Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 Books

Book SynopsisMichel Benamou's essays have established his reputation as a critical interpreter of Stevens' relation to the French poetic tradition. Mr. Benamou has now collected these essays in one volume, revising and expanding them, and has added a general introduction. He discusses, in turn, Stevens' affinities with and differences from Baudelaire, Laforgue,Table of Contents*Frontmatter, pg. i*Acknowledgments, pg. v*Contents, pg. vii*Abbreviations, pg. ix*Introduction, pg. xi*1. Poetry and Painting, pg. 1*2. Jules Laforgue, pg. 25*3. Baudelaire and Mallarme, pg. 45*4. Apollinaire, pg. 87*5. Poetry and Alchemy, pg. 109*Appendix, pg. 141*Index of Names, pg. 149*Index of Poems, pg. 152

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Book SynopsisThis guide to Oz, the land over the rainbow, seeks to establish Baum's importance to the history of American children's literature and to the fantasy and folklore tradition. It places Baum's Oz books into an account of his entire career.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review'Les vies de Voltaire is an eloquent testimony to the vitality of Voltaire studies today, especially in Europe. It is a stimulating, well-written volume, full of interesting facts and fascinating methodological innovations. It is, in short, a must for Voltaire scholars and for students of the French Enlightenment.'French ReviewTable of ContentsListe des tables et figuresRemerciementsDédicaceListe des abréviationsChristophe Cave, IntroductionI. ProblématiquesJean Sgard, Poétique des vies particulièresDaniel Roche,Voltaire, du voyage à la philosophieII. ‘Biographèmes’Anne-Marie Mercier-Faivre, Récits d’enfance: le petit Arouet dans l’ombre du grand VoltaireHenri Duranton, Voltaire bastonné: ni Arouet ni Figaro, les avatars d’une ténébreuse affaireChristophe Cave, Lettre et biographie: Voltaire ‘peint par lui-même’Muriel Cattoor, Virevoltant Voltaire: images et statues de VoltaireIII. AutobiographiesSimon Davies, Réflexions sur l’Histoire de Charles XII: biographie et autobiographieJean Goldzink, La comédie des mémoires: du comique en autobiographieChristiane Mervaud, Des Mémoires pour servir à la vie de M. de Voltaire aux ‘Vies’ de Voltaire: l’avanie de FrancfortNicholas Cronk, (Ré)écrire les années de Cirey, ou du bon usage des Anecdotes de LongchampDinah Ribard, Secrétaire, témoin, auteur: les ‘vies’ de Voltaire par ses secrétairesIV. Biographies1. Du vivant de l’auteurGraham Gargett, Oliver Goldsmith et ses Mémoires de M. de VoltaireOlivier Ferret, Ecrire une ‘vie polémique’ de Voltaire: les biographies de Sabatier de CastresAnne-Sophie Barrovecchio, Tester ou témoigner? Le discours biographique de l’avocat Marchand sur Voltaire: deux destins pour une seule vie2. ElogesOtto H. Selles, Voltaire, ‘apôtre de la tolérance’: les Eloges de Palissot et La Harpe (1778-1780)Rémy Landy, La Harpe à propos de Voltaire: un biographe intermittentHuguette Krief, Triomphe et apothéose de Voltaire: les enjeux d’une critique biographique pendant la RévolutionYves Citton, La propagande du dernier souffle: reconversion du topos de la mort de l’athée dans Voltaire triomphantd’Anacharsis Cloots3. Les grandes biographiesDidier Masseau, L’Histoire littéraire de M. de Voltaire du marquis de Luchet: mise en scène et enjeux d’un discours biographique et critiqueCharles Coutel, La Vie de Voltaire de CondorcetRaymond Trousson, Edouard-Marie Lepan: un biographe de Voltaire en 1817Jean-Noël Pascal, Deux portraits de Voltaire en antéchrist au temps de la Restauration: note sur Mazure (1821) et Lepan (1823)Valérie André, Eugène de Mirecourt: ‘biographe’ de VoltaireV. Vies de Voltaire au vingtième siècleHaydn Mason, Nancy Mitford, Voltaire in love: une vraie biographie? J. Patrick Lee, Voltaire dans les dialogues des morts et conversations imaginaires en langue anglaise au vingtième siècleBéatrice Bomel-Rainelli, Le rire du roi Voltaire: 160 ans de biographies scolairesDenis Reynaud, Voltaire au cinémaHervé Loichemol, Porter la vie (de Voltaire) au théâtreRésumésBibliographieIndex des noms cités

