Studying English Literature and Language: An Introduction and Companion

Studying English Literature and Language: An Introduction and Companion is designed to support students studying on English Literature and Language degrees. Combining the functions of study guide, critical dictionary and text anthology, it has rapidly established itself as a core text on a wide variety of degree programmes. Formerly known as The English Studies Book, this new edition has been updated and revised throughout. Studying English Literature and Language: analyses local and global varieties of the English language in a range of media and discourses, including news, advertising, text messaging, rap, pop and street art includes fresh sections on the essential skills and study strategies needed to complete a degree in English--from close reading, research and referencing to full guidelines and tips on essay-writing, participating in seminars, presentation and revision covers the key theoretical positions and practical approaches taken by scholars in the field, including practical criticism, psychoanalysis, cultural materialism and new eclectic strands of thought. addresses crucial topics and terms such as accents and dialects, the canon, character and characterisation, discourse analysis, narratives in history, periodisation, realism, versification and intertextuality features extensive revisions and updates to the texts in the anthology, representing all the major genres from early elegy and novel to contemporary performance and flash fiction, and representing writers as diverse as Aphra Behn, Emily Dickinson, J. M. Coetzee, Angela Carter, Russell Hoban. Adrienne Rich and Arundhati Roy provides an authoritative guide to the life skills, further study options and career pathways open to graduates of the subject is supported by a Companion Website featuring a wide selection of additional anthology texts, extended interpretations of poetry, prose fiction, plays and critical essays, suggestions for further online research and a comprehensive glossary of grammatical terms. Studying English Literature and Language is a wide-ranging and invaluable reference for anyone interested in the study of English language, literature and culture.

Table of Contents:
PROLOGUE: CHANGING ‘ENGLISH’ NOW Crossing borders, establishing boundaries Texts in contexts: literature in history Seeing through theory English Literature and Creative Writing English Language Teaching Technologising the subject: actual and virtual communities Forewords! Some propositions and provocations PART ONE: INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH STUDIES Preview 1.1 Which ‘Englishes’?One English language, literature, culture – or many historically geographically socially by medium Summary: one and many 1.2 ‘Doing English’ – ten essential actions |Getting your bearings Turning up, taking part: lectures and seminars Taking and making notes Close reading – wide reading Library, web, ‘home’ – an ongoing cycle Taking responsibility: referencing and plagiarism Writing an essay to make a mark Doing a presentation to prompt a response Revision – preparing to take an exam Seriously enjoy studying English! 1.3 Fields of study: a preliminary mappingLanguage Literature Culture, communication and media Summary: keeping on course and making your own way PART TWO: CRITICAL & CREATIVE STRATEGIES FOR ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION Preview 2.1 Initial analysis: how to approach a textOpening moves: Notice—Pattern—Contrast—Feeling Core questions: What, Who, When. Where, How, Why and What if? Worked and played example: William Blake’s ‘London’ 2.2 Full interpretation: informed reading, adventurous writingInterpretative framework and analytical checklist Poetry + Prose fiction + Play Script + Critical essay + 2.3 Longer projects: lines of enquiry and sample study patternsFrom vague idea to viable project Working and playing from the Anthology Further strategies for critical-creative writing 2.4 Overview of textual activities as learning strategies More kinds of critical-creative writing PART THREE: THEORETICAL POSITIONS, PRACTICAL APPROACHES Preview 3.1 Theory in Practice – a working model to play with 3.2 Words on the page – Practical Criticism and (old) New Criticism 3.3 Devices and effects – Formalism into Functionalism 3.4 Mind and person – Psychological approaches 3.5 Class and community – Marxism, Cultural Materialism and New Historicism 3.6 Gender and sexuality – Feminism, Masculinity and Queer theory 3.7 Relativities – Poststructuralism and Postmodernism . . . 