"Thinking with Words: A Literary Groundwork provides a unique foundational introduction to the depths and glories of literature and its study. It is a book about why literature matters, and why it always will. Readers will explore the roots of literature and art in the interplay between life and language, actions and events, and culture and texts. This is not a book about theories, but a book about our complex engagement with language and literature, from which theories, interpretations, and insight arise. As a ground work, confusions are dissolved, and analytical tools for thinking are developed and honed. Readers will discover that their ways of talking about literature can powerfully contribute to their ways of talking about life. The book re-situates literary studies within fundamental arguments about language, knowledge, and ethics. Thinking with Words is essential reading for anyone interested in not just literature but in art, culture, and language"--