Yelabuga: EGPU Publishing House, 2012. 50 s. Course of lectures . What are the main goals of our course? Why is it necessary and useful to study foreign literature and literature in general? Why does literature exist at all? It exists, firstly, in order to bring readers pleasure from reading . Literature gives a very special, specific pleasure, which can not replace anything else, neither cinema, nor television, nor even real life itself. Reading is one of the most vivid, useful forms of leisure, filling life with meaning, emotions . A person must live fully, brightly, which means that he must experience vivid emotions. And literature can give them .. Therefore, there will always be a significant number of people who sincerely and selflessly love to read. So readers need to know what to read, what works in the vast world literature are the best, really interesting. A philologist is a professional in the field of reading, he should be able to give advice to others what to read.