Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing
- Book Review,
by Edgar V. Roberts
The publisher, Prentice-Hall Humanities/Social Science
Unique in providing information on and sample essays for writing about literature in every chapter, this bestselling text/anthology provides the tools and insights necessary for students to read literature with care, understanding, and enjoyment, and to write about it with skill and conviction. It is both a comprehensive anthology of fiction, poetry, and drama and a text emphasizing the close connection between good reading and effective writing. The fourth edition reaffirms the principle of flexible classroom use to which the book is dedicated.
From the Back Cover
Give your students the most support to read, research, and write about literature. ROBERTS IS RESEARCH. The seventh edition of Roberts and Jacobs, Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, offers the most comprehensive and integrated coverage of writing about literature and contains more student essays than any other text. WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE: Integrated coverage of writing about each of the elements in EVERY chapter STUDENT ESSAYS: 34 student essays with at least one per chapter and includes a fully documented research paper RESEARCH: Extensive coverage of the research process, documentation, and strategies within the text, as well as access to Research Navigator, a new resource providing extensive help on the research process and three databases of relevant and reliable source material at www.researchnavig4tor.com ART: The seventh edition also includes three NEW inserts of FOUR-COLOR FINE ART! Get your students engaged with literature through www.prenhall.com/roberts with interactive activities, researched author links, videos of author interviews (Stephen Dunn, Rita Dove, Alberto Rios), additional contextual information, and much more.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Like the earlier editions of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, the new seventh edition is in part a carefully chosen anthology. Most of the works here are by American, British, and Canadian authors, but there are also a number of ancient and medieval writers, along with writers who lived in or came from France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Ceylon, and Indonesia, together with authors who represent backgrounds of Latino, American Indian, and Chinese culture. In total, 304 authors are represented, including ten anonymous authors. One hundred eighty-four of the authors—roughly sixty percent—were born after 1900. Of the eighty writers born since 1935, forty-two are women, or fifty-two percent. If one counts only the number of authors born after the end of World War II (1945), the percentage of women goes up dramatically to seventy percent. The book includes a total of 505 separate works—sixty-two stories, 423 poems, and twenty plays and scenes. Each work is suitable for discussion either alone or in comparison. Ten stories, thirty-seven poems, and two dramas are new in this edition. For purposes of comparison, the works in two genres by a number of writers are included—specifically Atwood, Crane, Glaspell, Hughes, Poe, Shakespeare, Updike, and Walker. In addition, Faulkner and Munro are each represented by two stories, and Shakespeare and Ibsen are represented by two plays—Shakespeare in Chapters 27 and 28, and Ibsen in Chapter 31. There are four stories by Edith Wharton in Chapter 11, the chapter on the career in fiction. There are multiple selections of poems by many poets. A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE SEVENTH EDITION FLEXIBILITY. The seventh edition reaffirms a principle to which Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing is dedicated—flexibility. The earlier editions have been used for introduction-to-literature courses, genre courses, and both composition and composition-and-literature courses. Adaptability and flexibility have been the keys to this variety. Instructors can use the book for classroom discussions, panel discussions, essay or paragraph-length writing and study assignments, and special topics not covered in class. FICTION. The fiction section consists of ten chapters. Chapter 2 is a general introduction to fiction while Chapters 3-10—the "topical" chapters central to each section of the book—introduce students to such important topics as structure, character, point of view, and theme. Chapter 11 consists of four stories by Edith Wharton, and Chapter 12 contains seven stories for additional study and enjoyment. Readers will note that some of the new stories are classic—like those by Faulkner, Petronius, Chekhov, and Wharton—and some, such as those by Munro and Bradbury, are well on their way to becoming classic. The new stories complement the fifty-two stories, such as those by Carver, Crane, Glaspell, Gilman, Hawthorne, Joyce, Laurence, Porter, and Twain, that are retained from the sixth edition. POETRY. The thirteen poetry chapters are arranged similarly to the fiction chapters. Chapter 13 is introductory. Chapters 14-23 deal with topics such as diction, symbolism, imagery, tone, and myth. Chapter 24 is the poetic careers chapter, consisting of selections by Wordsworth, Dickinson, and Frost. Chapter 25 contains 129 poems for additional study and enjoyment. Brief biographies of the anthologized poets are included in Appendix II to make the poetry section parallel with the drama and fiction sections. Poetry selections are taken from poets of late medieval times to those of our own day, including poets such as the anonymous writer of "Sir Patrick Spens," Wyatt, Queen Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, Donne, Dryden, Pope, Gray, Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Tennyson, Rossetti, Hopkins, Pound, Yeats, Eliot, Layton, Lowell, Brooks, Birney, and Clifton. Thirty-seven poems are new here. They represent a variety of American and British poets, most of whom are widely recognized. Agizeros, Carruth, Collins, Creeley, Davison, Dunn, Griffin, Kinnell, Merriam, Stevenson, and Terranova come readily to mind. Two of the poets were American presidents (Jimmy Carter and Abraham Lincoln). Younger poets, most of them with great distinctions to their credit, are Agueros, Edelman, Harjo, Hospital, and Peacock. One of the poets new in the seventh edition is Micheal O'Siadhail (pronounced me-hall oh-sheel), who has achieved distinction not only for his poetry but also for his governmental service in his native Ireland. Of special note is the inclusion for the first time of a number of nineteenth-century