Steady encouragement

After each literature selection, students answer a few questions about the main ideas and participate in response boards. This keeps students focused, actively processing the information, and constructing new knowledge.

Presentation and exploration

Eight modules organized by theme such as Tradition, Journey, or Alienation present 15 works of modern world literature, with commentary.

Study questions

More than 400 study questions encourage close reading and guide students to key information.

Everything you need

Modern World Literature provides everything you need for an online course including the text, lecture slides, a test bank, and an analytics dashboard. And we can tailor the webtext to match your program’s emphasis, term length, student expectations, and assignment types.

1. What Is Literature?
   1. What Is Literature?
   2. “Rhapsody on Literature”
   3. Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel
   4. Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel
   5. Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel
   6. Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel
   7. “The Necessary Absurdity of Reading—and Writing—Fiction”
   8. How to Read Literature
   9. How to Read Literature
   10. How to Read Literature
   11. How to Read Literature
   12. How to Read Literature
   13. How to Read Literature
   14. An Introduction to Theme
2. Tradition
   1. Tradition
   2. “Diary”: An Observation of Madness
   3. “Diary of a Madman”: 1–3
   4. “Diary of a Madman”: 4–8
   5. “Diary of a Madman”: 9–13
   6. The Paths of Tradition in “The Heights of Macchu Picchu”
   7. “The Heights of Macchu Picchu”: I–VII
   8. “The Heights of Macchu Picchu”: VIII–XII
   9. Art from Necessity: Higuchi Ichiyo and “The Thirteenth Night”
   10. “The Thirteenth Night”
   11. “The Thirteenth Night”
   12. “The Thirteenth Night”
   13. “The Thirteenth Night”
3. Privilege
   1. Privilege
   2. Gender Privilege in “Punishment”
   3. “Punishment”: I
   4. “Punishment”: II
   5. “Punishment”: III
   6. Notebook of a Return to the Native Land: A Poet Becomes a Politician
   7. Notebook of a Return
   8. Notebook of a Return
   9. Notebook of a Return
   10. Notebook of a Return
   11. Notebook of a Return
   12. Notebook of a Return
   13. Notebook of a Return
   14. “Death Constant Beyond Love”: Political Inertia and the Power of Love
   15. “Death Constant Beyond Love”
   16. “Death Constant Beyond Love”
   17. “Death Constant Beyond Love”
4. Journey
   1. Journey
   2. How to Read Literature Like a Professor
   3. The Narrow Road to the Interior
   4. The Narrow Road to the Interior
   5. The Best of All Possible Worlds
   6. Candide: Chapter 1
   7. Candide: Chapters 2–3
   8. Candide: Chapter 4
   9. Candide: Chapters 5–6
   10. Candide: Chapters 7–8
   11. Candide: Chapters 9–10
   12. Candide: Chapters 11–12
   13. Candide: Chapters 13–14
   14. Candide: Chapters 15–16
   15. Candide: Chapter 24
   16. Candide: Chapters 27–28
   17. Candide: Chapters 29–30
5. Identity
   1. Identity
   2. Who Is Mr. Hyde? You Are. We All Are.
   3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Story of the Door
   4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Search for Mr. Hyde
   5. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Search for Mr. Hyde
   6. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: The Last Night
   7. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: The Last Night
   8. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: The Last Night
   9. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative
   10. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative
   11. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement
   12. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement
   13. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement
   14. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement
   15. The Story of the Hunt: Chinua Achebe and Things Fall Apart
   16. Things Fall Apart: Chapters 1 & 7
   17. Things Fall Apart: Chapter 13
   18. Things Fall Apart: Chapter 20
   19. Things Fall Apart: Chapter 25
6. The Other
   1. The Other
   2. Frankenstein: A Story of the Accidental Other
   3. Frankenstein: Chapter 5
   4. Frankenstein: Chapters 5 & 9
   5. Frankenstein: Chapters 9 & 10
   6. Frankenstein: Chapter 10
   7. Frankenstein: Chapter 11
   8. Frankenstein: Chapters 11 & 12
   9. Frankenstein: Chapter 12
   10. Frankenstein: Chapter 13
   11. Frankenstein: Chapter 14
   12. Frankenstein: Chapter 15
   13. Frankenstein: Chapter 15
   14. Frankenstein: Chapter 16
   15. Frankenstein: Chapter 16
   16. Frankenstein: Chapter 17
7. Alienation
   1. Alienation
   2. A Century On, The Metamorphosis Still Oddly Universal
   3. The Metamorphosis: I
   4. The Metamorphosis: I
   5. The Metamorphosis: I
   6. The Metamorphosis: I
   7. The Metamorphosis: II
   8. The Metamorphosis: II
   9. The Metamorphosis: II
   10. The Metamorphosis: II
   11. The Metamorphosis: II
   12. The Metamorphosis: III
   13. The Metamorphosis: III
   14. The Metamorphosis: III
   15. The Metamorphosis: III
   16. The Metamorphosis: III
   17. Dissidence Sparks Creativity for Nawal El Saadawi
   18. “In Camera”
   19. “In Camera”
   20. “In Camera”
   21. “In Camera”
8. Modernity
   1. Modernity
   2. A Heap of Broken Images: Building “The Waste Land”
   3. “The Waste Land”: I–II
   4. “The Waste Land”: III–V
   5. Labyrinths of Meaning: Jorge Luis Borges’s “The Garden of Forking Paths”
   6. “The Garden of Forking Paths”
   7. “The Garden of Forking Paths”
   8. “The Garden of Forking Paths”
   9. “Requiem”: An Elegy for a Country
   10. “Requiem”: Preface–V
   11. “Requiem”: VI–Epilogue II

Interactive content

Study questions

Multiple-choice questions guide students to critical information by providing immediate feedback. These low-risk opportunities allow students to reset answers to try again or study for tests.

Roll-over annotations

Hovering over a term that is bold and underlined within the text reveals annotations.

Response boards

Students engage each other through discussion boards that only allow students to see the responses of their peers after they’ve posted their own comment.

Polls

Polls allow students to share their opinions and then view a live pie chart displaying the responses of all class members.

Study tools

Webtext Reader app

Students can access materials and complete assignments offline with our mobile app available for iOS and Android.

Reading tools

Reading tools allow students to click on vocabulary terms for definitions and mark up their own webtext by highlighting and adding notes in the margins.

Read to Me

Our text-to-speech feature instantly creates an audio version of the webtext page to extend the reach of online content.

My Progress

Students can keep track of their own work inside My Progress, which records their scores, time spent, and completion.

The following materials are available for this course:

• Testbank
• Lecture Slides
• Release Notes
  

Advisors

Elizabeth Richmond-Garza, PhD
University of Texas Austin

William Atkinson, PhD
Appalachian State University

Rob Kirschen, PhD
University of Nevada Las Vegas

Contributors

Alison Barker
Greg Beatty
Amy Burroughs
Annie Frisbee
Heather Jurva
Grace Labatt
Catherine Mallet
Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
Mary Catherine O'Conner
Roberto O’nell H.
Sonal Panse
Jason Ridler

Publisher

David Lindrum

Executive Editor

Mary Jane Lindrum

Development Editors

Will Goldsmith
Adam Rosen

Copy Editor

Jacob Caselli

Commentary Editor

Susan Cottenden

Research Editor

Adam Rosen

Editorial Assistant

Nancy Woods

Question Writers

Michelle Baker
Peter O’reilly

Illustrator

Clint McFarlin

Images Curator

Zara Elizabeth Crockett

Software Developers

David Perkowski
Matt Bennink
Carter Sowers

Permissions Manager

Zara Elizabeth Crockett