Making Literature Matter 3e & ix visual exercises

by John Schilb, Cheryl E. Ball, John Clifford

"What is literature? Why and how does it matter?"

John Schilb and John Clifford reply that "literature is part of human relationships; people make literature matter to other people." In these pages, the authors invite you to learn to "make literature matter to others as well as to yourself." How?

First, Part One of this book offers advice on how to shape your personal responses to stories, poems, plays, and essays into thoughtful and well-supported arguments that others will find compelling and persuasive.

Then, Part Two presents clusters of literary works that ask you to explore issues of family, teaching and learning, love, justice, and mortality. One cluster asks "Is This Love?" of the baffling, troubling emotional worlds depicted in stories by William Faulkner, Raymond Carver, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Another cluster examines the ethics of punishment in poems by Robert Browning, Carolyn Forché, Seamus Heaney, and Sherman Alexie. Some clusters consider how writers "revise" the work of other writers. For example, see how Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm tell the tale of Little Red Riding Hood; then read Angela Carter's vivid and startling contemporary version.

Throughout, questions and writing assignments challenge you to compare and analyze literary works as you develop your own ideas about them. As you learn to present those ideas clearly and cogently, you will discover how to make literature matter—to yourself and to others.

Genres: Reference, Writing, Anthologies, Classics, School

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent primer on close reading and critical analysis of all types of literature.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book and the class I took with it changed how I feel about literature. I am now much more confident in my abilities to analyze and interpret literature.

[Ange · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book and the class I took with it changed how I feel about literature. I am now much more confident in my abilities to analyze and interpret literature.

[Danna]

A bargain book could convince me to become an English Lit instructor, or at least fall in love with literature again.

[Nymphadora Remus · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best parts of this thorough text are the student examples and the lists of example questions.

[Sandra Reyes]

How do I read it for like a ebook?

[Yvonne Raphael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best parts of this thorough text are the student examples and the lists of example questions.