poets who were chosen for poems illustrating various aspects of American life. (Please see the first category in the Topical and Thematic Table of Contents). These are Bryant, Emerson, Ingham, Lincoln, Melville, and Whinier. Along with the poems included for the first time, the seventh edition of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing retains 386 poems that were included in the sixth edition. DRAMA. In the drama section Chapter 26 is introductory. Chapters 27 through 29 deal with tragedy, comedy, and realism and nonrealism. At the suggestion of a number of instructors who use film in their courses—a unique feature begun in the third edition—Chapter 30, on film, is retained, and the discussion matches those in the other chapters. The scenes from Citizen Kane, by Welles and Mankiewicz, and The Turning Point, by Laurents, have been retained. Chapter 31 is the special career chapter on Henrik Ibsen. There is no "Plays for Additional Study and Enjoyment" chapter to match Chapters 12 and 25 because most plays are so lengthy that adding more would extend the book beyond reasonable limits within a one-volume format. Nine of the longer plays from the previous edition have been kept in this edition because they.are important in an introductory study of drama (Oedipus the King, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Love Is the Doctor, Death of a Salesman, The Glass Menagerie, Mulatto, A Dollhouse, An Enemy of the People). To this number, the important medieval The Second Shepherds'Play and Welder's perennially popular Our Town have been added. These additions make the anthology more useful than in the past as the basis for a discussion of the history of dramatic literature. In an anthology of this scope, the seven short plays (Am I Blue, The Bear, Before Breakfast, Tea Party, The Visitatio Sepulchre, The More the Merrier, Trifles) are valuable because they may be covered in no more than one or two classroom hours, and also because they may be enlivened by having parts read aloud and acted by students. Indeed, the anonymous Visitatio Sepulchre and Keller's Tea Party are brief enough to permit classroom reading and discussion in a single period. ADDITIONAL FEATURES CONTENTS. The Contents lists all the works and major discussion heads in the book. A new feature is the inclusion, following each entry, of a sentence containing a brief summation or impression of the work. It is hoped that these "guides" will interest students in approaching, anticipating, and reading the works. TOPICAL AND THEMATIC TABLE OF CONTENTS. To make the seventh edition of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing as flexible as possible, we have continued the Topical and Thematic Table of Contents. In this table, located immediately following the chapter-by-chapter Contents, a number of topics are provided, such as Hope and Renewal; Women; Men; Women and Men; Conformity and Rebellion; Endings and Beginnings, Innocence and Experience, and Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality. Under these topics, generous numbers of stories, poems, and plays are listed (many in a number of categories), to aid in the creation and study of topical or thematic units. In this edition, for the first time, references to the works of art in the Inserts are included along with the topics so that students may add visual references to their analyses of literature. A special word is in order for the category "America in Peace, War, and Tribulation," which is first in the Topical and Thematic Table. After the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, it is fitting that a category of uniquely American topics be included for student analysis and discussion. Of course there cannot be a systematic and comprehensive examination of the background and thought that belongs to courses in American literature, but a selection of works that bear on American life and values is now particularly important. Some of the works describe an idealized America, but many also shed light on problems and issues that America has faced in the past and is facing today. A few of the works concern our country at its beginning; some reflect the life of the frontier and the Civil War; others introduce issues of minority culture; still others introduce subjects such as war, misfortune, personal anguish, regret, healing, reverence for the land, the symbolic value of work, nostalgia, love, prejudice, and relationships between parents and children. It is our hope that students study the listed works broadly, as general human issues also dealing with the complexity of life in the United States today. QUESTIONS. Following each anthologized selection in the detailed chapters are study questions designed to help students in their exploration and understanding of literature. Some questions are factual and may be answered quickly. Others provoke extended thought and classroom discussion, and may also serve for both in-class and out-of-class writing assignments. At the ends of twenty-six chapters we include a number of more general "Special Topics for Writing and Argument about (Character, Symbolism, Tragedy, etc.)." Many of these are comparison-contrast topics, and a number of them—at least one in each chapter—are assignments requiring creative writing (for example, "Write a poem," or "Compose a short scene"). What is unique about these topics is that students are asked not only to write creatively and argue cogently, but also to analyze their own creative processes. As already indicated, the seventh edition contains questions designed to add a research component to the study of the chapter topics. DATES. To place the various works in historical context, we include the life dates for all authors. Along with the title of each anthologized work, we list the year of publication. NUMBERING. For convenient reference, we have adopted a regular style of numbering the selctions by fives: Stories: every fifth paragraph. Poems: every fifth line. Poetic plays: every fifth line, starting at 1 with each new scene and act. Prose plays: every fifth speech, starting at 1 with each new scene and act. GLOSSES. For the poetry and poetic plays, we provide brief marginal glosses wherever they are needed. For all works, including poetry, we supply explanatory footnotes when more details are necessary. Words and phrases that are glossed or footnoted are highlighted by a small degree sign. Footnotes are located according to line, paragraph, or speech numbers. THE GLOSSARY. In the discussions to the various chapters, key terms and concepts are boldfaced, anti these are gathered alphabetically and