Literary studies: fiction Books

Book SynopsisDetective Fiction and the Ghost Story is a lively series of case studies celebrating the close relationship between detective fiction and the ghost story. It features many of the most famous authors from both genres including Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, M. R. James and Tony Hillerman.Table of ContentsAuthor Preface Introduction 1. Detecting the Ghost 2. Decoding the Past: Narrative and Inquiry in 'The Musgrave Ritual' and 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas' 3. Out of the Past: Retribution and Conan Doyle's Double Narratives 4. '... That Forbidding Moor': The Hound of the Baskervilles , a Ghost Story? 5. Agatha Christie's Harlequinade : The 'Bi-Part' Soul of the Detective 6. John Dickson Carr's Golden Age Gothic: The Locked Room Mystery and the Ghost Story 7. Rebus's Edinburgh Palimpsest: The Spirits of the Place 8. Susan Hill's Lost Hearts: The Woman in Black and the Serrailler Novels 9. Tony Hillerman's Cultural Metaphysics Conclusion Notes to Chapters Select Bibliography Index

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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

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Book SynopsisThis book is the definitive critical history of science fiction. The 2006 first edition of this work traced the development of the genre from Ancient Greece and the European Reformation through to the end of the 20th century. This new 2nd edition has been revised thoroughly and very significantly expanded. An all-new final chapter discusses 21st-century science fiction, and there is new material in every chapter: a wealth of new readings and original research. The author''s groundbreaking thesis that science fiction is born out of the 17th-century Reformation is here bolstered with a wide range of new supporting material and many hundreds of 17th- and 18th-century science fiction texts, some of which have never been discussed before. The account of 19th-century science fiction has been expanded, and the various chapters tracing the twentieth-century bring in more writing by women, and science fiction in other media including cinema, TV, comics, fan-culture and other modes.Table of ContentsPreface to Second Edition.- Preface to First Edition (2006).- 1. Definitions.- 2. SF and the Ancient Novel.- 3. From Medieval Romance to Sixteenth-Century Utopia.- 4. 17th-Century SF.- 5. 18th-Century SF. Big, Little.- 6. Early 19th Century SF.- 7. SF 1850-1900: Mobility and Mobilisation.- 8. Verne and Wells.- 9. The Early Twentieth Century, 1: High Modernist SF.- 10. The Early Twentieth Century, 2: The Pulps.- 11. Golden Age SF: 1940-1960.- 12. The Impact of the New Wave: SF of the 1960s and 1970s.- 13. SF Screen Media, 1960-2000: Hollywood Cinema and TV.- 14. Prose SF of the 1980s and 1990s.- 15. Late 20th Century SF: Multimedia, Visual SF and Others.- 16. 21st Century Science Fiction.- Notes.- Bibliography.- Index.-

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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

