Literature, the human experience

This volume offers a collection of fiction with stories by Ursula Le Guin, Alice Walker, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Arna Bontemps. Poetry selections by Anne Sexton, Muriel Rukeyser, Karl Shapiro, Philip Larkin, Carolyn Forchè, and Mary Gordon. drama, and essays. Its 26 short stories, 128 poems, 4 plays, and 18 essays are arranged in four thematic sections and within each section, by genre, chronologically. Selections range from the classics of antiquity and the Renaissance to works published during the last five years, and they represent a careful balance of American, British, and non-English-language authors. The final appendix "Writing About Literature" addresses the three major types of student writing: explication, analysis, and comparison and contrast. Each type is defined and discussed and then illustrated with a student essay. Also in this appendix are some eighty-five suggested topics for writing. The topics address all genres and types of writing.