Note to the teacher

Welcome to the revised edition of Access to English: Literature. If you have used the first edition, then there is much you will recognise here. The structure of the book is basically unchanged. Many of the classic texts have been kept, while some have been replaced by other equally classic ones, for the sake of either variation or balance. The chapter that is most changed is, naturally enough, the last one: “Contemporary Literature”. In addition to choosing new, recent texts, we have endeavoured to give the chapter the same treatment as the earlier ones – i.e. focusing on some central literary trends of the period.

Another new feature of this revised edition is the six-part course called “Across the Arts”, which aims to give students a more structured approach to the “culture” part of the course than was provided in the first edition. Architecture, painting, music and design are some of the forms of expression we feature, focusing on typical examples and drawing parallels to literature from the same period. We believe that “Across the Arts” will be a welcome variation for the students and a useful tool for getting to grips with literary history.

All the texts in the book are recorded and there is of course this website, which offers further materials and useful links. As we all know, the web can be an invaluable resource – and a hopeless timewaster. We have done our best to help you make it the former rather than the latter!