This successful introductory textbook simultaneously develops advanced skills in reading texts and the ability to think in sophisticated ways about the defining concepts of contemporary English Studies. Fully revised and updated, the second edition now also includes new sections on 'English Language' and 'Creative Writing'.

This volume offers students, writers, and serious fans a window into some of the most popular topics, styles and periods in this subject. Authors studied in 'Irish Fiction' include Maria Edgeworth, Sydney Owenson, Gerald Griffin, Charles Lever, Edith Somerville, George Moore and James Joyce.

Reveals how novels of political estrangement have drawn on cultural narratives to capture the zeitgeist of the 20th Century and the disillusionment of modernism. In this book, the author adds political novels to those inquiries and argues that they make a distinctive and hitherto neglected contribution to the collective memory of the 20th Century.

* Provides new perspectives on established texts. * Orientates the new student, while providing advanced students with current and new directions. * Pioneered by leading scholars. * Occupies a unique niche in Renaissance studies. * Illustrated with 12 single--page black and white prints. .

A sparkling, revelatory new biography by the award-winning author of Michael Tippett celebrates Noel Coward as a pioneer in life, art and sexuality

The Philosophy of Modern Literary Theory presents a short introduction to the problems, theories and concepts of literary criticism, from Anglo-American New Criticism to Deconstruction and Postmodernism.

A Concise Companion to Contemporary British Fiction offers an authoritative overview of contemporary British fiction in its social, political, and economic contexts. Focuses on the fiction that has emerged since the late 1970s, roughly since the start of the Thatcher era. Comprises original essays from major scholars.

Against Nazi dictatorship,the disillusionment of Weimar, and Christian austerity, Hermann Hesse's stories inspired a nonconformist yearning for universal values to supplant fanaticism in all its guises. He reenters our world through Gunnar Decker's biography-a champion of spiritual searching in the face of mass culture and the disenchanted life.

This volume presents original case-histories of readers to delve into just what reading is and how it works. Each chapter begins with a poem or excerpt which becomes the scene either of a reading-group transcription or of a thought-piece from an interviewed reader to explore therapeutic reading and how culture might impact upon health.

Tolkien's Lost Chaucer uncovers the story of an unpublished and previously unknown book by the author of The Lord of the Rings. It reveals how major episodes from the trilogy were inspired by Tolkien's editing and teaching of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Revised and updated throughout, the third edition of this best-selling book traces the development of one of the world's richest literatures from the old English period to the present day. It now features a full chapter on the contemporary period, with more on genres and the impact of globalisation.

The third edition of this leading text provides a comprehensive guide to literary study. Emphasis has been placed on contextualizing literature and this updated version takes these changes into account by incorporating more material on historical and cultural contexts as well as in-depth discussions on novels, drama and poetry.

Explores the elements of fiction, providing practical writing techniques and examples. Written in a tone that is personal and non-prescriptive, this book encourages students to develop proficiency through each step of the writing process. It also integrates diverse, contemporary short stories in every chapter.

This book explores the ways in which reading for pleasure is changing in the era of globalisation and datafication. Raising the next generation of engaged readers requires knowledge of the enduring characteristics of engagement and markers of quality in books and e-books.

Focusing on Virginia Woolf, the author demonstrates how Woolf used her illness intelligently and creatively in her theories of fiction, of mental functioning, and of self structure.

Looking at travel writing by British women from the seventeenth century on, Karen R. Lawrence asks an intriguing question: What happens when, instead of waiting patiently for Odysseus, Penelope voyages and records her journey...

The Oxford Handbook of English Prose 1500-1640 is the only available overview of early modern English prose writing. It considers the range and variety of the substance and types of English prose, and also analyses the forms and styles of writing adopted in the early modern period.

This Companion is the first place to look for information on authors, illustrators, printers, publishers, and others involved in children's literature, and on the stories and characters at their centre. Written both to entertain and to instruct, it is a reference work that no-one interested in the world of children's books should be without

By historicizing the specific political, social and economic conflicts at work within the notion of Romantic childhood, the essayists in this book show how little these forces have changed over time and how enriching and empowering they can still be for children and adults.

An examination of developments in contemporary narrative, placing them in the context of wider social, cultural and technological trends, using a case-study approach. Taking a case study approach, it traces key narrative developments in the context of a range of theoretical approaches, including multimodality, multilingualism and transliteracy.

This important new work explores the symbolic geographies found within modern black fiction and identifies a significant set of relations between these geographies and communal affiliations, identity politics, and understandings of a diasporic past.