ABSTRACT

Ways of Reading is a well-established core textbook that provides the reader with the tools to analyze and interpret the meanings of literary and non-literary texts.
Six sections, split into self-contained units with their own activities and notes for further reading, cover:

  • techniques and problem-solving
  • language variation
  • attributing meaning
  • poetic uses of language
  • narrative
  • media texts.

This third edition has been redesigned and updated throughout with many fresh examples and exercises, updated further reading suggestions and new material on electronic sources and the Internet, language and power, and drama.

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

part |2 pages

Section 1: Basic techniques and problem-solving

chapter 2|9 pages

Unit 2 Using information sources

chapter 3|12 pages

Unit 3 Analysing units of structure

chapter 4|12 pages

Unit 4 Recognizing genre

part |2 pages

Section 2: Language variation

chapter 5|12 pages

Unit 5 Language and time

chapter 6|12 pages

Unit 6 Language and place

chapter 7|14 pages

Unit 7 Language and context: register

chapter 8|11 pages

Unit 8 Language and gender

chapter 9|11 pages

Unit 9 Language and society

part |2 pages

Section 3: Attributing meaning

chapter 10|14 pages

Metaphor and figurative language

chapter 11|10 pages

Unit 11 Irony

chapter |15 pages

Unit 12 Juxtaposition

chapter |12 pages

Unit 13 Intertextuality and allusion

chapter |15 pages

Unit 14 Authorship and intention

chapter 15|10 pages

Unit 15 Positioning the reader or spectator

part |2 pages

Section 4: Poetic form

chapter 16|10 pages

Unit 16 Rhyme and sound patterning

chapter 17|14 pages

Unit 17 Verse, metre and rhythm

chapter 18|12 pages

Unit 18 Parallelism

chapter 19|18 pages

Unit 19 Deviation

part |2 pages

Section 5: Narrative

chapter 20|10 pages

Unit 20 Narrative

chapter 21|13 pages

Unit 21 Narrative point of view

chapter 22|10 pages

Unit 22 Speech and narration

chapter 23|9 pages

Unit 23 Narrative realism

part |2 pages

Section 6: Media: from text to performance

chapter 24|16 pages

Film and prose fiction

chapter 25|16 pages

Unit 25 Ways of reading drama

chapter 26|13 pages

Unit 26 Literature in performance