An Introduction to Literary Studies

✍ Scribed by Mario Klarer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 182
• Edition: 2
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In this volume, Mario Klarer provides the essential beginner's guide to English literary studies. Offering a concise, easy-to-understand discussion of central issues in the study of literary texts, looking at:

• definitions of key terms such as 'literature' and 'text'
• major genres, such as fiction, poetry, drama and film
• periods and classifications of literature
• theoretical approaches to texts
• the use of secondary resources
• guidelines for writing research essays.

Klarer has fully updated the highly successful first edition to provide greater guidance for online research and to reflect recent changes to MLA guidelines for referencing and quoting sources. He concludes with suggestions for further reading and an extensive glossary of important literary and cinematic terms.

✦ Table of Contents

BOOK COVER......Page 1
HALF-TITLE......Page 2
TITLE......Page 3
COPYRIGHT......Page 4
DEDICATION......Page 6
CONTENTS......Page 7
PRELIMINARY REMARKS......Page 9
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION......Page 12
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 13
1 WHAT IS LITERATURE, WHAT IS A TEXT?......Page 14
1 GENRE, TEXT TYPE, AND DISCOURSE......Page 16
2 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES......Page 17
1 FICTION......Page 22
a) Plot......Page 28
b) Characters......Page 30
c) Point of view......Page 33
d) Setting......Page 38
2 POETRY......Page 40
a) Lexical-thematic dimension......Page 44
b) Visual dimension......Page 49
c) Rhythmic-acoustic dimension......Page 51
3 DRAMA......Page 56
a) Text......Page 59
b) Transformation......Page 61
c) Performance......Page 67
4 FILM......Page 69
a) Spatial dimension......Page 73
b) Temporal dimension......Page 76
c) Acoustic dimension......Page 77
3 PERIODS OF ENGLISH LITERATURES......Page 80
4 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO LITERATURE......Page 88
1 TEXT-ORIENTED APPROACHES......Page 91
a) Philology......Page 92
b) Rhetoric and stylistics......Page 93
c) Formalism and structuralism......Page 94
d) New criticism......Page 98
e) Semiotics and deconstruction......Page 100
2 AUTHOR-ORIENTED APPROACHES......Page 103
3 READER-ORIENTED APPROACHES......Page 105
4 CONTEXT-ORIENTED APPROACHES......Page 107
a) New historicism......Page 108
b) Feminist literary theory and gender theory......Page 109
5 LITERARY CRITIQUE OR EVALUATION......Page 113
5 WHERE AND HOW TO FIND SECONDARY LITERATURE......Page 116
6 HOW TO WRITE A SCHOLARLY PAPER......Page 122
GENERAL LITERARY TERMINOLOGY......Page 136
LITERARY THEORY......Page 137
WORKS ON SPECIFIC AREAS OF LITERARY THEORY......Page 138
GENRES......Page 139
Fiction......Page 140
Drama......Page 141
Film......Page 142
LITERARY HISTORY......Page 144
WRITING SCHOLARLY PAPERS......Page 145
NOTES......Page 166
AUTHOR AND TITLE INDEX......Page 168
SUBJECT INDEX......Page 176