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Book SynopsisA critical account of George Orwell's politics, exploring his anti-fascism, criticism of the USSR and enduring commitment to socialismTrade Review'George Orwell remains one of the most influential thinkers in the world today. Here, John Newsinger, in his insightful, lucid, engaging and original examination of the evolution of Orwell's politics, shows precisely why' -- Richard Lance Keeble, Professor of Journalism, Lincoln University, and Chair of the Orwell Society'This book confirms John Newsinger's status as one of our leading Orwell scholars. Clear, wide-ranging and bracingly polemical, it casts new light on the way that Orwell's response to the events of his time was shaped by his idiosyncratic brand of radical socialism.' -- Philip Bounds, author of Orwell and Marxism: The Political and Cultural Thinking of George Orwell (2009)Table of ContentsAbbreviations Introduction: Discovering Orwell 1. ‘Until They Become Conscious They Will Never Rebel’: Orwell and the Working Class 2. ‘Why I Join the ILP’: Orwell and the Left in the Thirties 3. ‘Giants are Vermin’: Orwell, Fascism and the Holocaust 4. ‘A Long Series of Thermidors’: Orwell, Pacifism and the Myth of the People's War 5. ‘It is Astonishing How Little Change has Happened’: Orwell, the Labour Party and the Attlee Government 6. 'Ceaseless Espionage’: Orwell and the Secret States 7.‘2+2=5’: Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four and the New Left Conclusion: ‘Capitalism Has Manifestly No Future’ - Orwell Today Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA critical account of George Orwell's politics, exploring his anti-fascism, criticism of the USSR and enduring commitment to socialismTrade Review'George Orwell remains one of the most influential thinkers in the world today. Here, John Newsinger, in his insightful, lucid, engaging and original examination of the evolution of Orwell's politics, shows precisely why' -- Richard Lance Keeble, Professor of Journalism, Lincoln University, and Chair of the Orwell Society'This book confirms John Newsinger's status as one of our leading Orwell scholars. Clear, wide-ranging and bracingly polemical, it casts new light on the way that Orwell's response to the events of his time was shaped by his idiosyncratic brand of radical socialism.' -- Philip Bounds, author of Orwell and Marxism: The Political and Cultural Thinking of George Orwell (2009)Table of ContentsAbbreviations Introduction: Discovering Orwell 1. ‘Until They Become Conscious They Will Never Rebel’: Orwell and the Working Class 2. ‘Why I Join the ILP’: Orwell and the Left in the Thirties 3. ‘Giants are Vermin’: Orwell, Fascism and the Holocaust 4. ‘A Long Series of Thermidors’: Orwell, Pacifism and the Myth of the People's War 5. ‘It is Astonishing How Little Change has Happened’: Orwell, the Labour Party and the Attlee Government 6. 'Ceaseless Espionage’: Orwell and the Secret States 7.‘2+2=5’: Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four and the New Left Conclusion: ‘Capitalism Has Manifestly No Future’ - Orwell Today Notes Index

