The Bridge from Matric to Beyond: Encounters with the Works of Thornton Wilder in Teaching and Learning

In this article the author uses self-reflection and literary theory to address the teaching and learning methodology used in an English classroom in the 1970s, in which the author was a student, and the consequent influence on the author’s life- long learning. The text under consideration is Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and the matter of re-reading the text is central to the article’s focus. The article investigates matters that are pertinent to the making of meaning in the reading of Wilder’s text, including historical context, how Wilder’s works were critically received, and how a different methodology could have resulted in a more compre- hensive understanding of the novel. The article also addresses how studying the novel in matric had an effect on the author’s later reading and teaching.