Writing About Literature: A Guide for the Student Critic

Writing about Literature is the first undergraduate text to integrate recent genre theory and a "writing in the disciplines" approach to the teaching of critical writing. While encouraging students to develop and value their own interpretations, the text helps undergraduates understand the rhetorical and institutional conventions of critical writing. A cross between a rhetoric and a casebook, Writing about Literature provides clear, practical advice and accessible models for writing critical essays on literature―on prose fiction in particular. This book offers students an insider's guide to the language, issues, approaches, styles, assumptions, and traditions that inform the writing of successful critical essays.

W.F. Garrett-Petts is Associate Professor of English at the University College of the Cariboo, where he teaches literature, rhetoric and composition, and critical theory. He has published widely on reading theory, contemporary literature, composition, and interdisciplinary practices.