Bedford Introduction to Literature Book

Resources for Reading and Writing about Literature

Preface for Instructors

INTRODUCTION: READING IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE

photo: John Cheever

The Nature of Literature

EMILY DICKINSON, A narrow Fellow in the Grass

The Value of Literature

The Changing Literary Canon

FICTION

The Elements of Fiction

1. Reading Fiction

photo: Toni Cade Bambara

photo: Kate Chopin

Reading Fiction Responsively

KATE CHOPIN, The Story of an Hour

photo: Kate Chopin

A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of "The Story of an Hour"

A SAMPLE PAPER: Differences in Responses to Kate Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour"

Explorations and Formulas

photo: Romance novel cover

A COMPARISON OF TWO STORIES

KAREN VAN DER ZEE, From A Secret Sorrow

photo: Karen van der Zee

GAIL GODWIN, A Sorrowful Woman

photo: Gail Godwin

PERSPECTIVES

KAY MUSSELL, Are Feminism and Romance Novels Mutually Exclusive?

THOMAS JEFFERSON, On the Dangers of Reading Fiction

ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES

*GENE LUEN YANG, From American Born Chinese

2. Writing about Fiction

photo: Alice Walker

From Reading to Writing

Questions for Responsive Reading and Writing

A SAMPLE PAPER IN PROGRESS

A First Response to A Secret Sorrow and "A Sorrowful Woman"

Brainstorming

A Sample Brainstorming List 52

Revising: First and Second Drafts

A Sample First Draft: Separate Sorrows

A Sample Second Draft: Separate Sorrows

Final Paper

Final Paper: Ful?llment or Failure? Marriage in A Secret Sorrow and "A Sorrowful Woman"

3. Plot

photo: Stephen King

photo: Ernest Hemingway

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, From Tarzan of the Apes

photo: Edgar Rice Burroughs

cover: "All-Story" magazine cover

photo: Alice Walker

*ALICE WALKER, The Flowers

JOYCE CAROL OATES, Three Girls

photo: Joyce Carol Oates

WILLIAM FAULKNER, A Rose for Emily

photo: William Faulkner

PERSPECTIVE: William Faulkner, On "A Rose for Emily"

A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of "A Rose for Emily"

A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Con?ict in the Plot of Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily"

ANDRE DUBUS, Killings

photo: Andre Dubus

PERSPECTIVES

A. L. BADER, Nothing Happens in Modern Short Stories

ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES

EDWARD GOREY, From The Hapless Child

4. Character

photo: Mark Twain

CHARLES DICKENS, From Hard Times

photo: Charles Dickens

A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Character Development in Dickens’s Hard Times

MAY-LEE CHAI, Saving Sourdi

photo: May-lee Chai

HERMAN MELVILLE, Bartleby, the Scrivener

photo: Herman Melville

PERSPECTIVES

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On Herman Melville’s Philosophic Stance

DAN McCALL, On the Lawyer’s Character in "Bartleby, the Scrivener"

*JUNOT DIAZ, Fiesta, 1980

*photo: Junot Diaz

ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES

LYNDA BARRY, Spelling

5. Setting

photo: Andrea Lee

photo: Ernest Hemingway

ERNEST HEMINGWAY, Soldier’s Home

PERSPECTIVES

ERNEST HEMINGWAY, On What Every Writer Needs

ANDREA LEE, Anthropology

photo: Andrea Lee

FAY WELDON, IND AFF, or Out of Love in Sarajevo

photo: Fay Weldon

PERSPECTIVE: Fay Weldon, On the Importance of Place in "IND AFF"

A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Signi?cance of Setting in Weldon’s "IND AFF"

6. Point of View

photo: Anton Chekhov

Third-Person Narrator

First-Person Narrator

photo: Robert Olen Butler

*ROBERT OLEN BUTLER, Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot

photo: Anton Chekhov

ANTON CHEKHOV, The Lady with the Pet Dog

PERSPECTIVES

Two Additional Translations of the Final Paragraphs of Anton Chekhov’s "The Lady with the Pet Dog"

ANTON CHEKHOV, From "The Lady and the Dog"

ANTON CHEKHOV, From "A Lady with a Dog"

ANTON CHEKHOV, On Morality in Fiction

JOYCE CAROL OATES, The Lady with the Pet Dog

PERSPECTIVE: MATTHEW C. BRENNAN, Point of View and Plotting in Chekhov’s and Oates’s "The Lady with the Pet Dog"

A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Two Versions of the Same Story: Point of View in Chekhov’s and Oates’s "The Lady with the Pet Dog"

ALICE WALKER, Roselily

ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES

MARJANE SATRAPI, "The Trip," From Persepolis

7. Symbolism

photo: Ralph Ellison

CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI, Clothes

photo: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

COLETTE, The Hand

RALPH ELLISON, Battle Royal

photo: Ralph Ellison

PERSPECTIVE: MORDECAI MARCUS, What Is an Initiation Story?

