A Short Guide To Writing About Literature

Part of Longman's successful Short Guide Series, A Short Guide to Writing about Literature,11/e, emphasizes writing as a process and incorporates new critical approaches to writing about literature. The eleventh edition continues to offer students sound advice on how to become critical thinkers and enrich their reading response through accessible, step-by-step instruction.   This highly respected text is ideal as a supplement to any course where writing about literature or literary studies is emphasized.

I. JUMPING IN. 

1. What is Literature, and Why Write About It?

2. The Writer as Reader: Reading and Responding.

3. The Reader as Writer: Drafting and Writing.

4. Two Forms of Criticism: Explication and Analysis.

5. Other Kinds of Writing About Literature.

II. STANDING BACK: THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT LITERATURE.

6.  Literature, Form, and Meaning 

7. What Is Interpretation?

8. What Is Evaluation?

9. Writing About Literature: An Overview.

III. UP CLOSE: THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT LITERARY FORMS.

10. Writing About Fiction: The World of the Story.

11. Writing About Drama.

12. Writing About Poetry.

13. Writing About an Author in Depth.

IV. INSIDE: STYLE, FORMAT, AND SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS.

14. Style and Format.

15. Writing a Research Paper.

Appendix A: Two Stories.

    James Joyce, Araby.

    Eudora Welty, A Worn Path.

Appendix B: Literary Research: Print and Electronic Resources.

Appendix C: Glossary of Literary Terms.