Literary Criticism

The celebrated English translation of this classic work of Chinese literature is now available in an updated paperback edition. Written in 1598 by Tang Xianzu, The Peony Pavilion is one of literature's most memorable love stories and a masterpiece of...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780813946849Author Taylor EgganFormat PaperbackPage Count 296Imprint University of Virginia PressPublisher University of Virginia PressWeight(grams) 152g

How can thinkers grapple with the question of the human when they have been dehumanized? How can black thinkers confront and make sense of a world structured by antiblackness, a world that militates against the very existence of blacks? These are the...

Nearly all of us have studied poetry and been taught to look for the symbolic as well as literal meaning of the text. Is this the way the ancients saw poetry? In Birth of the Symbol, Peter Struck explores the ancient Greek literary critics and theorists...

Most Batman fans have enjoyed the Dark Knight in comics or on the big screen and are eagerly anticipating the release of the new Justice League movie. But only real fans know the other characters who have donned the cowl in place of Bruce Wayne, or know...

Jo Labanyi and Luisa Elena Delgado provide the first cultural history of modern literatures in Spain. With contributors Helena Buffery, Kirsty Hooper, and Mari Jose Olaziregi, they showcase the country's cultural richness and complexity by working across...

Little, if anything, is known historically of Arthur, yet for centuries the romances of Arthur and his court dominated the imaginative literature of Europe in many languages. The roots of this vast flowering of the Arthurian legend are to be found in...

The last two volumes of Casanova's account of his extraordinary life include the story of his imprisonment in Buen Retiro, his trip to Madrid and his affair with Dona Ignacia, his journey to Barcelona and his detention in the Tower, his encounter with...

Christopher Morgan writes with keen critical insight on the controversial poet R. S. Thomas, considered to be one of the leading writers of the twentieth century. This is the first book to treat Thomas's entire oeuvre and will prove to be an...

Cigarettes are bad for you; that is why they are so good. With its origins in the author's urgent desire to stop smoking, Cigarettes Are Sublime offers a provocative look at the literary, philosophical, and cultural history of smoking. Richard Klein...

Volume Five of this Pacific Profiles series presents the most accurate colour profiles to date of Japanese Navy land based Zero fighters in the "South Seas" theatre: New Guinea, Rabaul and the Solomons. Illustrated by unit are abundant examples of the...

"All you can usually say about a poem or a picture is, 'Look at it, listen to it.' Whether you listen to a piece of music or a poem, or look at a picture or a jug or a piece of sculpture, what matters about it is not what it has in common with others of...

For more than forty years, Paul Cantor's Shakespeare's Rome has been a foundational work in the field of politics and literature. While many critics assumed that the Roman plays do not reflect any special knowledge of Rome, Cantor was one of the first to...

Allegory is a vast subject, and its knotty history is daunting to students and even advanced scholars venturing outside their own historical specializations. This Companion will present, lucidly, systematically, and expertly, the various threads that...

Georges Bataille (1897 - 1962) was a philosopher, writer, and literary critic whose work has had a significant impact across disciplines as diverse as philosophy, sociology, economics, art history and literary criticism, as well as influencing key...

The Great War of 1914-1918 marks a turning point in modern history and culture. This Companion offers critical overviews of the major literary genres and social contexts that define the study of the literatures produced by the First World War. The volume...

After an historical survey of A Midsummer Night's Dream from Shakespeare's time through to the 19th century, Jay Halio focuses primarily on 20th century productions and adaptations, for film and television as well as for the stage. Chapters are devoted...

David Gallop provides a Greek text and a new facing-page translation of the extant fragments of Parmenides' philosophical poem. He also includes the first complete translation into English of the contexts in which the fragments have been transmitted to...

The adventures and antics of James Bond have provided the world with many of the most gripping story lines of the last half-century. Fleming's novels were bestsellers in their day, and the Bond films have been even more popular, becoming the most...

The simple yet grand language of the King James Bible has pervaded American culture from the beginning - and its powerful eloquence continues to be felt even today. In this book, acclaimed biblical translator and literary critic Robert Alter traces some...

