The Bedford Introduction to Literature, High School Version

by Meyer, Michael

• ISBN13: 9781457615924
• ISBN10: 1457615924
• Edition: 10th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-01-11
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

PACKAGE THIS TITLE WITH OUR 2016 MLA SUPPLEMENT, Documenting Sources in MLA Style (package ISBN-13: 9781319084394). Get the most recent updates on MLA citation in a convenient, 40-page resource based on The MLA Handbook, 8th Edition, with plenty of models. Browse our catalog or contact your representative for a full listing of updated titles and packages, or to request a custom ISBN.

The Bedford Introduction to Literature is designed to be your go-to place for everything your students need to succeed in the AP Literature course — and in college. Along with Michael Meyer’s extensive and accessible reading and writing advice, your students will find an unsurpassed collection of classic and contemporary works including pieces never before found in an anthology, like stories by Z.Z. Packer, Kim Addonizio, and Dennis Lehane; poems by Kevin Young and Kay Ryan; and plays by Elaine Jarvik and Jon Robin Baitz. The 20 stories, 90 poems, and 4 plays new to this edition represent traditional, multicultural, contemporary, and popular literature — and include classics that have long made classroom discussion come alive. The Bedford Introduction to Literature not only helps your students succeed on the exam, but invites them to see writers as real people and literature as a living art.

Author Biography

Michael Meyer has taught writing and literature courses for more than thirty years—since 1981 at the University of Connecticut and before that at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the College of William and Mary. In addition to being an experienced teacher, Meyer is a highly regarded literary scholar. His scholarly articles have appeared in distinguished journals such as American Literature, Studies in the American Renaissance, and Virginia Quarterly Review. An internationally recognized authority on Henry David Thoreau, Meyer is a former president of the Thoreau Society and coauthor (with Walter Harding) of The New Thoreau Handbook, a standard reference source. The American Studies Association awarded his first book, Several More Lives to Live: Thoreau’s Political Reputation in America, the Ralph Henry Gabriel Prize. . He is also the editor of Frederick Douglass: The Narrative and Selected Writings. He has lectured on a variety of American literary topics from Cambridge University to Peking University. His books for Bedford/St. Martin's include The Bedford Introduction to Literature; The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature; Literature to Go; Poetry: An Introduction; and Thinking and Writing about Literature.

Table of Contents

The most comprehensive and engaging coverage of AP English Literature skills. This book’s unsurpassed reading and writing help includes 7 sample close readings that model the kind of critical reading that is the foundation of academic writing about literature. Seven chapters discuss every step of the writing process and 30 MLA-style student papers, including a paper-inprogress, model techniques for analyzing and arguing about literature. More than 2,000 assignments offer more occasions for writing than any other comparable anthology. Meyer has also included selections, like excerpts from graphic novels, that are guaranteed to interest even the most reluctant readers.

Practical guidance especially for the AP Literature and Composition Exam. For the first time, The Bedford Introduction to Literature has it right in the book. A thorough new section offers friendly, straightforward advice to students, who will feel confident following its clear path for using the text effectively and for taking the exam strategically.

An in-depth chapter on esteemed fiction writer Dagoberto Gilb, created with Dagoberto Gilb. Three of Gilb’s own stories appear alongside compelling personal insights into his work — written specifically for Michael Meyer’s anthologies — plus a collection of rare photographs and manuscript pages. Like its sister chapters created with Billy Collins and Julia Alvarez, this new collection invites students into the author’s studio.

 

Three new case studies in the poetry section draw students in with engaging literature on equally engaging topics:

• A cultural case study on the Harlem Renaissance features poems by Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Georgia Douglas Johnson. An overview of the period, biographies of the authors, and a rich collection of art capture this vibrant time in American culture.
• A thematic case study that draws connections between poetry and fine art showcases essential pairings and plenty of surprises, too — all in full color.
• A thematic case study titled The World of Work offers poems in an impressive range of styles and points of view so that every student will find something to relate to.