Studying English Literature and Language, 3rd Edition

Studying English Literature and Language: An Introduction and Companion is designed to support students studying on English Literature and Language degrees. Combining the functions of study guide, critical dictionary and text anthology, it has rapidly established itself as a core text on a wide variety of degree programmes. Formerly known as The English Studies Book, this new edition has been updated and revised throughout. Studying English Literature and Language: analyses local and global varieties of the English language in a range of media and discourses, including news, advertising, text messaging, rap, pop and street art includes fresh sections on the essential skills and study strategies needed to complete a degree in English--from close reading, research and referencing to full guidelines and tips on essay-writing, participating in seminars, presentation and revision covers the key theoretical positions and practical approaches taken by scholars in the field, including practical criticism, psychoanalysis, cultural materialism and new eclectic strands of thought. addresses crucial topics and terms such as accents and dialects, the canon, character and characterisation, discourse analysis, narratives in history, periodisation, realism, versification and intertextuality features extensive revisions and updates to the texts in the anthology, representing all the major genres from early elegy and novel to contemporary performance and flash fiction, and representing writers as diverse as Aphra Behn, Emily Dickinson, J.M. Coetzee, Angela Carter, Russell Hoban. Adrienne Rich and Arundhati Roy provides an authoritative guide to the life skills, further study options and career pathways open to graduates of the subject is supported by a Companion Website featuring a wide selection of additional anthology texts, extended interpretations of poetry, prose fiction, plays and critical essays, suggestions for further online research and a comprehensive glossary of grammatical terms. Studying English Literature and Language is a wide-ranging and invaluable reference for anyone interested in the study of English language, literature and culture.

“"This splendid book is at once primer and provocation….Rarely does a companion for English Studies manage to connect the investigation of language and literature so closely to a student's imaginative and practical needs" Jerome McGann, University of Virginia, USA "Rob Pope's Studying English is an impressively wide-ranging textbook that effortlessly covers such topics as the historical, social, and cultural dimensions of the English language, the principles of close reading, the intricacies of literary theory, and much, much more, while along the way it makes its readers familiar with the taking of notes, with preparing a bibliography, even with the pitfalls of job interviews and writing applications. All of this is wonderfully supported by a choice of excerpts and texts that is equally generous and varied, ranging from the canonical to real life conversations and beer commercials. Studying English is critical, creative, and enjoyable - the conditions, as Pope himself notes, for genuine learning - but it is also, and perhaps even more importantly, as interactive as a textbook could possibly be. Rob Pope casts a very wide net and his - and our - reward is an amazing catch." Hans Bertens, The University of Utrecht, The Netherlands "Rob Pope provides a pathway between the claims and counterclaims that have been made about subject English. He shows that the differences between scholars within the field are a source of its vitality and its capacity to renew itself. This book provides an invaluable resource for students in undergraduate and teacher education programs. It is also a useful reminder to English teachers at secondary and tertiary levels of the richness, complexity and importance of their work." Brenton Doecke, Deakin University, Australia "I am delighted that there is a new edition of this wonderful, well-thought out and superbly useful book. It is as it was, clear, up-to-date and ideal for students and teachers of English" Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK Praise for the Second Edition "This is without question the very best text available for the new "gateway" (introductory) courses to the English major." David Stacey, Humboldt State University, USA”

"This splendid book is at once primer and provocation….Rarely does a companion for English Studies manage to connect the investigation of language and literature so closely to a student’s imaginative and practical needs" Jerome McGann, University of Virginia, USA

"Rob Pope's Studying English is an impressively wide-ranging textbook that effortlessly covers such topics as the historical, social, and cultural dimensions of the English language, the principles of close reading, the intricacies of literary theory, and much, much more, while along the way it makes its readers familiar with the taking of notes, with preparing a bibliography, even with the pitfalls of job interviews and writing applications. All of this is wonderfully supported by a choice of excerpts and texts that is equally generous and varied, ranging from the canonical to real life conversations and beer commercials.

Studying English is critical, creative, and enjoyable - the conditions, as Pope himself notes, for genuine learning - but it is also, and perhaps even more importantly, as interactive as a textbook could possibly be.

Rob Pope casts a very wide net and his - and our - reward is an amazing catch." Hans Bertens, The University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

"Rob Pope provides a pathway between the claims and counterclaims that have been made about subject English. He shows that the differences between scholars within the field are a source of its vitality and its capacity to renew itself. This book provides an invaluable resource for students in undergraduate and teacher education programs. It is also a useful reminder to English teachers at secondary and tertiary levels of the richness, complexity and importance of their work." Brenton Doecke, Deakin University, Australia

"I am delighted that there is a new edition of this wonderful, well-thought out and superbly useful book. It is as it was, clear, up-to-date and ideal for students and teachers of English" Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

Praise for the Second Edition

"This is without question the very best text available for the new "gateway" (introductory) courses to the English major."

David Stacey, Humboldt State University, USA

"This splendid book is at once primer and provocation….Rarely does a companion for English Studies manage to connect the investigation of language and literature so closely to a student’s imaginative and practical needs" Jerome McGann, University of Virginia, USA

"Rob Pope's Studying English is an impressively wide-ranging textbook that effortlessly covers such topics as the historical, social, and cultural dimensions of the English language, the principles of close reading, the intricacies of literary theory, and much, much more, while along the way it makes its readers familiar with the taking of notes, with preparing a bibliography, even with the pitfalls of job interviews and writing applications. All of this is wonderfully supported by a choice of excerpts and texts that is equally generous and varied, ranging from the canonical to real life conversations and beer commercials.

Studying English is critical, creative, and enjoyable - the conditions, as Pope himself notes, for genuine learning - but it is also, and perhaps even more importantly, as interactive as a textbook could possibly be.

Rob Pope casts a very wide net and his - and our - reward is an amazing catch." Hans Bertens, The University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

"Rob Pope provides a pathway between the claims and counterclaims that have been made about subject English. He shows that the differences between scholars within the field are a source of its vitality and its capacity to renew itself. This book provides an invaluable resource for students in undergraduate and teacher education programs. It is also a useful reminder to English teachers at secondary and tertiary levels of the richness, complexity and importance of their work." Brenton Doecke, Deakin University, Australia

"I am delighted that there is a new edition of this wonderful, well-thought out and superbly useful book. It is as it was, clear, up-to-date and ideal for students and teachers of English" Robert Eaglestone, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

Praise for the Second Edition

"This is without question the very best text available for the new "gateway" (introductory) courses to the English major."

David Stacey, Humboldt State University, USA

Rob Pope is Professor of English Studies at Oxford Brookes University and a National Teaching Fellow.

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