- Author
- Salvatori, Mariolina R.; and Donahue, Patricia A.
- Publisher
- Longman, New York, NY
- ISBN
- 9780321106179
- Table of Contents
-
Preface for Students
Preface for Teachers
ch. 1 Introducing Difficulty
What Do We Mean By Difficulty?
Why Difficulty Merits Attention
What About the “Easy” Text
What Do We Mean By Reading?
How This Book Is Organize
Three Tools of Teaching And Learning
The Difficulty Paper
The Triple Entry Notebook: Nick Jacobs
Taking Stock
Retrospective
ch. 2 The Difficulty of Poetry
Discovering Your Repertoire
Reading “One Art” Reading Elizabeth Bishop (Liza Funkhouser)
Reading as Participatory (Liza Funkhouse and Kim Woomer)
Distinguishing Between Ordinary and Metaphorical Language
Moving Beyond the Literal (Katie Stamm)
Taking Stock
Retrospective
ch. 3 The Difficulty of Longer Texts
When a Work Seems Long and Boring
Where to Begin with a Longer Text
Introducing The Rime of The Ancyent Marinere
Navigating the Waters (Kristin Pontoski)
Recuperating the Past
Reading the Hybrid Text
Understanding Genre
Viewing Your Own Writing As Hybrid Genre
Reading As Rewriting (Patrick Beh-Forrest)
ch. 4 Intermezzo
Moving from Poetry to Prose
Surveying the Landscape
ch. 5 The Difficulty of Prose Narrative
What You Already Know About Narrative
How Narrative Can Be Theorized (Gerard Genette)
Using Theory to Reframe Your Understanding
Reading Krik? Krak!
Understanding Strange Texts
Reading the “Story” in “History”
Understanding the Language of Prose
Tone in Prose
Symbols in Prose
Taking Stock
Retrospective
ch. 6 Writing and Reading the Personal Essay
Writing About the Self
Reflecting On Personal Writing
Uncovering the Difficulty of Personal Writing
Exploring the Self: The Example of Montaigne
Reading “Of Books”
Reading Against the Grain
Writing About Montaigne: Tom Brennan
Making the Move to the Academic Essay
Understanding the Reading and Writing Transaction
Taking Stock
Retrospective
ch. 7 A Provisional Conclusion
Reading a “Great” Author
Becoming Aware of Shakespeare's Aura
Hearing Cultural Noise
Understanding Shakespeare's Characters
Considering the Author Function
Confronting Shakespeare's Name
Taking Stock
Retrospective
Coda
Glossary
Works Cited
Appendix A: List of Difficulties
Appendix B: Robert Bly, “Snowfall in the Afternoon,” and “Driving My Parents Home at Christmas”
Appendix C: Carolyn Steadman, “Landscape for a Good Woman”
Appendix D: Edwidge Danticat, “Krit?Krat!”
Emphasizing both reading and writing, The Elements of Difficulty helps readers to confront the challenges of interpreting difficult texts and to see those challenges as paths to knowledge, rather than impediments. This short, economical paperback enables readers to acknowledge, name, and assess the nature of their difficulties in reading and interpreting complex texts, with the ultimate goal of transforming confusion into understanding. (From the Publisher)