Enjoy a book, not wade through a nightmare. Tips Eugenia Abelyuk

MOSCOW. A book by a teacher and philologist Eugenia Abelyuk “Reading Practice” on the formation of a thoughtful reading skill has been published at the VES publishing house.

The new book by Evgenia Abelyuk is a logical continuation of the two-volume “History of Russian Literature of the 20th Century”, created in collaboration with Konstantin Polivanov. The main idea of both editions - the study of literature at school should not be associated with a painful attempt to grasp the immensity. To analyze, having run over the tops, not having understood even half of what was read. Forget forever after receiving the certificate. The main idea of Reading Practice and History is not enough to saturate the program with complex, iconic works of great writers. The main thing is to teach thoughtful, informed reading, the ability to work with text, the flexibility of thinking, broadening one’s horizons.

The attempt to analyze Solzhenitsyn’s miniature “Tiny” by high school students, which is described in one of the first chapters of the new book by Evgeny Semenovna, is very revealing. It clearly demonstrates an unconscious desire to simplify the text and misinterpretations. And the point is not at all the low intellectual level of today’s students. One of the main causes and problems, according to Evgenia Semenovna, is the lack of time for slow reading. The exorbitantly hyped up of their well-intentioned program for such a luxury is not designed. It cuts off the opportunity to read carefully, savor, opening layer by layer, to understand the author’s intent.

The examples of analysis of literary works presented in the book, the development of a new artistic language, the development of the skill of visual commentary, fostering a reading culture, based on well-known works of art, are invaluable material for many categories of readers. Teachers, schoolchildren, all who are not alien to the problems of Russian literature. And then you will want to return to the books you read at school in order to get intellectual pleasure. And do not get through them, like through a nightmare, as the French writer Francois Moriac once said.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru