The third edition of the MLA's widely used Introduction to Scholarship
in Modern Languages and Literatures features sixteen completely new
essays by leading scholars. Designed to highlight relations among
languages and forms of discourse, the volume is organized into three
sections. Understanding Language provides a broad overview of the field
of linguistics, with special attention to language acquisition and the
social life of languages. Forming Texts offers tools for understanding
how speakers and writers shape language; it examines scholarship in the
distinct but interrelated fields of rhetoric, composition, and poetics.
Reading Literature and Culture continues the work of the first two
sections by introducing major areas of critical study. The nine essays
in this section cover textual and historical scholarship;
interpretation; comparative, cultural, and translation studies; and the
interdisciplinary topics of gender, sexuality, race, and migrations
(among others). As in previous volumes, an epilogue examines the role of
the scholar in contemporary society.
Each essay discusses the significance, underlying assumptions, and
limits of an important field of inquiry; traces the historical
development of its subject; introduces key terms; outlines modes of
research now being pursued; postulates future developments; and provides
a list of suggestions for further reading. This book will interest any
member of the scholarly community seeking a review of recent
scholarship, while it provides an indispensable resource for
undergraduate and graduate students of modern languages and literatures.
