Literary Criticism: A Handbook for Beginners - Paperback

by Blessed E. Ngoe (Author)

The teaching/learning of literature in English has been and remains a challenging and an arduous task both to native and non-native speakers of the English language. So far, one of the reasons advanced to explain this phenomenon is the ever-evolving nature of the English language itself. This implies that in order to appreciate literary texts in their wider intellectual and historical contexts, one needs to have a sophisticated mastery of the language. However, the good news here is that without claiming to have a perfect grasp of the English language, the author of this book has painstakingly made the task an easy one both for teachers and learners. Consequently, this book comes to serve as an aide to both students and teachers, especially those whose language of instruction is or will be English, but who have had a very distant relationship with the language. Also, while this handbook cannot claim to have exhausted all that needs to be known as far as the tools of literary criticism are concerned, it has nevertheless taken into consideration, the immediate needs of students. In essence, it is a working manual for beginners in literary studies as it provides brief definitions and descriptions of a variety of literary terms which are invaluable to any serious budding literary scholar. The book will be beneficial to students of secondary and post-secondary levels, especially those who intend to pursue literary criticism as an academic career. There are more than one hundred terms and concepts briefly defined with incisive examples and illustrations provided to furnish readers with the best that is expected of them at their early stage in literary criticism.