Theory and Practice: An Interview with Louise M. Rosenblatt Author(s): NICHOLAS J. KAROLIDES and Louise M. Rosenblatt Source: Language Arts, Vol. 77, No. 2, COLLABORATIONS (NOVEMBER 1999), pp. 158-170 Published by: National Council of Teachers of English Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41484075 . Accessed: 14/01/2014 23:31 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. National Council of Teachers of English is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Language Arts. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Tue, 14 Jan 2014 23:31:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Theory and Practice: An Interview with Louise M. Rosenblatt NICHOLAS J. KAROLIDES In thisarticle, Nicholas Karolides has a conversationwith Longrecognized as a preem- inentleader in our profes- distinguishededucator Louise Rosenblatt , this year's Outstanding sion,Louise M. Rosenblatt has been chosento receive Educatorin theLanguage Arts. Recipients of this annual award thefourth NCTE Awardfor OutstandingEducator in are selectedby membersof the ElementarySection of the the Language Arts. Her presencein our fieldand NationalCouncil of Teachers of English. her influencecan be mea- suredby the frequency with whichshe is cited,not only in NCTE periodicals,but alsoin thetexts of our disci- plineand others. As a writer and speaker,as a creativethinker, Rosenblatt's energetic and dedicatedespousal of a theoreticaldoctrine and itsapplica- tionin ourclassrooms has indeedbeen massively influential sinceLiterature as Explorationburst upon thelanguage arts scenein 1938. In "Reaffirmations,"herepilogue to thefifth edition of Lit- eratureas Exploration(1995), Louisereveals features of her backgroundthat prepared her fordeveloping her transac- tionaltheory. She highlights, first, her family's role. Intellectu- ally influencedby antiauthoritarian,European writers and such Americansas Emersonand Thoreau,she was "saved fromacquiring lingering Victorian attitudes - especiallyabout gender,class, and ethnicdifferences." Peter Kropotkin's ideas about"mutual aid" supplanted the struggle-for-survival ideas ofsocial Darwinism. Rosenblatt'sundergraduate experience at Barnard,the women'scollege at ColumbiaUniversity in New York,was not conventional.An "honorstudent" during her last two years,she did not followthe traditional liberal arts English programbut instead read, mainly on herown, intensively in Englishand Americanliterature and widelyin thesocial sci- ences.Upon graduation,she accepteda graduatefellowship at theUniversity of Grenoble. In thefollowing years, she was acceptedas a doctoralcandidate in ComparativeLiterature at theSorbonne, the faculty of letters of the University of Paris. She receivedher doctorate in 1931; herdissertation, written in French,Lldée de l'art pour l'art dans la littératureanglais pen- LANGUAGEARTS, VOL. 77, NO. 2, NOVEMBER1999 dantla périodevictorienne , was publishedthe same year. Sub- This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Tue, 14 Jan 2014 23:31:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LOUISE ROSENBLATT sequently,while teachingat BarnardCollege, Rosenblatt and her theoryhas provento be "relevantto decade after undertookgraduate studies in anthropologywith Professors decade of criticaland pedagogicalrevolution" (as citedin FranzBoas, the great founder of American anthropology, and Rosenblatt,1995, p. vii). Chiefamong these publications, RuthBenedict. TheReader ; the Text , the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the During her Barnardaffiliation, . Rosenblatt's combined LiteraryWork (1978, revisedpaperback edition 1994) ex- trainingin literature,anthropology, and theother social sci- pressesher theoretical vision as does "TheTransactional The- encesled, in 1935,to her appointment to the Commission on ory of Readingand Writing"(1994). (A selectionof her HumanRelations of theProgressive Education Association. publicationsfollows the interview.) Anindependent outgrowth of her work with the commission LouiseRosenblatt has servedthe profession in otherways was the writingof her Literatureas Exploration(first pub- as well.She was appointedto theCommission on Englishof lishedin 1938, reissuedin 1968, 1976, 1983, and 1995). theCollege Entrance Examination Board as wellas theCom- Her contactswith educationspecialists and her visitsto missionon theEnglish Curriculum of the National Council schoolswhere innovative ideas had been introducedsup-* of Teachersof English.For thelatter, she was chairof the portedthe decision to write