With 53 stories,314 poems,and 12 plays,Access Literature is designed to provide students witha g rounding in the traditional canon that is a vital part of our literary heritage,while at the same time presenting the diverse voices that are an essential part of our cultural record and an exciting force in contemporary literature。
UnIike other introdUctory texts。Access Literature Iinks the traditionaI elements of Iiterature to the everyday CUlture students aIready know weII。Chapter openers and in-

Part3 Getting into Drama
CHAPTER 25 Profile of a Playwright-David lves
Three monkeys sitting at typewriters trying to write Hamet; people speaking in a new“universal language”,in which a word processor is a“verboblender,”“velcro”means。welcome,and when you’re “spinichless,’you’re speecnbles;and characters waking up to find themselves !ocated in states of mind rather than geographical locatlOns—these are some of the zany,and USUally hilarious,scenarios David Ives’s characters find themselves。
David lves was born in Chicago and received his education at Northwestern University and the Yale Drama school。He writes for television,film and opera as well as for stage,and many of his plays have enjoyed on—and off-Broadway productions in New York City.

Part3 Getting into Drama
CHAPTER 25 Profile of a Playwright-David lves
Frolics ln lvesland
Plot and Form
Characterization and Theme
Setting and Staging
Readings
Sure Thing
The Philadelphia
Talking Lit
David Ives,Preface to All in the Timing
Stephanie Coen,No Comparisons:An Interview with the Playwright
David Ives,Some Origins 1 044
Student Essay
Adam Marchbein.From the Mind of David Ives 1 046
Questions to Ask about Drama
CHAPTER 26 Plot and Form
The lmportance of PIot
The Shape of a ConventionaI Plot
Individualizing the Structure of Plot
Conflict in the Dramatic Plot
A Final Note on Plot and Conflict
Readings
Wiliam Shakespeare,Othello,the Moor of Venice
August Wilson,Fences
Talking Lit
Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio,from Gli Hecatommithi
David Savran,An Interview with August Wilson
Student Essay
CHAPTER 27 Characterization and Theme
Characterization in Drama
What is Modern Drama?
How Theme is Revealed
Other Aspects of Characterization
Reading
Henrik Ibsen,A Doll’s House
Talking Lit
Halvdan Koht,from“Women and Society:A Doll’s House”
Frederick J.Marker and Lise—Lone Marker,“One Nora,Many Noras,”
from Ibsen’s Lively Art
J0hn Galsworthy,“Some Platitudes Concerning Drama”,from The Innof Tranquility
Student Essay
Jacqueline DeRosa,A Lark Flies:Understanding
Nora’s Decision to Leave a Doll House
CHAPTER 28 Setting and Staging
Physical Setting
HistoricaI Setting
SociaI Setting
Staging--Realistic and Fantastic
Reading
Arthur Miller,Death of a Salesman
Talking Lit
CHAPTER 29 Myth and Drama
CHAPTER 30 Cutting Edges:Grassroots Theater
CHAPTER 31 A Bookshelf of Plays
Part 4 Getting into Writing and Research
CHAPTER 32 Talking and Writing about lit
CHAPTER 33 Sources for Researching Lit
CHAPTER 34 Access to Lit Crit:Pathways to Interpretation