Ways of Reading : Advanced Reading Skills for Students of English Literature

by Montgomery, Martin; Durant, Alan; Fabb, Nigel; Furniss, Tom; Mills, Sara

• ISBN13: 9780415222068
• ISBN10: 0415222060
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-13
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Ways of Reading provides students with the tools to analyze and interpret the meanings of literary and non-literary texts.Six sections, split into self-contained units with their own activities and notes for further reading, cover: problem-solving approaches to texts; language, text and context; poetic uses of language; figures of speech; story, narrative and narration; looking beyond the text to authorship, audience, value and performance.

Author Biography

Alan Durant is Professor of English Studies, Middlesex University, London.

Table of Contents

Notes on contributors	ix
Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xiii
Introduction	1	(6)
Section 1 Basic techniques and problem solving
Asking questions	7	(13)
Using information sources	20	(10)
Analysing units of structure	30	(13)
Section 2 Dimensions of language variation
Language and time	43	(12)
Language and place	55	(12)
Language and context: register	67	(10)
Language and gender	77	(11)
Language and society	88	(13)
Section 3 Analysing poetic form
Rhyme and sound patterning	101	(11)
Verse and metre	112	(11)
Parallelism	123	(11)
Deviation	134	(15)
Section 4 Reading figures of speech
Metaphor	149	(12)
Irony	161	(11)
Juxtaposition	172	(14)
Intertextuality and allusion	186	(13)
Section 5 Aspects of narrative
Genre	199	(12)
Narrative	211	(9)
Writing, speech and narration	220	(12)
Narrative point of view	232	(12)
Narration in film and prose fiction	244	(14)
Realism	258	(13)
Section 6 Beyond the literary text
Positioning the reader or spectator	271	(12)
Authorship and intention	283	(14)
Judgement and value	297	(11)
Literature in performance	308	(17)
Ways of reading non-literary texts	325	(24)
Appendix: notes on activities	349	(3)
References	352	(7)
General index	359	(6)
Index of texts discussed	365