this text, as didher own teaching committeeon thefirst two years of college; she contributed to experiencesin introductorycourses. In thesecourses she had thefive-volume set oftexts that emerged from the commis- begunto developinsights about thenature of the reading sion'swork. She has alsoserved as a memberof the Executive experienceas wellas discussionstrategies in contrastto the Committeeof theConference on CollegeComposition and traditionalteacher-dominated lecture which was orientedto- Communication.Additionally, she has been a consultantfor wardfuture English majors. stateboards of education. LouiseRosenblatt has beenteaching and activelyengaged Amongthe many honors that Rosenblatt has receivedare in advancingreforms in educationfor six decades, starting in theFranco-American Exchange Fellow, 1925-1926; Guggen- 1927 withher first decade of teaching experience at Barnard heimFellow, 1942-1943; NYU GreatTeacher Award, 1972; College.After twenty years in liberalarts departments at NCTE DistinguishedResearch, 1980; Leland Jacobs Award for ColumbiaUniversity (Barnard) and BrooklynCollege, she Literature,1981; the Assemblyon AdolescentLiterature taughtat New YorkUniversity's School of Educationfrom Award,1984; and theIRA Reading Hall ofFame, 1992. The 1948 to 1972,after which she reached mandatory retirement Societyfor the Advancement ofAmerican Philosophy devoted age.(It was mygreat good fortune to have been both her stu- a plenarysession to her work at its 1997 nationalconvention. dentand herdoctoral candidate during this period.) She has All ofthis is on therecord. I wantto add to therecord a also taught,after 1972, at RutgersUniversity, Michigan State fewwords about Louise M. Rosenblatt,the teacher. Intense. University,University of Pennsylvania,and others.For the Herclasses were invariably intense, whether they focused on past severalwinters, she has been lecturingand working literaryworks, criticism, or theory.Louise herself was engag- withdoctoral candidates at theUniversity of Miami,Coral ingand receptive;she encouraged response, asking reflective Gables,Florida. andstimulating questions. She managed to create a classroom DuringWorld War II, Louisetook a leaveof absence from ambiancethat was both welcomingand demanding.Cer- BrooklynCollege to becomeAssociate Chief of the Western tainly,she practiced what she preached. Wayne Booth's judg- Europeansection and Chiefof the Central Reports section of mentapplies here, too: she has been a "powerfulinfluence" theBureau of Overseas Intelligence of the Office of War In- on herstudents! formation.Thus, from 1943 to 1945, she was immersedin I interviewedLouise M. Rosenblattat her home in Prince- informationgathering and propaganda analysis of radio texts ton,New Jersey, in Mayof 1999. and publisheddocuments (e.g., newspapers) that had been NICHOLAS: Congratulationsonthe Outstanding Educator in smuggledout of occupied countries. theLanguage Arts award, additional evidence of LouiseRosenblatt's name is wellknown among teachers of thewidespread influence ofyour work. Englishlanguage arts, chiefly because of Literature as Explo- ration.Indeed, its immediate positive reception propelled her LOUISE: I amtremendously pleased at being given this towardher firstmajor presentation for NCTE, addressing award.Although my own teaching experience has 3,000 teachersin theManhattan Opera House at the 1939 beenin college and university, I have thought that annualconvention in New York.Secondary and elementary ifI couldstart all over again, I would again choose school teacherspersisted in theirinterest in her approach thenoble profession ofteacher, but for the earliest duringthe post- WWII years,although New Criticismgained years.As for the acceptance ofthis approach in dominanceamong college and universityfaculties. A resur- manyclassrooms and schools, I know that many genceof attention occurred in the 1970s,steadily increasing peoplehave contributed tothe changes over the sincethen, encompassing all levelsof instruction. years.And I mustadmit, my tendency, as always, is Manypresentations and publicationshave established, in todwell, not so muchon rewards for past efforts, thewords of Wayne Booth, Rosenblatt's "powerful influence" nomatter how much appreciated, as on what This content downloaded from 150.135.135.70 on Tue, 14 Jan 2014 23:31:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LANGUAGEARTS, VOL. 77, NO. 2, NOVEMBER1999 remainsto be done,on current problems and observation,that human beings are the mediators controversies. inthe perception oftheir world.