Author: Matthew L. Jockers
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030396436
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 283
Book Description
Now in its second edition, Text Analysis with R provides a practical introduction to computational text analysis using the open source programming language R. R is an extremely popular programming language, used throughout the sciences; due to its accessibility, R is now used increasingly in other research areas. In this volume, readers immediately begin working with text, and each chapter examines a new technique or process, allowing readers to obtain a broad exposure to core R procedures and a fundamental understanding of the possibilities of computational text analysis at both the micro and the macro scale. Each chapter builds on its predecessor as readers move from small scale “microanalysis” of single texts to large scale “macroanalysis” of text corpora, and each concludes with a set of practice exercises that reinforce and expand upon the chapter lessons. The book’s focus is on making the technical palatable and making the technical useful and immediately gratifying. Text Analysis with R is written with students and scholars of literature in mind but will be applicable to other humanists and social scientists wishing to extend their methodological toolkit to include quantitative and computational approaches to the study of text. Computation provides access to information in text that readers simply cannot gather using traditional qualitative methods of close reading and human synthesis. This new edition features two new chapters: one that introduces dplyr and tidyr in the context of parsing and analyzing dramatic texts to extract speaker and receiver data, and one on sentiment analysis using the syuzhet package. It is also filled with updated material in every chapter to integrate new developments in the field, current practices in R style, and the use of more efficient algorithms.
Text Analysis with R
Author: Matthew L. Jockers
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030396436
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 283
Book Description
Now in its second edition, Text Analysis with R provides a practical introduction to computational text analysis using the open source programming language R. R is an extremely popular programming language, used throughout the sciences; due to its accessibility, R is now used increasingly in other research areas. In this volume, readers immediately begin working with text, and each chapter examines a new technique or process, allowing readers to obtain a broad exposure to core R procedures and a fundamental understanding of the possibilities of computational text analysis at both the micro and the macro scale. Each chapter builds on its predecessor as readers move from small scale “microanalysis” of single texts to large scale “macroanalysis” of text corpora, and each concludes with a set of practice exercises that reinforce and expand upon the chapter lessons. The book’s focus is on making the technical palatable and making the technical useful and immediately gratifying. Text Analysis with R is written with students and scholars of literature in mind but will be applicable to other humanists and social scientists wishing to extend their methodological toolkit to include quantitative and computational approaches to the study of text. Computation provides access to information in text that readers simply cannot gather using traditional qualitative methods of close reading and human synthesis. This new edition features two new chapters: one that introduces dplyr and tidyr in the context of parsing and analyzing dramatic texts to extract speaker and receiver data, and one on sentiment analysis using the syuzhet package. It is also filled with updated material in every chapter to integrate new developments in the field, current practices in R style, and the use of more efficient algorithms.
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030396436
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 283
Book Description
Now in its second edition, Text Analysis with R provides a practical introduction to computational text analysis using the open source programming language R. R is an extremely popular programming language, used throughout the sciences; due to its accessibility, R is now used increasingly in other research areas. In this volume, readers immediately begin working with text, and each chapter examines a new technique or process, allowing readers to obtain a broad exposure to core R procedures and a fundamental understanding of the possibilities of computational text analysis at both the micro and the macro scale. Each chapter builds on its predecessor as readers move from small scale “microanalysis” of single texts to large scale “macroanalysis” of text corpora, and each concludes with a set of practice exercises that reinforce and expand upon the chapter lessons. The book’s focus is on making the technical palatable and making the technical useful and immediately gratifying. Text Analysis with R is written with students and scholars of literature in mind but will be applicable to other humanists and social scientists wishing to extend their methodological toolkit to include quantitative and computational approaches to the study of text. Computation provides access to information in text that readers simply cannot gather using traditional qualitative methods of close reading and human synthesis. This new edition features two new chapters: one that introduces dplyr and tidyr in the context of parsing and analyzing dramatic texts to extract speaker and receiver data, and one on sentiment analysis using the syuzhet package. It is also filled with updated material in every chapter to integrate new developments in the field, current practices in R style, and the use of more efficient algorithms.
