The English Handbook: A Guide to Literary Studies is a comprehensive textbook, providing essential practical and analytical reading and writing skills for literature students at all levels. With advice and information on fundamental methods of literary analysis and research, Whitla equips students with the knowledge and tools essential for advanced literary study. * Includes traditional close reading strategies integrated with newer critical theory, ranging from gender and genre to post-structuralism and post-colonialism; with examples from Beowulf to Atwood, folk ballads to Fugard, and Christopher Marlowe to Conrad's Marlow * Draws on a wide range of resources, from print to contemporary electronic media * Supplies a companion website with chapter summaries, charts, examples, web links, and suggestions for further study