Literature: A Student’s Guide

Praise for the Print Edition

Louis Markos not only possesses the wisdom of C. S. Lewis but also Lewis’s uncanny ability to put complex ideas into a succinct and simple language that is accessible to everyone. Such a gift is invaluable to the writing of a student’s guide to literature. Markos takes his readers through the principles and ages of literature on a tour of discovery that is also a tour de force. The wise and prudent student will read it avidly and then keep it near at hand as a constant companion and guide—a literary friend upon whom the student can always rely.

—Joseph Pearce, writer in residence and associate professor of literature, Ave Maria University

Louis Markos has produced an insightful digest of the most crucially important issues confronting the serious student of literature. All the tools for study are here, as well as an analytic account of literary commentary from Plato on up to the present day. Written from a frankly Christian point of view, the study reveals how essentially religious—until fairly recently—the Western literary tradition has been. Not only students will benefit from this learned and perceptive overview, but mature scholars of the discipline will also find The Student’s Guide a helpful and clarifying aid.

—Louise Cowan, professor of literature, University of Dallas