Literary Criticism

Rediscover this deep, practical anatomy of the novel from 'the strongest ... literary critic we have' (New York Review of Books) in this new revised 10th anniversary edition.What do we mean when we say we 'know' a fictional character? What constitutes a...

In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and tricks of the masters to discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humour...

From the very first book publication in 1920 to the recent film release of Death on the Nile, this investigation into Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot celebrates a century of probably the world's favourite fictional detective. ...

'Oh grandmama, what great big teeth you have!' Charles Perrault's versions gave classic status to the humble fairy tale, and it is in his telling that the stories of Little Red Riding-Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and the rest have been passed...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780679761808Author Fran LebowitzFormat PaperbackPage Count 352Imprint Random House USA IncPublisher Random House USA Inc

Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionLonglisted for the Orwell Prize for Political WritingThe Ministry of Truth charts the life of George Orwell's 1984, one of the most influential books of the twentieth century and a work that is ever...

This study of the history of reading goes from the earliest examples of the clay tablets and cuneiform of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt via the invention of printing in the 15th century to the birth of a mass reading public and today's digital revolution...

Poet, visionary, short-story writer and autobiographer, Gerard de Nerval (1808-1855) explored the uncertain borderlines between dream and reality, irony and madness, autobiography and fiction with his groundbreaking writings. This comprehensive selection...

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR What is the nature of things? Must I think my own way through the world? What is justice? How can I be me? How should we treat each other? Before the...

Roland Barthes's 1967 essay, "The Death of the Author," argues against the traditional practice of incorporating the intentions and biographical context of an author into textual interpretation because of the resultant limitations imposed on a text...

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics... Despite dating from the 4th century BC, The Art of Rhetoric continues to be regarded by many as the single most important work on the art of persuasion...

Learn about the greatest works of literature, and the lives of those who wrote them in The Literature Book.Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Literature...

Learn the entire works of one of the greatest writers of the English language in The Shakespeare Book.Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about the works of...

In this robust new account of the Vikings, Tom Shippey explores their mindset, and in particular their fascination with scenes of heroic death. The book recounts many of the great bravura scenes of Old Norse literature, including the Fall of the House of...

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's epic retelling of the Wars of the Roses. With an expert introduction by Sir Jonathan Bate, this unique edition presents a historical overview of Henry VI in performance,...

For Fans of the Tales of Tolkien, Middle-earth, and More Learn about the man who wrote The Lord of the Rings in this Middle-earth treasury. Full of answers to common questions asked by readers to learn about Middle-earth and the fandom, this book about...

One of the three seminal works of Japanese literature, this beautiful collection of poems and tales offers an unparalleled insight into ancient Japan.Along with the Tale of Genji and One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, The Tales of Ise is considered one of...

'Listen, Stranger!' Wordsworth and Coleridge's joint collection of poems has often been singled out as the founding text of English Romanticism. Within this initially unassuming, anonymous volume were many of the poems that came to define their age...

In this remarkable little book, Will Durant answers the questions that most people would have wanted to ask him - what are the conclusions he drew from the experience of a long lifetime; what eras, individuals, and achievements stand out as being the...

Desiderata, that world-famous poem that begins, 'Go placidly amid the noise and haste', must be one of the best-loved poems in the English language, revered by many as the ideal philosophy of life. Few people realise that it was written in 1927 by the...

Board: AQA Examination: English Language & Literature Specification: GCSE 9-1 Set Text covered: Macbeth by William Shakespeare Type: Essay Planner This book answers the question 'What do great answers look like?'...

The centenary of Patrick Kavanagh's birth in 2004 provides the ideal opportunity to reappraise one of modern Ireland's greatest poets. From a harsh, humble background that he himself described so brilliantly, Kavanagh burst through immense constraints to...

This is a one volume, up-to-date collection of more than fifty wide-ranging essays which will inspire and guide students of the Renaissance and provide course leaders with a substantial and helpful frame of reference. Provides new perspectives on...

With a new introduction by the authorPeter Jackson's film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy - and the accompanying Rings-related paraphernalia and publicity - has played a unique role in the disemmination of Tolkien's imaginative...

The first authorized copy of this mysterious, much-speculated-upon, one-of-a-kind, centuries-old puzzle"For the first time, a complete reproduction [of] The Voynich Manuscript, has been published, featuring essays exploring what is known about the book...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780964279506Author Michael Andre-DriussiFormat HardbackPage Count 440Imprint Sirius FictionPublisher Sirius FictionWeight(grams) 798gDimensions(mm) 229mm *...

This is the OCR-endorsed edition covering the Latin A-Level (Group 4) prescription of Ovid, Fasti 2.533-616, 687-852, giving full Latin text, commentary and vocabulary, with a detailed introduction that also covers the prescribed material to be read in...

From the Royal Shakespeare Company - a modern, definitive edition of Shakespeare's magical late play. With an expert introduction by Sir Jonathan Bate, this unique edition presents a historical overview of Cymbeline in performance, takes a detailed look...

Competitive price and format. Compacted and up-to-date version of the earlier Revels Plays edition by the same editor, taking account of more recent critical works. A key Renaissance text.About the AuthorN.W. Bawcutt, formerly Reader in English...

A love letter to the joys of childhood reading from Wonderland to Narnia.When Lucy Mangan was little, stories were everything. They opened up new worlds and cast light on all the complexities she encountered in this one.She was whisked away to Narnia -...

Eclectic essays on ethics, education, and much else besides.Plutarch (Plutarchus), ca. AD 45-120, was born at Chaeronea in Boeotia in central Greece, studied philosophy at Athens, and, after coming to Rome as a teacher in philosophy, was given...

Schuchard's critical study draws upon previously unpublished and uncollected materials in showing how T.S. Eliot's personal voice works through the sordid, the bawdy, the blasphemous, and the horrific to create a unique moral world and the only theory of...

The immigration man read my deportation order, looked at it and handed it back to me. 'Are you Irish?' he asked me. 'No' I said 'as a matter of fact, I'm Yemenite Arab.' Two detectives came forward who were evidently there to meet me. 'Apparently he is...

An energizing real-time journey through the translation of Never Did the Fire and the process of literary translation.In Catching Fire , the translation of Diamela Eltit's Never Did the Fire unfolds in real time as a conversation between works of art,...

'Arms and the man I sing of Troy...' So begins one of the greatest works of literature in any language. Written by the Roman poet Virgil more than two thousand years ago, the story of Aeneas' seven-year journey from the ruins of Troy to Italy, where...

For centuries people have been tormented by one question above all - 'If God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain?' And what of the suffering of animals, who neither deserve pain nor can be improved by it? ...

Published posthumously in 1964, A Moveable Feast remains one of Ernest Hemingway's most beloved works. Since Hemingway's personal papers were released in 1979, scholars have examined and debated the changes made to the text before publication. Now this...

Lyric poetry has long been considered an art form of timelessness, but Romantic poets became fascinated by one time above all others: evening, the threshold between day and night. Christopher R. Miller investigates the cultural background of this...

Critically acclaimed as one of Shakespeare's most complex and intriguing plays, Twelfth Night is a classic romantic comedy of mistaken identities. In recent years it has returned to the centre of critical debate surrounding gender and sexuality. The...

"Superbly acute and unashamedly complex."-The Telegraph "Rich and provocative."-Times Literary Supplement "An engaging exploration."-The New Yorker"The phenomenal Ms. Beard has written another cracking book, one of her best."-The Independent What made...