Research Highlights

• Provided an accessible entry point into complex literary criticism concepts
• Reframed student engagement with literary works in the context of current debates
• Influenced course design and teaching in universities across the globe

Academic literary criticism can often feel opaque and alienating for undergraduate students joining universities for the first time.

Two influential books co-authored by Bristol’s Professor Andrew Bennett -  An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, and This Thing Called Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing - have helped to address this situation by offering accessible tools that make it easier for students to apply theory to literary works.

Making literary theory accessible

Traditional methods of teaching literary theory often focus on unhelpful ‘isms’ such as structuralism, poststructuralism or postcolonialism but fail to relate directly to students’ experience of reading literary works.

Professor Bennett’s transformative work offers an alternative approach, focusing on thematic topics like love, trauma, laughter and ‘the human’ that students can relate directly to literary texts and current debates.

Global reach and influence on curricula

Since its first publication in 1995, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory has sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide and is consistently one of the best-selling literary theory textbooks in the UK with sales of around 4,500 hard-copies of the book per year (plus many thousands of downloaded chapters).

Over 50 universities across the world have also adopted the book as a core recommended text in courses, including institutions in the UK, US, Europe, Australasia and the Middle East. Its influence extends across many different courses, including English Literature, Comparative Literature, Modern Languages, Classics and intercalated Medical Humanities.

At the University of Bristol, for example, it is a core text for a first year course that introduces students to literary criticism and theory. An anonymous survey conducted in 2020 showed that 80% of first-year students felt that the book changed the way they thought about literature, and 65% said it influenced their thinking on broader cultural or philosophical issues. The book’s long-term impact is also clear, with 94% of third-year students reporting that it continued to shape the way they approached literature.

Bridging the gap from school to university

Professor Bennett and his co-author Nicholas Royle have also published This Thing Called Literature – a more concise book designed as a primer for recent school leavers. Covering topics including reading a poem or novel, thinking critically and writing an essay, the book bridges the gap between basic literary analysis and more complex critical engagement required in higher education.

This Thing Called Literature has been adopted by universities in Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Belgium, among others, and has been praised for its clarity and accessibility. One lecturer at a Belgian University described it as “an ideal text for introducing literature students to the unique benefits that literature has to offer.”

The practical approach to literary analysis adopted by both books makes them essential resources for students who are new to the discipline, helping them build the skills they need to succeed in their future studies and careers.