The Elements (and Pleasures) of Difficulty
Mariolina R. Salvatori, University of Pittsburgh
Patricia A. Donahue, Lafayette College

ISBN-10: 0321106172
ISBN-13: 9780321106179

Publisher: Longman
Copyright: 2005
Format: Paper; 208 pp
Published: 12/09/2004

Suggested retail price: $32.20
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Emphasizing both reading and writing, The Elements of Difficulty helps students confront the challenges of interpreting difficult texts and see those challenges as paths to knowledge, rather than as impediments.

This short, economical paperback enables students 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.

  • Helps students identify the knowledge they already possess and use that metacognition as a basis for encountering new texts and new interpretive challenges.
  • Makes extensive use of student writing in each chapter, engaging students in the careful consideration of other students' writing.
  • Offers practical tools to help students interpret difficult texts—the “difficulty” paper; the triple-entry notebook, and reflective questioning.
  • Covers a wide range of genres and types of texts—poetry, narrative, drama, essay, and hybrid genres.
  • Encourages self-reflection in every chapter, especially in the sections on “Taking Stock” and “Retrospective.”
  • Examines texts from a range of historical periods and cultural locations, showing similarities and differences throughout time and across cultures.
  • Offers a substantial glossary of key terms.



Preface for Students.


Preface for Teachers.


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 Organized.

Three Tools of Teaching And Learning.

The Difficulty Paper.

The Triple Entry Notebook: Nick Jacobs.

Taking Stock.

Retrospective.



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.



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.



4. Intermezzo.

Moving from Poetry to Prose.

Surveying the Landscape.



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.



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.



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!”

For First-Year Composition - Rhetoric


For Literature for Composition


For Introduction to Literary Studies


For Introduction to Literature


For Writing About Literature


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Pearson Higher Education offers special pricing when you choose to package your text with other student resources. If you're interested in creating a cost-saving package for your students contact your Pearson Higher Education representative.


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