Literary studies: general Books

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Book SynopsisWhat is narrative? How does it work and how does it shape our lives? H. Porter Abbott emphasizes that narrative is found not just in literature, film, and theatre, but everywhere in the ordinary course of people''s lives. This widely used introduction, now revised and expanded in its third edition, is informed throughout by recent developments in the field and includes one new chapter. The glossary and bibliography have been expanded, and new sections explore unnatural narrative, retrograde narrative, reader-resistant narratives, intermedial narrative, narrativity, and multiple interpretation. With its lucid exposition of concepts, and suggestions for further reading, this book is not only an excellent introduction for courses focused on narrative but also an invaluable resource for students and scholars across a wide range of fields, including literature and drama, film and media, society and politics, journalism, autobiography, history, and still others throughout the arts, humanities, and social sciences.Trade ReviewPraise for the second edition: 'This second edition of H. Porter Abbott's very widely used (and highly regarded) Introduction is even stronger than the first edition. The new edition includes two additional chapters, one on 'Narrative and Truth' and the other on 'Narrative Worlds,' which incorporate recent research by a range of scholars exploring the relevant issues, and, furthermore, the author has painstakingly reworked the entire volume to ensure accuracy, comprehensiveness, and clarity in its treatment of major trends in the study of narrative … What was true of the first edition is even more true of the second: this Introduction is not only an appropriate text for classes focusing on narrative - including advanced undergraduate and graduate classes in such (sub)disciplines as literary theory, film theory, communication studies, discourse analysis, women's and gender studies, history, comparative media studies, and critical legal theory - but also an invaluable resource for specialists.' David Herman, editor of The Cambridge Companion to NarrativePraise for the first edition: 'Abbott brilliantly zeroes in on the architecture of narrative with an exactness and bent for orderly exposition that utterly redeems his subject.' The Chronicle of Higher EducationPraise for the first edition: 'Anyone seeking a lucidly written guide to the study of narrative technique should turn immediately to H. Porter Abbott's Cambridge Introduction to Narrative.' Literature/Film QuarterlyPraise for the first edition: 'Directness, accessibility, and coherence distinguish this brief but comprehensive study of narrative … Most highly recommended.' ChoicePraise for the first edition: 'A lucid, practical, wide-ranging, and often original introduction to narrative, which will be extremely useful in undergraduate and graduate courses on literary theory and criticism. This is not a dry textbook, however; the reader is made aware of a real voice and of a fascination with the role of narrative across many areas of culture and beyond.' Derek Attridge, University of YorkTable of Contents1. Narrative and life; 2. Defining narrative; 3. The borders of narrative; 4. The rhetoric of narrative; 5. Closure; 6. Narration; 7. Interpreting narrative; 8. Three ways to interpret narrative; 9. Adaptation across media; 10. Character and Self in narrative; 11. Narrative and truth; 12. Narrative worlds; 13. Narrative contestation; 14. Narrative negotiation: conflict revisited; 15. Narrative negotiation: closure revisited.

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Book SynopsisThe new edition of this highly popular guide, How to Read World Literature, addresses the unique challenges and joys faced when approaching the literature of other cultures and eras. Fully revised to address important developments in World Literature, and generously expanded with new material, this second edition covers a wide variety of genres from lyric and epic poetry to drama and prose fiction and discusses how each form has been used in different eras and cultures. An ideal introduction for those new to the study of World Literature, as well as beginners to ancient and foreign literature, this book offers a variety of modes of entry to reading these texts. The author, a leading authority in the field, draws on years of teaching experience to provide readers with ways of thinking creatively and systematically about key issues, such as reading across time and cultures, reading works in translation, emerging global perspectives, postcolonialism, orality and literacy, and Table of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition ix Introduction 1 1 What Is “Literature”? 9 2 Reading across Time 31 3 Reading across Cultures 57 4 Reading in Translation 83 5 Brave New Worlds 107 6 Writing Empire 135 7 Global Writing 157 Epilogue: Going Farther 181 Bibliography 187 Index 197

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Book SynopsisMacabre and melodramatic, set in haunted castles or fantastic landscapes, Gothic tales became fashionable in the late eighteenth century with the publication of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). Crammed with catastrophe, terror, and ghostly interventions, the novel was an immediate success, and influenced numerous followers. These include William Beckford's Vathek (1786), which alternates grotesque comedy with scenes of exoticmagnificence in the story of the ruthless Caliph Vathek's journey to damnation. The Monk (1796), by Matthew Lewis, is a violent tale of ambition, murder, and incest, set in the sinister monastery of the Capuchins in Madrid. Frankenstein (1818, 1831) is Mary Shelley's disturbing and perennially popular tale of young studentwho learns the secret of giving life to a creature made from human relics, with horrific consequences.This collection illustrates the range and the attraction of the Gothic novel. Extreme and sensational, each of the four printed

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Book SynopsisNo other edition offers extensive textual apparatus such as explanatory notes, plot summaries, particularly vital as stories are complex and interwoven. The Sultan Schahriar''s misguided resolution to shelter himself from the possible infidelities on his wives leads to an outbreak of barbarity in his kingdoms and a reign of terror in his court, stopped only by the resourceful Scheherazade. The tales with which Scheherazade nightly postpones the muderous intent of the sultan have entered our language and our lives like no other collection of narratives before or since. Sinbad, Aladdin, Ali Baba: all make their spectacular entrance on to the stage of English literary history in the Arabian Nights Entertainments (1704-17). The stories contained in this `store house of ingenious fiction'' initiate a pattern of literary reference and influence which today remains as powerful and intense as it was throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This edition reproduces in its entirety the earliest English translation of the French orientalist Antoine Galland''s Mille et une Nuits. This remained for over a century the only English translation of the story cycle, influencing an incalculable number of writers, and no other edition offers the complete text supplemented by full textual apparatus. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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Book Synopsis`Tonight When I make my sweeping bow at heaven''s gate, One thing I shall still possess, at any rate, Unscathed, something outlasting mortal flesh, And that is ... My panache.''The first English translation of Cyrano de Bergerac, in 1898, introduced the word panache into the English language. This single word summed up Rostand''s rejection of the social realism which dominated late nineteenth-century theatre. He wrote his `heroic comedy'', unfashionably, in verse, and set it in the reign of Louis XIII and the Three Musketeers. Based on the life of a little known writer, Rostand''s hero has become a figure of theatrical legend: Cyrano, with the nose of a clown and the soul of a poet, is by turns comic and sad, as reckless in love as in war, and never at a loss for words. Audiences immediately took him to their hearts, and since the triumphant opening night in December 1897 - at the height of the Dreyfus Affair - the play has never lost its appeal. The text is accompanied by notes and a full introduction which sets the play in its literary and historical context. Christopher Fry''s acclaimed translation into `chiming couplets'' represents the homage of one verse dramatist to another. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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Book Synopsis''I loathe what I did, but what I loathe even more is your virtue.''Seventeen-year-old Effi Briest is steered by her parents into marriage with an ambitious bureaucrat, twenty years her senior. He takes her from her home to a remote provincial town on the Baltic coast of Prussia where she is isolated, bored, and prey to superstitious fears. She drifts into a half-hearted affair with a manipulative, womanizing officer, which ends when her husband is transferred to Berlin. Years later, events are triggered that will have profound consequences for Effi and her family.Effi Briest (1895) is recognized as one of the masterpieces by Theodor Fontane, Germany''s premier realist novelist, and one of the great novels of marital relations together with Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina. It presents life among the conservative Prussian aristocracy with irony and gentle humour, and opposes the rigid and antiquated morality of the time by treating its heroine with sympathy and keen psychological insight.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewFontane's masterpiece is now generally acclaimed as Germany's contribution, alongside Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, to the great nineteenth-century European novels of adultery. * Leo A. Lensing, Times Literary Supplement *I'd barely heard of Theodor Fontane before I read this, but he clearly was an important novelist and I'm delighted to have been introduced to him. This is an great new edition, with a helpfully wide-ranging introduction and notes, and the translation by Mike Mitchell is excellent I never had the sense that I was even reading a translation, which is high praise from someone as fussy as I am. So highly recommended. * Shiny New Books, Harriet Devine *

