Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 Books

Book SynopsisPeter Hunt is Professor Emeritus at Cardiff University, UK, where he was the first specialist in Children's Literature to be appointed full Professor of English in a British university. He has written or edited 26 books and over 150 articles on children's literature. In 1995 the International Society for the Fantastic in the Arts presented him with their Distinguished Scholarship Award, and in 2003 he was awarded the Brothers Grimm Award for services to children's literature, from the International Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka, Japan.Trade Review"This Casebook of approaches to Tolkien is a fine introduction to the breadth and concerns of Tolkien criticism for undergraduate readers, yet advances some new ideas that will intrigue the scholar. The essays are uniformly readable and deal with perennially interesting topics: gender, film, ecology, and children's and young adult books that influenced or were influenced by Tolkien's works." - Janet B Croft, University of Oklahoma Libraries, USA "This wide-ranging collection of essays has much to offer students of fantasy, children's literature, film, illustration, and anyone who has a deep interest in Tolkien's writings. Contributors analyse the puzzlement that has been evident in surrounding critical commentary to date and, using material from his letters, essays, and his books themselves, explore Tolkien's art from a variety of illuminating perspectives." - Susan Hancock, University of Roehampton, UKTable of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction; Peter Hunt 1. The Hobbit, the Tale, Children's Literature, and the Critics; Keith O'Sullivan 2. Sources and Successors; Maria Sachiko Cecire 3. The Pastoral Impulse and the Turn to the Future in The Hobbit and Interwar Children's Fiction; Hazel Sheekey Bird 4. Tolkien and the Traditional Dragon Tale: An Examination of The Hobbit; C.W.Sullivan III 5. Tolkien's Language; Louise Joy 6. There and Back Again: The Gendered Journey of Tolkien's Hobbits; Zoe Jaques 7. Tolkien and Worldbuilding; Catherine Butler 8. A Topoanalytical Reading of Landscapes in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit; Jane Suzanne Carroll 9. Tolkien and Trees; Shelley Saguaro and Deborah Cogan Thacker 10. From Illustration to Film: Visual Narratives and Target Audiences; Kate Harvey Further Reading Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis transnational collection discusses the use of Native American imagery in twentieth and twenty-first-century European culture.Trade Review"A provocative and at times slightly scandalous collection, Tribal Fantasies considers the ubiquitous, fantastical, and usually nineteenth-century Great Plains Indian and occasional Incan of the European cultural imaginary. The contributors, who work within a trans-European context and use a trans-North Atlantic critical method, find this Indian in far-right political rhetoric, leftist German intellectualism, gay culture, toy sets, erotica, the mid-twentieth-century Polish 'Indian novel,' and Irish storytelling. Framed by Stirrup's thorough, engaging introduction and Renae Watchman's incisive and equally engaging afterword, the chapters assess the messy collision of indigenous North American and European contexts and produce a host of exciting interpretations and urgent questions." - James H. Cox, author of Muting White Noise: Native American and European American Novel Traditions and The Red Land to the South: American Indian Writers and Indigenous Mexico "James Mackay and David Stirrup's intelligently conceived and edited collection, Tribal Fantasies, offers the reader a rich range of theoretically sophisticated and culturally sensitive insights into figurations of the Indian in the European imaginary, in disciplines ranging from literature to politics to popular culture to sexualities. A must for all libraries." - Susan Castillo, Harriet Beecher Stowe Professor of American Studies, King's College London, UK and former editor of the Journal of American StudiesTable of ContentsIntroduction – David Stirrup and James Mackay 1. Union of Chance: Portrayals by Dogroy Beaulieu; Gerald Vizenor 2. Ethno-Graphic Novels: Francophone Comics and Derib's Plains Indian Cycle; Sebastian F. Braun 3. I'm indiginous, I'm indiginous, I'm indiginous': Indigenous Rights, British Nationalism, and the European Far Right; Padraig Kirwan and David Stirrup 4. From Karl Marx to Karl May: Ernst Bloch and the Native American as Concrete Utopia; Peter Thompson 5. Teepees & Totem Poles: Imaginings of Native Americans in European Popular Culture for Children; Christina Welch 6. Native Americans and the European Gay Imagination; Max Carocci 7. Monstrous Bodies and Ignoble Savages: Depictions of Indigenous Peoples in European Hardcore; James Mackayi 8. Polish Literary Depictions of Native Americans in Soviet-Era Adventure Novels; Marek Paryz 9. Indian Spirit: Psytrance Culture, Native Americans and the Techno-Tribes; Graham St John 10. Wee People, Red Devils and the Old Women Back Home: Representations of Native Americans in Micí Mac Gabhann's Rotha Mór an tSaoil and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne's "The Pale Gold of Alaska"; Jessica Dougherty-McMichael Afterword; Renae Watchman

