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You definitely know how to read. But do you know how to read artfully? Unlike everyday reading, artful reading—the way we read novels and short stories—is less about reading for specific information and more about reading to revel in the literary experience.

It involves recognizing

* how a story's particular narrative style affects your connection with its characters,

* why authors choose to hint at meanings instead of just writing them out for you,

* how the organization of a novel into distinct chapters can affect your engagement with its plot, and much more.

When you approach a work of fiction the way you do an e-mail or report or newspaper, you miss out on all of this. You're not getting everything you should out of the reading experience. Learning the skills and techniques of artful reading can improve your life in many ways.

* If you're a fiction reader, they can make your first reading of a new novel or short story feel as rewarding as a second or third reading, and they can give you new perspectives on works you already cherish.

* If you're an aspiring writer, they can help you understand the methods that great writers use to tackle literary concepts—successful methods you can then apply to your own writing.

* If you're a book club member, they can enliven discussions and provide your group with engaging activities to create even deeper appreciations of the works you're reading.

* If you're a student, they can improve and enhance the close reading skills essential to success in high school, college, and beyond.

And the best part: These skills are not difficult or unwieldy; rather, they are well within your reach. According to award-winning Professor Timothy Spurgin, who has made a career of enlightening students about the benefits of artful reading, great readers are made, not born.

This idea forms the core of The Art of Reading, Professor Spurgin's entertaining 24-lecture course that brings together concepts and techniques rarely found in a single package. Teaching with an engaging and conversational style, he gives you the knowledge and methods to approach even the most daunting reading experience with increased confidence.

Dr. Timothy Spurgin is the Bonnie Glidden Buchanan Professor of English Literature and Associate Professor of English at Lawrence University, where he has taught for more than 15 years. He received his B.A. at Carleton College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Virginia.

Professor Spurgin has received two coveted teaching awards from Lawrence University—the Outstanding Young Teacher Award and the Freshman Studies Teaching Prize—and he is a three-time recipient of the Babcock Award, given by university students to the individual who, "through involvement and interaction with students, has made a positive impact on the campus community."