3.8 Ethnicities – Postcolonialism and Multiculturalism 3.9 The new Eclecticism? Ethics, Aesthetics, Ecology . . . PART FOUR: KEY TERMS, CORE TOPICS PART FIVE: ANTHOLOGY Preview 5.1 Poetries 5.1.1 Early English verses Old English lament (anon.) ‘Wulf and Eadwacer’ Medieval lyric (anon.), ‘Maiden in the mor lay’ Geoffrey Chaucer, The General Prologue Sir Thomas Wyatt, ‘They flee from me’ 5.1.2 Sonnets by various handsWilliam Shakespeare, ‘My mistress’ eyes’ (Sonnet 130) John Milton, ‘When I consider how my light is spent’ Patience Agbabi, ‘Problem Pages’ (responses to Shakespeare’s and Milton’s sonnets) Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘The Windhover – To Christ our Lord’ Rupert Brooke, ‘The Soldier’; with Winston Churchill Ursula Fanthorpe, ‘Knowing about Sonnets’ (response to Brooke) 5.1.3 Heroics and mock-heroicsJohn Milton, Paradise LostAlexander Pope, The Rape of the LockElizabeth Hands, ‘A Poem . . . by a Servant Maid’ George Gordon, Lord Byron, The Vision of Judgement 5.1.4 Poetry that answers back Robyn Bolam, ‘Gruoch’ (Lady Macbeth) Tom Leonard, ‘This is thi six a clock news’ Chan Wei Meng, ‘I spik Inglissh’ Mario Petrucci, ‘The Complete Letter Guide’, ‘Mutations’, ‘Reflections’, ‘Trench’ 5.1.5 Performing poetry, singing cultureSeminole chants: ‘Song for the Dying’; 'Song for Bringing a Child into the World’ Patience Agbabi, ‘The Word’ Queen, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ πo, ‘7 daiz’ The Flobots, ‘No Handlebars’ Philip Gross, ‘Severn Song’ 5.2 Proses 5.2.1 Short stories, fables and flash fiction (complete) Rudyard Kipling, The Story of Muhammad DinDon Barthelme, The Death of Edward Lear Margaret Atwood, Happy EndingsAngela Carter, The WerewolfAmy Tan, ‘Feathers from a thousand li away’ Dave Eggers, ‘What the Water Feels Like to the Fishes’ 5.2.2 Slave narratives by name Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, or The Royal SlaveDaniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (‘I call him Friday’) Geoff Holdsworth, ‘I call him Tuesday Afternoon’ J.M. Coetzee, Foe 5.2.3 Romance revisited Charlotte Brontë, Jane EyreJean Rhys, Wide Sargasso SeaOscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian GrayWill Self, Dorian 5.2.4 Science and Fantasy Fiction – genre and genderPhillip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Ursula LeGuin, The Left Hand of DarknessRussell Hoban, Riddley Walker Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens 5.2.5 War on – of – Terror Ian McEwan, ‘Only love and then oblivion’, The GuardianArundhati Roy, ‘The Algebra of Infinite Justice’, The GuardianNick Barton, Voices from the Battlefields of Afghanistan – from the air Simon Panter, Voices from the Battlefields of Afghanistan – on the ground 5.2.6 Media messages and street textsNews: headlines, captions, intros, outros Personal and not-so-personal ads Cash-machine and check-out exchanges Answer-phone message, call-centre script Street: signs, graffiti, word-art 5.3 Voices 5.3.1 Dramatising ‘English’ in Education Student talk amongst friends (transcript) Willy Russell, Educating RitaLloyd Jones, Mr Pip Jeremy Jacobson, ‘The Post-Modern Lecture’ 5.3.2 Novel voices Jane Austen, Pride and PrejudiceAmos Tutuola, The Palm-Wine Drinkard Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke ha ha haJames Kelman, How late it was, how late 5.3.3 Voice—play, dream—drama Dylan Thomas, Under Milk WoodSamuel Beckett, Not IAthol Fugard, Boesman and LenaMartin McDonagh, The PillowmanAlice Oswald, Dart 5.3.4 ‘I’dentity in the balance – selves and othersJohn Clare, ‘I am – yet what I am . . .’ Emily Dickinson, ‘I’m Nobody’ Adrienne Rich, ‘Dialogue’ Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library 5.4 Crossings 5.4.1 Daffodils?William Wordsworth, ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ Dorothy Wordsworth, Grasmere JournalsLynn Peters, ‘Why Dorothy Wordsworth is Not as Famous as her Brother ‘Heineken refreshes the poets other beers can’t reach 5.4.2 Mapping JourneysHarry Beck, first Map of the London Underground (1931) Bill Bryson, Notes from a Small IslandCaryl Phillips, Crossing the RiverBilly Marshall-Stoneking, ‘Passage’ Kathleen Jamie, ‘Pathologies – A startling tour of our bodies’ 5.4.3 Translations / TransformationsBrian Friel, TranslationsJo Shapcott and Rainer Maria Rilke, ‘Roses’ (English and French) W. G. Sebald, Austerlitz 5.4.4 Versions of agingMay Sarton, As We Are Now‘Clarins is the Problem-solver’ William Shakespeare, ‘Devouring Time’ (Sonnet 19) Dennis Scott, ‘Uncle Time’ 5.4.5 Epitaphs and (almost) last words Epitaphs by Pope, Gray, Burns, and others Charles Dickens, Great Expectations Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart Toni Morrison, BelovedGrace Nicholls, ‘Tropical Death’ PART SIX: TAKING IT ALL FURTHER – ENGLISH AND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE Preview 6.1 Living, learning, earning What now? What next? What if . . .? 6.2 English again, afresh, otherwiseEnglish and or as other subjects 6.3 Further studyPostgraduate courses in and around English 6.4 Into workTransformable skills, transformative knowledges Career pathways and interesting jobs for ‘English’graduates Towards application and interview 6.5 Play as re-creation Afterwords – a postlude APPENDICES a Grammatical and linguistic terms – a quick reference b An alphabet of speech sounds c Chronology of English by period and movement d Maps of English in Britain, the USA, and the worldBibliography Relevant journals and useful addresses Index Afterwords . . .