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Book Synopsisaeo This is a very accessible introduction to one of the key figures in contemporary feminist thought. aeo The approach to Simone de Beauvoir is distinctive because it examines her work as a philosopher -- this book is the first full--length assessment of Simone de Beauvoira s philosophy.Trade Review"This book is a clearly-written and tightly-organized addition to the growing scholarly interest in Simone de Beauvoir's philosophy. Kate and Edward Fullbrook provide an overview of Beauvoir's philosophical sources and an outline of her original starting point in ethics. Highlighting Beauvoir's emphasis on embodiment and intersubjectivity, they argue strongly for Beauvoir's place in current, popular ethical discussions." Eleanore Holveck, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh "This is certainly a book that needed to be written and the authors make an excellent job of it. The book can be highly recommended." Dr Elizabeth Fallaize, St. John's College, Oxford "A good working introduction to de Beauvoir's thought." Times Literary Supplement "A concise and unified picture of Beauvoir as philosopher." Women's Philosophy ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction. 1. The Education of a Philosopher. 2. Writing for her Life. 3. Literature and Philosophy. 4. Narrative Selves. 5. Embodiment and Intersubjectivity. 6. The Ethics of Liberation. 7. Applied Ethics I: The Second Sex. 8. Applied Ethics II: Les Belles Images, The Woman Destroyed, and Old Age. Notes. Glossary. The Works of Simone de Beauvoir. Index.

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Book SynopsisThrough analysis of both major Irish dramas and the artists and companies that performed them, Modern Irish Theatre provides an engaging and accessible introduction to 20th century Irish theatre: its origins, dominant themes, relationship to politics and culture, and influence on theatre movements around the world.Trade Review"Trotter is able to conjure up an Irish theatre throughout the twentieth century that experienced moments every bit as laden with a sense of epochal transition of the present. Modern Irish Theatre is generous and thorough in its engagement with recent scholarship, provides succinct readings of key plays, and shows an eye for the detail or anecdote that will push the historical narrative forward." Times Literary Supplement "Mary Trotter's Modern Irish Theatre will find a permanent residence on the reading lists for every course I teach on modern and contemporary drama. Her expertise is vast and deep, and this book makes a fine, unique contribution to our knowledge of the 'infinite variety' of Irish drama." Stephen Watt, Indiana University "Through a set of superbly constructed phases Mary Trotter situates twentieth-century Irish theatre in its evolving socio-political contexts. She covers theatrical activities from Belfast to Cork and from Dublin to Galway, analysing along the way a vast array of texts and performances from the high modernism of the early Abbey through to the community theatre of Charabanc. In a highly accessible style she articulates superbly how Irish theatre has performed the nation, how its use of realism can be read as counter-hegemonic, and how representations of gender and race have disrupted the myth of the rural in the theatrical imaginary." Brian Singleton, Trinity College, DublinTable of ContentsAcknowledgements. Timeline of Significant Events in Irish Arts and Politics. Introduction. Part I: Performing the Nation, 1891-1916. Introduction to Part I. 1 Imagining an Aesthetic: Modern Irish Theatre's First Years. 2 Realisms and Regionalisms. Part II: War and After, 1916-1948. Introduction to Part II. 3. The Abbey Becomes Institution, 1916-1929. 4. New Voices of the 1930s and 1940s. Part III: Rewriting Tradition, 1948-1980. Introduction to Part III. 5. Irish Theatre in the 1950s. 6. Irish Theatre's Second Wave. Part IV: Re-imagining Ireland, 1980-2007. Introduction to Part IV. 7. Theatres Without Borders: Irish Theatre in the 1980s. 8. A New Sense of Place: Irish Theatre since the 1990s. Conclusion: What is an Irish Play?. Notes. Bibliography

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Book SynopsisA major new book by one of the leading feminist writers in France today. Cixous explores the themes of love, memory, language and loss. This is a work of literary fiction and at the same time a philosophical work: like Sartre, Camus and other great writers, Cixous blends together fiction and philosophy.Trade Review"A rarefied examination of love, passion and the intermittences of the heart, beautifully translated by Peggy Kamuf." Times Literary Supplement "Hélène Cixous is today the greatest writer in what I shall call, if I may, my language, French. And I weigh my words in saying this. For a very great writer must be a poet-thinker, very much a poet and a very thinking poet." Jacques Derrida "A profoundly intense, individual and brilliant piece of work." David Marx Book ReviewsTable of ContentsI Olivier de Serres—A Single Passion, Two WitnessesII The Cauliflower of the LautaretIII The First LucidityIV One Time, Avenue de Choisy, Echo, My LoveV First LettersVI Faithfully ForeverVII When I Become a Frenetic KeeperIX On February 12th I Committed an Error

