Challenges and Possibilities for Literature Education as Indicated by Learners’ “Dissociation”

Abstract

This study aimed to identify “dissociation” in the literature classroom by comparing the learners’ subjective experiences with the episodes of patients diagnosed with dissociative disorders.

In the personal episodes of patients with dissociative disorders, there is a parallel aspect of multiple perspectives inside the self without integration. Learner T’s discussion of “Sangetsuki” also expressed two unintegrated perspectives in the form of presenting the class reading as her own reading and discussing her awareness of the problem at the time of her first reading.

When dealing with literature in the classroom, learners may be torn and “dissociated” between the teacher and the work. The unique structure of “Sangetsuki” may also stimulate learners’ dissociation. There is a pathology of dissociation in the structure that allows learners to “dissociate” and circulate the class reading (=self) as their own reading (=self). On the other hand, the fact that learners “dissociate” also suggests the potential of literature as a teaching tool, where the literature itself sets up a dialog with learners.