Read more less

Book SynopsisRiddles are threaded through The Hobbit , and are key to Tolkien's creative imagination. The Riddles of The Hobbit situates this novel and the rest of Tolkien's writing in the context of Old English riddling culture, and more modern day examples; it sets out to solve the many riddles of the novel in original and often surprising ways.Trade Review“A riddling book about a riddling writer, a philological exercise concerning the works of a philologist. I wish there were more books like this. … The book offers much more sober insights into Tolkien’s tale-telling and language-playing habits, too, but it always wears its critical hat at a rakish angle. I loved it and felt that it did more to get me thinking tolkienially (to coin a term) than almost anything I’ve read about old JRRT … .” (Professor Alan Jacobs, The New Atlantis Text Patterns, thenewatlantis.com, January, 2017)“Roberts’s The Riddles of The Hobbit displays a great deal of erudition in the knotty tradition of Anglo-Saxon riddle lore, and effectively brings to bear Old Norse and Old Icelandic riddling texts as well … . specialists will want a copy for their shelves, and libraries will do well to make this available to advanced students.” (Don Riggs, The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, Vol. 26 (1), 2015)"He's known as an SF writer of no mean skill, but Adam Roberts is also a professor. Here he applies his mighty mind to a dissection of The Hobbit. Roberts is keen to emphasise the subjectivity of interpretation, stating that there are many ways to read riddles and stories. This is a strength, as the chief pleasure to be had here is seeing The Hobbit through the eyes of someone who loves it dearly. 5 stars." SFX "Riddles Of The Hobbit is an intriguing and fun reading of Tolkien's work. Fascinating from a historical and literary perspective, Roberts may well be an academic writer, but the text is no worse for it. Rather this is a very enjoyable journey into the puzzles that make reading 'The Hobbit' so memorable. There is plenty here to interest the most ardent Tolkien reader and casual fan alike." - SFCrowsnest " the book does a wonderful job of illustrating the depth and complexity of thought inherent in Tolkien's work, without ever losing sight of the deeply religious and conservative nature of that work. It is a fine example of the skill of distancing appreciation of literary craft from the nature of the literary work under examination . It is also amusing, intelligent, and rather sentimental about a well-loved literary favorite." - Cheryl Morgan "Adam Roberts lays out his ideas in a straightforward, uncomplicated manner, so that one has neither to be a Tolkien scholar nor an expert at solving riddles to understand and appreciate this book. His wit and humor, along with his clever use of rhetorical devices, make The Riddles of the Hobbit an enjoyable read, as well as an informative one." - The Blog of The Hobbit "There's much of interest in this book for the Tolkien enthusiast. Even aspects of Tolkien's work that might be familiar to most are presented and examined in a refreshing way." - mytolkienbooks.com "If you're a more advanced literary or linguistic scholar or armchair philosopher and are looking for some interesting ideas to discuss around the gaming table, this book will spark much dynamic conversation." - Legendarium. Middle Earth Network "Roberts applies great imaginative ingenuity to the reading of riddles. His book complements existing work on Tolkien by adopting a free interpretative approach which is justified, not by some abstract postmodern theory, but by a bold claim about the riddling, ironic, polysemous nature of Tolkien's texts." - Brian Rosebury, author of Tolkien: a Cultural Phenomenon "Even the seasoned Tolkien fan can still learn new things from this excellent book . . . In this enlightening exploration Roberts uncovers the nature of Tolkien's handiwork and illustrates how the act of reading is in fact an act of unriddling." - Tolkien Library "Two final words of sheer enjoyment: Adam Roberts's The Riddles of the Hobbit is a wonderful tear across open academic country, a fusion of scholarly and fannish writing which is an intellectual pleasure from first to last." - Strange Horizons 2013 round-up "Roberts makes a compelling argument, but what I most enjoyed about the book is that it made me think about the text in another way adding another layer to what many consider just a book for kids. 9/10." - Sci-fi-online.com "The Riddles of the Hobbit is a loving look at the use of riddles in The Hobbit (and, to a lesser extent, The Lord of the Rings) as well as a scholarly rumination on the significance of riddles in life and literature." - SciFi Bulletin "You are wondering, as I was, how much can be said about the riddles from The Hobbit. What I didn't understand is that the conversation between Bilbo and Gollum are not the only place where riddles are found in the book . Roberts understands, as, of course, Tolkien did, that the Anglo-Saxon world loved riddles, and saw life (and death) as a riddle." - HollywoodJesus.com "I was worried that the author would have failed to take account of what are often considered to be the foremost analyses of the Tolkien's riddles . However, this turned out to be a false worry: Roberts not only includes references to all of these, but also expands upon and, at times, questions certain aspects of their work all of which makes for a rewarding read." - Mythoi 'Roberts does a good job of covering the background of riddle games in the Anglo-Saxon and Norse cultures...This fascinating book is for anyone interested in the background and roots of The Hobbit. Summing up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers' - CHOICETable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface 1. The Anglo-Saxon Riddleworld 2. Cynewulf and the Exeter Book 3. Riddles in the Dark 4. The Riddles of the All-Wise 5. The Puzzle of the two Hobbits 6. The Riddle of Bilbo's Pocket 7. The Riddle of the Ring 8. The Lord of the Rings and the Riddle of Writing 9. The Volsung Riddle: Character in Tolkien 10. The Enigma of Genre Fantasy 11. ...And Back Again. Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAlasdair Gray: Ink for Worlds offers fresh perspectives on Alasdair Gray's literary and pictorial works, with contributions that span a wide range of theoretical perspectives and levels of analysis among which are literary studies, fine art, word and image studies, architecture and media studies.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Camille Manfredi PART I: MYTH AND CREATION: ALASDAIR GRAY'S TEXTUAL PURGATORIES 1. Literature against Amnesia; Marie-Odile Pittin-Hédon 2. 'Part of a part which was once the whole': Mephistopheles and the Author Figure in Lanark and Fleck; Kirsten Stirling 3. Figures of Creation in Alasdair Gray's ?Prometheus'; Hélène Machinal 4. Damnation and Hell. Introduction to Versions of Goethe's Faust, Dante's Inferno; Alasdair Gray PART II: THE ART OF SUBVERSION 5. The 'Settlers and Colonists' Affair; Scott Hames 6. A Subversive View of Scotland in the 'Now plays'; Jean Berton 7. Spiraliform Narratives and the Question of Identity in Alasdair Gray's Lanark and 1982, Janine; Timothée Dubray 8. Having the Last Word: Paratextual Framing in the Work of Alasdair Gray and 'Sidney Workman's epilogue' to Old Men in Love (2007); Glyn White PART III: VISIONS AND TROMPE L'OEILS 9. Alasdair Gray: The Literary Vision, or, How to Make Things Seen; Alan Riach 10. The Alasdair Gray Foundation: the Importance of a Visual and Literary Archive; Sorcha Dallas 11. Itching Etchings: Fooling the Eye, or an Anatomy of Gray's Optical Illusions and Intermedial Apparatus; Liliane Louvel Conclusion: Nae new ideas, nae worries! Alasdair Gray 2008-2012; Rodge Glass Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe novel-essay emerged in France, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and reached its highest formal complexity in Austria and Germany, during the interwar period. Here, Ercolino argues that it is crucial for a renovated understating of the history of the novel in modernity.Trade Review"The Novel-Essay is . . . a necessary step not just to understand the crisis of modernity or to study the premises of the ideology of postmodernism it is a chapter of the history of the novel which will allow us to understand the development of our society through the mirror of literary forms." - Los Angeles Review of Books "Bold and well-argued, Ercolino's book focuses on the novel-essay, a genre that emerged following the great crisis of the epistemological and symbolic apparatuses of modernity . . . An exceptionally gifted specialist in the history and theory of the novel, Ercolino steps forward dauntlessly. His book is compact and dense . . . Ercolino is a scholar of enviable brilliance." - Remo Ceserani, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, University of Bologna, Italy, Alias domenica Il manifesto "In an unusual combination, Ercolino is highly skilled at both close- and far-reading. His readers will appreciate the book's readable prose, its compressed argumentation, and its smooth synthesis of complex and varied discourses. He deftly analyzes the relationship between the novel-essay and Zolian naturalism, Cartesian rationality, the Bildungsroman, and philosophical mimesis. He demonstrates a deep understanding of the literary and philosophical landscape in modern Europe and includes even the most contemporary literary scholarship, including references to Franco Moretti's collaborative projects at the Stanford Literary Lab. This book is a must-read for specialists of the novel and the essay, and a helpful contribution for historians, philosophers, and cultural critics who focus on modernity and its transition into postmodernity. I anticipate that in our new millennium, Ercolino's will be the first of many upcoming analyses of one of the most fascinating hybrid literary forms to emerge in Europe since the last century. It is refreshing to find a new voice on the touchy question of essayistic fiction, which has been lacking since the illuminating contributions of Thomas Harrison and Claire de Obaldia. Ercolino's wide-ranging analysis delivers what it promises. One could say that he synthesizes major theories of the essay and the novel as separate genres into a new, dialectically integrated theory of the novel-essay, as though the criticism of a hybrid genre must also be hybrid." - Christy Wampole, Princeton University, USA, Modernism/modernity "Stefano Ercolino's book is a splendid rediscovery of one of the most important modern narrative genres, the novel-essay. By showing how the various authors of novel-essays - J.-K. Huysmans, Marcel Proust, Thomas Mann, Robert Musil and Hermann Broch - propose a wide range of syntheses between thought and action, Ercolino's book offers a nuanced, innovative, and memorable view of modernity itself . . . Ercolino's beautiful, nuanced, and innovative work is one of the most notable recent debuts in literary history." - Thomas Pavel, Gordon J. Laing Distinguished Service Professor in French and Comparative Literature, University of Chicago, USA, Strumenti critici, and author of The Lives of the Novel "The daring hypothesis of Ercolino's study - which ranges over a half century of literary history, over a half-dozen writers of the likes of Musil, Dostoevsky, Mann, and Huysmans, and over the insights of even more numerous literary theorists - is that the hybrid aesthetics of the novel-essay does not merely enact the symbolic crisis of modernist thinking; it also furnishes the most resounding intellectual reply." - Thomas Harrison, Professor of Italian, University of California, Los Angeles, USA "The greatest achievement of the [book's] broad-ranging analysis . . . is being able and willing to tackle literary works - even some of the classics of our tradition - within dynamic systems such as genres, through which texts can describe effectively . . . the symbolic changes that took place in society and history." - Guido Mattia Gallerani, ITEM (Institut des textes et manuscrits modernes), ENS-CNRS, France, BetweenTable of ContentsIntroduction PART I 1. Beyond Naturalist Aesthetics 2. The Critique of Modern Rationality 3. The Emergence of the Novel-Essay PART II 1. A Morphological Changeover 2. Mimicry 3. Dialectical Strains PART III 1. Philosophical Mimesis 2. Totality and the Grand Style 3. The Tear of History PART IV: FORM AND IDEOLOGY Works Cited

