An Introduction to Literature [antikvár]

This book differs from the usual introduction to literature text in that it neither attempts to analyze all the selections nor omits analysis alto- gether. Several of the selections are analyzed with some care but never to the point where the student is led to believe that the meaning of the selection has been exhausted. All the analyses are designed to lead to further exploration and discussion of meanings. The teacher using this apparatus should be able to carry on the Socratic method as begun in the introductory sections. A second major difference is that while this book is designed to be chiefly analytical, it uses analysis in connection with insights and perspectives from other varieties of criticism besides the New Criticism. The very arrangement of the selections should do a great deal to give the student a historical frame- work in which to place what he has learned. The failure of most types-antholo- gies to present material chronologically, within the genre sections, means that class time can be wasted orienting the student historically. Much of this infor- mation can be conveyed to the student painlessly and almost unconsciously by the historical arrangement we have adopted within each genre section. For the teacher who wants to orient his students historically, such an arrangement is invaluable. And the teacher who wants to ignore historical considerations is free to do so. An introductory section, discussing literature as an art form, has been devised to provide the student with a rational basis for a critical approach. This section also includes a discussion of the varying critical approaches currently in fashion: formalist, historical, biographical, anthropological, psychological, etc. When the student begins more independent study of literary history and criti- cism, he soon becomes aware that many of the books he reads are radically unlike what he has been taught. So that he may use such books with some profit and without necessarily becoming by turns a disciple of each school of criticism, we try to let him understand the principal approaches that he is likely to meet and to show by means of comments and questions the kinds of perspectives each school can offer. Each genre section is in line with our over-all purpose. Each includes in- troductory material that defines the particular genre, discusses its origins and development, and explains techniques employed, either similar to or different