A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Section of "Battle Royal"

A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Symbolism in Ellison’s "Battle Royal"

*MICHAEL OPPENHEIMER, The Paring Knife

8. Theme

photo: Herman Melville

STEPHEN CRANE, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky

photo: Stephen Crane

photo: Katherine Mans?eld

KATHERINE MANSFIELD, Miss Brill

photo: Dagoberto Gilb

DAGOBERTO GILB, Love in L.A.

A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Theme of Deception in Gilb’s "Love in L.A."

DALY WALKER, I Am the Grass

photo: Daly Walker

9. Style, Tone, and Irony

photo: Raymond Carver

Style

Tone

Irony

photo: Raymond Carver

RAYMOND CARVER, Popular Mechanics

PERSPECTIVE: JOHN BARTH, On Minimalist Fiction

A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: The Minimalist Style of Carver’s "Popular Mechanics"

SUSAN MINOT, Lust

photo: Susan Minot

TIM O’BRIEN, How to Tell a True War Story

photo: Tim O’Brien

photo: Z. Z. Packer

Z. Z. PACKER, Brownies

*photo: Rick Moody

*RICK MOODY, Boys

ENCOUNTERING FICTION: COMICS AND GRAPHIC STORIES

MATT GROENING, Life in Hell

10. Combining the Elements of Fiction: A Writing Process

photo: Edgar Allan Poe

The Elements Together

Mapping the Story

photo: David Updike

DAVID UPDIKE, Summer

Questions for Writing: Developing a Topic into a Revised Thesis

A Sample Brainstorming List

A Sample First Thesis

A Sample Revised Thesis

A SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Plot and Setting in David Updike’s "Summer"

Approaches to Fiction

11. A Study of Nathaniel Hawthorne

photo: Nathaniel Hawthorne

image: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s signature

photo: "The Old Manse"

image: Nathaniel Hawthorne portrait

image: "The Witch of the Woodlands"

A Brief Biography and Introduction

CHRONOLOGY

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, Young Goodman Brown

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, The Minister’s Black Veil

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, The Birthmark

PERSPECTIVES ON HAWTHORNE

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On Solitude

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On the Power of the Writer’s Imagination NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, On His Short Stories

HERMAN MELVILLE, On Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tragic Vision

GAYLORD BREWER, "The Joys of Secret Sin"

TWO COMPLEMENTARY CRITICAL READINGS

JUDITH FETTERLEY, A Feminist Reading of "The Birthmark"

JAMES QUINN and ROSS BALDESSARINI, A Psychological Reading of "The Birthmark"

12. A Study of Flannery O’Connor

photo: Flannery O’Connor

image: Flannery O’Connor’s signature

A Brief Biography and Introduction

photo: Flannery O’Connor, Age 12

photo: Flannery O’Connor, Age 16 or 17

photo: Flannery O’Connor with Self-Portrait

photo: The Corinthian Staff

cartoon: "Targets"

photo: Flannery O’Connor and Pet Peacock at Andalusia Farm

CHRONOLOGY

FLANNERY O’CONNOR, A Good Man Is Hard to Find

FLANNERY O’CONNOR, Good Country People

FLANNERY O’CONNOR, Revelation

PERSPECTIVES ON O’CONNOR

FLANNERY O’CONNOR, On Faith

FLANNERY O’CONNOR, On the Materials of Fiction

FLANNERY O’CONNOR, On the Use of Exaggeration and Distortion FLANNERY O’CONNOR, On Theme and Symbol

JOSEPHINE HENDIN, On O’Connor’s Refusal to "Do Pretty"

CLAIRE KAHANE, The Function of Violence in O’Connor’s Fiction

EDWARD KESSLER, On O’Connor’s Use of History

TIME MAGAZINE, On "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

TWO COMPLEMENTARY CRITICAL READINGS

A. R. COULTHARD, On the Visionary Ending of "Revelation"

MARSHALL BRUCE GENTRY, On the Revised Ending of "Revelation"

13. A Critical Case Study: William Faulkner’s "Barn Burning"

photo: William Faulkner

image: William Faulkner’s signature

photo: William Faulkner

photo: Oxford Hardware Store

photo: Goodwin and Brown’s Commissary

photo: Rowan Oak

photo: William Faulkner at Writing Desk

WILLIAM FAULKNER, Barn Burning

PERSPECTIVES ON FAULKNER

JANE HILES, Blood Ties in "Barn Burning"

