Abstract
In his article "Curricular Requirements, Critical Traditions, and Adaptation in the Paratext of Chinese and American School Editions of Robinson Crusoe" Haifeng Hui analyses a Chinese new curricular edition and an American common core edition of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe to reveal how the paratext can be utilized to reveal different ways of understanding in different educational cultures. He argues that the paratext powerfully exerts the publisher's authority over the text and the reader, thus shaping readers' interpretation of the story in the service of fulfilling specific national curricular needs. The Chinese edition aims more at how Crusoe's story should be understood primarily as a material for drawing traditional moral lessons, whereas the American edition treats it more as a reading material to develop student's reading and writing skills. The two culturally and pedagogically different editions show how different cultures fit Defoe's world classic into their national educational systems.
Recommended Citation
Hui, Haifeng.
"Curricular Requirements, Critical Traditions, and Adaptation in the Paratext of Chinese and American School Editions of Robinson Crusoe."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
19.3
(2017):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.3027>
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