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Book SynopsisLove's memories, love recalling itself in letters lost and found over an interval of forty years: Cixous's writer-narrator advances here far into a labyrinth of passions long ago delivered and yet still arriving through the mail, through letters and literature, in other words, the poetry of the post. As for the lovers' returning scenes, they have their addresses in Paris (rue Olivier de Serres, Avenue de Choisy, street names that endlessly feed love's unconscious language) and in New York, but also in a lost oasis of the Egyptian desert during the Napoleonic wars, in Athens and along the shores of a great lake centuries ago in the country of myth. The lovers are poets or soldiers, philosophers or students madly in love with poetry and poets. They are as well mermaids or panthers. Panthers? Yes, for it is the passion of the animal that drives all these lovers to bare themselves, and sometimes their claws, before the beloved. Misunderstandings are often, even inevitably the result. SeconTrade Review"A rarefied examination of love, passion and the intermittences of the heart, beautifully translated by Peggy Kamuf." Times Literary Supplement "Hélène Cixous is today the greatest writer in what I shall call, if I may, my language, French. And I weigh my words in saying this. For a very great writer must be a poet-thinker, very much a poet and a very thinking poet." Jacques Derrida "A profoundly intense, individual and brilliant piece of work." David Marx Book ReviewsTable of ContentsI Olivier de Serres—A Single Passion, Two WitnessesII The Cauliflower of the LautaretIII The First LucidityIV One Time, Avenue de Choisy, Echo, My LoveV First LettersVI Faithfully ForeverVII When I Become a Frenetic KeeperIX On February 12th I Committed an Error

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Book SynopsisIsn''t it particularly difficult to ''speak'' of your work? Frédéric-Yves Jeannet asks Hélène Cixous in this fascinating book of interviews. [I]t''s only in writing, on paper, that I reach the most unknown, the strangest, the most advanced part of me for me. I feel closer to my own mystery in the aura of writing it, Cixous responds. These conversations, which took place over three years and cover the creative process behind Cixous's fictional writing, illuminate the genesis and particular genius of one of France's most original writers. Cixous muses on her coming to writing, from her first publications to her recent acclaim for a series of fictional texts that spring, as, she insists all true writing does, from her life: the loss of her father when she was a child, and her relationship with her mother, now in her tenth decade, as well as with such friends as Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan. The conversations delve into Cixous's career as an academic in Paris and abroad, her sumTrade Review“This wonderfully sympathetic conversation about writing is like a magic animal in a fairytale. Follow, and it will take you through the diverse joys, dangers, surprises and landscapes of Cixous's writing life, towards the intransigent questions that animate everybody who lives.” Sarah Wood, The University of Kent “These interviews, which take Cixous back over her writing history, are fascinating encounters as much between the author and her (past) self as with Frédéric-Yves Jeannet. Encounters is essential reading for anyone interested in Cixous.” Mairéad Hanrahan, University College LondonTable of ContentsGodAnd the WhaleAlready everything was thereDwellingWithSpew into the seaOff age's shorePeruviaOf maps & of printsLazarusExpireWrite in TonguesFaustesClearseeUnfinish the Story & HistoryJust before the paperThe forgetreadOther addressesThe fear of namesDragonfliesSlight uneasiness the masculinePreteritionsBut the Earth goes round, not too badlyOur centuriesThe ShelvesWallsThe body writesMeasuresTempoThe grace the gallopingGod's Returns