explained briefly, with relevant page numbers in the text, in the comprehensive glossary following the appendices. Because the seventh edition of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing may sometimes be used for reference, the glossary is also intended for general use. BOXED DISCUSSIONS WITHIN THE CHAPTERS. In some of the chapters, especially Chapters 1, 19, 26, and 32, separately boxed sections highlight brief but essential discussions of a number of important and related matters. The topics chosen for this treatment—such as the use of tenses in discussing a work, the use of authorial names, the terms "tenor" and "vehicle," useful ways to refer to parts of plays, and the concept of decorum—were based on the recommendations of instructors and students. SPECIAL WRITING TOPICS. In the seventh edition we have retained the section titled "Special Writing Topics about Literature," which follows the drama section. This section contains four chapters (32-35) that were formerly appendices, but on the advice of many readers they are now to be considered a main part of the book. These chapters, which contain general literary assignments, are arranged to place emphasis on research and recent critical theories. PHOTOGRAPHS AND ART REPRODUCTIONS. We also include a number of art reproductions and photographs, many within the chapters, but a number in special colored inserts. We hope that these reproductions, together with others that instructors might add, will encourage comparison-and-contrast discussions and essays about the relationship of literature and art. As already noted, the Topical and Thematic Table of Contents includes references to relevant art works. DRAMATIZATIONS ON VIDEOTAPE AND DVD. To strengthen the connection between fiction and dramatization, a number of stories are included that are available on videocassettes and also DVDs, which can be used as teaching tools for support and interpretation. References to some of the available dramatizations are included in the Instructor's Manual. In the introductions to many of the plays there is a listing of many of the cassette and DVD versions that can be brought into the classroom. Revisions There is little in the seventh edition that has not been reexamined, revised, or rewritten. Particularly noteworthy are the fourteen new demonstrative essays. Extensive revisions have also been made in the general introduction (Chapter 1); the introduction to poetry (Chapter 13); the introduction to drama (Chapter 26); the introductory sections on Dickinson and Frost (Chapter 24); the chapters on figures of speech (17) and prosody (19); and the chapters on research and taking examinations (32 and 34). The two appendices have also been changed and updated. The glossary has been corrected and amended in a number of places. Many of the current MLA recommendations for documenting electronic sources (2003), for example, are illustrated in Appendix I. Throughout all the chapter discussions, the subheads have been changed from simple topics to complete sentences. This change has been made in the hope that pointed sentences will enable students to assimilate the following content more easily than before. Of special importance in each of the main chapters are the sections "Questions for Discovering Ideas" and "Strategies for Organizing Ideas," which have been revised in the light of the continuing goal to help students concentrate on their writing assignments. READING AND WRITING NOW AND IN THE FUTURE Because writing is a major mode of thinking, it is an essential reinforcement of analytical and critical reading. Many people, when a particular work is named, will often admit that they remember that work well because they once wrote an essay about it when taking a literature class. It is an article of faith that students who write about what they read learn twice, for as they plan and develop their writing they necessarily grow as thinkers. Such an interlocking approach is the bedrock idea of the seventh edition of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. There is no chapter that does not contain abundant information and guides for writing. Moreover, we do not simply say what can be done with a topic of literary study, but we also show ways in which it might be done. Throughout the chapters there are thirty-one demonstrative essays that exemplify the strategies and methods brought out in the chapter. Following each of these essays is an analytical commentary showing how the writing principles of the discussion have been carried out. A logical extension (and a major hope) of this combined approach is that the techniques students acquire in studying literature as a reading-writing undertaking will help them in every course they may ever take, and in whatever profession they follow. Students will always read—if not the authors contained here, then other authors, and certainly newspapers, letters, legal documents, memoranda, magazine articles, technical reports, business proposals, internet communications, and much more. Although students may never again need to write about topics like setting, structure, or prosody, they will certainly find a future need to write. Indeed, the more effectively students learn to write about literature when taking their literature courses, the better they will be able to write later on—no matter what the topic. It is undeniable that the power to analyze problems and make convincing written and oral presentations is a major quality of leadership and success in all fields. To acquire the skills of disciplined reading and strong writing is therefore the best possible preparation that students can make for the future, whatever it may hold. While we stress the value of our book as a teaching tool, we also emphasize that literature is to be enjoyed and loved. Sometimes we neglect the truth that study and delight are complementary, and that intellectual stimulation and emotional enjoyment develop not only from the immediate responses of pleasure, involvement, and sympathy, but also from the understanding, contemplation, and confidence generated by knowledge and developing skill. We therefore hope that the selections in the seventh edition of Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing will teach students about humanity, about their own perceptions, feelings, and lives, and about the timeless patterns of human existence. We hope they-will take delight in such discoveries and grow as they make them. We see the book as a steppingstone to future achievement and to lifelong understanding and joy in great literature.
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