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Book SynopsisJ. M. Coetzee novelist, essayist, public intellectual, and Nobel Laureate in Literature (2003) is widely recognized as one of the towering literary figures of the last half century. With chapters written by leading and emerging scholars from across the world, The Bloomsbury Handbook to J. M. Coetzee offers the most comprehensive available exploration of the variety, range and significance of his work. The volume covers a wealth of topics, including: The full span of Coetzee's work from his poetry to his essays and major fiction, including Waiting for the Barbarians, Disgrace and the Jesus novels Biographical details and archival approaches Coetzee's sources and influences, including engagements with Modernism, South African, Australian, Russian and Latin American literatures Interdisciplinary perspectives, including on visual cultures, music, philosophy, computational systems and translation. The Bloomsbury Handbook to J. M. Coetzee provides indispensaTrade ReviewThis book offers an extraordinary and exciting array of information, ideas, insights, as well as assessments and unexpected contexts, about Coetzee’s life and works. Its comprehensiveness is really quite remarkable. The perceptive, thoughtful essays quickly challenged me into thinking afresh and anew—I found myself immediately propelled back to Coetzee’s books on my shelves and starting to reread them. Every admirer of Coetzee will want to have this book by their side. * Robert J.C. Young, Professor of English, New York University, USA *Like many innovative writers, J. M. Coetzee has always been wary of what he once called the critic’s ‘games handbook.’ Thankfully, The Bloomsbury Handbook to J. M. Coetzee heeds this caution. Assembling an impressive array of established and emergent critics, this welcome, even game-changing collection opens Coetzee’s astonishing oeuvre for a new generation of readers in myriad productive ways * Peter D. McDonald, Professor of English and Related Literature, University of Oxford, UK *Table of ContentsPart One: Life, Institutions, Reception 1. On the idea of a handbook to the works of J. M. Coetzee: ‘Preposterous [?]’ Andrew van der Vlies and Lucy Valerie Graham 2. Life & times of J. M. Coetzee Jane Poyner 3. Autobiographies/autrebiographies/biographies Alexandra Effe 4. J. M. Coetzee and his publishers Andrea Thorpe Part Two: Early Coetzee 5. Coetzee’s poetry Jarad Zimbler 6. Dusklands Rita Barnard 7. In the Heart of the Country Ian Glenn 8. Waiting for the Barbarians Jennifer Wenzel 9. Life & Times of Michael K Eckard Smuts Part Three: Late- and post-apartheid Coetzee 10. Foe Patrick Flanery 11. Age of Iron Katherine Hallemeier 12. The Master of Petersburg Derek Attridge 13. Disgrace Chris Holmes 14. J. M. Coetzee’s apartheid-era criticism Xiaoran Hu Part Four: Late-style Coetzee 15. The Costello project Andrew van der Vlies 16. Diary of a Bad Year Katarzyna Nowak-McNeice 17. The Jesus novels Timothy Bewes 18. Later criticism and correspondence Nick Mulgrew Part Five: Style, Form, Ideas 19. Coetzee’s style Carrol Clarkson 20. Coetzee, religion and philosophy Alice Brittan 21. Coetzee, gender and sexuality Laura Wright 22. Coetzee and the nonhuman Daniel Williams 23. Coetzee, computers and binary thinking Rebecca Roach 24. Coetzee’s humour Huw Marsh 25. Education and the novels of J. M. Coetzee Aparna Mishra Tarc Part Six: Contexts, Intertexts, Influence 26. Coetzee and the history of the novel Andrew Dean 27. Coetzee’s South Africans Jan Steyn 28. Coetzee’s modernists Paul Sheehan 29. Coetzee’s Mitteleuropa and Austro-Hungary Russell Samolsky 30. Coetzee, Israel, Palestine Louise Bethlehem, Dalia Abu-Sbitan and Shir Dannon 31. Coetzee’s Russians Jeanne-Marie Jackson 32. Coetzee’s Latin America Magalí Armillas-Tiseyra 33. Coetzee’s Australians Michelle Cahill Part Seven: Intermediation, adaptation, translation 34. Coetzee and photography Hermann Wittenberg 35. Coetzee and the visual arts Sean O’Toole 36. J. M. Coetzee and the work of music Graham K. Riach 37. Adapting Coetzee for the stage and screen Ed Charlton 38. Coetzee and translation Jan Wilm Index

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Book SynopsisIn the hands of such writers as Rebecca Solnit, Claudia Rankine, David Shields, Zadie Smith and many others, the essay has re-emerged as a powerful literary form for tackling a fractious 21st-century culture. The Essay at the Limits brings together leading scholars to explore the theory, the poetics and the future of the form. The book links the formal innovations and new voices that have emerged in the 21st-century essay to the history and theory of the essay. In so doing, it surveys the essay from its origins to its relation to contemporary cultural forms, from the novel to poetry, film to music, and from political articles to intimate lyrical expressions. The book examines work by writers such as: Theodor W. Adorno, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Francis Bacon, James Baldwin, Roland Barthes, Maurice Blanchot, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Annie Dillard, Brian Dillon, Jean Genet, William Hazlitt, Samuel Johnson, Karl Ove Knaussgaard, Ben Lerner, Audre Lorde, Oscar Wilde, Michel de Montaigne, ZadiTrade ReviewAn outstanding collection of cutting-edge criticism and scholarship on a historically undervalued genre. The contributors offer fresh and diverse perspectives on traditional approaches to the essay as well as provocative new ways to reimagine the genre’s literary and cultural significance as we move deeper into a digital future. The essay needs and deserves more rigorous studies like this one. * Robert Atwan, Series Editor, The Best American Essays *The Essay at the Limits, like the Roman god Janus, has a double vision: a set of eyes look back at the beginnings of the essay, its etymologies, genealogies and traditions; the other pair observe the essay’s relevance in the 21st century as “a powerful literary form,” as the blurb puts it, in a contemporary world riddled with post-truth. This double vision equips the editor and the contributors with critical foresight. * Fourth Genre *Mario Aquilina’s selection of [examined work] indicates that he has his finger on the pulse of the essay today. Yet Aquilina, like the authors contributing to this collection, also has the ability to connect contemporary zeitgeist to the history of the essay genre. * The Cambridge Quarterly *Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors Preface Suggested Reading Mario Aquilina (University of Malta) Thinking the Essay at the Limits Part 1: The Essay and the World 1. Erin Plunkett (University of Hertfordshire, UK) The Essay as Phenomenology 2. James Corby (University of Malta) An Essay on the Post-Literary 3. Neil Badmington (Cardiff University, UK) Brief Scenes: Roland Barthes and the Essay 4. Nicole B. Wallack (Columbia University, USA) The ‘Subversive Possibilities’ of the Essay for Public Intellectuals 5. Joseph Tabbi (University of Bergen, Norway) Is Writing All Over, or Just Dispersed? Digital Essayism in TRINA, A DESIGN FICTION Part 2: The Essay and the Self 6. Ivan Callus (University of Malta) Tone and the Essay 7. Jennifer Spinner (Saint Joseph’s University, USA) What the Periodical Press Made Possible: Women Essayists in the Eighteenth Century 8. Rachel Baldacchino (University of Malta) Otherness and the Essay in the Pacifist Work of Vernon Lee 9. Aaron Aquilina (Lancaster University, UK) Margins and Marginality: Jean Genet and the Queer Essay 10. Michael Askew (University of East Anglia, UK) The Essay and the ‘I’: Eliot Weinberger’s Transformation of the Authorial Self Part 3: The Essay, Form and the Essayistic 11. R. Eric Tippin (Palm Beach Atlantic University, USA) At the Limits of Fixité: The Essay and the Aphorism 12. Jason Childs (Independent scholar) Assaying the Novel 13. Allen Durgin (Columbia University, USA) Wallace Stevens, Audre Lorde and the Queer Performativity of the Essay 14. Maria Frendo (University of Malta) Transgression as Transcendence: Essayistic Poetics in Selected Works by Dmitri Shostakovich and Joseph Vella 15. Bob Cowser Jr. (St. Lawrence University, USA) Hersey, Resnais and Representing Hiroshima: Toward an Essayistic Historiography