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Book SynopsisIsn''t it particularly difficult to ''speak'' of your work? Frédéric-Yves Jeannet asks Hélène Cixous in this fascinating book of interviews. [I]t''s only in writing, on paper, that I reach the most unknown, the strangest, the most advanced part of me for me. I feel closer to my own mystery in the aura of writing it, Cixous responds. These conversations, which took place over three years and cover the creative process behind Cixous's fictional writing, illuminate the genesis and particular genius of one of France's most original writers. Cixous muses on her coming to writing, from her first publications to her recent acclaim for a series of fictional texts that spring, as, she insists all true writing does, from her life: the loss of her father when she was a child, and her relationship with her mother, now in her tenth decade, as well as with such friends as Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan. The conversations delve into Cixous's career as an academic in Paris and abroad, her sumTrade Review“This wonderfully sympathetic conversation about writing is like a magic animal in a fairytale. Follow, and it will take you through the diverse joys, dangers, surprises and landscapes of Cixous's writing life, towards the intransigent questions that animate everybody who lives.” Sarah Wood, The University of Kent “These interviews, which take Cixous back over her writing history, are fascinating encounters as much between the author and her (past) self as with Frédéric-Yves Jeannet. Encounters is essential reading for anyone interested in Cixous.” Mairéad Hanrahan, University College LondonTable of ContentsGodAnd the WhaleAlready everything was thereDwellingWithSpew into the seaOff age's shorePeruviaOf maps & of printsLazarusExpireWrite in TonguesFaustesClearseeUnfinish the Story & HistoryJust before the paperThe forgetreadOther addressesThe fear of namesDragonfliesSlight uneasiness the masculinePreteritionsBut the Earth goes round, not too badlyOur centuriesThe ShelvesWallsThe body writesMeasuresTempoThe grace the gallopingGod's Returns

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Book SynopsisTwists and Turns is a tale on the scale of Greek myth, about the inescapable entanglements of family relationships, that can lead one, in hyperbolic mode, to envision murder and suicide, for, as Cixous writes, with love's force one hates. And yet, everything twists and turns: this is a tale with profoundly touching reversals.Trade Review"Highly recommended."ChoiceTable of ContentsAuthor’s Foreword Part One O. Announces the Murder Portico The Other Cold The Family Is Destroying Itself Same Song Different Play Xou, the Author My Right Arm Hurts Part Two We’ll Not Go Part Three Peace! Twists and Turns

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Book SynopsisTwists and Turns is a tale on the scale of Greek myth, about the inescapable entanglements of family relationships, that can lead one, in hyperbolic mode, to envision murder and suicide, for, as Cixous writes, with love's force one hates. And yet, everything twists and turns: this is a tale with profoundly touching reversals.Trade Review"Highly recommended."ChoiceTable of ContentsAuthor’s Foreword Part One O. Announces the Murder Portico The Other Cold The Family Is Destroying Itself Same Song Different Play Xou, the Author My Right Arm Hurts Part Two We’ll Not Go Part Three Peace! Twists and Turns

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Book SynopsisI lived the same life as everyone else, the life of ordinary people, the masses. Sitting in a prison cell in the autumn of 1944, the German author Hans Fallada sums up his life under the National Socialist dictatorship, the time of inward emigration .Trade Review"This is certainly a revelatory book. As its author intended, it reveals much about the pernicious nature of Nazi rule during the Third Reich; the compromises demanded, the tribulations endured, the lives ruined. At one point Fallada laments: “Oh, how they bled us dry! How they robbed us of every joy and happiness, every smile, every friendship! Yet it also reveals something that its author did not intend, and that is Fallada’s own deeply flawed character." The Financial Times "An outspoken memoir of life under the Nazis written from a prison cell... a fascinating document" The Independent "Exquisite and troubling... one of the most powerful accounts of life in the Third Reich." The Economist "This is a remarkable book" The Scotsman ""Colourful and anecdotal reflections of life under Hitler. Fallada's diary turns out to be not a record of quotidian events inside but reminiscences of scrapes, challenges and day-to-day reality outside, from the advent of Nazi misrule to the final stages of the war."The Sunday Herald"Fallada, one of Germany's most well-regarded writers of the 20th century, tells the tale of a writer and his friends, and how the swell of Nazism means there's always a listening ear outside the door - except this time he's telling his own story" South China Morning Post "His prison diary is a heartfelt diatribe against the nazis, revealing a highly compromised man riddled with contradictions and ambiguity. In reading it, the high price Fallada paid for living out the war in his homeland is all too clear." Morning Star "A rare account of living close to an edge that you can’t quite locate in the darkness.""A rare account of living close to an edge that you can’t quite locate in the darkness." Tribune "Vivid" Sydney Morning Herald“Fallada’s strength as a diarist is to convert his unsteady, sometimes ethically questionable existence into disciplined, objective narrative. His life and writings reflect the endless need to challenge authoritarianism in both family and society.”The Tablet "This long-awaited publication will... greatly increase our knowledge of an author whose reputation has never been completely eclipsed in Germany, and who is now being rediscovered in Britain, the USA, France, and Italy. All these countries have recently published his last, posthumously published novel [Alone in Berlin], thus demonstrating his rare ability to attract the common and the literary reader alike." Modern Language Review "Recording his experiences of Nazi Germany while confined in an asylum in 1944, Hans Fallada wrote in real life what Günter Grass later wrote in fiction. An intriguing literary testament, expertly edited by two leading Fallada scholars, and skilfully translated by Allan Blunden." Geoff Wilkes, The University of QueenslandTable of ContentsIntroduction vi The 1944 Prison Diary 1 A despatch from the house of the dead. Afterword 219 The genesis of the Prison Diary manuscript 233 Chronology 236 Notes 239 Index 268

