In Politics and the English Language, Orwell takes aim at the language used in politics, which, he says, 'is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind'. This essay is just as relevant today, and gives the reader a vital understanding of the tactics at play in political language.

Politics vs. Literature is, at heart, a review of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Using the book as an example of enjoying a book whose author one cannot stand, Orwell goes on to say that he considers Gulliver's Travels a work of art, leaving the reader to reconsider the books on their own shelves.

John Fletcher was Shakespeare's successor as chief playwright for the King's Company and wrote or collaborated on 54 plays. This book focuses on the social and political tensions that motivate his plays, and argues that knowledge of his works is essential to an understanding of Renaissance drama.

This volume ranges from the Second World War to the postmodern, considering issues of the 'popular' and the competing criteria by which literature has been judged in the later twentieth century.

In this important book, Ken Gelder offers an account of popular fiction as a distinctive literary and cultural field, tied directly to the logics and practices of entertainment and industry.

A revelatory biography of the American master as told through the lens of his greatest novel.

Elif Batuman's comical treatise on reading Russian literature introduces an exciting and original new talent.

Introduces key issues involved in the study of postcolonial literature including diasporas, postcolonial nationalisms, indigenous identities and politics and globalization. This book also contains a chapter on afterlives and adaptations that explores a range of wider cultural texts including film, non-fiction and art.

An interdisciplinary guide to the various concepts, practices and cultural products that have come to be known as 'postcolonial'. It provides an essential orientation map for undergraduates taking courses in postcolonial literature and theory and postcolonial studies.

Postcolonialism as a critical approach and pedagogic practice has informed literary and cultural studies since the late 1980s. This book addresses the many concerns, forms and 'specializations' of postcolonialism, including gender and sexuality studies, the nations and nationalism, space and place, and history and politics.

Presents an accessible and comprehensive introduction to literature and culture in post-war Britain. This title includes: introductions to authors, texts and contexts; guides to key critics, concepts and topics; an overview of major critical approaches; case studies in reading primary and secondary texts; and a glossary of critical terms.

An eclectic and entirely original history of reading from eminent social historian Frank Furedi.

'I salute him with the most heartfelt respect and admiration' PHILIP PULLMAN 'One of Britain's greatest writers' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Alan Garner's world is unbearably beautiful and dangerous' GUARDIAN

Practical criticism underlies everything students of English literature do. This book is a practical, step-by-step guide which shows the student how to gain a sense of what a poem or passage of prose or drama is about, how to analyse it and how to build a successful essay.

In the tradition of Walter Benjamin and with the journalistic attunement of Joan Didion, Jacqueline Feldman tells the story of Le Bloc, a legendary squat at the far edge of Paris which housed artists and activists.

In The Prevention of Literature, Orwell discusses the effect of the ownership of the press on the accuracy of reports of events, and takes aim at political language, which 'consists almost entirely of prefabricated phrases bolted together.' It is a stirring cry for freedom from censorship, which Orwell says must start with the writer themselves.

Print Culture Histories Beyond the Metropolis focuses attention to how the residents of smaller cities, provincial districts, rural settings, and colonial outposts have produced, disseminated, and read print materials.

Featuring a general introduction to contemporary print culture and publishing studies, the volume includes 42 influential and innovative pieces of writing, arranged around themes such as authorship, women and print culture, colonial and postcolonial publishing and globalisation.

Explores our brains' near-miraculous ability to arrange and re-arrange themselves in response to external circumstances. This title examines how this 'open architecture', the elasticity of our brains, helps and hinders humans in their attempts to learn to read, and to process the written language.

An arresting study of the life, times, and achievement of one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century