Approaching Literature: Writing, Reading, Thinking

Developed by authors with more than 50 years of teaching experience between them, Approaching Literature has been designed as a true alternative to more traditional literature anthologies. The authors conceived this anthology with three principles in mind: (1) that exposing students to the widest array of literature can help every one find common ground with that literature; (2) that contemporary literary works can serve as entry points to reading and appreciating the canonical literature that students often find unfamiliar, intimidating, and sometimes irrelevant; and (3) that the instruction in reading and writing about literature should be accessible and jargon-free to all students, not just potential English majors. With its streamlined and student-friendly instructional text, and its ongoing commitment to showcasing the most engaging and diverse literary works publishing right now, Approaching Literature is built from the ground up with today's students in mind.

Developed by authors with more than 50 years of teaching experience between them, Approaching Literature has been designed as a true alternative to more traditional literature anthologies. The authors conceived this anthology with three principles in mind: (1) that exposing students to the widest array of literature can help every one find common ground with that literature; (2) that contemporary literary works can serve as entry points to reading and appreciating the canonical literature that students often find unfamiliar, intimidating, and sometimes irrelevant; and (3) that the instruction in reading and writing about literature should be accessible and jargon-free to all students, not just potential English majors. With its streamlined and student-friendly instructional text, and its ongoing commitment to showcasing the most engaging and diverse literary works publishing right now, Approaching Literature is built from the ground up with today's students in mind.

PETER SCHAKEL is Peter C. and Emajean Cook Professor of English at Hope College. He is author of The Poetry of Jonathan Swift (1978) and four books on C.S. Lewis, including Imagination and the Arts in C.S. Lewis (2002) and The Way into Narnia: A Reader's Guide (2005). He is also editor of Critical Approaches to Teaching Swift (1992) and The Longing for a Form: Essays and Fiction on C.S. Lewis (1977); coeditor with Charles A. Huttar of Word and Story in C.S. Lewis (1991) and The Rhetoric of Vision: Essays on Charles Williams (1996). For Bedford/St. Martin's, with Jack Ridl he co-edited Approaching Poetry (1997) and 250 Poems (2003), and he is coeditor with Janet Gardner, Beverley Lawn, and Jack Ridl of Literature: a Portable Anthology (2004).

JACK RIDL is Professor Emeritus of English at Hope College where he taught courses in literature, essay writing, poetry writing, and the nature of poetry for thirty-five years. He has published six volumes of poetry and more than 200 poems in some fifty literary magazines; his most recent collection, Broken Symmetry, was selected by the Society of Midland Authors as one of the two best volumes of poetry published in 2006. His chapbook Against Elegies received the 2001 Letterpress Award from the Center for Book Arts. His recognitions for teaching excellence include the Hope Outstanding Professor-Educator award at Hope College for 1976, the Michigan Teacher of the Year award from the Carnegie Foundation in 1996, and the Favorite Faculty/Staff Member award at Hope College in 2003. For Bedford/St. Martin's, with Peter Schakel he co-edited Approaching Poetry (1997) and 250 Poems (2003); and he is coeditor with Janet Gardner, Beverley Lawn, and Peter Schakel of Literature: a Portable Anthology (2004).