Learn how to write about literature the convenient, affordable way! COMPACT LITERATURE: READING, REACTING, WRITING,9E helps you succeed in class and make literature a part of your life. Combining a broad selection of literature with time-proven writing instruction, this reader-friendly text walks you step-by-step through the entire research and writing process, helping you learn to craft literary analyses and arguments. Demonstrating that writing about literature is a process of discovery, examination, and debate, the text includes a comprehensive guide to writing about literature with full coverage of critical thinking and argument. Sampler chapters on fiction, poetry, and drama involve you in the variety and diversity of literature through brief, accessible works that showcase representative selections from four popular contemporary literary subgenres. This edition has been updated to reflect guidelines from the 2016 MLA HANDBOOK, Eighth Edition.