GRE Audio Books

GRE Subject Test in Literature: Literature Review Books

Here are the essential books you’ll need to prepare for the GRE Subject Test in Literature.

First of all, the Norton Anthologies of English and American Literature are a must have. These contain just about everything (written in English) that you’ll need to read for the GRE subject test in Literature. If you don’t have one already you should get one. Buy them used or new – the edition doesn’t matter that much.

The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1: The Middle Ages through the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century (Norton Anthology of English Literature)

The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2: The Romantic Period through the Twentieth Century (Norton Anthology of English Literature)

Norton Anthology of American Literature

Keep in mind that much of the material in these books is also in the public domain, and can be found through Google Books or Project Gutenberg.

This is of course a lot of material to cover, So don’t try to read and memorize it all. if you do you’re sure to crash and burn, and it may hurt your score in the long run. Make yourself a study timeline, set your priorities, and focus on the simplest things first. The best tool to help you do this is the Princeton Review study guide for the GRE in literature: Cracking the GRE Literature Test, 5th Edition (Graduate School Test Preparation). As a self-described hater of standardized testing, I neglected to get this when I took the test, and I eventually regretted it. As far as I know there’s only one practice test for the GRE in literature out there, and you’re going to need more test specific preparation than that if you want to optimize your score.

GRE Literary Terms and Theory

I can’t say this enough: know your terms! It’s the quickest and surest way to earn points on the GRE. Literary criticism and theory is also becoming more and more prevalent on the GRE. You should be able to identify the major theorists, critical works, themes and methods of analysis specific to each branch of literary theory. The main ones to know for the GRE Literature are as follows: New Criticism, formalism,  structuralism, post-structuralism, Marxism, feminism, post-colonialism, new historicism, deconstruction, reader-response criticism, and psychoanalytic criticism. Check out the litgeek podcast for a brief overview of each methodology.

Recommended Books for GRE Study

The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (Penguin Dictionary)

The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford Paperback Reference)

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory: Approaches, Scholars, Terms (Theory / Culture)

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