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Book SynopsisSince The Paris Review was founded in 1953, it has given us invaluable conversations with the greatest writers of our age. Here is the fourth collection of brilliant interviews to be gathered together, 'a bible both for readers and writers, the insider gossip for those who are truly passionate about their prose.' (Observer)This new edition is introduced by Salman Rushdie and includes interviews with:William StyronMarianne MooreEzra PoundE.B. WhiteP.G. WodehouseJohn AshberyPhilip RothMaya AngelouOrhan PamukV.S. NaipaulStephen SondheimHaruki MurakamiDavid GrossmanMarilynne RobinsonTrade ReviewIndispensable reading for anybody interested in how writers work and why writing continues to work. * * Daily Telegraph * *If you want to get acquainted with your favourite writer, you could go to a reading or a book-signing. But to really know them, you should read a Paris Review interview. * * The Times * *I have been fascinated by the Paris Review interviews for as long as I can remember. Taken together they form perhaps the finest available inquiry into the 'how' of literature, in many ways a more interesting question than 'why'. -- Salman RushdieAn embarrassment of big names...As an insight into what the most famous writers of the last 50 years would like you to think of them, the Paris Review Interviews have many charms beside their illustrious roll-call. * * Prospect * *The greatest hits of the earlier series, as well as providing a more durable and accessible home for recent interviews....the interviewees are engaging anecdotalists and autobiographers. * * Observer * *A kind of a masterclass for aspiring writers. * * London Review of Books * *The Paris Review interviews have always provided the best look into the minds and work ethics of great writers and when read together constitute the closest thing to an MFA that you can get while sitting alone on your couch. -- Dave EggersThis is a delight. * * GQ * *The final volume of The Paris Review Interviews has just been published and writers can once again be reminded that we are not the first to have ridiculous ambitions, doubts and difficulties. The four volumes together will make a generous gift for anyone who writes or reads. One volume would be not too shabby either. -- Peter Carey * * Guardian * *

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Book SynopsisThis edition offers a new translation of a selection of the Buddha's most important sayings reflecting the full variety of material: biography of the Buddha, narrative, myth, short sayings, philosophical discourse, instruction on morality, meditation, and the spiritual life. It provides an excellent introduction to Buddhist scripture.Trade ReviewRupert Gethin's 'Sayings of the Buddha' [is] translated with an eye toward readability. * Buddhaharma *This short volume is...a resource for teachers and students, and anyone interested in early Buddhist literature. * Buddhaharma *

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Book SynopsisSuitable for students, scholars, and poets on various aspects of its subject: history, movements, genres, prosody, rhetorical devices, critical terms, and more, this book reflects changes in literary and cultural studies, providing coverage and giving greater attention to the international aspects of poetry.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2013 "[T]he Princeton Encyclopedia has earned its reputation as the standard reference work for the array of topics comprehended by the study of poetry... [I]ts coverage of an impressive range of poetic traditions hitherto relatively unheralded in mainstream Western criticism is one of its most prominent achievements... [T]his edition of the Encyclopedia has turned concertedly to expert specialists in non-Western poetries like never quite before, which allows for subtle, well-informed and finely grained entries across (almost) the full range of world poetries... [T]his fourth edition of The Princeton Encyclopedia superlatively fulfils its nearly fifty-year-old commitment to, as the preface to the first edition had it, 'accuracy, utility, interest, and ... thoroughness.'"--Ross Wilson, Times Literary Supplement "Ever since the first edition of this work, in 1965, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics has been a comprehensive and authoritative reference work valued by students, teachers, and poets... This edition will be welcomed by all readers of poetry. It provides so many new essays and updates, and, finally, has an index, which is useful as the Encyclopedia does not include entries on individual poets, but rather discusses them in the context of the larger topics to which they are related. Also beneficial is the new page layout that is easier to read and more conducive to browsing. Highly recommended."--Library Journal (Starred Review) "This is a huge reference work, and the publicity people at Princeton are justifiably proud of it. Even though this book is about poetry, it is surprisingly complete. For example; I love how the book discusses the poetry of a people and ties it to their history--I mean, I could read this book for the historical context of a particular body of ethnic or linguistic poetry alone, but of course, there is plenty of poetry in here, too. If you are a poet, a student of poetry or if you (like me) love reading poetry, then this is, without any doubt, the book for you! It certainly would make an excellent gift for the poet, scholar or poetry lover in your life."--Devorah Bennu, GrrlScientist "[W]orthy... [M]onumental."--Stuart Mitchner, Town Topics "[I]f you're a student of poetry, you'll want to own a copy... The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics goes far beyond a beginner's guide to poetry, and the new Fourth Edition is a worthy update to an already excellent encyclopedia series."--Poetry International "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics is a stupendous work... What makes it unique and extremely valuable is the exhaustive entries... Running into 1639 pages, in single volume, this is a huge contribution to the study of poetry and poetics. Any student of literature and linguistics should have a copy as it introduces the reader to every nuance of poetry, in its finest. A marvelous work indeed."--Vaidehi Nathan, Organiser "[O]ne of the greatest literary reference works in all of poetry... The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics is an excellent, worthy addition to anyone's collection."--John Cowans, BookPleasures "This belongs on the desk of anyone teaching creative writing or literature, and anyone over the age of twelve who is serious about poetry."--Barbara Berman, Rumpus "You can't say enough about The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, because it has already said just about everything. It is an encyclopedia, after all, but more than that, it is a thoroughly illuminating text that contains everything a poet or critic might need to know, from Accentual-Syllabic Verse to Zulu poetry. To put it simply, it is the most fascinating book on poetics published this year."--Stephan Delbos, Body "[T]his encyclopedia is a bargain for anyone seriously interested in poetry... This Princeton Encyclopedia, for all its contemporaneity, has the bonus of several hundred years' scholarship behind it... The entries ... are scholarly and extremely wide-ranging. All kinds of poetry are ... taken seriously and the traditions of all major languages--and many minor ones--are treated in considerable detail."--Geoff Page, Age "Roland Greene and associates have done a tremendous job in revising Terry Brogan's and Alex Preminger's magisterial 3d edition of this classic work. It's a vast compendium of poetic lore, terminology, technique, and history with an astutely chosen set of contributors. At 1664 pages, I am still cruising the book and wishing I had the digital edition as well. This is a work to dip into at any page for a wealth of detailed and often absorbingly arcane information. PEPP is up to date, with entries for new poetic developments right up to the present (yes, Lavinia, Conceptual poetry, Kootenay school, and Flarf have entries, along with my own precis on 'absorption,' and new entries on antropofagia, codework, cognitive poetics, Xul, Sanskrit poetry, and many more). The index alone is worth the price of admission... As a kid (and as the kid I still am) I read through dictionaries and encyclopedias, a to z; this book holds that same kind of transfixing fascination. It also shows how new encyclopaedias (I prefer that spelling) can remain relevant in the wake of Wiki. Each of the entries is signed and bears the stamp of its author. While scholarly and descriptive in tone, the book has a thousand different points of view of what poetry is and how it works, hundreds of contradictory, or at least competing, programs. As with the best compendia of odd facts and magical formulae, the wild swerve from one entry to the next offers delight upon delight."--Charles Bernstein, Lemon Hound "With 1,000-plus entries (some 250 of which are new), this edition expands and updates the New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, with a more detailed focus on international traditions not often included in English-language reference tools... This volume will be a valuable addition for universities, and for colleges with MFA programs in creative writing."--Choice "[I]t is a browser's gem. This fully indexed Encyclopedia is user friendly and of immense interests to poets, editors, scholars and everyone interested in poetry. With the wealth of information it contains it is great value for money and in my opinion is far more reliable than researching on line."--Les Merton, Poetry Cornwall "There is a wealth of interest and debate in this impressive book. It is pretty hefty and not for reading on a train but can be dipped into or the specific topics studied in individual detail."--Stella Stocker, Weyfarers "Ever since its first publication in 1965, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry & Poetics has oft been referred to as the ultimate, authoritative reference with regards the study of poetry. With its menagerie of terms, concepts, schools, movements and international tradition(s), contained herein is an almost one-of-kind reference book. It's so good--it makes for interesting and stimulating reading in its own right; and there really aren't many reference books one can say that about!"--David Marx, David Marx Book Reviews "The Princeton Encyclopedia is a superb achievement, an essential item for university libraries supporting literature courses and I would strongly urge public libraries to also purchase a copy."--Linda Kemp, Reference ReviewsTable of ContentsPreface vii Acknowledgments xi Topical List of Entries xv Bibliographical Abbreviations xxiii General Abbreviations xxvii Contributors xxviii Entries A to Z 1 Index 1555