24 Lectures
30 minutes / lecture
1. Artful Reading and Everyday Reading
In this introductory lecture, discover the difference between everyday reading (reading to extract information) and artful reading (reading to take pleasure in language). Also, learn how noted author C. S. Lewis defined the two types of readers, and outline the methods you'll use over the next 23 lectures.
1. Artful Reading and Everyday Reading (info)
2. Authors, Real and Implied
You spend a lot of time with your favorite authors. But what is the difference between a real author and an implied author? Learn the answer to this intriguing question by examining a familiar story, the theories of two literary critics, and personal opinions from two iconic Western writers.
2. Authors, Real and Implied (info)
3. Narrators—Their Voices and Their Visions
First- and third-person narrators are the two most common narrators to be found in literature. In this lecture, Professor Spurgin argues the pros and cons of each form and the unique ways they influence your reading experience, using stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne as examples.
3. Narrators—Their Voices and Their Visions (info)
4. Characters—Beyond Round and Flat
For most readers, nothing is more important than a story's characters. Here, investigate what makes characters flat (unchanging) or round (dynamic) with an example by Anton Chekov—a master of literary characterization. Then, learn the secret to determining whether a character is worth reading about.
4. Characters—Beyond Round and Flat (info)
5. Descriptions—People, Places, and Things
Discover an alternative to skipping detailed descriptions in your reading. As stories by John Updike and Flannery O'Connor demonstrate, descriptions not only create vivid impressions, they also provide the potential for new perspectives, deepen your understanding of the characters, and sharpen your interest in the story.
5. Descriptions—People, Places, and Things (info)
6. Minimalists to Maximalists to Lyricists
What are the two fundamental elements of style? Does the style in which a story is told really make a difference in how it affects you? And which style is the best one to read? Uncover the answers in this engaging look at how writers work—and play—with words.
6. Minimalists to Maximalists to Lyricists (info)
7. Explosive Devices—Irony and Ambiguity
Professor Spurgin teaches you how to heighten your ability to detect irony and ambiguity in your reading with a look at Katherine Mansfield's classic short story, "Bliss." By understanding the different forms of irony and ambiguity and picking up on their use, you can radically change your opinion on an entire work.
7. Explosive Devices—Irony and Ambiguity (info)
8. Reading for the Plot—Five Simple Words
Plots are what hook us at the beginning of a reading experience and what keep us reading through to the end. Unpack the mechanics of a work's plot—what goes into it, how it can be arranged and presented to the reader, and how to distinguish the plot from the story.
8. Reading for the Plot—Five Simple Words (info)
9. Master Plots—The Stranger and the Journey
Continue your explorations of plot with a look at master plots—familiar plots that appear everywhere—and genres. Learn to recognize the difference between the two terms, how they shape your reading experience, and why you can't begin to make sense of a book before placing it in a particular genre.
9. Master Plots—The Stranger and the Journey (info)
10. The Game Is Afoot—Sherlock Holmes
In the first of three lectures that take you through the elements of fiction as they appear in classic works, apply your newfound knowledge and skills to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. As you work through various stylistic questions, discover why Holmes is considered both a writer and a reader.
10. The Game Is Afoot—Sherlock Holmes (info)
11. The Plot Thickens—Scott and Brontë
Most of the literary examples so far have been short stories, but what happens when you're reading a larger novel such as Sir Walter Scott's or Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre? See how Professor Spurgin's tips and tricks to more artful reading still apply—even when you're faced with hundreds of pages of material.
11. The Plot Thickens—Scott and Brontë (info)
12. The Plot Vanishes—Faulkner and Woolf
Innovative and experimental, Modernist literature can sometimes be intimidating for first-time—or even seasoned—readers. In this case study of the Modernist masterpieces As I Lay Dying and The Waves, learn how to approach these types of novels with increased confidence.
12. The Plot Vanishes—Faulkner and Woolf (info)
13. Chapters, Patterns, and Rhythms
Now, turn to one of the smaller units of storytelling: the chapter. Chapters are more than just convenient places to stop reading; they are carefully arranged and organized by the writer. Learn how to tease out these connections with a look at chapters from two very different novels: Great Expectations and My Antonia.
13. Chapters, Patterns, and Rhythms (info)
14. Scene and Summary, Showing and Telling
Zoom in on the structure of an individual chapter and learn how to distinguish between its scene and its summary. Learn why these two terms are, in the opinion of Professor Spurgin, the basic building blocks of fiction by seeing them at work in The Mayor of Casterbridge and Disgrace.
14. Scene and Summary, Showing and Telling (info)
15. Subtexts, Motives, and Secrets
Sharpen your ability to understand subtext—the meaning that lies beneath the words and actions of characters in a particular scene. Using Jane Austen's classic novel Persuasion as a case study, develop some techniques for gleaning hidden meaning in the novels you read.
15. Subtexts, Motives, and Secrets (info)
16. Dialogue—The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
Focus on a topic touched on in previous lectures: dialogue. Using examples from classic and contemporary novels, Professor Spurgin shows you how to tell the difference between convincing dialogue and flat dialogue; he also calls attention to the relationship between a literary genre and the style of its dialogue.
16. Dialogue—The Good, the Bad, the Ugly (info)
17. Metafiction—Fiction about Fiction
Metafiction is, essentially, fiction about fiction; with these particular reading experiences, anything is possible. Learn how to read, make sense of, and—most important—enjoy this complex and demanding genre by examining works by two of its recognized masters: Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino.
17. Metafiction—Fiction about Fiction (info)
18. Adaptation—From Fiction to Film
Tackle the age-old question: Why is the movie never as good as the book? Each medium approaches the act of storytelling in markedly different ways. Using cinematic versions of Heart of Darkness as examples, discover how film adaptations can provide you with a sharper sense of the strengths of their literary sources.
18. Adaptation—From Fiction to Film (info)
19. Realism Times Four
What do writers and literary critics mean when they talk about "realism"? Unpack the meaning of this writing style, distinguish between the four types of realism, and discover how H. G. Wells's War of the Worlds endows the science fiction conceit of a extraterrestrial invasion with a startling sense of realism.
19. Realism Times Four (info)
20. Thumbs Up?—Interpretation and Evaluation
The question of how to interpret a work is one of the thorniest in literary theory. Do artful readers respect the intentions of a text, or do they question its hidden assumptions? Is there a right or wrong way to interpret and evaluate a book? Find out in this lecture.
20. Thumbs Up?—Interpretation and Evaluation (info)
21. A Long Short Story—"Runaway"
Examine Alice Munro's "Runaway," a short story whose power can be unearthed with the techniques outlined in earlier lectures. By reading this story in an artful manner, you can learn just why it is that Munro and writers like her are so admired and respected by critics and readers.
21. A Long Short Story—"Runaway" (info)
22. A Classic Novel—The Age of Innocence
In the second of three case studies, turn to Edith Wharton's masterpiece of old New York: The Age of Innocence. Professor Spurgin demonstrates how a close, artful reading of the novel's narrator and its intriguing central character reveal deep insights into the social complexities of late 19th-century New York City.
22. A Classic Novel—The Age of Innocence (info)
23. A Baggy Monster—War and Peace
Develop successful reading strategies for those times when you're confronted with a book that runs nearly a thousand pages in length. Case in point: Leo Tolstoy's mammoth Russian masterwork, War and Peace. As you explore familiar issues of artful reading, you also learn how to approach works written in translation.
23. A Baggy Monster—War and Peace (info)
24. Picking Up the Tools
Conclude the course with this exploration of endings, specifically the closing passages of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Persuasion. What makes for a satisfying conclusion to a reading experience? Also, revisit some of the major benefits of becoming a more artful reader.
24. Picking Up the Tools (info)
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