First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Tracing the developing modernist aesthetic in the thought and writings of James Joyce, Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf, this book considers the cultural, social and personal influences upon the three writers. It explores the connections between their theories, and gives attention to their work on various aspects.

Who is more important: the reader, or the writer? Addressing the issue, this book aims to challenge perceived wisdom. It brings some radical ideas to a wide audience, and argues persuasively for a totally practical way of reading. It is suitable for those interested in the development of literary theory.

Eight new stories from eight literary writers at the height of their powers, all inspired by myth and legend. Stories by Sarah Hall, Graeme Macrae Burnet, Adam Thorpe, Edward Carey, Sarah Moss, Alison Macleod, Paul Kingsnorth and Fiona Mozley.

Annie Ernaux turns her penetrating focus on those points in life where the everyday and the extraordinary intersect, where "things seen" reflect a private life meeting the larger world. Ernaux's thought-provoking observations map the world's fleeting and lasting impressions on the shape of inner life.

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'.

Necrophilia is not one of my failings, but I do like graveyards and memorial stones and such... Following the publication In My Mind's Eye, her acclaimed first volume of diaries, a Radio 4 Book of the Week in 2018, Jan Morris continued to write her daily musings.

The way that characters in early modern theatrical performance think through their surroundings is important in our understanding of perception, memory, and other forms of embodied affective thought. This book explores this concept in dramatic works by Marlowe, Shakespeare, Beaumont, and Jonson.

Thinking with Literature offers a succinct introduction to a cognitive literary criticsm. Broad in scope but focusing on a particular cluster of approaches, it aims to induce a change of perspective in the reader.

2015 Winner of the Poetry Foundation Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism. This Dialogue of One collects thirteen essays on English, French and American poets by one of the era's most engaging and highly esteemed poet-critics. Witty, astute and wide-ranging.

Craig Brown (no not the Scottish football manager) is the funniest, the most revered and the most prolific humorist we have. This collection of parody, satire, whimsy and wit, includes extracts and articles from Private Eye, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, Vanity Fair, The Mail on Sunday, The Spectator and many more.

These days it is impossible to get away from discussions of whether the book will survive the digital revolution. This book presents conversations in which Jean-Claude Carriere and Umberto Eco discuss everything from how to define the first book to what is happening to knowledge now that infinite amounts of digital information is available.

"Wonderfully dark, relentlessly slippery ... I read this entire memoir with my breath held" Julie Myerson, The Observer

"What is this thing called literature? What is the point of studying literature? How do I study literature? Relating literature to timeless topics such as dreams, politics, life, death, the ordinary and the crazy, this beautifully written book establishes a sense of why and how literature is an exciting and rewarding subject to study. Bennett and Royle delicately weave an essential love of literature into an account of what literary texts do, how they work and what sort of questions and ideas they provoke.The book's three parts reflect the key components of studying literature: reading, thinking and writing. Part One comprises short chapters on reading a poem, reading a novel, reading a story, and reading a play. Part Two considers what thinking is, especially in relation to critical thinking and thinking about literature. Part three includes practical chapters on writing an essay, creative writing, and writing fiction. The authors use helpful, familiar examples throughout and offer brief reflections on questions such as 'What is literature?', on 'English' as a war zone, on crisis management and literary criticism, on dictionaries and on what the authors call creative reading. Bennett and Royle's lucid and friendly style engages and encourages personal experience of this thing called literature"--

An overview of the life and work of the scandalous Renaissance writer Thomas Nashe.

A historical novel

A dynamic selection of Linton Kwesi Johnson's most powerful prose writings, brought together for the first time.

A collection of essays by Ben Okri, one of Britain's foremost poets, and a Booker Prize-winning novelist, that explore such diverse themes as childhood and creativity, beauty, censorship, art and politics.

A new expanded edition of Tolkien's most famous, and most important essay, which defined his conception of fantasy as a literary form, and which led to the writing of The Lord of the Rings. Accompanied by a critical study of the history and writing of the text.

This richly illustrated book explores the huge creative endeavour behind Tolkien's enduring popularity. Lavishly illustrated with over 300 images of his manuscripts, drawings, maps and letters, the book traces the creative process behind his most famous literary works and reproduces personal photographs and private papers.