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Book SynopsisYork Notes Advanced offer a fresh and accessible approach to English Literature. This market-leading series has been completely updated to meet the needs of today's A-level and undergraduate students. Written by established literature experts, York Notes Advanced intorduce students to more sophisticated analysis, a range of critical perspectives and wider contexts.Table of Contents Part 1: Introduction Part 2: The Text Part 3: Critical Approaches Part 4: Critical History Part 5: Background Further Reading Literacy Terms

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Book SynopsisUpdated throughout and with much new material, A History of American Literature, Second Edition, is the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey available of the myriad forms of American Literature from pre-Columbian times to the present. The most comprehensive and up-to-date history of American literature available today Covers fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction, as well as other forms of literature including folktale, spirituals, the detective story, the thriller, and science fiction Explores the plural character of American literature, including the contributions made by African American, Native American, Hispanic and Asian American writers Considers how our understanding of American literature has changed over the past?thirty years Situates American literature in the contexts of American history, politics and society Offers an invaluable introduction to American literature for students at all levels, academic and geTrade Review"Richard Gray's real achievement is somehow to have compressed more than 400 years of thrillingly rich literary history between two covers." (Literary Review)Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi 1 The First Americans: American Literature Before and During the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods 1 Imagining Eden 1 Native American Oral Traditions 4 Spanish and French Encounters with America 14 Anglo-American Encounters 21 Writing of the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods 27 Puritan narratives 28 Challenges to the Puritan oligarchy 32 Some colonial poetry 36 Enemies within and without 44 Trends toward the secular and resistance 48 Toward the Revolution 60 Alternative voices of Revolution 69 Writing Revolution: Poetry, drama, fiction 75 2 Inventing Americas: The Making of American Literature, 1800–1865 88 Making a Nation 88 The Making of American Myths 92 Myths of an emerging nation 92 The making of Western myth 95 The making of Southern myth 105 Legends of the Old Southwest 109 The Making of American Selves 114 The Transcendentalists 114 Voices of African-American identity 126 The Making of Many Americas 133 Native American writing 134 Oral culture of the Hispanic Southwest 139 African-American polemic and poetry 141 Abolitionist and pro-slavery writing 145 Abolitionism and feminism 154 African-American writing 161 The Making of an American Fiction and Poetry 171 The emergence of American narratives 171 Women writers and storytellers 190 Spirituals and folk songs 196 American poetic voices 199 3 Reconstructing the Past, Reimagining the Future: The Development of American Literature, 1865–1900 219 Rebuilding a Nation 219 The Development of Literary Regionalism 224 From Adam to outsider 224 Regionalism in the West and Midwest 231 African-American and Native American voices 233 Regionalism in New England 235 Regionalism in the South 239 The Development of Literary Realism and Naturalism 255 Capturing the commonplace 255 Capturing the real thing 259 Toward Naturalism 269 The Development of Women’s Writing 281 Writing by African-American women 281 Writing and the condition of women 284 The Development of Many Americas 290 Things fall apart 290 Voices of resistance 293 Voices of reform 295 The immigrant encounter 299 4 Making It New: The Emergence of Modern American Literature, 1900–1945 308 Changing National Identities 308 Between Victorianism and Modernism 320 The problem of race 320 Building bridges: Women writers 326 Critiques of American provincial life 336 Poetry and the search for form 345 The Inventions of Modernism 359 Imagism, Vorticism, and Objectivism 359 Making it new in poetry 367 Making it new in prose 397 Making it new in drama 420 Traditionalism, Politics, and Prophecy 431 The uses of traditionalism 431 Populism and radicalism 446 Prophetic voices 462 Community and Identity 466 Immigrant writing 466 Native American voices 472 The literature of the New Negro movement and beyond 476 Mass Culture and the Writer 503 Western, detective, and hardboiled fiction 503 Humorous writing 509 Fiction and popular culture 512 5 Negotiating the American Century: American Literature since 1945 519 Toward a Transnational Nation 519 Formalists and Confessionals 532 From the mythological eye to the lonely “I” in poetry 532 From formalism to freedom in poetry 540 The uses of formalism 548 Confessional poetry 554 New formalists, new confessionals 563 Public and Private Histories 568 Documentary and dream in prose 568 Contested identities in prose 576 Crossing borders: Some women prose writers 588 Beats, Prophets, Aesthetes, and New Formalists 599 Rediscovering the American voice: The Black Mountain writers 599 Restoring the American vision: The San Francisco Renaissance 606 Recreating American rhythms: The beat generation 610 Reinventing the American self: The New York poets 615 Redefining American poetry: The New Formalists 623 Resisting orthodoxy: Dissent and experiment in fiction 631 The Art and Politics of Race 640 Defining a new black aesthetic 640 Defining a new black identity in prose 651 Defining a new black identity in drama 663 Telling impossible stories: Recent African-American fiction 668 Realism and its Discontents 678 Confronting the real, stretching the realistic in drama 678 New Journalists and dirty realists 700 Language and Genre 705 Watching nothing: Postmodernity in prose 705 The actuality of words: Postmodern poetry 720 Signs and scenes of crime, science fiction, and fantasy 727 Creating New Americas 740 Dreaming history: European immigrant writing 740 Remapping a nation: Chicano/a and Latino/a writing 748 Improvising America: Asian-American writing 763 New and ancient songs: The return of the Native American 779 After the Fall: American Literature since 9/11 795 Writing the crisis in prose 795 Writing the crisis in drama 809 Writing the crisis in poetry 816 Further Reading 829 Index 857

