholars and educators who are looking to re-imagine the work they do? I conclude that literary representations of pedagogy offer rich, messy and ambiguous accounts of what it feels, looks and sounds like to learn and teach. Analyzing these accounts can transform our teaching, just as knowledge of the pedagogy in a text can produce new insights for literary study.

Copyright Date

6-2026

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.

Rights Holder

Monroe Lawrence

Provenance

Received from Author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

172 pgs

File Size

726 KB

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