How to Read Literature

What makes a work of literature good or bad? How freely can the reader interpret it? In this accessible, entertaining and opinionated study, distinguished critic Terry Eagleton addresses these and many other intriguing questions for anyone new to the field, or any reader interested in a deeper understanding of the reading experience. There are useful commentaries on classicism, Romanticism, modernism and postmodernism, as well as insights into a huge range of writers from Shakespeare and Austen to Samuel Beckett and J.K. Rowling.