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book places children's literature at the forefront of early twentieth-century debates about national identity and class relations that were expressed through the pursuit of leisure. Focusing on stories about hiking, camping and sailing, this book offers a fresh insight into a popular period of modern British cultural and political history.Trade ReviewTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. A Very Fuzzy Set-Defining Camping and Tramping Fiction 3. The Delights of the Open Road, Footloose and Fancy Free 4. Landscape and Tourism in the Camping and Tramping Countryside 5. Mapping the Geographical Imagination 6. The Family Sailing Story 7. England Expects: The Nelson Tradition and the Politics of Service in Naval Cadet and Family Sailing Stories 8. Conclusion: A Disappearing Act Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow to Use This BookIntroduction1. Background2. Medieval Literature3. Thematic and Technical Parallels4. The Editions5. The TextsBibliographyIndexTrade ReviewPraise for the previous edition: "[The Keys of Middle-earth] provides a wide range of texts with insightful introductions and commentary on each of the texts that have been chosen for elucidation." Professor Shaun F.D. Hughes, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of English, Purdue University, USA "The Keys of Middle-earth is a much-needed book... The texts, in Old English, Old Norse, and Middle English, are faithfully presented... textual notes are remarkably thorough." John R. Holmes, Notes and Queries Summary "Either as a student's text or as an instructor's resource, The Keys of Middle-earth provides an excellent introduction to a number of important medieval texts complete with a judicious, but not overwhelming, awareness of recent scholarship within a compelling context of a modern literary phenomenon - the imaginative world of J. R. R. Tolkien." Miranda Wilcox, The Medieval Review "'As an anthology of medieval texts it is first rate. The texts, in Old English, Old Norse, and Middle English, are faithfully presented and despite the authors' modest disclaimer that their book cannot accommodate a "full discussion of textual issues" (55), textual notes are remarkably thorough. With equal modesty they call their textual notes "highly selective," but their selection is impeccable. Commentary is just as painstaking: major critical controversies are fully represented. And as an encouragement to further study in three medieval languages, which the authors identify as its main purpose (19), the book is eminently successful." John R Holmes, Tolkien StudiesTable of ContentsHow to Use This BookIntroduction1. Background2. Medieval Literature3. Thematic and Technical Parallels4. The Editions5. The TextsBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis collection focuses attention on theoretical approaches to travel writing, with the aim to advance the discourse. Internationally renowned, as well as emerging, scholars establish a critical milieu for travel writing studies, as well as offer a set of exemplars in the application of theory to travel writing.Trade Review“New Directions is thus an important contribution to the burgeoning field of travel writing studies … . It will surely become a basic (re)source in travel writing studies that I recommend to those who have already ventured into the field and are familiar with the basic tenets and approaches, and to those who are encountering the opportunities offered by the study of the genre and are looking for possible ways to become engaged in this field of research.” (Balázs Venkovits, Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies, Vol. 23 (2), 2017)Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Introduction; Julia Kuehn and Paul Smethurst PART I: TEXTUALITY 1. 'A Study not a Rapture': Isabella Bird on Japan; Steve Clark 2. On Top of the World: Tourist's Spectacular Self-Locations as Multimodal Travel Writing; Crispin Thurlow and Adam Jaworski 3. The Garden of Forking Paths: Paratexts in Travel Literature; Alex Watson PART II: TOPOLOGY 4. Metaphor, Travel, and the (Un)making of the Steppe; Joseph Gualtieri 5. 'That mighty Wall, not fabulous/ China's stupendous mound!' Romantic Period Accounts of China's 'Great Wall'; Peter Kitson 6. 'Habits of a landscape': the Geocritical Imagination in Robert Macfarlane's The Wild Places and The Old Ways; Paul Smethurst PART III: MOBILITY 7. Travel Writing, Disability, Blindness: Venturing Beyond Visual Geographies; Charles Forsdick 8. Travel Literature and the Infrastructural Unconscious; Caitlin Vandertop 9. 'Take out your machine': Narratives of Early Motorcycle Travel; Tim Youngs PART IV: MAPPING 10. 'The Thing which is not': Mapping the Fantastic History of the Southern Continent; Vanessa Collingridge 11. Locating Guam: The Cartography of the Pacific and Craig Santos Perez's Re-mapping of Unincorporated Territory; Otto Heim 12. Map Reading in Travel Writing: The 'Explorers' Maps' of Mexico, This Month; Claire Lindsay PART V: ALTERITY 13. The Travellee's Eye: Reading European Travel Writing, 1750-1850; Wendy Bracewell 14. Anthropology/ Travel/ Writing: Strange Encounters with James Clifford and Nicolas Rothwell; Graham Huggan PART VI: GLOBALITY 15. Travel and Utopia; Bill Ashcroft 16. Colonial Cosmopolitanism: Constance Cumming and Isabella Bird in Hong Kong, 1878; Julia Kuehn 17. Afropolitan Travels: 'Discovering Home' and the World in Africa; Maureen Moynagh 18. Revising the 'Contact Zone': William Adams, Reception History, and the Opening of Japan, 1600-1860; Laurence Williams Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book demonstrates how authors performing the role of a public intellectual discuss ideas and opinions regarding society while using literary strategies and devices in and beyond the text. Their assumed persona thereby reads the world as a book - interpreting it and offering alternative scenarios for understanding it.Table of Contents1. Transformations of the Public Intellectual 2. Conscientious Chronicler; H.M. Enzensberger (1929) 3. Eastern European Voices; Slavenka Drakulic (1949) and Dubravka Ugresic (1949) 4. Public Man as Actor; Bernard-Henri Levy (1948) 5. A Protean Public Figure; Ayaan Hirsi Ali (1969) 6. Public Intellectual in Brussels; David van Reybrouck (1971) and Geert van Istendael (1947) 7. Responsible Satire; Hamed Abdel-Samad (1972) 8. Popular Fiction; Elif Shafak (1971) Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book reassesses the role of Russian Montparnasse writers in the articulation of transnational modernism generated by exile. Examining their production from a comparative perspective, it demonstrates that their response to urban modernity transcended the Russian master narrative and resonated with broader aesthetic trends in interwar Europe.Trade ReviewThis monograph explores the transnational Modernism practiced by the younger generation, sometimes dubbed the ‘unnoticed generation,’ of Russian emigre writers in interwar Paris. … Scholars of comparative literature or the French and Anglo-American literature of the interwar period will benefit from this work as much as will Russian literature specialists. Nabokov scholars will also find considerable comparative context and discussion of some of the literary debates ongoing in the emigre journals.” (Luke Franklin, Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 60 (2), 2016)Table of ContentsIntroduction: Russian Montparnasse as a Transnational Community PART I: NARRATING THE SELF: THE EXISTENTIAL CODE OF INTER-WAR LITERATURE 1. In the 'Waste Land' of Postwar Europe: Facing the Modern Condition 2. Who Needs Art? The Human Document and Strategies of Self-Representation 3. Human Document or Autofiction? PART II: READING AND WRITING THE 'PARIS TEXT' 4. 'A Shared Homeland for All Foreigners': The Paris Myth. 5. An Illusory City: Denationalization and the 'Mission' of the Diaspora 6. Below and Beyond: Alternative Paris PART III: CHALLENGES OF THE JAZZ AGE 7. Post-Traumatic Hedonism 8. Art Deco Fiction 9. Anthologizing the Jazz Age: Gaito Gazdanov's The Spectre of Alexander Wolf PART IV: THE CANON RE-DEFINED: READING THE RUSSIAN CLASSICS IN PARIS 10. 'A third-rate rhymer ... but a poet of genius': Lermontov and Russian Montparnasse 11. 'Backyard' Literature: Vasily Rozanov's Unlikely Posthumous Fame in Paris and Beyond 12. Dialogue with Tolstoy Conclusion Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThrough original interviews and research, Llewellyn uses spirituality to uncover new commonalities between the second and third feminist waves, and sacred and secular experiences. Her lively approach highlights the importance of reading cultures in feminist studies, connecting women's voices across generations, literary practices, and religions.Trade Review"Through an engaging approach that moves beyond imagined readers and assumptions about Christian and post-Christian feminism, Reading, Spirituality, and Feminism: Troubling the Waves demonstrates how women are actively constructing feminist spirituality through their diverse reading practices. By focusing on women's reading strategies, Llewellyn challenges typical conceptions of feminism, exposes the limits of feminist theologians' work, and highlights the possibilities for connection across generational, disciplinary, and religious divides." - Lynn S. Neal, Associate Professor of Religion, Wake Forest University, USA and author of Romancing God: Evangelical Women and Inspirational Fiction "Reading is vital to the spiritual lives of many women. Llewellyn's absorbing book shows how Christian and post-Christian women 'filter' their sacred texts, mining them for meanings that affirm their identities and relationships. Not just a fascinating study of women's spiritual reading, the book also calls for a conversation across the feminist waves and between secular gender studies and feminist theology." - Kristin Aune, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Trust, Peace & Social Relations, Coventry University, UK and co-author of Reclaiming the F Word: The New Feminist Movement "Llewellyn's creative and inspiring work breaks new ground by focusing upon the everyday reading practices of women and provides unique insights into the processes of personal transformation that have been engendered by literary texts. This book is theoretically astute and offers a sophisticated analysis of the role of literature within changing feminist cultures. It is also engaging, perceptive, insightful, and full of memorable narratives and the kind of attention to contextual detail that brings research to life." - Heather Walton, Senior Lecturer of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Glasgow, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Reading, Feminism, and Spirituality 2. Talking in Waves: A Generational and Secular Metaphor 3. Filtering the Canon 4. Reading for Difference 5. Reading for Community Conclusion: Keep On Troubling the Waves Appendix A: Methodology and Method: Reader-Centered Feminist Research Appendix B: Readers Profiles Appendix C: Groups, Networks, and Organizations

