You may think: ＂Don’t we argue about controversial issues like health care and the economy? Isn’t literature something to read and appreciate?＂
It’s not an either/or situation.
Yes, everyday events and issues (reasoning with a stubborn friend, joining a heated classroom debate) will call out the arguer in you, but studying literature also calls out your powers of
persuasion. Making the case about what literary works mean, how they came to be, and how they matter (or don’t, or should) requires that you read carefully, analyze texts and evaluate sources,
and create well-supported arguments. In fact, these are the same skills you will be expected to demonstrate in other college courses.
Arguing about Literature: A Brief Guide will help you learn these skills. It features several real-world arguments with instruction on how to analyze those arguments and develop your own
arguments in response. But it also features numerous literary work’s that call for response and analysis. Arguing about Literature will change how you read, think, and write about
literature---and everything else worth arguing about.