BENJAMIN DEMOTT, Abner Snopes as a Victim of Class

GAYLE EDWARD WILSON, Con?ict in "Barn Burning"

JAMES FERGUSON, Narrative Strategy in "Barn Burning"

Questions for Writing: Incorporating the Critics

A SAMPLE STUDENT PAPER: The Fires of Class Con?ict in "Barn Burning" (excerpt)

14. A Cultural Case Study: James Joyce’s "Eveline"

photo: James Joyce

image: James Joyce’s signature

A Brief Biography and Introduction

image: "Eveline" in The Irish Homestead

photo: James Joyce, Age 22

photo: James Joyce with Nora and Friends

photo: James Joyce in Paris

CHRONOLOGY

JAMES JOYCE, Eveline

Documents

photo: Poole Street, Dublin

THE ALLIANCE TEMPERANCE ALMANACK, On the Resources of Ireland

BRIDGET BURKE, A Letter Home from an Irish Emigrant

A Plot Synopsis of The Bohemian Girl

poster: The Bohemian Girl

15. A Thematic Case Study: The Literature of the South

photo: Flannery O’Connor

photo: Richard Wright

map: U.S. Bureau of the Census, "The South"

JOHN SHELTON REED and DALE VOLBERG REED, De?nitions of the South

W. J. CASH, The Old and the New South

movie still: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Gone with the Wind

lithograph: Currier and Ives, The Old Plantation Home

IRVING HOWE, The Southern Myth

painting: John Richards, The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863

FLANNERY O’CONNOR, The Regional Writer

painting: Clyde Broadway, Trinity — Elvis, Jesus, and Robert E. Lee

MARGARET WALKER, The Southern Writer and Race

photo: Ernest C. Withers, "Bus Station, Colored Waiting Room, Memphis,

Tennessee"

photo: Library of Congress, Elizabeth Eckford at Little Rock Central High School photo: Ernest C. Withers, "Sanitation Workers’ Strike, Memphis, Tennessee" RICHARD WRIGHT, The Ethics of Living Jim Crow

collage: Romare Bearden, Watching the Good Trains Go By

DONALD R. NOBLE, The Future of Southern Writing

LEE SMITH, On Southern Change and Permanence

16. A Thematic Case Study: Humor and Satire

photo: T. C. Boyle

photo: E. Annie Proulx

E. ANNIE PROULX, 55 Miles to the Gas Pump

T. CORAGHESSAN BOYLE, Carnal Knowledge

photo: T. C. Boyle

*RON HANSEN, My Kid’s Dog

LEE SMITH, The Happy Memories Club

photo: Lee Smith

*JOYCE CAROL OATES, Hi Howya Doin’

photo: Mark Twain

MARK TWAIN, The Story of the Good Little Boy

*17. Remarkably Short Short Fiction

*SANDRA CISNEROS, Eleven

*photo: Sandra Cisneros

*RON CARLSON, Max

*JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS, Cheers

*MARK HALLIDAY, Young Man on Sixth Ave

*DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, Incarnations of Burned Children

*photo: David Foster Wallace

LYDIA DAVIS, Letter to a Funeral Parlor

photo: Lydia Davis

PETER MEINKE, The Cranes

*MARGARET ATWOOD, Happy Endings

photo: Margaret Atwood

*TERRY L. TILTON, That Settles That

A Collection of Stories

18. An Album of Contemporary Stories

photo: Amy Bloom

photo: Amy Bloom

AMY BLOOM, By-and-by

*JHUMPA LAHIRI, Hell-Heaven

*photo: Jhumpa Lahiri

*JOHN UPDIKE, Outage

photo: John Updike

*XU XI, Famine

*photo: Xu Xi

19. An Album of World Literature

photo: Salman Rushdie

BESSIE HEAD (Botswana), The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses

NAGUIB MAHFOUZ (Egypt), The Answer Is No

photo: Naguib Mahfouz

photo: Gabriel García Márquez

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ (Colombia), One of These Days

