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The study of literature and literary theory has often left beginning students staring blankly at the pages of their textbooks, wondering what on earth just happened. For those students, let me assure you, though you may feel out of the loop, you are definitely not alone. Frustration and wrestling with these concepts occurs frequently! This field of study appears daunting when first starting out, and in some cases it remains that way. However, sometimes all it takes is an overview of the fundamental concepts of literary interpretation to get you on your feet.

Knowing what you study and why you study is one of the first steps in understanding the necessity of the subject, or if not the necessity than the benefits it brings. With literary theory, understanding the fundamentals often starts with knowing what questions to ask. These questions lead you to answers that help you when you study mind boggling theories. Asking the right questions, such as why we read, how we read, what is literature, and what is theory, provides a foundation for comprehending texts (theoretical or literary). Understanding these fundamentals will help you know why you're studying literature and why it's worth it to you, and will help you better see how your way of thinking, and the thinking of others, affects how, why, and what you read.

Click on the links below to explore some of the key questions of literary theory:

What are the fundamentals of contemporary literary interpretation?

Why is literary study at the university worth doing?

How does your personal ideology (and the ideologies of others) affect reading?