First published in 1983, Literary Theory: An Introduction is probably the best-selling work of literary criticism in the world today. It propelled its author to a position of such influence and controversy within the British academy that even Prince Charles once described him as "that dreadful Terry Eagleton".
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.
When Lucy Mangan was little, stories were everything.She was whisked away to Narnia - and Kirrin Island - and Wonderland.In Bookworm, Lucy brings the favourite characters of our collective childhoods back to life and disinters a few forgotten treasures poignantly, wittily using them to tell her own story, that of a born, and unrepentant, bookworm.
Cult heroine Zawe Ashton brings us a unique look at life, work and the absurdities of contemporary lifeZawe Ashton has been acting since she was six. In it, she encounters glamour, horror, absurdity and questions like: is a life spent more on performance than reality any life at all?
From William Shakespeare to Winston Churchill, the "Very Interesting People" series provides biographies of Britain's fascinating historical figures - people whose influence and importance have stood the test of time. This work talks about John Ruskin.
`If you want to write a novel or a script, read this book' Sunday Times
`The best book on the craft of storytelling I've ever read' Matt Haig
`Rarely has a book engrossed me more, and forced me to question everything I've ever read, seen or written. A masterpiece' Adam Rutherford
For most of the sixteenth century, English poets were clearly anxious about the grief expressed in their funeral poems and often rebuked themselves for indulging in it, but towards the end of the century this defensiveness about mourning became less pressing and persistent.
Mellor makes the persuasive argument that to understand Second World War British culture one must understand the ruined and fragmented cityscapes that it responds to. Of relevance to literary critics and cultural historians, and featuring famous and forgotten authors, this book makes modernism - and war literature - look vividly different.
Ellis explores the ways in which modernist writers like T. S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf and H. G. Wells witnessed the approach of World War II and how their writings raised profound questions emblematic of the era. No other literary study has looked at the period covered in such detail.
Evocative, engaging and filled with detail, this book explores the homes of three writers linked to the Bloomsbury Group. Bringing together stories of love and intimacy, of evolving relationships and erotic encounters, with vivid accounts of the settings in which they took place, it offers fresh insights into their complicated, interlocking lives.
British Literature of the Blitz interrogates the patriotic, utopian ideal of the People's War by analyzing conflicted representations of class and gender in literature and film. Its subtitle - Fighting the People's War - describes how British citizens both united to fight Nazi Germany and questioned the nationalist ideology binding them together.
An examination of the creative intimacy between Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf, this work interprets their relationship and their work in the light of their experience as married lesbians. It offers readings of their autobiographical texts and "Orlando".
A collection of American poetic responses to the Vietnam War. This title should be of interest to specialists in Vietnam studies, American literature and war poetry, and the general reader interested in these and similar issues.
Cumming began with a few criss-crossing lives in this fraction of English coast - the postman, the grocer, the elusive baker - but soon her search spread right out across the globe as she discovered just how many lives were affected by what happened that day on the beach - including her own.
It looks at how artists have responded to two great, contrasting works, Paradise Lost and Pilgrim's Progress; A brief coda turns to a fourth relationship: writers and artists who collaborate from the start, like Dickens and Phiz, and Lewis Carroll and Tenniel.
This abridged one-volume edition collects poetry from the original two volumes of Chapters into Verse to survey the literary legacy of the Scriptures from the fourteenth century to the present.
What was a book in early modern England? Material Texts in Early Modern England focuses on neglected bibliographical cultures, including cutting, destruction, recycling, and errors. It explores how authors including Herbert, Milton, and Cavendish responded to this rich bibliographical context.
This nuanced yet accessible study is the first to examine the range of religious experience imagined in Hopkins' writing. By exploring the shifting way in which Hopkins imagines religious belief in individual history, Martin Dubois contests established views of his poetry as a unified project.
The Remembered Dead explores the ways poets of the First World War - and later poets writing in the memory of that war - address the difficult question of how to remember, and commemorate, those killed in conflict. It looks closely at the way poets struggled to represent death, trauma, and grief.
The ancient Greeks' concept of "the hero" was very different from what we understand by the term today. In 24 installments, based on the Harvard course Nagy has taught and refined since the 1970s, The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours explores civilization's roots in Classical literature-a lineage that continues to challenge and inspire us.
Peter Childs offers accessible analyses of the work of twelve prominent contemporary British writers, including Hanif Kureishi, Pat Barker, Zadie Smith and Jeanette Winterson. This expanded second edition has been revised and updated throughout, and now also features a new chapter on the younger "generation" of novelists born in the 1970s.
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.
Maria Edgeworth was a pioneer of realist children's literature. This critical edition reveals the range of her writing for children, ranging from stories for very young children to tales for young adults, and includes The Purple Jar, The Good Aunt and The Grateful Negro.
Analysing a wide range of extracts from key works of British fiction from the Eighteenth to the Twenty-First Century, William Hutchings lucidly demonstrates how close reading can enhance appreciation of detail and illuminate whole novels.
This invaluable Guide surveys the key critical works and debates in the vibrant field of children's literature since its inception. Leading expert Pat Pinsent combines a chronological overview of developments in the genre with analysis of key theorists and theories, and subject-specific methodologies.
A lively introductory guide to English literature from Beowulf to the present day. The authors write in their characteristically lucid style and present the texts in relation to their social, political and cultural contexts. Clear and concise, the updated second edition now features a new final chapter on twenty-first century literature.
The second edition of this established introductory text has been thoroughly revised, updated and expanded to reflect current issues in the field. It features new chapters by leading names on key topics such as canon formation, fantasy, and technology, and includes an essay on children's poetry by the former Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen.
The book also features an interview with Jacqueline Wilson herself, where she discusses the challenges of writing social realism for young readers and how her writing has changed over her lengthy career.