Introduction to Literary Analysis
Author: Louis Hébert
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000589706
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 261
Book Description
This book provides a complete guide to analyzing literary works, from an introduction of basic principles to the finer details. Separated into three sections, the book covers: • Principles—this looks at what literary analysis is, its three main components, and the various possible objects of analysis. • Main components—introduces nearly 30 aspects of text analysis, such as style, themes, social aspects, and context, and then goes on to introduce nearly 50 approaches, such as literary history, ecocriticism, narratology, and sociology. • The process of analysis—details the general structure of the analytical text, the structure of a pedagogical essay, the analysis of a theoretical element, possible “plans” for the analytical text, methods of argumentation, statements of opinion, hypotheses, the structure of paragraphs, and the use of citations. This book is a synthesis of established scholarship with new, original insights, making it an ideal introduction to the study of literature as well as a valuable companion throughout further study.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000589706
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 261
Book Description
This book provides a complete guide to analyzing literary works, from an introduction of basic principles to the finer details. Separated into three sections, the book covers: • Principles—this looks at what literary analysis is, its three main components, and the various possible objects of analysis. • Main components—introduces nearly 30 aspects of text analysis, such as style, themes, social aspects, and context, and then goes on to introduce nearly 50 approaches, such as literary history, ecocriticism, narratology, and sociology. • The process of analysis—details the general structure of the analytical text, the structure of a pedagogical essay, the analysis of a theoretical element, possible “plans” for the analytical text, methods of argumentation, statements of opinion, hypotheses, the structure of paragraphs, and the use of citations. This book is a synthesis of established scholarship with new, original insights, making it an ideal introduction to the study of literature as well as a valuable companion throughout further study.
Introducing Electronic Text Analysis
Author: Svenja Adolphs
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134361599
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
Introducing Electronic Text Analysis is a practical and much needed introduction to corpora – bodies of linguistic data. Written specifically for students studying this topic for the first time, the book begins with a discussion of the underlying principles of electronic text analysis. It then examines how these corpora enhance our understanding of literary and non-literary works. In the first section the author introduces the concepts of concordance and lexical frequency, concepts which are then applied to a range of areas of language study. Key areas examined are the use of on-line corpora to complement traditional stylistic analysis, and the ways in which methods such as concordance and frequency counts can reveal a particular ideology within a text. Presenting an accessible and thorough understanding of the underlying principles of electronic text analysis, the book contains abundant illustrative examples and a glossary with definitions of main concepts. It will also be supported by a companion website with links to on-line corpora so that students can apply their knowledge to further study. The accompanying website to this book can be found at http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415320216
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134361599
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 177
Book Description
Introducing Electronic Text Analysis is a practical and much needed introduction to corpora – bodies of linguistic data. Written specifically for students studying this topic for the first time, the book begins with a discussion of the underlying principles of electronic text analysis. It then examines how these corpora enhance our understanding of literary and non-literary works. In the first section the author introduces the concepts of concordance and lexical frequency, concepts which are then applied to a range of areas of language study. Key areas examined are the use of on-line corpora to complement traditional stylistic analysis, and the ways in which methods such as concordance and frequency counts can reveal a particular ideology within a text. Presenting an accessible and thorough understanding of the underlying principles of electronic text analysis, the book contains abundant illustrative examples and a glossary with definitions of main concepts. It will also be supported by a companion website with links to on-line corpora so that students can apply their knowledge to further study. The accompanying website to this book can be found at http://www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415320216
Literary Analysis: The Basics
Author: Celena Kusch
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317420950
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 159
Book Description
Literary Analysis: The Basics is an insightful introduction to analysing a wide range of literary forms. Providing a clear outline of the methodologies employed in twenty-first century literary analysis, it introduces readers to the genres, canons, terms, issues, critical approaches, and contexts that affect the analysis of any text. It addresses such questions as: What counts as literature? Is analysis a dissection? How do gender, race, class and culture affect the meaning of a text? Why is the social and historical context of a text important? Can digital media be analysed in the same way as a poem? With examples from ancient myths to young adult fiction, a glossary of key terms, and suggestions for further reading, Literary Analysis: The Basics is essential reading for anyone wishing to improve their analytical reading skills.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317420950
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 159
Book Description
Literary Analysis: The Basics is an insightful introduction to analysing a wide range of literary forms. Providing a clear outline of the methodologies employed in twenty-first century literary analysis, it introduces readers to the genres, canons, terms, issues, critical approaches, and contexts that affect the analysis of any text. It addresses such questions as: What counts as literature? Is analysis a dissection? How do gender, race, class and culture affect the meaning of a text? Why is the social and historical context of a text important? Can digital media be analysed in the same way as a poem? With examples from ancient myths to young adult fiction, a glossary of key terms, and suggestions for further reading, Literary Analysis: The Basics is essential reading for anyone wishing to improve their analytical reading skills.
