The purpose of the thesis is to identify the dominant legitimations of literature study in five literature textbooks for the upper secondary school in Sweden and how these legitimations are realized textually and visually. Focusing on paratexts (covers and preface), text–image relations, the representation of authorship and genre the analysis draws theoretically and methodologically upon multimodality, discourse analysis and genre theory. The result indicates several similar legitimations: the study of literature is associated with personal growth, pleasure and how history affects the present. It also shows how visual resources as well as specific voices are used to underpin interpersonal relations in order to convey the legitimations. However the legitimations are realized differently in textbooks with different disposition. In predominantly chronologically organized textbooks the legitimations emphasize images depicting historical artifacts, the cultural value of the authorship and genre discussions. Thematically organized textbooks concentrate on legitimations concerning contemporary literature and images, identification and the interplay of the reader and the text. One conclusion is that albeit all textbooks in this research are intended for the theoretical programs at the upper secondary school the textbooks convey different discourses of literature and thus provide different conditions for the teaching of literature which raise the question of equivalence. A second conclusion is that the interplay between the textbook author and the reader is emphasized although there is a lack of critical and analytical perspective. For example there are generally few references to contemporary theory, and male/female authorships are treated unequally. All in all the textbooks seem to be more concerned with convincing students, in text and images, to read literature than actually provide them with substantial analytical tools.