Critics’ Reviews

“For every student who has stared hopelessly at a blank screen, waiting for a literary essay miraculously to appear; and for every instructor who has looked upon a set of just-graded student essays with a sense of failure verging on despair—W.F. Garrett-Petts’s Writing about Literature: A Guide for the Student Critic offers immediate help. In lucid, straightforward prose, Garrett-Petts demystifies literary criticism and invites student critics to ‘join the conversation’ of literary students and scholars already underway. From the opening instruction on how to move effectively from reading to response to criticism (punctuated with an engaging interview with Professor Harold Kolb), through guided reading of Stephen Crane’s ‘The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky’ (produced in its original form, including the wonderful illustrations), through modeling responses to this classic short story, Garrett-Petts deftly initiates students into ‘talking the talk’ and ‘walking the walk’ of literary criticism. This brief, accessible, and easy-to-use book is bound to be a hit with students and instructors alike.”

“More than any other textbook that I know of, Writing About Literature successfully bridges that gap between literature and composition, rhetoric and poetics, theory and practice, reading and writing.”

“Writing about Literature gives students a stake in their own education by making them active interpreters of texts, fields, and university culture.”