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Book SynopsisThe inspiration for the annual Pleasure of Reading PrizeA charming and revealing collection of essays from some of our best-loved writers about the pleasures of reading, with royalties donated to the Give a Book charityIn this delightful collection forty-three acclaimed writers explain what first made them interested in literature, what inspired them to read and what makes them continue to do so. Original contributors include Margaret Atwood, J. G. Ballard, Melvyn Bragg, A. S. Byatt, Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Gray, Germaine Greer, Alan Hollinghurst, Doris Lessing, Candia McWilliam, Edna O'Brien, Ruth Rendell, Tom Stoppard, Sue Townsend and Jeanette Winterson, while this new edition includes essays from five new writers, Emily Berry, Kamila Shamsie, Rory Stewart, Katie Waldegrave and Tom Wells.Royalties generated from this project will go to Give a Book, www.giveabook.org.uk, a charity set up in 2011 that seeks to get books to places where they will be ofTrade ReviewA wonderful book for those of us that are addicted to print. A compendium of mostly British authors which lead you through their lives of reading. Sue Townsend mentions that she didn't learn to read before the age of eight and that her teacher was a nasty drunk with a face like a dyspeptic badger! * Jack Coleman, ***** on Good Reads *Really enjoyed this book :) And it brought back so many memories of my early years of reading ... reading a book in bed under the covers at night by torch light ... ALWAYS having a book to hand and being told to “Put that book down!” ... getting annoyed if ever a Birthday or Christmas Day passed WITHOUT A NEW BOOK arriving!!! * Alayne, **** on Good Reads *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"In Hooked, [Felski] examines the way we connect to novels, films, paintings and music, and argues that our enthusiasms should be an integral part of conversations about art. Only this can deliver the ‘course correction’ the humanities need, and dissolve the boundary between academic interpretation and ordinary appreciation." -- Helen Thaventhiran * London Review of Books *"The sensual stuff of culture gets under our skin, draws us in, expands our world, fashions our consciousness, sets the tone and tempo of our responsiveness to the world around us. The ‘tuning of sentiments’ is precisely the sort of phenomenal work that Rita Felski’s Hooked: Art and Attachment is suggesting that humanities scholars could and should pay attention to. . . . [Felski is] concerned with proposing the vocabularies and protocols for an approach to cultural works that are open to their immediacy, to their ability to connect us to the world, and to their intimate sociality. The project, then, is to imagine a postcritical attention to art (broadly conceived) that can hang on to our first-person response to works (which might be visceral, indifferent, traumatic, melancholic, consoling, and so on), while ensuring that such attention isn’t a flight from the social but a more capacious form of contact with it." -- Ben Highmore * New Formations *“Over the past decade, Felski has been a breath of fresh air: working to nudge literary criticism away from an exclusive focus on politics. . . Felski is not against critique, the world being what it is. She is one of the growing number of malcontents who merely want to discuss other ways in which people respond to art. . . [Hooked] is an exposé aimed at critics who disavow their personal allegiances.” -- Matthew Rubery * Public Books *"The chief virtue of Hooked is that it encourages scholars to be more honest. . . . If accepted, Felski’s proposals would lead to aesthetic engagements which speak openly about why the interaction is happening in the first place. Such honesty can only be welcomed as a step forward in that old philosophical project—namely, knowing ourselves." -- Thomas Millay * Marginalia Review of Books *"Among professors of English and comparative literature, Felski is one of the most influential scholars writing about aesthetics today. . . . Hooked: Art and Attachment picks up where The Limits of Critique leaves off by homing in on a crucial dimension of aesthetic experience discounted by critique: the attachments we form to works of art, the sources of their appeal to us, the personal growth they can excite and sustain. . . . Hooked honors this indispensable attachment to the arts and bolsters our efforts to understand and share what we care about." -- Michael Fischer * The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism *"Hooked is concerned with the phenomenological and sociological vagaries of aesthetic experience; the seemingly intangible or impenetrable nature of our attachments with art. . . . Felski’s argument—art isn’t a ‘microcosm of the world,’ but part of the ordinary fabric of sociality itself—is useful and rewarding, as is her particular interest in ‘diversifying the scales of criticism.’ Attachment is fundamental to all processes of meaning-making, in art as elsewhere. Aesthetics matter because they ‘create, or cocreate, enduring ties’ but we need methods capacious enough to reflect the messiness of this reality." -- Nell Osborne * Review 31 *“The book invites a conversation that ranges widely beyond literature; its arguments span media and its scope is expansive. . . . There are many insights in Hooked that will facilitate a productive interdisciplinary conversation about aesthetics, politics, and the future of critique.” -- Michael Gallope * nonsite.org *"In Hooked Felski examines aesthetic experience in terms of co-creation and enduring ties. . . . Using essays, memoirs, works of fiction, ethnographic research and a variety of examples from high to popular culture, Felski argues that works of art make a difference in the world and matter - they act - because they 'create, or co-create, enduring ties' . . . Hooked offers a plethora of hypotheses and a wealth of ideas to think with and to research empirically. The book will be of interest to sociologists and social theorists interested in cultural objects, emotion and aesthetic experience." -- María Angélica Thumala Olave * Theory, Culture & Society *“Rita Felski’s new book puts in place… a less counterintuitive, secluded, and priggish way of addressing art.” * Forma de Vida *“Hooked is the third in a de facto trilogy defending the varied ways in which people like and care about works of art, both inside and outside the academy and its various critical traditions. Felski argues that we write about works of art because we care about them and get pleasure from them— we're hooked!—and that examining them critically is neither the same as, nor opposed to, being hooked in other ways. Hooked provides a way forward, not only a description of what we already do or a reason to stop doing it, but a way to say more and do more." * Stephanie Burt, Harvard University *“Hooked is a marvelous achievement. It is a rousing book that returns to one of the main questions at the heart of Felski’s scholarship—how people become attached to particular works of literature or art. Hooked offers a form of reception studies that invites alliances with different schools and modes of inquiry, from book history and curation theory to biography, ethnography, and practical pedagogy. It will excite and energize readers for years to come.” * James English, University of Pennsylvania *"Foregrounding first-person accounts of aesthetic experience imbues Hooked with a particular ambient quality evocative of those environments—theater bars, the sidewalks onto which viewers spill after a movie—that thrum with the sound of people talking about their aesthetic responses." * Critical Inquiry *"Taken on its merits, and treated in the generous, open way that it advocates, Hooked is a satisfying, thought-provoking read for anyone concerned with questions about the natures of our relations to artworks and why we bother forming them." * British Journal of Aesthetics *Table of ContentsPreface Chapter 1 On Being Attached Chapter 2 Art and Attunement Chapter 3 Identification: A Defense Chapter 4 Interpreting as Relating Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA reflective volume of essays on literature and literary study from a storied professor. In The Pensive Citadel, Victor Brombert looks back on a lifetime of learning within a university world greatly altered since he entered Yale on the GI Bill in the 1940s. Yet for all that has changed, much of Brombert's long experience as a reader and teacher is richly familiar: the rewards of rereading, the joy of learning from students, and most of all the insight to be found in engaging works of literature. The essays gathered here range from meditations on laughter and jealousy to new appreciations