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Book SynopsisProfessor Watts’s study examines the main phase in Joseph Conrad’s literary development.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores how J.R.R Tolkien's work came to be so diversely received.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores Sir Angus Wilson's many faces as a writer and investigates the ways in which his literature depicts people who undergo a crisis and/or collapse of self-belief, and then have to find the courage to invent themselves anew.

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Book SynopsisExamining the whole range of J.G. Ballard’s writings, from the early science fiction stories to Cocaine Nights (1996), Delville’s study offers a critical and theoretically informed analysis of his achievements as a novelist and a commentator on contemporary culture.

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Book SynopsisThis study researches Paul Scott's engagement with post-modernism and humanity's capacity for moral integrity and love, even in the face of extraordinary challenges.

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Book SynopsisThis study casts back over Achebe’s writing career to assess his considerable contribution to postcolonial writing and criticism, including his Editorship of Heinemann’s acclaimed African Writers Series which has shaped African literature for international audiences since 1962.

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Book SynopsisThis book offers a critical examination of Harold Pinter's dramatic writing over four decades, from The Room (1957) to Celebration (2000), emphasising the worth of the plays as pieces written for performance, investigating their status as dramatic (as opposed to literary) texts.

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Book SynopsisA critical analysis of foremost Indian novelist Shashi Deshpande.

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Book SynopsisA fresh account of the development and achievement of the novelist and essayist who became Britain's greatest political writer of modern times.

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Book SynopsisThis introduction to the whole range of James Kelman's works, from the early short stories through the plays and essays to the Booker Prize winning novel How Late it Was, How Late and the latest experimental fiction, examines the embattled Kelman’s literary politics.

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Book SynopsisThis book draws together the different aspects of Margaret Drabble's narrative practice, and looks at the increasing flexibility of her narrative methods, both in terms of the kind of narrator used and in the structuring of plot events.

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Book SynopsisWilliam Stephenson's 2003 critical study explores the hitherto overlooked role of ethnicity in John Fowles's novels, and his idiosyncratic treatment of the past in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) and A Maggot (1985).

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Book SynopsisThis first ever full-length study of Ben Okri's life and work is based on twenty years of friendship and close attention to his texts.

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Book SynopsisThis study offers a close reading of each of Swift's novels, exploring the innovative formal strategies and identifying such recurrent themes as the presence of the past in the present, the blurring of distinctions between ‘history’ and ‘story’, fact and fiction, and the possibilities of redemption in a contemporary social and emotional wasteland.

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Book SynopsisThis new study assesses the whole span of O'Brien's achievement, including his early forays into public satire and his fabrication of authorial identities.

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Book SynopsisWilliam Stephenson's 2003 critical study explores the hitherto overlooked role of ethnicity in John Fowles's novels, and his idiosyncratic treatment of the past in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) and A Maggot (1985).

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Book SynopsisThis book draws together the different aspects of Margaret Drabble's narrative practice, and looks at the increasing flexibility of her narrative methods, both in terms of the kind of narrator used and in the structuring of plot events.

