Texts and Contexts: An Introduction to Literature and Language Study

The idea of studying texts "in context" has become a major new emphasis in contemporary literary studies. This book explores the idea of contexts and the way they affect texts, concentrating upon: * the writer's context * the reader's context * the text's context * the language context * the meaning context. Through a series of units comprising texts, exercises and readings,Adrian Beardsets out a framework for studying texts and their contexts and shows how this approach can lead to a valuable new understanding of the changing and multiple meanings of any text. This accessible, enjoyable set of materials is ideal for any students meeting the idea of contexts for the first time.