of Brombert's lifelong companions Shakespeare, Montaigne, Voltaire, and Stendhal. A veteran of D-day and the Battle of the Bulge who witnessed history's worst nightmares firsthand, Brombert nevertheless approaches literature with a lightness of spirit, making the case for intellectual mobility and openness to change. The Pensive Citadel is a celebration of a life lived in literary study, and of what can be learned from attending to the works that form one's cultural heritage.Trade Review“The Pensive Citadel offers an elegiac account of a life as reader and teacher—and lover of literature who knows how to share that love.” * Peter Brooks, Yale University *“The Pensive Citadel is an engaging and persuasive plea for the central importance of literature to a well-rounded existence and a vigorous life of the mind. Brombert deftly weaves his own experiences and his changing responses to works of literature into his readings and rereadings. In this book, he successfully answers a question he often discussed with his students: Do literary works merely provide a higher form of entertainment, or is the printed word the revelation of a dialogue we carry on with ourselves? It is most emphatically both and more.” * Tess Lewis, writer, essayist, and translator *“There is an old-fashioned pleasure in reading these essays and being so intimately in the company of its witty, reflective, and deeply read author. I suggest beginning at the end with ‘The Permanent Sabbatical’ and then moving on to ‘In Praise of Jealousy?’ round the middle and then on to the rest. One cannot go wrong.” * Thomas W. Laqueur, University of California, Berkeley *"Retired Princeton University comparative literature professor Brombert reflects on his life in academia in this ruminative essay collection. . . . Brombert’s enthusiastic takes on the French classics show what made him a beloved professor, but the reverent accounts of university life and detailed discussions of navigating trends in literary criticism will hold the most appeal for fellow academics. Literature scholars will want to check this out." * Publishers Weekly *"Brombert’s book mingles memoir and what might be called literary contemplation rather than conventional academic criticism. His text is an acknowledgment of intellectual and literary debts, and he celebrates our much-abused and neglected inheritance." * The New Criterion *“The Berlin-born centenarian scholar Victor Brombert has published a swan-song anthology of essays on his teaching career and literary enthusiasms, among them Montaigne, Molière and Malraux. . . his book brings to life a bygone age with self-effacing humor and irreverence.” * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsForeword by Christy Wampole Preface Part I In Nostalgia 1 The Pensive Citadel 2 Between Two Worlds 3 What Existentialism Meant to Us 4 Cleopatra at Yale 5 “Brombingo!”—Learning from Students Part II The Ludic Mode 6 The Paradox of Laughter 7 In Praise of Jealousy? 8 On Rereading Part III The French Connection 9 Lessons of Montaigne 10 The Audacities of Molière’s Don Juan 11 The Bitterness of Candide 12 Encounters with Monsieur Beyle 13 Baudelaire: Visions of Paris 14 The Year of the Eiffel Tower 15 Malraux and the World of Violence Part IV The Exit 16 The Permanent Sabbatical Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisShakespeare: increasingly irrelevant or lone literary genius of the Western canon?Trade Review'Vivid… a thorough analysis but also a kind of love letter… Karim-Cooper sees Shakespeare as holding a mirror to this society, with his plays interrogating live issues around race, identity and the colonial enterprise. Her critique is at its most absorbing and original when she shows how complicated his approach was… Her arguments come to feel essential and should be absorbed by every theatre director, writer, critic, interested in finding new ways into the work.’ —Guardian'Anyone reading the contents page alone of Dr Farah Karim-Cooper's The Great White Bard will have their minds blown. Dive in and your whole cultural landscape will be refreshed and reframed. A book of great scholastic yet accessible detail, demanding that we pay attention with new understanding to the work of our greatest playwright, to the staging of that work and its unacknowledged impact on the 21st-century lives of all of us who unwittingly absorb its cultural norms – for good and ill. A challenging, riveting read, The Great White Bard reminds us how powerful the stories we tell can be on our lives.' —Adjoa Andoh'This glorious book… is insightful, passionate, piled with facts and has a warm, infectious love for theatre and Shakespeare running through every chapter. Thank you to Farah Karim-Cooper for underlining the fact that we all have a right to claim Shakespeare’s work.' —Adrian Lester CBE'Farah Karim-Cooper has long been at the center of conversations about race in Shakespeare’s plays, drawing on her experiences as a woman of color, director of research and education at the Globe Theatre, and Shakespeare professor. The Great White Bard is a powerful and illuminating result of this sustained engagement, grappling with how Shakespeare can be reimagined as a playwright who speaks to (and is spoken by) those excluded from the dominant culture. Historically grounded, engagingly written, richly informed by stage history, and always attuned to the "form and pressure" of our time, The Great White Bard could not be more timely.' —James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare'There are plenty of books on Shakespeare: but this one is different. This is Shakespeare as we’ve (most of us) never been willing to see him – and the works emerge from the analysis as newly complicit, powerful and yet recuperative.' —Emma Smith, author of Portable Magic'The Great White Bard is conscientiously constructed and vitally important. The book is pitched perfectly for the general reader, and it provides clear and compelling models for how to read Shakespeare with race in mind.' —Ayanna Thompson, author of Blackface'The Great White Bard contributes to an essential discussion on Shakespeare and race, one that must include literary scholars, historians, etymologists, audiences and, yes, even actors. Let us all debate and think critically about the issues Karim-Cooper raises. At the end of the day, such tough love can guide us to truly love Shakespeare.' —New York Times'Suffused with genuine passion.' —The Times‘She concludes… “We all have the right to claim the Bard.” Amen to that.’ —Daily Telegraph'Insightful… Karim-Cooper’s chapter on Antony and Cleopatra tackles with clarity and energy the question of why the Queen of Egypt's racial difference, though flagged in the text, has been consistently ignored in the play’s production history until quite recently… Karim-Cooper provides a good discussion of Othello and a helpfully provocative reading of The Tempest.' —New Statesman‘[The book] opens up territory that [Karim-Cooper] explores with unfailing dexterity. Karim-Cooper thus puts herself in dialogue with much of the excellent work on Shakespeare and race published over the past 30 years. Still, the examination of Shakespearean drama through the lens of race has seldom been achieved with the verve, clarity and attention to textual detail that she displays here. Her love for the plays is everywhere apparent.’ —Prospect'Farah Karim-Cooper's analysis comes from a wide and fascinating perspective. This is an accessible yet scholarly book guiding the reader through essential questions about race, gender and so much more in Shakespeare’s plays. It is personal, refreshing and necessary. She has helped me reframe and understand Shakespeare in a different way. Read it and learn!' —Lolita Chakrabarti OBE'The Great White Bard is essential reading for teachers, students, practitioners and artists. It makes clear why the exploration of Shakespeare’s plays must expose the 400-year-old cultural attitudes contained in them if we are to discover their real relevance and resonance. Farah Karim-Cooper has written an important, illuminating and accessible work that invites our active participation in debate about the plays; to interpret and interrogate them, not to venerate. It belongs in every Shakespeare classroom.' —Jacqui O’Hanlon, Director of Learning, Royal Shakespeare Company‘A bracing and illuminating read.’ —The Bookseller'The rigorous and nuanced analysis stimulates, and Karim-Cooper’s evenhanded approach refuses to excuse Shakespeare’s racism while insisting that his plays still have much to offer modern audiences. This is a vital contribution to the shelf on Shakespeare.' —Publishers Weekly, starred review'Illuminating both words and performance – [The Great White Bard is] an essential addition to Shakespeare studies.' —Kirkus, starred review

