About the Book
The guiding philosophy behind this introduction to fiction is that a reader's personal response to fiction forms the foundation of his or her literary experience.
The book relies on engaging selections, a strong emphasis on the writing process, and a visually appealing design to capture students' and instructors' attention. The first four chapters offer comprehensive coverage of reading and writing, including a highly praised Chapter 4: “Argumentation: Interpreting and Evaluating Fiction” which equips students with the detailed guidance and the confidence they need to write strong essays. The anthology section is organized alphabetically and includes a wide selection of authors from the United States and abroad. Author photos and bios help students better connect with the individual identity of each author.
Table of Contents:
Preface.
About the Author.
I. MAKING CONNECTIONS.
1. Participation: Personal Response and Critical Thinking.
The Personal Dimension of Reading Fiction.
Personal Response and Critical Thinking.
Writing to Learn.
Keeping a Journal or Reading Log.
Double-Entry Journals and Logs.
The Social Nature of Learning: Collaboration.
Personal, Not Private.
Ourselves as Readers.
Different Kinds of Reading.
The Appointment in Samarra, Somerset Maughan.
Reunion, John Cheever.
Making Connections.
Images of Ourselves.
Girl, Jamaica Kincaid.
Culture, Experience, and Values.
Snow, Julia Alvarez.
Boys and Girls, Alice Munro.
The Whole and Its Parts.
Participating, Not Solving.
Being in the Moment.
The Pied Piper of Tucson: He Cruised in a Golden Car Looking for the Action, Don Moser (from Life magazine).
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Joyce Carol Oates.
Imagining is Believing.
2. Communication: Writing About Fiction.
The Response Essay.
Voice and Writing.
Voice and Response to Literature.
Eleven, Sandra Cisneros.
Brave We Are, Tahira Naqvi.
The Stolen Party, Liliana Heker.
Araby, James Joyce.
Responding from Experience.
Writing to Describe.
Choosing Details.
Choosing Details from Literature.
Writing to Compare.
Comparing and Contrasting Using a Venn Diagram.
Possible Worlds.
Response to Literature: Describing and Comparing.
Staying Anchored in the Story.
From First Response to Final Draft.
Using First Responses.
Extending Ideas.
Semantic Mapping or Clustering.
Mix and Match.
Collaboration.
The Response Essay: Composing a Draft.
Student First Draft.
Organization and Unity.
Showing Support.
Clarity.
Voice.
Student Final Draft.
II. ANALYSIS AND ARGUMENTATION.
3. Exploration and Analysis: The Elements of Fiction.
Your First Response.
Close Reading.
Annotating the Text.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke.
Fiction in Its Many Contexts.
Your Critical Approach.
Interpretive Communities.
Reading and Analyzing Fiction.
Fiction and Truth.
Narration.
Point of View.
Voice.
Reliability.
Setting.
Location.
Atmosphere.
Conflict.
Internal and External Conflict.
Conflict and Characterization.
Plot.
Character.
Language and Style.
Denotation and Connotation.
Figurative Language.
Symbol.
Diction.
Theme.
Theme of Moral?
Getting Ideas for Writing about Fiction.
One Friday Morning, Langston Hughes.
Generating Ideas for Writing.
4. Argumentation: Interpreting and Evaluating Fiction.
The Critical Essay.
Choosing a Topic: Process and Product.
Writing to Analyze or Explicate.
Writing to Compare.
Writing about the Beliefs or Actions of the Narrator or Characters.
Writing about Literature in Context.
Response Essay or Critical Essay?
Two Readers / Two Choices.
Exploring Everyday Use.
Everyday Use, Alice Walker.
Two Student Essays.
Critical Thinking: Induction and Substantiation.
Developing Standards.
Thinking Critically about Fiction.
Facts and Opinions.
The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin.
Interpretation: What Do You Think It Means?
A Defensible Interpretation, Not the Right Answer.
Developing an Interpretation.
Language and Form.
Narration: Point of View and Voice.
Setting.
Conflict and Plot.
Characterization.
The Whole: Theme.
Beliefs or Actions Expressed by the Narrator or Characters.
The Story in Context.
Evaluation: How Well Does It Work?
Developing Standards.
Developing Standards for Evaluating Fiction.
Your Own Standards: Expectations and Intentions.
Standards for Evaluating Fiction.
Generating Ideas for a Critical Essay.
Argumentation: Writing a Critical Essay.
The Shape of an Argument.
Planning Your Argument.
Supporting Your Argument.
Opening, Closing, and Revising Your Argument.
Checklist for Writing a Critical Essay.
Two Readers / Two Choices.
Exploring A&P.
A&P, John Updike.
Two Student Essays.
3. An Anthology of Fiction.
Marriage is a Private Affair, Chinua Achebe.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie.
Happy Endings, Margaret Atwood.
Sonny's Blues, James Baldwin.
At the Tolstoi Museum, Donald Barthelme.
The Lesson, Toni Cade Bambara.
Janus, Ann Beattie.
Greasy Lake, T. Corraghessan Boyle.
Snow, Robert Olen Butler.
If on a winter's night a traveler, Italo Calvino.
The Guest, Albert Camus.
What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, Raymond Carver.
Paul's Case, Willa Cather.
The Lady with the Pet Dog, Anton Chekhov.
The Open Boat, Stephen Crane.
Videotape, Don DeLillo.
Battle Royal, Ralph Ellison.
The Red Convertible, Louise Erdrich.
A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner.
The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Hills Like White Elephants, Ernest Hemingway.
Sweat, Zora Neale Hurston.
The Dead, James Joyce.
A Hunger Artist, Franz Kafka.
The Horse Dealer's Daughter, D.H. Lawrence.
Shiloh, Bobbie Ann Mason.
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
The Necklace, Guy de Maupasant.
The Day It Happened, Rosario Morales.
The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien.
Everything That Rises Must Converge, Flannery O'Connor.
Revelation.
My Oedipus Complex, Frank O'Connor.
I Stand Here Ironing,Tillie Olsen.
War, Luigi Pirandello.
The Pilgrim, Estela Portillo.
The Conversion of the Jews, Philip Roth.
The Man to Send Rain Clouds, Leslie Marmon Silko.
The Chrysanthemums, John Steinbeck.
Two Kinds, Amy Tan.
Roselily, Alice Walker.
A Worn Path, Eudora Welty.
Eveline, James Joyce.
Interpretation: Culture and Research.
Professor Devenish's Commentary.
A Student Research Essay.
Appendix A: Critical Approaches to Literature.
Appendix B: Research and Documentation: Writing with Secondary Sources.
Documentation—Some Basics.
What Must Be Documented.
Where and How.
Evaluating Sources from the Internet.
Plagiarism.
The Physical Layout of the Research Essay.
Documentation—MLA Style.
Citing Sources in the Text of the Essay.
Works Cited Documentation.
Electronic Sources.
Other Sources.
Sample Works Cited.
A Glossary of Literary Terms.
Indices.
