Engaging with a Novel through Teaching It

When I teach a novel, I get to know it in a way that I wouldn't otherwise. First, I read it more often, and more carefully. Second, I read more about it: literary criticism, biographical information about the author, etc. Third, I learn from my students' questions and comments. Most of all, I involve myself more deeply with the book, I steep myself in it, and I feel more connected to it. Of course I wouldn't have chosen to teach the book if I didn't already admire it, but teaching it brings a deeper relationship with it. This has happened to me with quite a few novels and other literary works, perhaps most notably Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility," Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre," Willa Cather's "My Antonia," Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway," Edith Wharton's "House of Mirth," and Toni Morrison's "Sula."