Literature and Its Writers : An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book
Review: I just finished using this as a text for an introductory literature course. The Charters' anthology worked well for college studnets, and it would be a great handbook for anyone who enjoys reading. The selections are excellent, with poetry, fiction, drama, essays, and even a few excerpts from screenplays. The selections are representative of a wide variety of styles, time periods, nationalities, genders, ethnicities, etc. The "Casebook" sections allow the reader to focus on one particular writer--with his/her work, criticism, letters, essays, etc.--so the Charters offer depth as well as breadth. The selections are introduced with poignant and thorough (but still concise) biographical notes. There are also clear, cogent, valuable explanations of literary terms/concepts that students can approach, teachers can use, and the average reader can understand with ease. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A diverse and enjoyable anthology of fiction, poetry and dra
Review: I use this text in my high school creative writing course, which includes units on fiction, poetry, and screenwriting. My students love the book because I allow them opportunities to choose works that they want to read, and the casebooks allow them to study some of their favorite authors in depth (e.g., Sandra Cisneros and Raymond Carver). The only drawback to the book is that the teacher's edition includes good discussion questions, but fails to provide any answers to those questions. While I don't believe discussion questions, particularly in poetry, have right or wrong answers, at times I found myself unable to grasp the questions intent.