Written by two leading scholars in the field, Performance in Life and Literature is a text-centered approach to performance of literature that draws on interpersonal communication theory for its procedure. The text presents a single approach to the development of literary performance that relates to theory and practice in other areas of speech communication: public speaking and conversational analysis. It builds upon what the student has already mastered — the performance of language in everyday life. This accessible text provides the theory from literary/performance examples in which the instructor can adapt his/her examples and utilize the text for class discussion and performance.