낯설게하기와 다성성의 문학

Defamiliarization and the Literature of Polyphony: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! as an English/history text

This study discusses the possibility of teaching English and history through using Laura Amy Shlitz’s Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!, as an English/history text under EFL situation, contending that interdisciplinary knowledge and ‘stylistic variation’ of the book will facilitate student readers’ English/history acquisition and develop their feeling and imagination. In the process, it borrows Michael Bakhtin’s concept of polyphony and linguistic approaches of cognitive psychology including David Miall and Don Kuiken’s researches with the Russian Formalist’s concept of‘defamiliarization.’ The polyphonic structure and various stylistic variations of the book can capture the reader’s attention and oblige the reader to slow down, allowing time for the feeling and cognition to guide ‘refamiliarizing’ interpretative efforts. This process requires cognitive work on the part of the reader and the reader’s feeling as well.