A COMPANION TO & EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY POETRY A COMPANION TO & EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY POETRYEdited by Christine Gerrard This wide-ranging Companion reflects the dramatic transformation that has taken place in the study of eighteenth-century poetry over the past...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781585426423Author Ralph Waldo EmersonFormat PaperbackPage Count 176Imprint Jeremy P TarcherPublisher Penguin Putnam IncDimensions(mm) 178mm * 127mm * 23mm

This inclusive guide to Modernist literature considers the 'high' Modernist writers such as Eliot, Joyce, Pound and Yeats alongside women writers and writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Challenges the idea that Modernism was conservative and reactionary...

Mock trial-Roman style.The Major Declamations stand out for their unique contribution to our understanding of the final stage in Greco-Roman rhetorical training. These exercises, in which students learned how to compose and deliver speeches on...

Hafiz, the greatest lyric poet of Persia, was first introduced to English readers in the translation by Sir William Jones in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The present selection (fifty poems, with their English poetical versions by fourteen...

This serious, scholarly treatment of 20 imaginary beings, from dragon and phoenix to giants and fairies, discusses the origin of each as an idea, its symbolism and lore, and its appearances in art, literature, or film. . . . Extensive bibliographies...

Synopsis coming soon.......Book InformationISBN 9780743200318Author NorwichFormat PaperbackPage Count 432Imprint Simon & SchusterPublisher Simon & SchusterWeight(grams) 410gDimensions(mm) 215mm * 140mm * 25mm

This ground-breaking book provides an abundance of fresh insights into Shakespeare's life in relation to his lost family home, New Place. The findings of a major archaeological excavation encourage us to think again about what New Place meant to...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Who ponders the sock? This common object is something people tug on and take off daily with hardly a thought. Unraveling the garment's history,...

First published by Peter Owen in 1993, this book brings together Muriel Spark's writings on the Bronte sisters, including a selection of their letters and a selection of Emily Bronte's poems. Perceptively but unsentimentally, Spark considers the Brontes'...

The Short Story of the Novel is a new and innovative introduction to the best works of fiction from the last 500 years. Simply constructed, the book explores 60 key novels from The Tale of Genji to My Brilliant Friend.In addition to enjoyable...

The new ways of writing pioneered by the literary avant-garde invite new ways of reading commensurate with their modes of composition. Dictionary Poetics examines one of those modes: book-length poems, from Louis Zukofsky to Harryette Mullen, all...

Marxism has had an enormous impact on literary and cultural studies, and all those interested in the field need to be aware of its achievements. This collection presents the very best of recent Marxist literary criticism in one single volume. An...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781635572247Author Deborah LevyFormat PaperbackPage Count 128Imprint Bloomsbury PublishingPublisher Bloomsbury PublishingWeight(grams) 136gDimensions(mm)...

Samuel Beckett's work has entranced generations of readers with its portrayal of the end times. Beckett's characters are preoccupied with death, and the specters of cataclysm and extinction overshadow their barren, bleak worlds. Yet somehow, they endure,...

Love has been an important trope in the literature of the region we now call the Middle East, from ancient times to modern. This book analyses love poetry in various ancient and contemporary languages of the Middle East, including Akkadian, ancient...

The first collection of essays in the English language dedicated to the cultural achievements and politics of one of the most important ruling houses of late medieval Europe. The house of Luxembourg between 1308 and 1437 is best known today for its...

The book offers an interpretation of Euripides' The Trojan Women which issues from the argument that the function of Greek tragedy was to educate. The author demonstrates that the play performs its function by examining Athenian ideology. By making the...

Irish Modernism and the Politics of Sexual Health explores the politicized role of sexual health as a concept, discourse, and subject of debate within Irish literary culture from 1880 to 1960. Combining perspectives from Irish Studies, Modernist Studies,...

In Doctor Faustus, his last major novel, Thomas Mann attempted to interpret and judge Germany's role in European culture and history since the Reformation. Through the figures of the solitary avant-garde composer, Adrian Leverkuhn, and his often bemused...