This user-friendly book identifies eight theoretical approaches to reading and writing about literature. Each chapter provides detailed discussions of how learners can use these traditional and contemporary approaches to enhance their ability to analyze, enjoy, and study literature. Chapter topics cover reader-response criticism, formalist criticism, ethical criticism, literature as civic argument, cultural criticism, feminist criticism, psychological criticism, deconstructive criticism, and the research essay. For individuals who enjoy literary texts, and want to write effectively about what they read.