Literature and Understanding
Author: Jon Phelan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000201147
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 189
Book Description
Literature and Understanding investigates the cognitive gain from literature by focussing on a reader’s close analysis of a literary text. It examines the meaning of ‘literature’, outlines the most prominent positions in the literary cognitivism debate, explores the practice of close reading from a philosophical perspective, provides a fresh account of what we mean by ‘understanding’ and in so doing opens up a new area of research in the philosophy of literature. This book provides a different reply to the challenge that we can’t learn anything worthwhile from reading literary fiction. It makes the innovative case that reading literary fiction as literature rather than as fiction stimulates five relevant senses of understanding. The book uses examples of irony, metaphor, play with perspective and ambiguity to illustrate this contention. Before arguing that these five senses of understanding bridge the gap between our understanding of a literary text and our understanding of the world beyond that text. The book will be of great interest for researchers, scholars and post-graduate students in the fields of aesthetics, literary theory, literature in education and pedagogy.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000201147
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 189
Book Description
Literature and Understanding investigates the cognitive gain from literature by focussing on a reader’s close analysis of a literary text. It examines the meaning of ‘literature’, outlines the most prominent positions in the literary cognitivism debate, explores the practice of close reading from a philosophical perspective, provides a fresh account of what we mean by ‘understanding’ and in so doing opens up a new area of research in the philosophy of literature. This book provides a different reply to the challenge that we can’t learn anything worthwhile from reading literary fiction. It makes the innovative case that reading literary fiction as literature rather than as fiction stimulates five relevant senses of understanding. The book uses examples of irony, metaphor, play with perspective and ambiguity to illustrate this contention. Before arguing that these five senses of understanding bridge the gap between our understanding of a literary text and our understanding of the world beyond that text. The book will be of great interest for researchers, scholars and post-graduate students in the fields of aesthetics, literary theory, literature in education and pedagogy.
The Intimate Critique
Author: Diane P. Freedman
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822312925
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
For a long time now, readers and scholars have strained against the limits of traditional literary criticism, whose precepts--above all, "objectivity"--seem to have so little to do with the highly personal and deeply felt experience of literature. The Intimate Critique marks a movement away from this tradition. With their rich spectrum of personal and passionate voices, these essays challenge and ultimately breach the boundaries between criticism and narrative, experience and expression, literature and life. Grounded in feminism and connected to the race, class, and gender paradigms in cultural studies, the twenty-six contributors to this volume--including Jane Tompkins, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Shirley Nelson Garner, and Shirley Goek-Lin Lim--respond in new, refreshing ways to literary subjects ranging from Homer to Freud, Middlemarch to The Woman Warrior, Shiva Naipaul to Frederick Douglass. Revealing the beliefs and formative life experiences that inform their essays, these writers characteristically recount the process by which their opinions took shape--a process as conducive to self-discovery as it is to critical insight. The result--which has been referred to as "personal writing," "experimental critical writing," or "intellectual autobiography"--maps a dramatic change in the direction of literary criticism. Contributors. Julia Balen, Dana Beckelman, Ellen Brown, Sandra M. Brown, Rosanne Kanhai-Brunton, Suzanne Bunkers, Peter Carlton, Brenda Daly, Victoria Ekanger, Diane P. Freedman, Olivia Frey, Shirley Nelson Garner, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Melody Graulich, Gail Griffin, Dolan Hubbard, Kendall, Susan Koppelman, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, Linda Robertson, Carol Taylor, Jane Tompkins, Cheryl Torsney, Trace Yamamoto, Frances Murphy Zauhar
