A Companion to Literary Analysis — Six Moves for Reading with Attention

A twenty-page teaching companion built around six moves for reading a story with attention. Not a checklist. A discipline.

Built across many years of teaching in high schools and universities, this is the version I would hand to a colleague who asked what I actually do in the room when I sit down with a class and a Hawthorne story on the table.

Who this is for: High school and college English teachers. Book club leaders. Writing group members. Serious independent readers. Anyone who has felt that literary analysis in the classroom has become mechanical and wants a way back to the living text.

Inside — a 20-page companion PDF.

The Six Moves: (1) Reading for what the sentence is doing. (2) Reading for what the character wants. (3) Reading for what the scene contains. (4) Reading for what the story is turning on. (5) Reading for what the ending gives. (6) Reading for what the whole thing is about.

Each move gets: a short teaching explanation. An example drawn from a public-domain story. A single question the reader can carry into their next reading. And a note on how to know when the move is landing with students.

Example texts used include Hawthorne, Chopin, Dickinson, Henry James, Joyce, Crane, Wharton, Hurston, Whitman, Twain, and Mansfield — all United States public domain.

About the author. James F. Mulhern has taught English and creative writing for many years across high schools, universities, and colleges. He has served as Chair of English and Social Studies departments, worked with the College Board on the Advanced Placement program, and is a Kirkus-starred novelist. His novel Give Them Unquiet Dreams was named a Kirkus Best Book. He is a creative writing fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.

Format: 20-page PDF, US Letter, print-ready.

License: Classroom-use license included. Teachers may print and distribute the pages for use in their own classroom. Not for resale or redistribution.

Delivery: instant download after purchase.

Published by Silver Current Press, Philadelphia. All literary example texts are in the United States public domain.

Pairs well with the Student Workbook for Literary Analysis (twenty-five exercises for the same six moves).