Read more less

Book SynopsisAnalyzing ninety professional women's autobiographies from 1900-1920, the first part of this book concentrates on the endeavours of groups such as headmistresses, doctors, nurses, artists and writers to record their own lives, while the second part examines frontispiece photos, prefatory marginalia and the role of silences in autobiography.Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgements PART I Introduction Headmistresses Doctors Nurses and VADs Artists and Practitioners Writers PART II Frontispiece Photographs Prefaces, Forewards and Introductions Silences Self and Identity Memory and Accuracy Conclusion Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book explores the theoretical concerns of recent literary and cultural studies through a reappraisal of three innovative women writers of the modernist period: Djuna Barnes, Mina Loy and Gertrude Stein. In its provocative combination of cultural methodologies, it significantly expands on existing aesthetic cartographies of modernism.Table of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: Modernist Studies and Cultural Studies Becoming-Modernists: Djuna Barnes, Mina Loy and Gertrude Stein The Great War, Hysterical Men and the Modernist Lyric Dada, Cyborgs and the New Woman in New York Fashions for Genius and the Flâneur: A Guide to Paris Carnival Bodies, the Grotesque and Becoming-Animal Wandering and Wondering: Jewish Identity and Minority Writing Postscript Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAnalyzing novels by women writers from the 1850s to the 1930s, this book argues that representations of mobility offer a fruitful way to explore the location of women within modernity and, specifically, the opportunities for (or limitations on) women's agency in this period, considering the mobility of the female subject in the city and beyond.Trade Review"Mobility and Modernity crackles with new perspectives." - Charlotte MacDonald, Victoria University of WellingtonTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgements Introduction: Modernity, Mobility and Women's Agency Home and Away: North and South and Adam Bede Travelling Companions: Moths and Miss Brown The New Woman's 'Wheels of Daily Existence': The Daughters of Danaus and Red Pottage Street Politics: The Convert and Clash Moving Dangerously: Cold Comfort Farm and To the North Destinations of the Modern Woman Endnotes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis original analysis of correspondence between E.M. Forster and Christopher Isherwood illuminates how these two influential writers grappled with WII, their personal relationships, and their creative works.Table of ContentsThe 1930s The War Years: 1939-1945 The Post-War Years