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822312925
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 324
Book Description
For a long time now, readers and scholars have strained against the limits of traditional literary criticism, whose precepts--above all, "objectivity"--seem to have so little to do with the highly personal and deeply felt experience of literature. The Intimate Critique marks a movement away from this tradition. With their rich spectrum of personal and passionate voices, these essays challenge and ultimately breach the boundaries between criticism and narrative, experience and expression, literature and life. Grounded in feminism and connected to the race, class, and gender paradigms in cultural studies, the twenty-six contributors to this volume--including Jane Tompkins, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Shirley Nelson Garner, and Shirley Goek-Lin Lim--respond in new, refreshing ways to literary subjects ranging from Homer to Freud, Middlemarch to The Woman Warrior, Shiva Naipaul to Frederick Douglass. Revealing the beliefs and formative life experiences that inform their essays, these writers characteristically recount the process by which their opinions took shape--a process as conducive to self-discovery as it is to critical insight. The result--which has been referred to as "personal writing," "experimental critical writing," or "intellectual autobiography"--maps a dramatic change in the direction of literary criticism. Contributors. Julia Balen, Dana Beckelman, Ellen Brown, Sandra M. Brown, Rosanne Kanhai-Brunton, Suzanne Bunkers, Peter Carlton, Brenda Daly, Victoria Ekanger, Diane P. Freedman, Olivia Frey, Shirley Nelson Garner, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Melody Graulich, Gail Griffin, Dolan Hubbard, Kendall, Susan Koppelman, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, Linda Robertson, Carol Taylor, Jane Tompkins, Cheryl Torsney, Trace Yamamoto, Frances Murphy Zauhar
Prose Fiction: An Introduction to the Semiotics of Narrative
Author: Ignasi Ribó
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
ISBN: 1783748125
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 119
Book Description
This concise and highly accessible textbook outlines the principles and techniques of storytelling. It is intended as a high-school and college-level introduction to the central concepts of narrative theory – concepts that will aid students in developing their competence not only in analysing and interpreting short stories and novels, but also in writing them. This textbook prioritises clarity over intricacy of theory, equipping its readers with the necessary tools to embark on further study of literature, literary theory and creative writing. Building on a ‘semiotic model of narrative,’ it is structured around the key elements of narratological theory, with chapters on plot, setting, characterisation, and narration, as well as on language and theme – elements which are underrepresented in existing textbooks on narrative theory. The chapter on language constitutes essential reading for those students unfamiliar with rhetoric, while the chapter on theme draws together significant perspectives from contemporary critical theory (including feminism and postcolonialism). This textbook is engaging and easily navigable, with key concepts highlighted and clearly explained, both in the text and in a full glossary located at the end of the book. Throughout the textbook the reader is aided by diagrams, images, quotes from prominent theorists, and instructive examples from classical and popular short stories and novels (such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis,’ J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, or Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, amongst many others). Prose Fiction: An Introduction to the Semiotics of Narrative can either be incorporated as the main textbook into a wider syllabus on narrative theory and creative writing, or it can be used as a supplementary reference book for readers interested in narrative fiction. The textbook is a must-read for beginning students of narratology, especially those with no or limited prior experience in this area. It is of especial relevance to English and Humanities major students in Asia, for whom it was conceived and written.
