Reading Lessons: An Introduction to Theory

by Scott Dominic Carpenter

This book introduces students to the ways literary theory can enhance their reading, and invites them to read in ways that are both personal and critically informed. "Reading Lessons" focuses on the playfulness of theory and on the compelling questions theory helps us to ask. Draws on popular examples from literature, film, advertising, television, and other media. For anyone interested in an introduction to literature and literary theory.

Genres: Nonfiction, Read For School

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 1999

About the author

Minnesota-born and Midwest-bred, Scott Dominic Carpenter is the author of Theory of Remainders: A Novel (named to Kirkus Reviews’ “Best Books of 2013”), This Jealous Earth: Stories, French Like Moi (2020) and its sequel Paris Lost and Found, coming out 9/24. Winner of a Mark Twain House Royal Nonesuch Prize (2018) and recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, he has published in a wide variety of venues, including The Rumpus, Silk Road, Catapult, and South Dakota Review. His work has also appeared in various anthologies.

When not tearing his hair out over life in France, Carpenter teaches French literature and creative writing at Carleton College (MN).

His website is at www.sdcarpenter.com.

Reviews

[will · Rating 4 out of 5]

i picked this book up because i was sick of seeing words like “structuralism” and the like in english classes and academic texts and not knowing what they meant. and i was pleasantly surprised with what carpenter delivered! being that so many academic texts are such headaches, i was surprised at how clear and immediate carpenter’s descriptions and introductions to these different types of theory are. i got the most out of his chapters on structuralism and poststructuralism, partly for personal reasons—i knew some about gender and cultural studies already, i found, and freudian psychoanalysis continues to bug me—but also because carpenter does a great job weaving the history and disparate ideas and thinkers related to these theories together. the last chapter is really good too

more nuanced review: 4.15. a good guidebook to have on your bookshelf, but it’s not going to change your life

[Kaitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great intro to different methods in approaching literature. I had to read this book for a class, but it was quite enlightening and has really opened my mind to new ways to read literature (and watch movies and just about everything else in life). Carpenter walks his readers through using approaches such as psychoanalysis, formalism, structuralism, feminism, etc. Carpenter uses detailed explanations and tends to draw on examples that anyone can relate to and even enjoys relating to-- like famous movies or short Edgar Allen Poe stories. And he isn't a dry writer-- his personality shows in this book and I found it to be an great read-- I actually enjoyed receiving reading assignments for this book. I think I just might hang onto this book instead of selling it back with some of my other books from the semester... :)