Literary Criticism

What can Alice in Wonderland teach us about childhood? Could reading Conversations with Friends guide us through first love? Does Esther Greenwood's glittering success and subsequent collapse in The Bell...

'[Armitage] blended his down-to-earth, often flippant demeanor with a brilliantly understated, original and captivating address, which never strayed into pretentiousness or self-importance' Oxford Culture ReviewA Vertical Art gathers the expansive...

Historicism is the essential introduction to the field, providing its readers with the necessary knowledge, background and vocabulary to apply it in their own studies. Paul Hamilton's compact and comprehensive...

The authors of the award-winning In Darkness, Death share the remarkable true story of Frankenstein's origins and the curse on its creators.

Rupi Kaur's Writing Prompts Self-Love card deck is a step in the road towards healing.Rupi Kaur leads you on a new journey through 70 curated writing prompts of self-discovery. Let...

Rupi Kaur's Writing Prompts Gratitude card deck is the ultimate guide for self-discovery and reflection.Rupi Kaur shares her writing journey with a thoughtfully curated deck of 70 writing prompts that...

Helen Vendler, widely regarded as our most accomplished interpreter of poetry, here serves as an incomparable guide to some of the best-loved poems in the English language.In detailed commentaries on...

On 7 April 1986, Annie Ernaux's mother, after years of suffering from Alzheimer's disease, died in a retirement home in the suburbs of Paris. Shocked by this loss which, despite...

"A feast for the mind." -PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY"A contemporary voice with the ease of Natalia Ginzburg's or Irene Nemirovsky's." -GUADALUPE NETTEL, author of Still Born"Nuanced, deeply rich, and a joy to...

In this moving and engaging book by one of France's few female rabbis and leader of the country's Liberal Jewish Movement, Delphine Horvilleur recounts eleven stories of loss, mourning, and...

Beginning theory has been helping students navigate through the thickets of literary and cultural theory for well over a decade now. This new and expanded third edition continues to offer...

A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don't have the words to express, until...

'You think it will never happen to you, that it cannot happen to you, that you are the only person world to whom none of these things will ever happen,...

Pure Pleasure gives us fifty of the most enjoyable books of the twentieth century, chosen on a single principle - the pleasure they inspire. Pure Pleasure is an idiosyncratic antidote...

Women's Life Writing and Early Modern Ireland provides an original perspective on both new and familiar texts in this first critical collection to focus on seventeenth-century women's life writing in...

A new book by America's leading literary critic on the uses of deep reading. Practical, inspirational and learned 'How to Read and Why' is Bloom's manifesto for the preponderance of...

English is the collective work of millions of people throughout the ages. It is democratic, ever-changing and ingenious in its assimilation of other cultures. English runs through the heart of...

Ever since his creation, Sherlock Holmes has enthralled readers. Our perception of him and his faithful companion, Dr Watson, has been shaped by a long line of film, TV and...

These individual volumes extracted from The Norton Shakespeare bring to readers a meticulously edited new text that reflects current textual-editing scholarship and introduces innovative teaching features. The print and digital...

These individual volumes extracted from The Norton Shakespeare bring to readers a meticulously edited new text that reflects current textual-editing scholarship and introduces innovative teaching features. The print and digital...

'Super engaging and accessible' PIERS TORDAY'Empowers children to be creative, perseverant and write independently' TEACH PRIMARY'A must-have book for any young writer' JANE CONSIDINE'An imaginative and affordable resource' CLASS READSIf...

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDAS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKThe one and only Zadie Smith, prize-winning, bestselling author of Swing Time and White...

Following the critical and commercial success of A Literary Tour of Italy, acclaimed novelist Tim Parks presents a new selection of his latest essays on Italian literature, offering a lively,...

Over a thousand years of memoirs, reminiscences, and letters are represented in this collection of almost 500 literary anecdotes. Here we encounter those famous for their wit and eccentricity, such...

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'I cannot say enough about How to Read Now... Check it out' Roxane Gay'A red-hot grenade... One of my favourite books of the year' Jia Tolentino'Energetically brilliant, warmly humane, incisively...

Irish life between 1930 and 1960 is normally presented as a sort of cultural wasteland. In a radical re-examination of the period, Brian Fallon challenges this sterotype and argues that...

Letters for the Ages Behind Bars is a history of imprisonment told through the letters of people incarcerated over many centuries, for crimes committed or sometimes even for no reason...

Features an exclusive interview with beloved author Judy Blume!_______________________________________To be a bookseller or librarian . . .You have to play detective.Be a treasure hunter. A matchmaker. A brilliant listener.A person...

Maeve Binchy's much-loved Irish Times writings spanned five decades. An accidental journalist whose work first appeared after her father sent in colourful accounts he had received from her travels, from...

Irish Writers Against War presents an impressive range of literary voices from Ireland united by their opposition to the proposed war in Iraq. The Writers Against War movement has gathered...

Where and who do we want to be? How might we get there? What might happen if we stay on our current course?In The Future of Seduction, cultural and literary...

A spiky, funny and intellectually dazzling response to modern culture - from BDSM to mindfulness to Sally Rooney'Bracing and brilliant ... scintillating writing of breadth and power' Kate Kellaway, Observer'A...

Expert advice to perfect your proofreading skillsMcGraw-Hill's Proofreading Handbook helps ensure that your documents are letter-perfect, every time. Veteran editor and proofreader Laura Anderson arms you with all the tools...

501 Must Read Books is like the wisest, cleverest, best-read and most trusted friend you have ever has. The recommendations for inclusion in this comprehensive book were made by a...