*TATYANA TOLSTAYA, See the Other Side

20. Stories for Further Reading

photo: Toni Morrison

photo: Joseph Conrad

JOSEPH CONRAD, An Outpost of Progress

photo: Jamaica Kincaid

JAMAICA KINCAID, Girl

photo: D. H. Lawrence

D. H. LAWRENCE, The Horse Dealer’s Daughter

*JACK LONDON, To Build a Fire

*photo: Jack London

*KATHERINE MANSFIELD, The Fly

EDGAR ALLAN POE, The Cask of Amontillado

photo: Edgar Allan Poe

KATHERINE ANNE PORTER, The Witness

photo: Katherine Anne Porter

JOHN UPDIKE, A & P

POETRY

The Elements of Poetry

21. Reading Poetry

Reading Poetry Responsively

Marge Piercy, The Secretary Chant

Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays

John Updike, Dog’s Death

The Pleasure of Words

William Hathaway, Oh, Oh

SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Version of Oh, Oh
Robert Francis, Catch

A SAMPLE STUDENT ANALYSIS: Tossing Metaphors Together in "Catch"

Elizabeth Bishop, The Fish

Philip Larkin, A Study of Reading Habits

Robert Morgan, Mountain Graveyard

E. E. Cummings, l(a

Anonymous, Western Wind

Regina Barreca, Nighttime Fires

SUGGESTIONS FOR APPROACHING POETRY

Billy Collins, Introduction to Poetry

ENCOUNTERING POETRY: IMAGES OF POETRY IN POPULAR CULTURE

poster: Dorothy Parker, Unfortunate Coincidence

photo: Carl Sandburg, Window

cartoon: Roz Chast, The Love Song of J. Alfred Crew
photo: Tim Taylor, I shake the delicate apparatus

poster: Eric Dunn and Mike Wigton, National Poetry Slam

*photo: Kevin Fleming, Poetry Reading at Nuyorican Poets Café

web screen: Poetry-portal.com

web screen: Ted Kooser, American Life in Poetry

poem in newspaper: David Allan Evans, Neighbors

Poetry in Popular Forms

Helen Farries, Magic of Love

John Frederick Nims, Love Poem

Bruce Springsteen, You’re Missing

S. Pearl Sharp, It’s the Law: A Rap Poem

perspective: Robert Francis, On "Hard" Poetry
Poems for Further Study

*Peter Pereira, Anagrammer

*Mary Oliver, The Poet with His Face in His Hands

Lisa Parker, Snapping Beans

Alberto Ríos, Seniors

Alfred Lord Tennyson, Crossing the Bar

Billy Collins, Marginalia

*Christian Bok, Vowels

22. Writing about Poetry

From Reading to Writing

QUESTIONS FOR RESPONSIVE READING AND WRITING
Elizabeth Bishop, Manners

A SAMPLE CLOSE READING: An Annotated Version of Manners

A SAMPLE STUDENT ANALYSIS: Memory in Elizabeth Bishop’s "Manners"

23. Word Choice, Word Order, and Tone

Word Choice

Diction

Denotations and Connotations

Randall Jarrell, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

Word Order

Tone

Judith Ortiz Cofer, Common Ground

Colette Inez, Back When All Was Continuous Chuckles

Kathryn Howd Machan, Hazel Tells LaVerne

*SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE: Tone in Kathryn Howd Machan’s "Hazel Tells LaVerne"

Martín Espada, Latin Night at the Pawnshop

Paul Lawrence Dunbar, To a Captious Critic

Diction and Tone in Four Love Poems

Robert Herrick, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress

Ann Lauinger, Marvell Noir
Sharon Olds, Last Night

Poems for Further Study

Barbara Hamby, Ode to American English

Thomas Hardy, The Convergence of the Twain

David R. Slavitt, Titanic

Peter Meinke, (Untitled)
Joanne Diaz, On My Father’s Loss of Hearing

Sharon Olds, Sex without Love

*Mary Oliver, Oxygen

Cathy Song, The Youngest Daughter

John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn

Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool

*Joan Murray, We Old Dudes

Alice Jones, The Larynx

Louis Simpson, In the Suburbs
*Herbert Lomas, The Fly’s Poem about Emily

A Note on Reading Translations

Three Translations of a Poem by Sappho

Sappho, Immortal Aphrodite of the broidered throne (translated by Henry T. Wharton)

Sappho Beautiful-throned, immortal Aphrodite (translated by T. W. Higginson)

Sappho, Prayer to my lady of Paphos (translated by Mary Barnard)

Two Translations of a Poem by Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda, Verbo (original Spanish version)
Pablo Neruda, Verbo (translated by Ben Belitt)
Pablo Neruda, Verbo (translated by Kristin Linklater)

24. Images

Poetry’s Appeal to the Senses

Li Ho, A Beautiful Girl Combs Her Hair

William Carlos Williams, Poem

Jeanette Barnes, Battle-Piece

Walt Whitman, Cavalry Crossing a Ford

David Solway