Read more less

Trade ReviewBesides interrogating the very idea of madness, Blue/Orange explores the connection between ethnicity and perceptions of mental health . . . With a real deftness of touch, the play probes notions of authority. It illuminates the way psychiatry can be strategic - and anatomises the politics of medical care. * Evening Standard *Operating as a play of ideas, it unleashes raw emotion on all sides, exposing layers of male egotism and neurosis * Daily Telegraph *Exuberant . . . Penhall has the gift of making serious points in a comic manner and of conveying moral indignation without preaching . . . Stinging satire * Guardian *Funny and irreverent . . . Penhall's writing is vibrant throughout * Independent on Sunday *

Read more less

Book SynopsisDiletta De Cristofaro is a Teaching Fellow in Contemporary Literature at the University of Birmingham, UK.Trade ReviewAn interesting addition to the landscape of scholarship not only specifically on speculative fiction and post/apocalyptic literature, but more generally on contemporary literature, literary theory, and cultural studies and for sure one fascinating read. * Journal of Ecohumanism *The Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Novel is both interesting and thought-provoking. De Cristofaro’s study creates an impetus to reframe not only critical thinking around post-apocalyptic narratives, but also the practical aspect of creating them. * C21 Literature *A theoretical tour de force. * The Year's Work in English Studies *The treatment of the works in The Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Novel is accessible and lucidly presented. The extensive and effective footnoting offers further avenues for exploration, and the comprehensive explanations of De Cristofaro’s theorization of critical temporalities ethically and accessibly integrates theory across schools and disciplines to produce a rigorously interdisciplinary work. This text may well become required reading for students of contemporary literature—not only sf and speculative theorists. Equally, it may be useful to scholars concerned with how time shapes our present and whether we can act within the confines of narratives of our temporal present and its location in history. * Chelsea Haith, Extrapolation *Set to become a landmark study of 21st century fiction, this wide-ranging, thought-provoking study is an invaluable resource, representing original work of the highest order, from a writer both engagingly readable and critically sophisticated. * Judie Newman, OBE, Professor of American and Canadian Studies, University of Nottingham *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION Apocalypse Now: Critical Temporalities CHAPTER ONE: Biblical Parodies CHAPTER TWO: Apocalypse America CHAPTER THREE: The New Worlds of the Anthropocene CHAPTER FOUR: After the Neoliberal Future CONCLUSION The Post-Apocalyptic Archive BIBLIOGRAPHY

Read more less

Book SynopsisJos Smith is a poet and lecturer in Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia, UK.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Local 2. The Wild 3. Edgelands 4. The Periphery 5. Archipelago 6. Geologies Afterword: Lyric Place Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisClaire O'Callaghan is Associate Lecturer in English at Brunel University London, UK.Trade ReviewO'Callaghan's analysis of both [feminism and queer theory] in Sarah Waters: Gender and Sexual Politics shows that a great deal of careful negotiation is, in fact, required to navigate their often contradictory perspectives ... She unpicks the nuances of each novel with sensitive political and literary insight. * Times Literary Supplement *O’Callaghan successfully maps out manifold feminist and queer theories at play in Waters’s works, and this book’s approach to Waters’s gender and sexual politics from both feminist and queer perspectives will be useful for further research on how lesbianism is expressed in contemporary society. * Contemporary Women’s Writing *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Queer and Feminist Contexts of Sarah Water's Gender and Sexual Politics 1. Female Subjects: Feminists, Queer Theories and the Contemporary 'Woman' Question in Tipping the Velvet 2. A Journal of Two Hearts? Lesbian Identities and Politics in Affinity 3. Beyond the 'Sex Wars': Sex, Pleasure and Pornography in Fingersmith 4. 'Back to Normal': Lost Histories/ Affective Archives - The Night Watch 5. The Little Stranger–A Study of the Heteropatriachal Male and the Dynamics of Masculine Domination 6. 'I'd Had Terrific Plans': The Return of the Gendered and Sexual Oppression in The Paying Guests Afterword: Telling it Straight? Water's Afterlives on Stage and Screen Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisVladislav Zubok is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He has previously taught at Stanford University, University of Michigan, Amherst College, Temple University and Ohio University and has served as a fellow at the National Security Archive, a non-government organization at the University of George Washington. His publications include A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev and Zhivago's Children: The Last Russian Intelligentsia.Table of ContentsPreface. A Russian Fox 1. Vanishing Russia, 1906-1921 2. Patriotism of Pity, 1921-1928 3. Through the Gulag and Great Terror, 1928-41 4. The Great Fatherland War, 1941-1945 5. Patriotism Defiled, 1945-1955 6. Advocate of Cultural Legacy, 1956-1965 7. The Making of a Wise Man, 1966-1976 8. Recognition, 1976-1988 9. Preparing for Collapse, 1988-1991 10. The Smoke of the Homeland, 1991-1999 Conclusion. Death and Beyond

Read more less

Book SynopsisVanessa Joosen is Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, where she specializes in children's literature studies, fairy-tale studies and age studies.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Defining adulthood in children’s books 2. Grown-up children? The adult protagonist in children’s literature 3. Hair, hair, everywhere: The adult body in children’s literature 4. The disdainful adult: Childism in children’s literature 5. From writing block to wonderful friend: The adult writer as character in children’s literature 6. Second childhoods: The elderly adult in children’s literature Bibliography Index

