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| TO THE STUDENT This is a short book. It does not tell you all you need to know in order to pass secondary school Literature in English examinations. But that is because most of what you need comes from the books you read - both the set books and your general reading. That's why this book is so short. I don't want you to spend too much time reading about books when your time is needed for reading the books themselves. This is not a textbook of literature. Literature is studied by reading and thinking about what we read, and discussing it with others. Literature - reading and writing - is an important activity of human beings. Like sports it is something mainly for enjoyment rather than for making a living. Human life cannot be made up only of the activities needed for keeping ourselves alive. Nobody asks why we have football or music. Football is the exercise of the body within a set of rules and it increases the skills of the players in working together. Music does the same thing with sounds. Literature is the exercise of language. The "players" - writers and poets - strive to find new things to say, or new ways of saying old things. As they do this they make it possible for the rest of us, "spectators" - readers and listeners - to say new things too. It is from the poets that the language we all use comes. However, unlike football, the rules of Literature are not written down and are difficult to define. It takes longer to decide what they are, and probably they are often changing. Now that English is the language of so many more people than just the native speakers of Britain and America, literature in English is more varied than it used to be. Understanding the best language from every country may improve the reader's own language. I hope you will find your own use of English improved by studying Literature in English. Before you begin to take up literature you will need: 1. A good knowledge of language 2. A good memory 3. A desire to read a lot of books and an enjoyment of reading 4. An interest in lots of different things. |
Nigerian Edition This book is intended for students who are beginning to study literature for the Senior Secondary Examination, or for the pre-University level. It can be used for self-study when there is no teacher. |
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