Andrew Bennett (1) (1960–)

It has all the virtues of Culler's Very Short Introduction except extreme brevity. By far the best introduction I've read so far that breaks 120 pages. Not useful only for classes that require students to know a particular set of data at the end; for those, a more 'traditional' approach, one divided by critical schools rather than by topics, would be most useful. Unfortunately.

Like the Klages and Lynn and Culler, B and R are clear as heck; unlike the Klages, B and R always come back around show more to reading particular texts (even some Chaucer! in Middle English!); unlike the Lynn, B and R never dumb things down.

Highly, highly recommended to all readers who read more than how-to manuals, and even, perhaps, for them.

UPDATE, Nov. 2008: Now that I've taught this, I'm much more aware of its limitations. 100 pages in my students groaned every time some version of the suspended law of non-contradiction showed up. "Let me guess, this is both X and not-X? How astonishing!" By the end of a month or so with them, they became a cautionary tale about biases: what would they have emphasized had they not been doctrinaire poststructuralists but instead Marxists? Feminist? Postcolonialists? Phenomenologists and Ethicists? show less

Engaging, readable and informative introduction to literary studies. Thirty two chapters which cover aspects such as the author, the text and the world, narrative, character, voice. Each chapter is supported with guidance for further reading.