A review by katiealex72
How to Read Literature by Terry Eagleton

5.0

After a lifetime of uncritical enjoyment (or otherwise) of reading, I felt completely ready for this - a short, faintly humourous but scholarly introduction to literary criticism. Eagleton has divided the book into just 5 chapters : Openings, where he takes you through a close reading of the beginning phrases and paragraphs of several famous novels or poems, Character, Narrative, Interpretation, and finally Value...is it possible to assess whether a text is truly good or bad? (short answer...yes). Does a text have only one meaning, that ascribed to it by the author, or does the reader have freedom to interpret the text in a different way and perhaps find new meanings? (Also yes). What does it mean when one says that a novel has an unreliable narrator? Eagleton refers constantly to well known texts and writers as he illustrates his examples, which has the happy side effect of making you want to read some of them, even books that are terrifying (Ulysses, anyone?)

As a highly educated person I am almost completely ignorant of current literary theory and criticism, having specialised exclusively in science and medicine, but this book has given me some guidelines on how to read novels on a deeper level than before. If you are looking to widen your reading and finally start catching up on the classic literature on your bucket list, this book is a wonderful place to start. Hard recommend!