Literary Criticism

Kafka first made the acquaintance of Milena Jesenska in 1920 when she was translating his early short prose into Czech, and their relationship quickly developed into a deep attachment. Such...

Brendan Behan wrote over one hundred articles for Irish newspapers between 1951 and 1956 as he rose to international fame, with most of them written in a weekly column in...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'An intoxicating mixture of poetry and prose, Slug is a taboo-busting delight' SCOTSMAN 'One of the best poets we have' MATT HAIG 'She writes with honesty, conviction,...

Every now and again I need to get down here, to get into the Diogenes tub, as it were, or the Colmcille beehive hut, or the Mossbawn scullery. At any...

The words of its writers are part of the texture of Dublin, an invisible counterpart to the bricks and pavement we see around us. Beyond the ever-present footsteps of James...

Bird by Bird is the bible of writing guides - a wry, honest, down-to-earth book that has never stopped selling since it was first published in the United States in...

A charmingly idiosyncratic look at writing, creativity, and the author's own novels.Haruki Murakami's myriad fans will be delighted by this unique look into the mind of a master storyteller. In...

In Suppose a Sentence, Brian Dillon turns his attention to the oblique and complex pleasures of the sentence. A series of essays prompted by a single sentence - from Shakespeare...

Winner of the 2016 EDGAR, AGATHA, MACAVITY and H.R.F.KEATING crime writing awards, this real-life detective story investigates how Agatha Christie and colleagues in a mysterious literary club transformed crime fiction....

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAs Heard on NPR's This American Life'The delights he extols here (music, laughter, generosity, poetry, lots of nature) are bulwarks against casual cruelties . . ....

While Frank O'Connor was known primarily as one of Ireland's finest short-story writers, he was also an accomplished translator. In the long line of Irish writers given to translating poems...

From 'Best of the Booker' winner Salman Rushdie, an incisive and inspiring collection of non-fiction essays, criticism and speeches that takes readers on a thrilling journey through the evolution of...

Ulysses is one of the foundational texts of modern literature, yet has a reputation for complexity and controversy. In Ulysses Unbound, Joyce expert Terence Killeen untangles this seemingly knotty classic...

What do we mean when we claim affinity with an object or picture, or say affinities exist between such things?Affinities is a critical and personal study of a sensation that...

Annie Ernaux's father died exactly two months after she passed her exams for a teaching certificate. Barely educated and valued since childhood strictly for his labour, Ernaux's father had grown...

A Guest at the Feast uncovers the places where politics and poetics meet, where life and fiction overlap, where one can be inside writing and also outside of it.From the...

'This is the Pandora's Box of self-help books.' - Conan O'BrienOne of this generation's hottest and boldest young comedians, Daniel Sloss presents a transgressive and hilarious analysis of all of...

A Sunday Times BestsellerChristopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was a matchless writer, debater and humanist. Throughout his life he shone the light of reason and truth into the eyes of charlatans and...

Where, or what, is home? What has it meant, historically and personally, to be 'Italian' or 'English', or both in a culture that prefers us to choose? What does it...

Imagine a type of writing so hard to define its very name means a trial, effort or attempt. An ancient form with an eye on the future, a genre poised...

Twentieth Anniversary Edition with Contributions from Joe Hill and Owen King Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this special edition of Stephen King's critically lauded, million-copy bestseller shares...

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERPICKED BY THE SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT, IRISH TIMES, SPECTATOR, TLS, NEW STATESMAN, MAIL ON SUNDAY, I PAPER, PROSPECT, REVEW31 AND EVENING STANDARD AS A BOOK...

'Here's something I know to be true, although it's a little corny, and I don't quite know what to do with it: What I regret most in my life are...

Life at Full Tilt is a whirlwind tour of Dervla Murphy s travels. It begins in Spain in 1956, before her first book, and follows in her tracks for over...

THE NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'Irby might be our great bard of quarantine.' New York Times'SO funny. Samantha Irby makes staying in feel like like a luxury, and reminds...

'A loot drop of brilliance' Naomi Alderman, author of The PowerWhether you're an avid gamer, a Twitch subscriber, or just an incidental Subway Surfer, video games have changed the way...

'Good writers offer advice. Great writers offer condolences' If you want to be a writer, then you'd better be ready to hurl yourself at the door. That's the message from...

'Mary Gaitskill is willing to think about the problematic with complexity and humanity, and without taking sides or engaging in all the fashionable moral hectoring that passes for serious thought...

AI is changing the world at frightening speed. A bestselling author decides to find out more...'It'll really make you think, if you can stop laughing.' Chris Addison, co-creator of BreedersIs...

A Bloody and Barbarous God investigates the relationship between gnosticism, a system of thought that argues that the cosmos is evil and that the human spirit must strive for liberation...

The inspiring novels that have left a significant mark on the world of literature and popular culture. Before the novel, the world of books was dominated by scientific tomes, religious...

The gold standard anthology for anyone who wants to understand the development and current state of literary theory. Offering 191 pieces by 157 authors, The Norton Anthology of Theory and...

The title, The Government of the Tongue, carries suggestions of both monastic discipline and untrammelled romanticism, and is meant to raise an old question about the rights and status of...

Could drugs offer a new way of seeing the world? In 1953, in the presence of an investigator, Aldous Huxley took four-tenths of a gramme of mescalin, sat down and...

Why should one half be free to live, while the other is doomed to watch silently from the sidelines? In this visionary collection, Virginia Woolf leads us on a transformative...

'Inspiring' - Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Write It All Down'Fascinating and useful' - Joe Moran, author of First You Write A SentenceBestselling and award-winning authors share the secrets to their...

'Magnificent.' Irish Times'Much to savour.' The Times'An event in Irish culture.' TLSThe collected letters of John McGahern, 'one of the greatest writers of our era' (Hilary Mantel) and 'the most...

This market-leading illustrated dictionary contains 12,500 authoritative entries on all aspects of medical science. Written by a team of medical experts, all entries have been revised and updated for this...

A reissue of the profound and meandering modern classic about the historical, political and philosophical paths traced by walkers.What does it mean to be out walking in the world? From...

A timeless travelogue from the leading light of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac's Lonesome Traveller is a jubilant celebration of human discovery, published in Penguin Modern Classics.As he roams the...

This guide to morals is the culmination of the author's lifetime of work in philosophy. The author is concerned with the humanistic part of the history of philosophy, Plato to...

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR'A small masterpiece. There is something funny, notable or awe-inspiring on every single page' Jenny Colgan, SpectatorA joyful celebration of books - the perfect gift...

A TLS Book of the Year This exhilarating collection of non-fiction sees one of the greatest twentieth-century writers meditating on the moments that make up a life'How did I so...