Literature and the Video Essay

Researching and Teaching Literature Through Moving Images

Abstract

In this introduction, we set out the stakes and goals of the special issue. We aim, with the special issue, to investigate the possibilities of the video essay for the teaching of literature (defined broadly), bearing in mind the digital ecosystems dwelled in by our students, and the fact that a body of scholarship demonstrates the utility of reading literature for developing critical thinking and emotional literacy. We discuss the tradition of the video essay, especially as it has emerged from film and media studies in the form of videographic criticism — the audiovisual study of audiovisual and screen media —and then consider the potential of the video essay as pedagogical resource in the teaching of literature. In the final section, we introduce the individual contributions to the special issue.