About the Author :
Rob Pope is Professor of English Studies at Oxford Brookes University and a National Teaching Fellow.

Review :
"This splendid book is at once primer and provocation….Rarely does a companion for English Studies manage to connect the investigation of language and literature so closely to a student’s imaginative and practical needs" Jerome McGann, University of Virginia, USA "Rob Pope's Studying English is an impressively wide-ranging textbook that effortlessly covers such topics as the historical, social, and cultural dimensions of the English language, the principles of close reading, the intricacies of literary theory, and much, much more, while along the way it makes its readers familiar with the taking of notes, with preparing a bibliography, even with the pitfalls of job interviews and writing applications. All of this is wonderfully supported by a choice of excerpts and texts that is equally generous and varied, ranging from the canonical to real life conversations and beer commercials. Studying English is critical, creative, and enjoyable - the conditions, as Pope himself notes, for genuine learning - but it is also, and perhaps even more importantly, as interactive as a textbook could possibly be. Rob Pope casts a very wide net and his - and our - reward is an amazing catch." Hans Bertens, The University of Utrecht, The Netherlands "Rob Pope provides a pathway between the claims and counterclaims that have been made about subject English. He shows that the differences between scholars within the field are a source of its vitality and its capacity to renew itself. This book provides an invaluable resource for students in undergraduate and teacher education programs. It is also a useful reminder to English teachers at secondary and tertiary levels of the richness, complexity and importance of their work." Brenton Doecke, Deakin University, Australia "I am delighted that there is a new edition of this wonderful, well-thought out and superbly useful book. It is as it was, clear, up-to-date and ideal for students and teachers of English" Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK Praise for the Second Edition "This is without question the very best text available for the new "gateway" (introductory) courses to the English major." David Stacey, Humboldt State University, USA "This splendid book is at once primer and provocation….Rarely does a companion for English Studies manage to connect the investigation of language and literature so closely to a student’s imaginative and practical needs" Jerome McGann, University of Virginia, USA "Rob Pope's Studying English is an impressively wide-ranging textbook that effortlessly covers such topics as the historical, social, and cultural dimensions of the English language, the principles of close reading, the intricacies of literary theory, and much, much more, while along the way it makes its readers familiar with the taking of notes, with preparing a bibliography, even with the pitfalls of job interviews and writing applications. All of this is wonderfully supported by a choice of excerpts and texts that is equally generous and varied, ranging from the canonical to real life conversations and beer commercials. Studying English is critical, creative, and enjoyable - the conditions, as Pope himself notes, for genuine learning - but it is also, and perhaps even more importantly, as interactive as a textbook could possibly be. Rob Pope casts a very wide net and his - and our - reward is an amazing catch." Hans Bertens, The University of Utrecht, The Netherlands "Rob Pope provides a pathway between the claims and counterclaims that have been made about subject English. He shows that the differences between scholars within the field are a source of its vitality and its capacity to renew itself. This book provides an invaluable resource for students in undergraduate and teacher education programs. It is also a useful reminder to English teachers at secondary and tertiary levels of the richness, complexity and importance of their work." Brenton Doecke, Deakin University, Australia "I am delighted that there is a new edition of this wonderful, well-thought out and superbly useful book. It is as it was, clear, up-to-date and ideal for students and teachers of English" Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK Praise for the Second Edition "This is without question the very best text available for the new "gateway" (introductory) courses to the English major." David Stacey, Humboldt State University, USA