2015
https://www.librarything.com/topic/191940#5254861
(link goes to an LT page with my brief comment)

I'm not that into literature but I understand the need to know more to make reading more meaningful. I like this book because it is simple and easy to understand because of the way the author explains his topics. I'm sure there are more concepts but 50 is a good place to find your footing. ( )

This book consists of 50 short essays on various devices in literature or literary criticism. I found that some of the essays may have been too short -- I'm not sure I understand some of the concepts he described! ( )

Sutherland is an esteemed uni prof, newspaper columnist (the Guardian), and all-round book smart-guy. This crisply written guide covers the need-to-know aspects of reading literature in 50 short "essays," or more accurately, extended blurbs. His goal is to help readers understand--and thus enjoy--what they read.

The blurbs are each four pages long, include timelines and quotations, and are very readable. They are divided into six main categories: Some Basics, Machinery: How it Works, Literature's Devices, New Ideas, Word Crimes, and Literary Futures. Some of the topics that he tackles are such scary things as "Hermeneutics," "Defamiliarization," "Bricolage," "Solidity of Specification," and all your favourite -sims, including "structuralism," "postmodernism," and the always popular "postcolonialism." He even covers "Fanfic." Despite these intimidating and boring sounding titles, and the fact that he covers all my fav litcrit nemesises Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Walter Benjamin, he makes it all actually mean something.

None of the extended blurbs are meant to be a complete education, obviously. They give you more information than just a definition, and a few ideas on where to go to get more if you want.

Recommended for: readers who want to develop their skills at understanding, reading, and discussing literature. If you're the type of reader who doesn't want to think too much about anything outside of the book, and just sit back and be entertained, you don't want this.

How Literature Works would make a lovely gift for the English lit undergrad in your life. ( )

A lively and straightforward guide to literary thinking, "How Literature Works" is the perfect book for any reader looking to have a deeper appreciation for the books and novels they read. Through a series of compact essays, witty literary critic John Sutherland explains 50 concepts that all readers should know, such as basic descriptive terms, core vocabulary, and literary devises that the authors employ in all of their works.