The games in this book are designed to be adaptable
to different levels of study of English Literature. Some are more likely to
appeal more to ‘A’ level students than to undergraduates, and vice versa. They
draw on a common stock of materials that can be bought and adapted at little
cost, and in some cases they map directly onto the kind of questions that
typically get asked when students face assessment. Many of the games can be
played without a teacher being present, although many also assume that someone
will be there to draw together threads of discussion. If nothing else, these
games are a great way of overcoming that horrible problem, the wall of silence
that confronts every teacher of literature at some stage in his or her career.



The
games are divided into different categories, reflecting the way literature
students have to move between detailed analysis and general evaluation. They
start small, with games about words and images, and build towards the more
challenging theoretical topics students might encounter in the study of
literary theory. Overall, this book is conceived as a provocation, not an
encyclopaedia. If the result is that readers go away and dream up more and
better games to play with students of literature, history, sociology, law, or any
other discipline involving the close study and theorization of texts, it will
have served its purpose. So, a little creative ingenuity and willingness
to experiment are all it takes to break out of the confines of routine and
inject a little variety into your classroom. All that remains is to be said is
‘Let the games begin’.