Literature, Compact Interactive Editioncomes automatically with MyLiteratureLab, Longman's multimedia website. MyLiteratureLab screen icons are found in the margins throughout the book. An icon next to an author's name indicates that further resources about that author are available on MyLiteratureLab.

Literatureis written in an engaging style that reflects the warm personal voice of X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Some of the changes to the new edition include conversations between Dana Gioia and celebrated fiction writer Amy Tan, U. S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan, and contemporary playwright David Ives; the addition of new writers including Naguib Mahfouz, Virginia Woolf, Sherman Alexie, Mary Oliver, Bettie Sellers, and Anne Deavere Smith; and every chapter concludes with a review of key terms for easy reference. The Writing section has been thoroughly updated to reflect MLA’s latest guidelines.