The Edinburgh Introduction to Studying English Literature - 2nd Edition (Paperback)

About the Book

This introduction to the tools required for literary study provides all the skills, background and critical knowledge which students require to approach their study of literature with confidence.

Book Synopsis

The essential guide for students of literature
Extensively tested at the University of Edinburgh, this introduction to the tools required for literary study provides all the skills, background and critical knowledge which students require to approach their study of literature with confidence. This second edition includes 3 new chapters on Reading, Writing an Essay, and Reflecting. Each focuses on the 'how to' element when studying literature, and covers issues such as how to avoid plagiarism, and how to prepare a bibliography.
The original emphasis on clear explanation of critical practices, and of literary forms, styles and techniques remains. These explanations are carefully illustrated through examples taken from readily-available works, especially those included in the Norton Anthology of English Literature. The result is a well-stocked toolbox providing introductions to the ways in which literary texts can be approached as well as to the critical, formal and historical understanding this requires.
New for this edition:
3 new chapters on Reading, Writing an Essay, and ReflectingUpdated Works CitedTexts discussed in the book keyed to the latest edition of the Norton Anthology of English Literature

From the Back Cover

***AUTHOR APPROVED*** The Edinburgh Introduction to Studying English Literature 2nd Edition Edited by Dermot Cavanagh, Alan Gillis, Michelle Keown, James Loxley and Randall Stevenson New edition of this established guide to studying literature This second edition includes three new chapters: Reading, Writing an Essay, and Reflecting. Each focuses on the 'how to' element when studying literature, and covers issues such as avoiding plagiarism, and preparing a bibliography. The original emphasis on clear explanation of critical practices, and of literary forms, styles and techniques remains. These explanations are carefully illustrated through examples taken from readily available works, especially those included in The Norton Anthology of English Literature. The result is an unbeatable resource: a well-stocked toolbox providing introductions to the ways in which literary texts can be approached as well as to the critical, formal and historical understanding this requires. New for this edition: - three new chapters: Reading, Writing an Essay, and Reflecting - updated Works Cited - texts discussed in the book keyed to the latest edition of The Norton Anthology of English Literature All editors and contributors are current or recent members of the University of Edinburgh's Department of English Literature, which celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2012. Cover image: World of books by Viorika Prikhodko Photography (c) iStockphoto Cover design: www.hayesdesign.co.uk [EUP logo] www.euppublishing.com

About the Author

Dermot Cavanagh is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Edinburgh. His interests centre on early modern political theatre, especially its relationship to late medieval drama and poetry. He is the author of Language and Politics in the Sixteenth-Century History Play (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and co-editor of Shakespeare's Histories and Counter-Histories (Manchester University Press, 2006).

Alan Gillis teaches creative writing as well as modern and contemporary poetry at the University of Edinburgh. Alan Gillis's first book of poetry Somebody, Somewhere (Gallery Press, 2004) was shortlisted for the Irish Times Award and won The Rupert and Eithne Strong Award for Best First Collection in Ireland. His second book Hawks and Doves (Gallery Press, 2007) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. As a critic, he is author of Irish Poetry of the 1930s (Oxford University Press, 2005) and is currently co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Poetry.

Michelle Keown is Lecturer in English Literature and the University of Edinburgh and specialises in Postcolonial literature and theory, particularly that of the Pacific region. She has published widely on Maori and Pacific writing and is the author of Postcolonial Pacific Writing: Representations of the Body (Routledge, 2005) and Pacific Islands Writing: The Postcolonial Literatures of Aotearoa/New Zealand and Oceania (Oxford University Press, 2007). She is co-editor (with David Murphy and James Procter) of Comparing Postcolonial Diasporas (Palgrave, 2009) and has edited (with Stuart Murray) a special issue of the Journal of New Zealand Literature (no. 21, 2003) focusing upon diasporic connections between Aotearoa/New Zealand and the UK.

James Loxley works on Renaissance and early modern poetry and drama, especially the work of Ben Jonson; the literature and political discourse of the civil war period and the writing of Andrew Marvell; and contemporary literary theory, particularly issues of performativity.

Randall Stevenson is Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature at the University of Edinburgh. Born in the north of Scotland, grew up in Glasgow and studied in the universities of Edinburgh and Oxford. Lectured on modern literature in 15 countries in Europe and in Nigeria, South Korea and Egypt. General Editor of the Edinburgh History of Twentieth-Century Literature in Britain series.