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
ISBN: 1783748125
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 119
Book Description
This concise and highly accessible textbook outlines the principles and techniques of storytelling. It is intended as a high-school and college-level introduction to the central concepts of narrative theory – concepts that will aid students in developing their competence not only in analysing and interpreting short stories and novels, but also in writing them. This textbook prioritises clarity over intricacy of theory, equipping its readers with the necessary tools to embark on further study of literature, literary theory and creative writing. Building on a ‘semiotic model of narrative,’ it is structured around the key elements of narratological theory, with chapters on plot, setting, characterisation, and narration, as well as on language and theme – elements which are underrepresented in existing textbooks on narrative theory. The chapter on language constitutes essential reading for those students unfamiliar with rhetoric, while the chapter on theme draws together significant perspectives from contemporary critical theory (including feminism and postcolonialism). This textbook is engaging and easily navigable, with key concepts highlighted and clearly explained, both in the text and in a full glossary located at the end of the book. Throughout the textbook the reader is aided by diagrams, images, quotes from prominent theorists, and instructive examples from classical and popular short stories and novels (such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis,’ J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, or Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, amongst many others). Prose Fiction: An Introduction to the Semiotics of Narrative can either be incorporated as the main textbook into a wider syllabus on narrative theory and creative writing, or it can be used as a supplementary reference book for readers interested in narrative fiction. The textbook is a must-read for beginning students of narratology, especially those with no or limited prior experience in this area. It is of especial relevance to English and Humanities major students in Asia, for whom it was conceived and written.
Beyond Literary Analysis
Author: Allison Marchetti
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
ISBN: 9780325092492
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 259
Book Description
"This book will make the case for multiple, diverse kinds of analysis to be taught in the high school English classroom. In addition to showing what written analysis looks like "in the wild," the authors will provide readers with a framework of fundamental analytical skills for instruction. Importantly, Marchetti and O'Dell will advocate for framing analytical writing around students' (of all levels and abilities) passions and expertise. And just as they do in their previous Heinemann book, Writing with Mentors, they will share resources for bringing many different kinds of analytical writing into the classroom"--
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
ISBN: 9780325092492
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 259
Book Description
"This book will make the case for multiple, diverse kinds of analysis to be taught in the high school English classroom. In addition to showing what written analysis looks like "in the wild," the authors will provide readers with a framework of fundamental analytical skills for instruction. Importantly, Marchetti and O'Dell will advocate for framing analytical writing around students' (of all levels and abilities) passions and expertise. And just as they do in their previous Heinemann book, Writing with Mentors, they will share resources for bringing many different kinds of analytical writing into the classroom"--
What Writing Does and How It Does It
Author: Charles Bazerman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135649693
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Book Description
In What Writing Does and How It Does It, editors Charles Bazerman and Paul Prior offer a sophisticated introduction to methods for understanding, studying, and analyzing texts and writing practices. This volume addresses a variety of approaches to analyzing texts, and considers the processes of writing, exploring textual practices and their contexts, and examining what texts do and how texts mean rather than what they mean. Included are traditional modes of analysis (rhetorical, literary, linguistic), as well as newer modes, such as text and talk, genre and activity analysis, and intertextual analysis. The chapters have been developed to provide answers to a specified set of questions, with each one offering: *a preview of the chapter's content and purpose; *an introduction to basic concepts, referring to key theoretical and research studies in the area; *details on the types of data and questions for which the analysis is best used; *examples from a wide-ranging group of texts, including educational materials, student writing, published literature, and online and electronic media; *one or more applied analyses, with a clear statement of procedures for analysis and illustrations of a particular sample of data; and *a brief summary, suggestions for additional readings, and a set of activities. The side-by-side comparison of methods allows the reader to see the multi-dimensionality of writing, facilitating selection of the best method for a particular research question. The volume contributors are experts from linguistics, communication studies, rhetoric, literary analysis, document design, sociolinguistics, education, ethnography, and cultural psychology, and each utilizes a specific mode of text analysis. With its broad range of methodological examples, What Writing Does and How It Does It is a unique and invaluable resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and for researchers in education, composition, ESL and applied linguistics, communication, L1 and L2 learning, print media, and electronic media. It will also be useful in all social sciences and humanities that place importance on texts and textual practices, such as English, writing, and rhetoric.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135649693
