InampampnbspThe Writer in the Well On Misreading and Rewriting Literature Gary Weissman takes readers inside Ira Shers short story The Man in the Well about a group of children who discover a man trapped in an old well and decide not to help him. While absorbing readers in the pleasurable activity of interpreting this haunting tale Weissman draws on dozens of his students responses to the short story as well as his dialogue with its author to show that the deepest engagement with literature occurs when we approach literary analysis as a collaborative enterprise conducted largely through writing. Rethinking the methods and goals of literary analysis Weissmans study redefines the nature of authorial intention and reconceives literary interpretation as a writingbased practice. By integrating writing pedagogy with older and newer schools of thoughtfrom psychoanalytic readerresponse and poststructuralist theories to rhetorical narrative theory and cognitive literary studiesandampampnbspbridging the fields of literary studies composition and rhetoric and creative writingampampnbspThe Writer in the Wellampampnbspampampnbspargues that the richest understanding of a literary work lies in probing how it has been misinterpreted and reconceived and offers a new writerresponse theory. This highly accessible and thoughtprovoking book which includes the full text of Shers The Man in the Well is designed to engage scholars teachers students and avid readers of literature. ampampnbsp