Read more less

Trade ReviewIn this ground-breaking study of the notebooks and manuscripts, Wim Van Mierlo demonstrates how Joyce’s authorship can be understood against the background of the Irish Revival; in the process he sheds new light on the genesis of Joyce’s major works. * Geert Lernout, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Antwerp *Wim Van Mierlo undertakes to combine cultural criticism with genetic criticism, potentially opening new dimensions in the Joycean field. * Daniel Ferrer, Institut des Textes et Manuscrits Modernes, France *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Joyce and Cultural Genetics Chapter one: The Celtic note: Chamber Music Chapter two: Over the dark sea: Exiles Chapter three: The uncreated conscience: A Portrait and Ulysses Chapter four: Concerning the genesis: Finnegans Wake Chapter five: Morphological circumformations: Finnegans Wake

Read more less

Book SynopsisSince the publication of her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson quickly established herself as a powerful and insightful writer on sexuality and gender. However, the profound and persistent religious themes of her work have received much less critical attention. Jeanette Winterson and Religion is the first in-depth study of the ways in which Winterson navigates the sacred and the profane in the full range of her writing, from her first novel to later works such as The PowerBook and The Stone Gods. This book reads the author''s work alongside the theological turn in the thought of such theorists as Alain Badiou, John D. Caputo and Julia Kristeva as well as feminist and queer theologians such as Catherine Keller and Marcella Althaus-Reid. In this way, Jeanette Winterson and Religion reveals how Jeanette Winterson stakes out a unique and intriguing post-secular literary form of the sacred.Trade ReviewMcAvan’s text does not disappoint in the insights it offers. As well as creating a thorough and informative study of Winterson’s major works, McAvan also succeeds in her overall aim – to establish that, with a reappearance of the divine in the secular cultural space of postmodernism, Winterson creates an art of major import through a “return of the sacred in the post-secular world” (170). * Contemporary Women's Writing *Emily McAvan incisively interrogates a theme conspicuous by its absence in most extant criticism of Winterson’s writing: the fierce interplay of religion with sexuality, gender and power. Here queerness and holiness are interwoven as visionary, and Winterson herself is claimed as prophetic. In this expansive book, McAvan highlights Winterson’s generative deconstruction of binaries such as secular and sacred, sameness and otherness, belief and unbelief, and identifies her as a perceptive religious thinker. * Susannah Cornwall, Senior Lecturer in Constructive Theologies, University of Exeter *At long last a powerful study of a queer and feminist writer that brings the body and the spirit together. In this finely written book Em McAvan turns to the postmodern sacred to provide a rigorous theoretical framework for a reading of Jeanette Winterson's novels of lesbian and bisexual love. * Vijay Mishra, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Murdoch University, Australia *Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. ‘I Love Both of Them’: Queer Love and the Religious in Oranges are not the Only Fruit 3. ‘Colours and Folly’: Retelling the Noah Story in Boating For Beginners 4. The Love Event in The Passion 5. Sexing the Cherry and the Monstrous Maternal 6. Written on the Body and the Negative Theology Tradition 7. Art & Lies: Literature in a Neoliberal Age 8. Gut Symmetries, New Physics and Kabbalah 9. The PowerBook and Virtual Culture 10.Lighthousekeeping and the Religious Vocation 11.The Stone Gods’ Climate Change Apocalypse 12. Conclusion

