Transcending Cultural Barriers: An Approach to Paradise Lost

Abstract

This is a paper of exploration: after presenting my experience of teaching Paradise Lost to graduate majors in English I hope I get some interesting and illuminating feedbacks. Paradise Lost is the kind of work that does not fail to generate a wide variety of responses. However, let me begin by relating three anecdotes, two of which are directly relevant to my topic and the third is not far off the track. Some years ago at the beginning of term, one of my female students ( I delibertely refer to gender for reasons that will be clear later) had great scruples about reading this religiously charged epic. How could she bring herself to read and interpret a work in which God, Christ and angels the Omniscient and Omnipresent be brought before us upon the stage to spea ' to argue and, of all matters, defend his \Visdom? To_ her this is totally sacreligious, in fact tanta..'llount to blasphemy. She was about to leave the course, perhaps even drop out. With great difficulty I was able to convince her to continue. .