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Book SynopsisBuild confidence in a range of key textual analysis techniques and skills with this practical companion, full of advice and guidance from experienced experts.- Build analysis techniques and skills through a range of strategies, serving as a useful companion throughout the course - from critical-thinking, referencing and citation and the development of a line of inquiry to reflecting on the writing process and constructing essays for Paper 1 and Paper 2- Develop skills in how to approach a text using textual analysis strategies and critical theory, for both unseen texts (the basis of Paper 1) and texts studied in class- Concise, clear explanations help students navigate the IB requirements, including advice on assessment objectives and how literary and textual analysis weaves through Paper 1, Paper 2, the HL Essay, Individual Oral and the Learner Profile- Build understanding in how to approach texts so that students can write convincingly and passionately about texts through active reading, note-taking, asking questions, and developing a personal response to texts - Engaging activities are provided to test understanding of each topic and develop skills for the exam - guiding answers are available to check your responses

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Book SynopsisA charming collection of quotes about cats from our favourite authors, accompanied by artwork in the trademark style of Paul Magrs (author of The Panda, the Cat and the Dreadful Teddy).I love them, they are so nice and selfish' L.M. MontgomeryThis collection of quotes from the literary greats explores just why cats have fascinated, mesmerised and often infuriated writers for centuries. Celebrating the mystery of these daydreaming, snarky, selfish, watchful, contemplative and changeable creatures, Puss in Books helps cat and book lovers to understand these beings who have intrigued great thinkers and writers since the dawn of time.Quotes include:Time spent with a cat is never wasted' ColetteThose who play with cats must expect to get scratched' Miguel de CervantesIf cats could write history, their history would be mostly about cats' Eugen WeberTrade Review‘Cats are funny, feisty, loving and usually a little bit crazy. Paul has captured every one of those moods and more in his beautifully animated illustrations. Gorgeous.’ – Jane Fallon ‘This is a glorious marriage of wonderful words and illustrations. Cat-lovers everywhere will be clamouring for it.’ – Milly Johnson ‘As a lifelong cat fanatic and literature addict, this book couldn't be any more perfect for me if it tried.’ – Harper Ford ‘Famous cat quotes and Paul's paintings are the perfect match. He is one of the Kings of Cats and his book is the cat's whiskers of a cat book!’ – Antoine Laurain ‘Exquisitely beautiful and utterly fascinating.’ – Lisa Jewell ‘I read this book smiling at its wit and nodding in recognition of these universally acknowledged cat-truths that any person who is owned by cats will recognise.’ – Charlie Lyndhurst, author of The Cosy Cat Society ‘Transcending genre and age-appeal is not easy, but this delightful, freewheeling romp into the wisdom, weirdness and downright cheekiness of cat-kind does it beautifully’ – Alex Howard, author of The Ghost Cat

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Book SynopsisThe heritage of literature in the French language is rich, varied, and extensive in time and space; appealing both to its immediate public, readers of French, and also to a global audience reached through translations and film adaptations. The first great works of this repertory were written in the twelfth century in northern France, and now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, include authors writing in many parts of the world, ranging from the Caribbean to Western Africa. French Literature: A Very Short Introduction introduces this lively literary world by focusing on texts - epics, novels, plays, poems, and screenplays - that concern protagonists whose adventures and conflicts reveal shifts in literary and social practices. From the hero of the medieval Song of Roland to the Caribbean heroines of I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem or the European expatriate in Japan in Fear and Trembling, these problematic protagonists allow us to understand what interests writers and readers across the wide world of French.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Table of Contents1. Werewolves, Saints, Knights, and a Poete Maudit ; 2. The Last Roman, "Cannibals", Heroines of Modern Life, and Giants ; 3. Society and Its Demands ; 4. Nature and its Possibilities ; 5. Around the Revolution ; 6. The Hunchback, the Housewife, and the Stroller ; 7. From Marcel to Rrose Selavy ; 8. Self-Centered Consciousness ; 9. French-speaking heroes without borders?

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Book SynopsisThis radically original book argues for the power of ordinary language philosophy a tradition inaugurated by Ludwig Wittgenstein and J. L. Austin, and extended by Stanley Cavell to transform literary studies. In engaging and lucid prose, Toril Moi demonstrates this philosophy's unique ability to lay bare the connections between words and the world, dispel the notion of literature as a monolithic concept, and teach readers how to learn from a literary text. Moi first introduces Wittgenstein's vision of language and theory, which refuses to reduce language to a matter of naming or representation, considers theory's desire for generality doomed to failure, and brings out the philosophical power of the particular case. Contrasting ordinary language philosophy with dominant strands of Saussurean and post-Saussurean thought, she highlights the former's originality, critical power, and potential for creative use. Finally, she challenges the belief that good critics always read below the surfa

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Book SynopsisAn intimate study of three of Ireland''s greatest writers from one of its best-loved contemporary voices, Colm Tóibín__________________In Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know Colm Tóibín takes three of Ireland''s greatest writers - Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce - and examines their earliest influences: their fathers. With his inimitable wit and sensitivity, Tóibín introduces us to Wilde Senior, the philandering doctor whose libel case prefigured that of his son; the elder Yeats, an impoverished artist who never finished a painting; and to John Stanislaus Joyce, the hard-drinking, storytelling father of James, who couldn''t feed his own family. This is an illuminating study of how each of these men cast a long shadow not only over the lives of their famous sons, but over the works for which they are celebrated and cherished.__________________''Astonishing to read. Tóibín has a hawk-like eye for literary subtleties, and a generosity towards his subjects that is warm'' Sunday Times''Funny, exciting, illuminating, wonderful, so engaging. Tells us more than a little about our own selves along the way'' Irish Times''There is something interesting and insightful on almost every page'' Observer''Sparkling, subtle, witty and often deeply moving . . . A classic'' Fintan O''Toole, New Statesman''Scintillating, imaginative, enlightening and powerfully moving throughout'' Roy Foster, SpectatorTrade ReviewThere is something interesting and intriguing to be found on almost every page -- Rachel Cooke * Guardian *Toibin has a hawk-like eye for literary subtleties, and a generosity towards his subjects that is warm and unacademic. * The Sunday Times *Toibin has a hawk-like eye for literary subtleties, and a generosity towards his subjects that is warm and unacademic. * The Sunday Times *Full of insight and intrigue * Observer *Searching, funny, generous * Irish Times *Subtle, witty and often deeply moving * New Statesman *If there is a more brilliant writer than Tóibín working today, I don't know who that would be -- Karen Joy FowlerToibin is a supple, subtle thinker, alive to hints and undertones, wary of absolute truths * New Statesman *A consistently revealing look at how writers' relationships have influenced their work * Sunday Telegraph on 'New Ways to Kill Your Mother' *A wide-ranging and enlightening study of the potentially stifling family and the individual spirit of the writer * Sunday Times on 'New Ways to Kill Your Mother' *

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Who Owns Suffering? 1. Writing and Redemption 2. The Argument of Fiction 3. Murderous Fictions 4. The Momentary Pleasures of Reconcilation Coda Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisNarrative Medicine: A Rhetorical Rx rests on the principles that storytelling is central to medical encounters between caregivers and patients and that narrative competence enhances medical competence. Thus, the book''s goal is to develop the narrative competence of its reader. Grounded in the rhetorical theory of narrative that Phelan has been constructing over the course of his career, this volume utilizes a three-step method: Offering a jargon-free explication of core concepts of narrative such as character, progression, perspective, time, and space. Demonstrating how to use those concepts to interpret a diverse group of medical narratives, including two graphic memoirs. Pointing to the relevance of those demonstrations for caregiver-patient interactions. Narrative Medicine: A Rhetorical Rx is the ideal volume for undergraduate students interested in pursuing careers in healthcare, students in medical Table of ContentsChapter One Narrative as Rhetoric and the Art of MedicineChapter Two Principles and Activities of Rhetorical Reading: Understanding, Overstanding, and SpringboardingChapter Three Character and Progression I: Understanding and Overstanding Richard Selzer’s "Imelda" Chapter Four Character and Progression II: Colm Toibin’s "One Minus One" as Portrait NarrativeChapter Five Somebody Telling I: Authors, Narrators, Characters, and OccasionsChapter Six Somebody Telling II: Perspective and VoiceChapter Seven TimeChapter Eight SpaceChapter Nine From Print to Comics: Toward a Rhetoric of Graphic MedicineChapter Ten FictionalityChapter Eleven Rhetorical Narrative Medicine Workshops: Understanding, Overstanding, Springboarding

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Book SynopsisAs featured on PBS’s The Great American Read This new edition of Swift's satiric classic is based on the 1726 text—the edition textual scholars now consider the most authoritative.

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Book SynopsisThe most extensive new collection in this field published in more than three decades, English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology surveys the astonishing, and astonishingly varied, dramatic works written and performed in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.

