I come to bury caesar, not to praise him: Teaching resisting reading

One of the reasons why canonical literary texts are included in the English curriculum is that they help students to understand the cultural experiences and values of the foreign culture whose language they are learning. It is important, however, that students learn not only to understand the values of others, but, as well, to summon up their own experiences and values for comparison and, where necessary, to resist the imposition of values. The teaching of James Joyce's short story, 'Eveline', in Israeli high schools exemplifies how students can be brought to devalue their own experience in learning about another culture. Teaching resisting reading, as feminist literary critics have shown, is a way of ensuring that learning another's culture does not lead to the destruction of one's own identity.