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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

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Book SynopsisElsa Högberg is a research fellow in English Literature at Uppsala University, Sweden. Trade ReviewProvides a compelling and uncommonly detailed examination of the ethical and political dimensions of Modernist interiority in Virginia Woolf’s fiction. * Forum for Modern Language Studies *This major new contribution to Woolf and modernist studies combines brilliant close readings of the novels with a sophisticated and searching theoretical framework. It opens up questions of intimacy and interiority, ethics and affect, and principles of non-violence, in highly original and compelling ways. Developing a model of an ethics of intimacy and politicising Woolf’s modernist writing of interiority, it affords new ways of understanding the place of ethics and aesthetics in the charged context of the interwar years. * Laura Marcus, Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford, UK *Intimacy itself is knowledge is the startling revelation of Virginia Woolf's writing, Elsa Högberg convincingly argues, in this stunningly insightful and truly timely new work, Virginia Woolf and the Ethics of Intimacy. Högberg recognises and lucidly delineates Woolf's importance for more recent developments in an emergent and compelling post-Levinasian ethics and aesthetics of intimacy evident in major late twentieth-century and twenty-first century feminist works such as Julia Kristeva's Intimate Revolt, Luce Irigaray's Sharing the World and Judith Butler's Frames of War. Like waters poured into one jar, Högberg places these thinkers in fluent and intimate dialogue with Woolf's writings—unfolding scintillating new readings of Jacob's Room, Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and The Waves and likewise reflecting back on the achievements of Kristeva, Irigaray and Butler—in order to clarify an emergent and radical ethics of intimacy that revises received understandings of autonomous subjectivity and subjects-in-process, of encounters with the other, of vulnerability and violence, of interiority and affect. If you think you understand what Woolf meant by her famous injunction 'Look within', then think again: Högberg will help you grasp anew the political and ethical radicality of that injunction. Pay full attention to this thrilling and urgent work of outstanding scholarship which makes possible a powerful ethical model of radical intimacy with a capacity for non-violent resistance to patriarchy, fascism and war, and also for a replenishing affective intensity, a reparative lyric jouissance by which we might begin to think peace into existence. * Jane Goldman, Reader in English, University of Glasgow, UK *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Towards an Ethics of Intimacy 1. Jacob’s Room: Modernist Melancholia and the Eclipse of Primal Intimacy 2. “An inner meaning almost expressed”: Introspection as Revolt in Mrs Dalloway 3. Post-Impressionist Intimacy and the Visual Ethics of To the Lighthouse 4. Chalk Marks: Violence and Vulnerability in The Waves Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDr Deborah Cartmell is Reader in English and Head of the Graduate Centre in the Faculty of Humanities at De Montfort University. She is currently co-editing the international journal Adaptation and has completed several books on Literature on Screen. She is a general editor of the Screen Adaptations series, and a founding member of the Association of Literature on Screen.Trade Review[The Screen Adaptations series] offers some meaty ideas to film studies students. -- Susan Elkin * The Stage *

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''Every American crime writer of the past 30 years owes a debt to George V Higgins. Higgins is the daddy. Read him and rejoice'' Val McDermid''This author has the talent to make every word count, ratcheting up the tension as the story unfolds. . . a novel rich in characterisation'' DAILY MAILFederal Agent Pete Riordan has two problems, and both of them could end with murder.Convicted killer Mikey-mike Magro has never made a secret of the fact that if he ever gets out of jail, he''s going to go after the man he thinks put him there, Jerry ''Digger'' Doherty. And now it seems some very influential people are trying to get Magro pardoned and out on the street.Riordan figures Bishop Paul Doherty, an old friend who also happens to be the Digger''s brother, might put him on the right track - and he might just be able to help him with his second problem too: word is that a man is over from the old country intending to buy arms for the IRA. No o

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