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Book SynopsisTransforming Texts: considers why language changes, and how we transform it covers the key factors we need to take into account when transforming texts, including audience, register, mode, historical period, source and genre explores a wide variety of texts from a range of genres and periods, from Macbeth and Sense and Sensibility to Fever Pitch and The Bill offers a step-by-step guide to re-writing text; can be used as both a course text and a revision tool. Written by an experienced teacher, author and AS and A2 examiner, Transforming Texts is an essential resource for all students of AS and A2 level English Language and English Language and Literature.Trade Review'Shaun O'Toole's text is a gift ... this should be a comfort to teachers everywhere.' - EnglishDramaMediaTable of ContentsPreface 1. Language the Social Chameleon 2. Transforming Texts for Different Audiences and Purposes 3. Changing Modes: Transforming Speech and Writing 4. Transforming texts from Different Times 5. Transforming Literary Genre 6. Using Sources and Combining Texts Suggested Answers to Exercises. Glossary

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Book SynopsisThis second edition of King Richard III features a new introductory section by Janis Lull, which focuses on contemporary stage and film productions as well as recent scholarly criticism. Lull stresses the importance of women in the play but shows how female roles are often side-lined on stage and screen.Table of ContentsIntroduction: History and meaning in Richard III; Richard III and Macbeth; Plot and language in Richard III; Richard III in performance; The audience in Richard III; Recent stage, film, and critical interpretations; Note on the text; List of characters; THE PLAY; Textual analysis; Appendix 1. The Q-only 'clock' passage; Appendix 2. The Plantagenet family tree; Reading list.

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Book SynopsisYork Notes Advanced have been written by acknowledged literature experts for the specific needs of advanced level and undergraduate students. They offer an accessible approach to the study of English literature. This text focuses on Shakespeare's "Henry IV Part I".Table of Contents Study methods Introduction to the text Summaries with critical notes Themes and techniques Textual analysis of key passages Author biography Historical and literary background Modern and historical critical approaches Chronology Glossary of literary terms

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Book SynopsisTake Note for Exam Success! York Notes offer an exciting approach to English literature. This market leading series fully reflects student needs. They are packed with summaries, commentaries, exam advice, margin and textual features to offer a wider context to the text and encourage a critical analysis. York Notes, The Ultimate Literature Guides.Table of Contents Part 1: Induction Part 2: Plot and Action Part 3: Characters Part 4: Key Contexts and Themes Part 5: Language and Structure Part 6: Grade Booster Literacy Terms

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Book SynopsisYork Notes Advanced offer a fresh and accessible approach to English Literature. This market-leading series has been completely updated to meet the needs of today's A-level and undergraduate students. Written by established literature experts, York Notes Advanced intorduce students to more sophisticated analysis, a range of critical perspectives and wider contexts.Table of Contents Part 1: Introduction Part 2: The text Part 3: Critical approachs Part 4: Critical history Part 5: Background Further Reading Literacy Terms

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Book SynopsisThe alternate self is a persistent theme of modern culture. From Robert Frost to Sharon Olds, Virginia Woolf to Ian McEwan, poets and novelists—and readers—are fascinated by paths not taken. In an elegant and provocative rumination, Andrew H. Miller lingers with other selves, listening to what they have to say about our stories and our lives.Trade ReviewAn expertly curated tour of regret and envy in literature…By approaching regret and envy from multiple angles, Miller’s insightful and moving book—both in his own discussion and in the tales he recounts—gently nudges us toward consolation. Yes, we might live only one among countless possible lives, and those we haven’t lived will haunt us. But, as Miller notes in conclusion, at least we have had the chance to live the one life that has been given to us. * Wall Street Journal *Counts the ways in which narratives of unlived lives can examine or come to terms with the present…Miller believes, in short, that stories of unled lives make real life livelier…[A] capacious book. -- Daisy Hildyard * Times Literary Supplement *Miller is charming company, both humanly and intellectually. He is onto something: the theme of unled lives, and the fascinating idea that fiction intensifies the sense of provisionality that attends all lives. An extremely attractive book. -- James WoodOn Not Being Someone Else reminds us just how alluring and confounding our singularity is and how, through literature, we make sense of being ourselves. To be someone—to be anyone—is about being someone and not being someone else. Miller’s amused and inspired book is utterly compelling about this, and about so much else. -- Adam Phillips, author of One Way and Another: New and Selected EssaysA compendium of expressions of wonder over what might have been…We have unled lives for all sorts of reasons: because we make choices; because society constrains us; because events force our hands; most of all, because we are singular individuals, becoming more so with time…Swept up in our real lives, we quickly forget about the unreal ones. Still, there will be moments when, for good or ill, we feel confronted by our unrealized possibilities. -- Joshua Rothman * New Yorker *I wish I had written this book—a wish that is surely the best response to reading it… Cosmic metaphysical speculation is combined with, and conveyed through, meticulous analysis of pictures, poems, novels and films…Examining art’s capacity to transfix, multiply, and compress, this book is itself a work of art. -- Jane O’Grady * Times Higher Education *Excellent…For Miller, imagining who we might have been or once were, or who we might yet become, is anything but frivolous…In spirited and incisive close readings of texts like Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken,’ Carl Dennis’s ‘The God Who Loves You,’ and Ian McEwan’s Atonement (among many, many others), Miller pursues this slippery, elusive meaning and the many questions it leaves unanswered…The idea of unled lives could hardly be more resonant…How many literary scholars today write so engagingly? -- Morten Høi Jensen * Commonweal *Shows that the idea of lives unled is stitched into works of art across genres and across centuries, making clear that the stories we tell are often rooted in considering alternatives to the choices we’ve made. -- Linda Levitt * PopMatters *A book of admirable insight and sensitivity…Throughout this quiet, engrossing book, Miller aptly reveals the uncanny mesmerism of the unlived life, of the untaken road—our very modern preoccupation with who we are not…This is a text fresh and alive with the power and mystery of art, steeped in feeling, and, like life itself, resplendent with possibilities as yet unrealized, with knowledge not yet known. -- Alexandre Leskanich * Philosophy Now *Wonderfully lucid about murky questions of what might have been…Both literature specialists, who will appreciate Miller’s breadth of examples, and general readers, who can enjoy the universal topics he explores, will find much food for thought in this pleasant work. * Publishers Weekly *A strong, pleasing work that is as much about living as about reading and writing. * Kirkus Reviews *Fascinating. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *What a provocative book! It is interesting and alive on every page, and entertaining the idea of a different life is a profound experience. -- Michael Gorra, author of Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American MasterpieceMiller’s book is a poetics of the unled life, a poetics of ‘what if…’ Through poems, novels, films, philosophy, and psychoanalysis—the texts of our modernity—Miller leads us to profound questions about the imagination, the self and identity, history, marriage, children, regret, atonement, storytelling, and the ethics of choice. Above all, he makes us feel the pressure and immediacy of possibility, the road not taken. -- Isobel Armstrong, author of Novel Politics: Democratic Imaginations in Nineteenth-Century FictionA one-of-a-kind book that is at once literary and personal, drawing us into a world of reflection about lives we have not lived. Why do we return to the past to understand who we are now? This is a profound question, and this book explores possible answers more acutely than anything I have seen on the subject. -- Garry L. Hagberg, author of Describing Ourselves: Wittgenstein and Autobiographical ConsciousnessA thoughtful, generous, amusing, tender, meandering, self-deprecating, wistful, even reverent style of thinking about our lives in relation to the stories we read. -- Matthew Rubery * Public Books *Blend[s] literary criticism and personal essay into a beguiling hybrid…Will remain widely compelling for a long time to come, not only because of [its] many discrete merits, but because of [its] readership’s new intimacy with the ‘unled lives’ of lockdown and quarantine. -- Elizabeth Brogden * Journal of Victorian Culture *Deeply reflective and at the same time uncommonly readable…Although no book of literary criticism can be accused of being a page turner, On Not Being Someone Else comes close. * Choice *[A] marvelous, melancholic, middle-aged meditation on the meaning of lives unled…Miller is a profoundly gifted close reader—someone whose company one would like to keep, and return to again and again. -- David LaRocca * Victorian Studies *

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Book SynopsisChristopher Marlowe's story of a Scythian shepherd who through using his brutality, lust for power and also his charm becomes a mighty conqueror and the King of Persia.

