Literary Criticism

After the composition of the Decameron, and under the influence of Petrarch's humanism, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) devoted the last decades of his life to compiling encyclopedic works in Latin. Among them is Famous Women, the first collection of...

The definitive biography of one of the twentieth century's finest poets, Siegfried Sassoon combines material from The Making of a War Poet and The Journey from the Trenches, the two bestselling volumes on Sassoon from his biographer and foremost scholar,...

'A wonderful read.' Irish Times'Sad, gripping and powerful.' Margaret Drabble'Superbly clear, intimate and evocative.' New York TimesFrom the former poet laureate, Andrew Motion, In the Blood is an unforgettable evocation of family, school and country...

'The moment I got my job at Virago in 1978 I knew it would be a long time before I would leave. I certainly wouldn't have had the brazen hope then-only twenty-five and very recently new to Britain-that I would ever become the Publisher, but I did know...

First published in 1960, Albert B. Lord's The Singer of Tales remains the fundamental study of the distinctive techniques and aesthetics of oral epic poetry. Based upon pathbreaking fieldwork conducted in the 1930s and 1950s among oral epic singers of...

The second book in the Why I Write series provides generous insight into the creative process of the award-winning Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgaard "Why I Write" may prove to be the most difficult question Karl Ove Knausgaard has struggled to...

In John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, the pilgrims cannot reach the Celestial City without passing through Vanity Fair, where everything is bought and sold. In recent years there has been much analysis of commerce and consumption in Britain during the...

In a magisterial work, Jaan Puhvel unravels the prehistoric Indo-Euopean origins of the traditions of India and Iran, Greece and Rome, of the Celts, Germans, Balts, and Slavs. Utilizing the methodologies of historical linguistics and archaeology, he...

James Joyce is one of the most famous--and controversial--writers of the twentieth century. The myth of his difficulty has discouraged many readers from works such as "Ulysses," but David Norris explores his life and work in this engaging and...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781621066118Author Carla ButwinFormat HardbackPage Count 128Imprint Microcosm PublishingPublisher Microcosm Publishing

'A remarkable book...wise and arresting' Sarah Winman'Exquisite... a deeply insightful memoir which charts our fundamental longings for place and identity, and ultimately our yearnings for love.' Helena KennedySingle, in her mid-forties and having...

Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland is a cultural phenomenon. First published in 1865, it has never been out of print and has been translated into 170 languages. But why does it have such enduring and universal appeal for both adults and children? ...

From the critically acclaimed author Sally Bayley, The Green Lady is a poignant, brilliant exploration of the relationships between children and their teachers. In the style of her memoir Girl with Dove, this book explores a child’s search for artistic...

This is a useful collection of 130 passages from Greek authors, ideal for students from pre-GCSE to A Level. Part 1 contains ten passages for the new Intermediate Certificate and twenty at GCSE level. Part 2 contains thirty lightly adapted post-GCSE...

Like every other play in the Cambridge School Shakespeare series, Measure for Measure has been specially prepared to help all students in schools and colleges. This version of Measure for Measure aims to be different from other editions of the play. It...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780061430800Author Francine ProseFormat PaperbackPage Count 336Imprint CollinsPublisher HarperCollins Publishers IncWeight(grams) 263gDimensions(mm) 199mm *...

With fresh insight and contemporary relevance, Radium of the Word argues that a study of the form of language yields meanings otherwise inaccessible through ordinary reading strategies. Attending to the forms of words rather than to their denotations,...

The inescapable reality of death has given rise to much of literature's most profound and moving work. D. J. Enright's wonderfully eclectic selection presents the words of poet and novelist, scientist and philosopher, mystic and sceptic. And alongside...

This trenchant and illuminating book by one of Africa's most influential and celebrated writers is a major statement on the importance and dangers of stories, one in which Achebe makes telling use of his personal experiences to examine the political...

This Companion has been thoroughly revised to take account of recent scholarship and to provide a clear and accessible introduction for those encountering Old English literature for the first time. Including seventeen essays by distinguished scholars,...

