Customer Reviews

Text Book: An Introduction to Literary Language

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As a freshman at Oklahoma State University, I had the opportunity to study in an advanced composition and critical analysis class. In the second semester of this class, the students were introduced to the concept of intertextuality. One of the principle texts for this class was "The Text Book." It is a wonderful starting point for anyone interested in learning more about how language, thought, metaphor, and our own perceptions are structured. "The Text Book" details the psychological processes involved in our relationship to metaphor, using examples from the world of advertising as well as from literature. Written in a delightful style, "The Text Book" explains concepts with lively references and a jovial tone while utilizing solid research and scholarship to support assertions. This book is a useful resource for writers, scholars, artists, and students. Its usefulness is not limited to academia. "The Text Book" provides vital insight into how we as people interact with and sense the world around us, how and when we recall information and how associations are made. I recommend this highly.

"Text Book" is a tribute to generic text interpretation
theory and technique. Starting with the theoretical foundation
of storytelling, using Mary Louise Pratt's interpretation of
William Labov's work, this freshman college text takes us by
the hand to introduce us to the basic tenets of character,
confrontation, the full spectrum of the uses of metaphor,
intertextuality, text transformation and interpretation, fragments
and signing. "Text Book" defines what a literary primer should
be: intelligently organized, entertaining, informative, and
skewed toward having the student develop their own literary
skills through a wide range of open-ended exercises.
This is an excellent teaching text that actively develops the
student's knowlege of literary language and technique. It is
also a text that requires a teacher with a firm base in literary
instruction. The teacher is expected, not to fill in any gaps
in the text, but to mediate the discussion questions that are
asked throughout the text. These are open-ended interpretive
questions about specific literary examples, and a teacher ill-prepared
to moderate the discussion may do more harm than good for the
student.
Overall, "Text Book" is an impressive work that is an
exellent addition to any English student's curriculum.