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 372
Book Description
In What Writing Does and How It Does It, editors Charles Bazerman and Paul Prior offer a sophisticated introduction to methods for understanding, studying, and analyzing texts and writing practices. This volume addresses a variety of approaches to analyzing texts, and considers the processes of writing, exploring textual practices and their contexts, and examining what texts do and how texts mean rather than what they mean. Included are traditional modes of analysis (rhetorical, literary, linguistic), as well as newer modes, such as text and talk, genre and activity analysis, and intertextual analysis. The chapters have been developed to provide answers to a specified set of questions, with each one offering: *a preview of the chapter's content and purpose; *an introduction to basic concepts, referring to key theoretical and research studies in the area; *details on the types of data and questions for which the analysis is best used; *examples from a wide-ranging group of texts, including educational materials, student writing, published literature, and online and electronic media; *one or more applied analyses, with a clear statement of procedures for analysis and illustrations of a particular sample of data; and *a brief summary, suggestions for additional readings, and a set of activities. The side-by-side comparison of methods allows the reader to see the multi-dimensionality of writing, facilitating selection of the best method for a particular research question. The volume contributors are experts from linguistics, communication studies, rhetoric, literary analysis, document design, sociolinguistics, education, ethnography, and cultural psychology, and each utilizes a specific mode of text analysis. With its broad range of methodological examples, What Writing Does and How It Does It is a unique and invaluable resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and for researchers in education, composition, ESL and applied linguistics, communication, L1 and L2 learning, print media, and electronic media. It will also be useful in all social sciences and humanities that place importance on texts and textual practices, such as English, writing, and rhetoric.
The New Testament as Literature: A Very Short Introduction
Author: Kyle Keefer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199840016
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 137
Book Description
The words, phrases, and stories of the New Testament permeate the English language. Indeed, this relatively small group of twenty-seven works, written during the height of the Roman Empire, not only helped create and sustain a vast world religion, but also have been integral to the larger cultural dynamics of the West, above and beyond particular religious expressions. Looking at the New Testament through the lens of literary study, Kyle Keefer offers an engrossing exploration of this revered religious text as a work of literature, but also keeps in focus its theological ramifications. Unique among books that examine the Bible as literature, this brilliantly compact introduction offers an intriguing double-edged look at this universal text--a religiously informed literary analysis. The book first explores the major sections of the New Testament--the gospels, Paul's letters, and Revelation--as individual literary documents. Keefer shows how, in such familiar stories as the parable of the Good Samaritan, a literary analysis can uncover an unexpected complexity to what seems a simple, straightforward tale. At the conclusion of the book, Keefer steps back and asks questions about the New Testament as a whole. He reveals that whether read as a single document or as a collection of works, the New Testament presents readers with a wide variety of forms and viewpoints, and a literary exploration helps bring this richness to light. A fascinating investigation of the New Testament as a classic literary work, this Very Short Introduction uses a literary framework--plot, character, narrative arc, genre--to illuminate the language, structure, and the crafting of this venerable text. About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199840016
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 137
Book Description
The words, phrases, and stories of the New Testament permeate the English language. Indeed, this relatively small group of twenty-seven works, written during the height of the Roman Empire, not only helped create and sustain a vast world religion, but also have been integral to the larger cultural dynamics of the West, above and beyond particular religious expressions. Looking at the New Testament through the lens of literary study, Kyle Keefer offers an engrossing exploration of this revered religious text as a work of literature, but also keeps in focus its theological ramifications. Unique among books that examine the Bible as literature, this brilliantly compact introduction offers an intriguing double-edged look at this universal text--a religiously informed literary analysis. The book first explores the major sections of the New Testament--the gospels, Paul's letters, and Revelation--as individual literary documents. Keefer shows how, in such familiar stories as the parable of the Good Samaritan, a literary analysis can uncover an unexpected complexity to what seems a simple, straightforward tale. At the conclusion of the book, Keefer steps back and asks questions about the New Testament as a whole. He reveals that whether read as a single document or as a collection of works, the New Testament presents readers with a wide variety of forms and viewpoints, and a literary exploration helps bring this richness to light. A fascinating investigation of the New Testament as a classic literary work, this Very Short Introduction uses a literary framework--plot, character, narrative arc, genre--to illuminate the language, structure, and the crafting of this venerable text. About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.