What is literature? How do we find meaning in it? And why does it matter? For centuries, we have elaborated theories to provide answers to fundamental questions about the nature and role of literary texts. But as literary theory increasingly draws on ideas from other disciplines, it risks losing sight of what is at its very core: literature and our experience of it. Rescuing the subject from dry abstractions, and focusing on the real issues that emerge when we read, Clare Connors examines works by a variety of noteworthy authors to offer a clear explanation of literary theory firmly anchored in literature itself. From analysing the sources of pleasure in Proulx s Brokeback Mountain to investigating the ideology in Dickens s Hard Times, this fresh introduction demonstrates the compelling insights literary theory can offer, and reveals how enjoyable it is to think about what we read.