Read more less

Trade ReviewA book that focusses on the precarity of grief work in the lives of marginalised peoples. Read this to learn about the elegiac work of women of colour, trans* writers, and Two-Spirit writers. * Susan Rudy, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Queen Mary University of London, UK *Table of ContentsIntroduction—Elegy: Binaries and Hierarchies Chapter 1: Intellectual Feats and Ornate Absences: Receptions and Response to Elegies by Black American Women Poets Chapter 2: ‘White Ways are the Way of Death’: Elegies for Racial Injustice Chapter 3: Abstracted Grief, Precarious Grief: Rethinking Elegy via Trans* and Two-Spirit Necropoetics Coda: Where do we Go From Here Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisCelebrated as a poet, novelist and non-fiction writer, and the winner of numerous major literary prizes including the Whitbread Poetry Prize, the T.S. Eliot Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, John Burnside is one of Britain's leading contemporary writers. John Burnside: Contemporary Critical Perspectives brings together leading scholars of contemporary literature to guide readers through the full range of the author''s writings, from his fiction and poetry to his autobiographical and nature writing, exploring texts such as The Dumb House, The Light Trap, A Lie about My Father, Glister and Black Cat Bone. The book examines the major themes of Burnside''s work, including the environment and the natural world, hauntings and dwelling, and his intertextual engagement with philosophy, music and the visual arts. Featuring a timeline of Burnside's life, an interview with the writer himself and a detailed list of further reading, this is the firstTrade ReviewThis is a rich and insightful collection. Drawing on a wide variety of Burnside’s texts, and exploring themes ranging from masculinity to spirituality, and animals to ghosts, the contributors offer the most comprehensive account of Burnside’s writing to date. The volume will expand readers’ understanding of the diversity of Burnside’s work, and cements his importance within the contemporary literary canon. * Dr Timothy C. Baker, Senior Lecturer in Scottish and Contemporary Literature, University of Aberdeen *This first book-length academic survey of John Burnside’s work brings home just how hard it is to think of another living writer whose distinctive style extends so impressively across poetry, memoir, and fiction. Often drawing on currents of thought with which Burnside is in sympathy (particularly the work of Heidegger), the expert contributors identify, analyse, and explore tropes and preoccupations that permeate his oeuvre. Special attention is paid to Burnside’s deep ecological commitment, and to his often disturbing intermingling of haunted lyricism with irrationality, violence, and a frequently frustrated search for healing. * Robert Crawford, Professor of Modern Scottish Literature and Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Poetry, University of St Andrews, UK *John Burnside: Contemporary Critical Perspectives provides a long overdue exploration of John Burnside’s works. Though Burnside has received relatively little critical attention to date, he is one of the most important contemporary Scottish writers, with a prolific output spanning across genres. The essays collected here engage with all the major strands of Burnside’s works, including his interest in the metaphysical, spiritual and supernatural, as well as issues of masculinity, gender and class. The volume’s admirable breadth does justice to the expansiveness of Burnside’s oeuvre, from his poems and novels, to his autobiographical and non-fiction writings. * Astrid Bracke, Lecturer in British literature, HAN University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands *Table of ContentsSeries Editors’ Preface Foreword: Nicholas Royle Acknowledgements Contributors Chronology of John Burnside’s Life INTRODUCTION By Way of an Introduction: John Burnside, Writer Ben Davies (University of Portsmouth) CHAPTER ONE John Burnside’s Metaphysical World: From The Dumb House to A Summer of Drowning Peter Childs (Newman University, Birmingham) CHAPTER TWO John Burnside’s Numinous Poetry Jan Wilm (Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, Essen, Germany) CHAPTER THREE ‘A temporary, sometimes fleeting thing’: Home in John Burnside’s Poetry Monika Szuba (Gdansk University, Poland) CHAPTER FOUR Violent Dwellings and Vulnerable Creatures in Burning Elvis and Something Like Happy Alexandra Campbell (University of Edinburgh) CHAPTER FIVE ‘This learned set of limits and blames’: Masculinity, Law and Prohibition in the Work of John Burnside Ruth Cain (University of Kent) CHAPTER SIX Consequences of Pastoral: The Dialectic of History and Ecology in The Light Trap Tom Bristow (University of Durham) CHAPTER SEVEN Walking the Tightrope: Félix Guattari’s Three Ecologies and John Burnside’s Glister Phil Pass (Independent Scholar) CHAPTER EIGHT ‘A Kindred Shape’: Hauntings, Spectres and the Poetics of Return in John Burnside’s Verse David Borthwick (University of Glasgow) CHAPTER NINE ‘It was suddenly hard winter’: John Burnside’s Crossings Julian Wolfreys (University of Portsmouth) INTERVIEW The Space at the back of the Mind: An Interview with John Burnside Ben Davies (University of Portsmouth) Notes Further Reading Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisCaroline Knighton is an Independent Scholar and writer based in London. She formerly taught and convened courses at Birkbeck, University of London, UK.Table of ContentsSeries Editor Preface List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations INTRODUCTION: Textual Mess and Modernism’s Gendered Wastes i. Modernism and Barnesean Waste ii. What is Waste? Cities, Bodies, Texts CHAPTER ONE: Stunning Subjects and Disruptive Body Practices i. Marginality and Modernity: Critical Histories of Exclusion and the Case of Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven ii. Gods, Mutts and Readymades: ‘America’s Comfort - Sanitation!’ iii. Calculated Containment: New Women and New York Dada’s Mecanamorphic Portaits iv. Not Me, Not That: Baroness Elsa and the Grotesque Protrusions of Modernism’s Marginalia CHAPTER TWO: Art Dazzle: Modelling, Performance and the Baroness’s Self-Representational Practices i. Self-Representational Practices, Collage and the Baroness’s Dada Portraits ii. Making Mischief, or Looking Through a Glass Dynamically iii. Chimera in the Croquis Class: Spectacle, Performance and the Baroness’s Body-Work iv. Übermarionettes and Living Statues CHAPTER THREE: ‘Not Dead’: Djuna Barnes’s Mature Auto/biographic Poetics i. ‘This Generation’s Vulgarity’: Djuna Barnes and the Biographic Impulse ii. Textual Waste and the Structural Patterns of Djuna Barnes’s Re-Made Modernism iii. Circulation in the Theme: Repetition, Refrain and Variation Across the Patchin Place Cycles iv. CHAPTER FOUR: Troubling Structures: Inner Time and the ‘Baroness Elsa’ Manuscript i. The Baroness’s Interruptive Poetics ii. Cutting, Stitching, Weaving: Ida-Marie’s ‘strange handiwork’ iii. Alexis Carrel and Nightwood’s Troubling Structures iv. Denying the Called Response: Mothers, Daughters and The Antiphon CONCLUSION: Modernism Recovered BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn exploration of how espionage narratives give access to cultural conceptions of gender and sexuality before and following the Second World War, this book moves away from masculinist assumptions of the genre to offer an integrative survey of the sexualities on display from important characters across spy fiction. Topics covered include how authors mocked the traditional spy genre; James Bond as a symbol of pervasive British Superiority still anxious about masculinity; how older female spies act as queer figures that disturb the masculine mythology of the secret agent; and how the clandestine lives of agents described ways to encode queer communities under threat from fascism. Covering texts such as the Bond novels, John Le Carré's oeuvre (and their notable adaptations) and works by Helen MacInnes, Christopher Isherwood and Mick Herron, Sexuality and Gender in Fictions of Espionage takes stock of spy fiction written by women, female protagonists written by men, and probes the represent

Read more less