AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Reading Novels by George Hughes, Walter L. Reed ISBN: 0-8265-1399-9 Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $49.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent Job
Comment: Readers who want to fly high with theories might be disappointed (this book never once mentions feminism, postcolonial or cultural studies, as such)... but should they really? No theory can convince people without the basis of sound technical analysis of concrete examples. Literary theorists have to demonstrate, in a down-to-earth way, how the texts they deal with are constructed under particular intentions. Surely, a toolbox for building the intermediary ladder is necessary in the process; this book succeeds in providing us with one, and a very useful one indeed.
George Hughes does an excellent job of introducing us to the very basic (but often neglected) skills in looking at and analyzing literary texts, especially novels. His style manages to be intelligent and foolproof at the same time, relaxed but never pedestrian. His arguments are supported by an abundance of examples, some from celebrated texts, others from those we have heard of somewhere but were too lazy to read actually. (One of the virtues of this book is that it makes such texts look really attractive.) The way he explains terms and ideas is concise and to the point. (As a non-Western student, I found the section on free indirect discourse particularly helpful: it presents the elusive concept in an admirably transparent way.)
This book is a wonderful companion for traveling light in the world of literary texts - or, when it comes to that, 'the world as text' (though the author emphasizes that this book focuses on the analysis of novels). Don't be put off by the seemingly unexciting title.