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Book SynopsisThis introduction to the whole range of James Kelman's works, from the early short stories through the plays and essays to the Booker Prize winning novel How Late it Was, How Late and the latest experimental fiction, examines the embattled Kelman’s literary politics.

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Book SynopsisThis study offers a close reading of each of Swift's novels, exploring the innovative formal strategies and identifying such recurrent themes as the presence of the past in the present, the blurring of distinctions between ‘history’ and ‘story’, fact and fiction, and the possibilities of redemption in a contemporary social and emotional wasteland.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first full-length study of Marina Warner's work.

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Book SynopsisIn this illuminating and lucid study, Deborah Parsons examines the range of Djuna Barnes’s oeuvre; her early journalism, short stories and one act dramas, poetry, the family chronicle Ryder, the Ladies Almanack, and her late play The Antiphon, as well as her modernist classic Nightwood.

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Book SynopsisA critical analysis of foremost Indian novelist Shashi Deshpande.

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Book SynopsisLerner’s study relates poetry to Larkin’s life, and to the literary and social environment of post-war Britain; discusses the Larkin persona, and Larkin’s relation to literary criticism; and above all seeks to guide readers to a full appreciation of the power and subtlety of Larkin’s best poems.

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Book SynopsisThis is a comprehensive study, questioning Lord of the Flies' status as Golding's most popular and important work and giving prominence to The Inheritors, Pincher Martin, The Spire and The Sea Trilogy.

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Book SynopsisLorna Sage’s authoritative study explores the roots of Carter’s originality, covering all of her novels as well as some short stories and non-fiction.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a critical survey and evaluation of Martin Amis' major works, identifying his commitment to stylistic expression and experiment alongside the ways in which his novels have engaged with social, cultural and political issues.Table of ContentsContents: 1. Amis and Father: The Rachel Papers and Experience. 2. Comedy Acts: Dead Babies and Success. 3. Metafictional Mysteries: Other People and Money. 4. Millennial Fictions: London Fields and Time's Arrow. 5. Midlife Crises: The Information and Night Train. 6. The Wild Dogs: Yellow Dogs and House of Meetings. 7. Cast of Crooks: The Pregnant Widow and Lionel Asbo.

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Book SynopsisThis study provides an accessible introduction to the whole range of Iris Murdoch’s fiction, exploring philosophical, theological, political, social and biographical influences and her experimentations with the novel form.Trade Review'This new overview of Murdoch's life, coming as it does in her centenary year, brings together fresh materials on her life and work and will be a central resource for students, teachers, academics and the general reader. Rowe builds on her vast knowledge of Murdoch – and her earlier published work – to bring out the fullest examination of Murdoch's life and work to date. This is a book by an academic at the height of her powers'.Dr Miles Leeson, Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre, University of Chichester‘The leading Murdoch scholar Anne Rowe, in an effective new critical study, emphasises the relevance to Murdoch’s future reputation of society’s increasing openness to “more complex variations in sexual and psychological make-up”. The old myth that Murdoch only writes about leisured middle-class heterosexuals who live in big houses has in turn bred the more recent myth that nobody could possibly bother reading her nowadays...’ Leo Robson, The New StatesmanTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 Iris Murdoch: A Writing Life 2 Writing the Novel of Ideas: The Philosopher and Public Intellectual3 Writing Sacraments: The Holy Atheist4 Writing A New Vocabulary of Experience5 Writing the Landscape: The Island of Spells and the Sacred CityAfterword

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Book SynopsisThis study analyses Bainbridge’s work in relation to some of the pressing debates in post-war literary studies.

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Book SynopsisThis concise and accessible book offers both perceptive critical insights and a valuable up-to-date bibliography of Doris Lessing's work.

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Book SynopsisThis book looks in detail at several of the most notable English-language poets of the Second World War, and also provides an overview of the other remarkable poetry about it, helping readers to evaluate the true significance of the Second World War on English-language poetry.Table of ContentsContents : Biographical Outline. 1. Introduction. 2. Keith Douglas. 3. Alun Lewis. 4. Randall Jarrell. 5. Charles Causley. 6. Louis Simpson. 7. Naming of the Parts : Some Other Poets of the Second World War. Select Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the range of Ayckbourn's work, covering light comedy, farce, theatrical cartoon, musicals and plays for children. It defines the early influences and the developing themes, concentrating on the playwright's technical skills and his challenges to Aristotelian unities.

