Introduction: The False Conceit; The Role of Literature in the Cultivation of Ethical Sensitivity; The Role of Literature in the Development of Aesthetic Appreciation; The Role of Literature in Fostering a Culture of Inquiry; First-draft Reading: Grasping an Initial Sense of a Literary Text; An Invitation to Reflection: Discovering Interpretive Problems in a Text; The Interrogative Mode: Posing Questions to Guide Literary Inquiry; The Suppositive Mode: Speculating to Generate Literary Interpretations; The Demonstrative Mode: Reasoning about Literary Texts; The Unsolitary Reader: Engaging in Literary Inquiry with Classmates; The Tenth Muse: Writing as a Tool of Literary Inquiry; Power of Judgment: Evaluating Student Writing about Literature; Conclusion: What Is Literature Class For?; Bibliography
Biography
Richard J. Johnson is emeritus professor of English and education at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa City.
