Section H. WRITING TO LITERATURE                  WRITING TO AND ABOUT LITERATURE       This "Writing to Literature" section of Writing for College is a smaller handbook of its own. It shows you how to write to and about literature in a variety of ways in a literature course, or in a writing course that has literary readings.  The phrase "write to literature" means you are not just writing about something in the content of the literature (such as a person, a culture, or an event), but instead, or also, you are responding to the literature itself using specific literary methods of talking about it: for example, a review or an analysis. You may even learn to create your own stories as you "write to literature" so that you better understand the elements of a story. Some of the methods taught in these seven chapters are relatively informal (rough or casual drafts). Others are semiformal (more finished, or perhaps casual graded papers). Still others are formal, the type presented for grading in most literature courses. In these chapters, you will learn how to identify the elements of literature, critically analyze a literary work, interpret it using a literary thesis, and review literature, and write a story. Each chapter about a method of writing to literature also includes one or more samples. Many of these methods work for examining--and writing about--other art forms, as well.  For example, the chapter on the "Literary Review" also works for reviewing a play, an exhibition of paintings, a dance performance, et al. Each art form has its own particular elements that are important to it; once you know those elements, you are speaking the "language" of the art form, and you can then analyze, interpret, and review by using those elements. H. "Writing to Literature" Chapters:     43. What Is "Writing to Literature"?     44. How To Read Literature     45. Analysis of Literary Elements (w/Sample)     46. Critical or Interpretive Analysis (w/Sample)     47. Interpretive Thesis (w/Sample Paper)     48. Literary Review (w/Sample Paper)     53: Story Writing (w/Sample Paper) --- Return to top.