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Book SynopsisAn indispensable study of one of the greatest, and most paradoxical writers of twentieth-century Russia.Trade Review"This is a really interesting book. An important and distinctive addition to Grossman studies in English, it addresses fascinating themes surrounding human freedom that pertain to the writer's life, political thought, literary technique, and philosophy." Philip Boobbyer, University of Kent

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Book SynopsisRevealing the truth behind the legend of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged, Nathaniel Branden tells the story of his relationship with the literary genius, 25 years his senior. It lasted 18 years and went from student/teacher, to friends, to colleagues, to lovers, and to bitter adversaries.Trade Review"Dr. Branden's account of his complex relationship with theliterary great . . . allows us a fascinating glimpse into thepassions of their lives--intellectual and personal. . . . [It is]not only a memoir of a mythic woman . . . but a chronicle of astirring intellectual commitment to a political morality thatindivudally could only fail." (NAPRA ReView) "What a story! It's heroic, romantic, deadly, horrifying,tender-and I couldn't put it down." (George Leonard, author of TheTransformation and Education and Education and Ecstasy) "Relentlessly revealing. . . the myth of Ayn Rand gives way to afull-sized portrait in contrasting colors, appealing and appalling,potent and paradoxical. . . . it takes a special kind of nerve towrite such a book." (Norman Cousins, author of Head First and TheHealing Heart) "Non-stop theater. All the ingredients are there: conflict,colorful characters, suspense, and a Greek inevitability of tragedyborn of hubris. There's a nexus of sex nearly dizzying in itspermutations." (Dale Wasserman, playwright and screenwriter, Man ofLa Mancha and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) "Branden plots his relationship with Rand from a psychologicalvantage point, with devastatingly articulate results. . . . Afascinating portrait of Rand and her disciples." (KirkusReviews) "Do you know my greatest reward for 'The Fountainhead?' You." (AynRand to Nathaniel Branden)Table of ContentsAuthor's Note Dedication Introduction Part One Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Part Two Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 13 Part Three Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Epilogue The Author Index

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Book SynopsisPublished in the early 1950s, C. S. Lewis''s seven Chronicles of Narnia were proclaimed instant children''s classics and have been hailed in The Oxford Companion to Children''s Literature as the most sustained achievement in fantasy for children by a 20th-century author. But how could Lewis (a formidable critic, scholar, and Christian apologist)conjure up the kind of adventures in which generations of children (and adults) take such delight? In this engaging and insightful book, C. S. Lewis expert David C. Downing invites readers to join his vivid exploration of the Chronicles of Narnia, offering a detailed look at the enchanting stories themselves and also focusing on the extraordinary intellect and imagination of the man behind the Wardrobe. Downing presents each Narnia book as its own little wardrobe - each tale an opportunity to discover a visionary world of bustling vitality, sparkling beauty, and spiritual clarity. And Downing''s examination of C. S. LewiTrade Review“…in this volume, C.S.Lewis’ biography is given concisely, yet thoroughly…before you go to the movies this winter to see the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, read this book…” (The Eternal Night, 13th December 2005). “…a masterful work that will appeal to both new and seasoned fans of Narnia, ‘Into the Wardrobe’ offers a journey beyond Narnia’s deceptively simple surface and into its richly textured and unexpected depths.” (www.eden.co.uk, 13th December 2005) “…fluent and mature…” (Church Times, 9th December 2005)Table of ContentsA C. S. Lewis Time Line. Introduction: The Child as Father of the Man. 1. The Life of C. S. Lewis. 2. The Genesis of Narnia. 3. The Spiritual Vision of the Narnia Chronicles. 4. Moral Psychology. 5. Classical and Medieval Elements. 6. What’s in a Narnian Name? 7. Lewis’s Literary Artistry. Appendix: Definitions, Allusions, and Textual Notes. Notes. Bibliography. Acknowledgments. The Author. Index.

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