Tales throughout the world generally place fabulous beasts in marginal locations - deserts, deep woods, remote islands, glaciers, ocean depths, mountain peaks, caves, swamps, heavenly bodies and alternate universes. Legends tell us that imaginary...

An understanding of Dante the theologian as distinct from Dante the poet has been neglected in an appreciation of Dante's work as a whole. That is the starting-point of this vital new book. In giving theology fresh centrality, the author argues that...

Revision might seem to be an intrinsic part of good writing. But Hannah Sullivan argues that we inherit our faith in the virtues of redrafting from early-twentieth-century modernism. Closely examining changes made in manuscripts, typescripts, and proofs...

World-renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores the playwright's insight into bad (and often mad) rulers. Examining the psyche-and psychoses-of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear and Coriolanus, Greenblatt illuminates the ways in...

This book contains eighteen original essays by leading Joyce scholars on the eighteen separate chapters of "Ulysses". It attempts to explore the richness of Joyce's extraordinary novel more fully than could be done by any single scholar. Joyce's habit of...

Bestselling novels by Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and a multitude of others have enchanted us by blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Their genre of writing has been variously defined as 'magic', 'magical' or...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781375385923Author Cengage Learning GaleFormat PaperbackPage Count 46Imprint Gale, Study GuidesPublisher Gale, Study GuidesWeight(grams) 54gDimensions(mm)...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780854481705Author Iain SinclairFormat HardbackPage Count 72Imprint The Swedenborg SocietyPublisher The Swedenborg Society

In her compendious study, [of the folktale of the runaway wife] Leavy argues that the contradictory claims of nature and culture are embodied in the legendary figure of the swan maiden, a woman torn between the human and bestial worlds. --The New York...

This is the first full-scale edition of Cymbeline for 37 years. During that time, there has been considerable interest in Shakespeare's late work in the theatre, and several notable productions have demonstrated the powerful impact of Cymbeline. Based...

Engaging with histories of the book and of reading, as well as with studies of material culture, this volume explores 'popularity' in early modern English writings. Is 'popular' best described as a theoretical or an empirical category in this period?...

No Hamlets is the first critical account of the role of Shakespeare in the intellectual tradition of the political right in Germany from the founding of the Empire in 1871 to the 'Bonn Republic' of the Cold War era. In this sustained study, Andreas...

Antigone is universally celebrated as the ultimate figure of ethical resistance to the state power which oversteps its legitimate scope and as the defender of simple human dignity (more important than all political struggles). But is she really so...

Personal prayer books and the jottings in their margins tell us about their owners and about life in late medieval and Reformation England In this richly illustrated book, religious historian Eamon Duffy discusses the Book of Hours, unquestionably the...

Throughout the history of imperial China, the educated elite used various means to criticize government policies and actions. During the Song dynasty (960-1278), some members of this elite found an elegant and subtle means of dissent: landscape painting...

Dickens' rise to fame and his world-wide popularity were by no means inevitable. He started out with no clear career in mind, drifting in and out of the theatre, journalism and editing before finding unexpected success as a creative writer. Taking...

Classical Rhetoric, the art of persuasion, formed the sum and substance of Shakespeare's education and was the basis of his understanding of the power of language and how it worked to move, delight and teach. Rhetoric, which seeks to explain the way...

Everywhere today, we are urged to "connect." Literary critics celebrate a new "honesty" in contemporary fiction or call for a return to "realism." Yet such rhetoric is strikingly reminiscent of earlier theorizations. Two of the most famous injunctions of...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781585102273Author VergilFormat PaperbackPage Count 188Imprint Focus Publishing/R Pullins & CoPublisher Focus Publishing/R Pullins & CoWeight(grams) 313g

In this critical biography of Robert Desnos (1900-1945), Katharine Conley reevaluates the surrealist movement through the life and works of one of its founders. Desnos was as famous among the surrealists for his independence of mind as for his elaborate...