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Book SynopsisWhy has a fascination with fascism re-emerged after the Cold War? What is its cultural function now, in an era of commemoration? Focusing particularly on the British context, this study offers an analysis of contemporary popular and literary fiction, film, TV and art exhibitions about Nazis and Nazism.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisArgues for the importance of ecocritical approaches within the field of Mexican Studies. This book engages with established and up-and-coming Latin American ecocritical scholars who argue that Latin America offers an important corrective to Anglocentric approaches to the Anthropocene by foregrounding colonialism and empire.Trade ReviewCarolyn Fornoff’s insightful and clearly written Subjunctive Aesthetics draws inspiration from a grammatical mood expressing uncertainty and emotion to offer a new interpretation of twenty-first-century Mexican cultural production addressing ecological catastrophe. An innovative contribution to Latin American Environmental Humanities research, Subjunctive Aesthetics stakes an eloquent claim for the capacity of literature, visual arts, and film to imagine the possibilities of a post-extractivist world." —Charlotte Rogers, author of Mourning El Dorado: Literature and Extractivism in the Contemporary American Tropics"Brilliant and wide-ranging, Subjunctive Aesthetics shows how, instead of merely translated into cultural responses based on a straightforward rendering of factual evidence, the inescapable reality of the current ecological crisis has been reimagined by writers, visual artists, and filmmakers in alternative, hypothetical, and speculative ways. This book is fundamental for anyone interested in contemporary Mexican culture and new directions in the Environmental Humanities."—Victoria Saramago, author of Fictional Environments: Mimesis, Deforestation, and Development in Latin America “Subjunctive Aesthetics is an original, innovative, and sweeping study of the narrative strategies deployed in Mexican cultural production of the 21st century in response to the climate crisis. It proposes that the subjunctive mood operates as an artistic expression to contest the definitiveness of foreclosure. In a moment of great despair towards a grim future, Subjunctive Aesthetics opens the possibilities to disrupt such closeness by mobilizing desire, emotion, and the imagination. Through innovative theories that illuminate and deepen our understanding of the climate crisis, Fornoff’s marvelous work allows us to reconsider our place in Earth while it reassures that the seed for transformations nests in potentiality.”—Gisela Heffes, author of Visualizing Loss in Latin America: Biopolitics, Waste, and the Urban Environment"This is a fantastic and timely project. The impressive depth of Fornoff’s contextual research is well matched by the nuance in her analyses."—Brian Gollnick, author of Reinventing the LacandÓn: Subaltern Representations in the Rain Forest of ChiapasTable of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Environmental Rewriting 2. Land Defense and Counterfactual Mourning 3. Extinction Poetics 4. The Rural Resilience Film 5. Greening Mexican Cinema Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA lot of people will be interested in the famous bookshops of the world: Jorge Carrión has gone and visited them all. We can''t travel right now, but we can travel in books. MARGARET ATWOODWhy do bookshops matter? How do they filter our ideas and literature? In this inventive and highly entertaining extended essay, Jorge Carrion takes his reader on a journey around the world, via its bookshops. His travels take him to Shakespeare & Co in Paris, Wells in Winchester, Green Apple Books in San Francisco, Librairie des Colonnes in Tangier, the Strand Book Store in New York and provoke encounters with thinkers, poets, dreamers, revolutionaries and readers. Bookshops is the travelogue of a lucid and curious observer, filled with anecdotes and stories from the universe of writing, publishing and selling books. A bookshop in Carrion''s eyes never just a place for material transaction; it is a meeting place for people and their ideas, a setting for world changing en

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Book SynopsisNow in paperback, The Book of Sleep is a landmark in contemporary Arabic literature. What is sleep? How can this most unproductive of human states-metaphorically called death's shadow or considered the very pinnacle of indolence-be envisioned as action and agency? And what do we become in sleep? What happens to the waking selves we understand ourselves to be? Written in the spring of 2013, as the Egyptian government of President Mohammed Morsi was unraveling in the face of widespread protests, The Book of Sleep is a landmark in contemporary Arabic literature. Drawing on the devices and forms of poetry, philosophical reflection, political analysis, and storytelling, this genre-defying work presents us with an assemblage of fragments that combine and recombine, circling around their central theme but refusing to fall into its gravity. My concern was not to create a literary product in the conventional sense, but to try and use literature as a methodology for thinking, El Wardany explains. In this volume, sleep shapes sentences and distorts conventions. Its protean instability throws out memoir and memory, dreams and hallucinatory reverie, Sufi fables and capitalist parables, in the quest to shape a question. The Book of Sleep is a generous and generative attempt to reimagine possibility and hope in a world of stifling dualities and constrictions.

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Book SynopsisWith a Pen in Her Hand, Women and Writing in Italy in the Nineteenth Century and Beyond is collection of papers covering Morandini's Risorgimento al femminile'; Ricorda's, In viaggio fra Occidente e Oriente': Ferraris', I giornali femminili della meta dell''Ottocento' and Hallamore's Caesar, Proper Behaviour: Women, the Novel, and Conduct Books in Nineteenth-Century Italy, to name a few.

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Book SynopsisIn the first comprehensive English-language portrait of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm as political thinkers and actors, Jakob Norberg reveals how history''s two most famous folklorists envisioned the role of literary and linguistic scholars in defining national identity. Convinced of the political relevance of their folk tale collections and grammatical studies, the Brothers Grimm argued that they could help disentangle language groups from one another, redraw the boundaries of states in Europe, and counsel kings and princes on the proper extent and character of their rule. They sought not only to recover and revive a neglected native culture for a contemporary audience, but also to facilitate a more harmonious and enduring relationship between the traditional political elite and an emerging national collective. Through close historical analysis, Norberg reconstructs how the Grimms wished to mediate between sovereigns and peoples, politics and culture. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

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Book SynopsisThe Routledge Introduction to English Canadian Literature and Digital Humanities is a guide to the concepts and theories at the intersection of Canadian literary studies and digital humanities (DH). Equal parts theoretical and practical, it focuses on debates that overlap the two domains. This book historicizes the connections between the two by surveying the history of DH in Canada, the tradition of Canadian writers engaging with technology, and DH analyses of Canadian literature. It also situates both CanLit and DH with respect to contemporary concerns about alterity, and it demonstrates how digital technologies allow writers and scholars to intervene in them.This book complements its theoretical discussions with a practical introduction to DH methods. Using Canadian literary texts and examples from projects at the intersection of CanLit and DH, it introduces key DH approaches to novice readers. Topics covered include data collection, data management, and textual analysis, as well as essential DH tools and the Python programming language. A concluding case study guides readers interested in applying the ideas presented throughout.

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Book SynopsisRomantic fiction has long been dismissed as trivial and denounced for peddling supposedly oppressive patriarchal myths of heterosexual love and marriage. Despite such criticism, the popularity of romantic fiction has only increased in recent decades.Drawing on research from the evolutionary sciences, Ania Grant proposes that narrative patterns of romantic stories and their enduring appeal reflect the importance of love as a fundamental human drive. She examines two of the most successful and critically scrutinized romantic narratives of the past 200 years, Jane Austenâs classic novel Pride and Prejudice and the hit television series Sex and the City, and argues that such texts simulate the cognitive and emotional complexities of mate choiceâone of the most consequential decisions from both a biological and a cultural perspective. Her biocultural analysis aligns the interpretation of romantic fiction with the feminist ideals of female autonomy and gender equality. It also suggests that positive identification with romantic heroines gives audiences the hope and energy to pursue the transformation of gender relations in real life.The book will be of interest to anyone who ever wondered why so many women (and some men) around the world are enthralled by romantic stories. It will also appeal to anyone who has ever been inspired by romantic happy endings to strive for a world in which men and women love and cooperate with each otherâeven if it seems like a utopian ideal while the war of the sexes rages on.

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