Literary Criticism

Village rectories, the traditional family homes of church ministers, have had a long association with writers in Britain. For many, the Georgian rectory nestling against an historic church immediately evokes...

This book features 18 short readings on methods of arguing and persuading, demonstrating that arguments are seldom matters simply of pro and con. The selected readings include: "Freedom of Hate...

By means of short entries linked to individual works, this index provides a guide to Dickens' novels, short stories, pamphlets, plays, collections of journalism and travel books. Entries are listed...

This anthology of classic and cutting-edge statements in literary theory has now been updated to include recent influential texts in the areas of Ethnic Studies, Postcolonialism and International Studies. This...

Literary Theory: An Anthology is a unique combination of the classic statements in criticism and the new theories that have revolutionized literary study in the past several decades. This unprecedented...

The Personals reveals how classified ads are not just a few commercial lines of text in print or online - they can be a treasure trove of fascinating human stories;...

"Rolling Stone" is one of the most influential rock magazines in the world, and over the last 25 years it has published some of the most innovative, powerful and evocative...

In her latest work, Annie Ernaux recounts a relationship with a student thirty years her junior - an experience that transforms her, briefly, back into the 'scandalous girl' of her...

Presented for the first time in English, the recently discovered early manuscripts of the twentieth century's most towering literary figure offer uncanny glimpses of his emerging genius and the creation...

In his first critical work since the highly successful "The Art of Fiction" (0140174923), David Lodge writes principally about Grahame Greene, Kingsley Amis and James Joyce, and from there goes...

Edna Longley's second collection of essays for Bloodaxe investigates the links between Irish literature (especially contemporary poetry), Irish culture and Irish politics. The Living Stream takes its title from Yeats's...

In his essay on Patrick Kavanagh, Brendan Kennelly writes: 'A poet's critical judgements are always, at bottom, necessary justifications of his own most dearly held aesthetic.' This selection of his...

The Book of Lost Books is a book of stories involving kings, heretics, untimely interruptions and back room deals, falling tortoises and fairy princesses, train crashes and war atrocities, bravery,...

Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted...

A Times book of the year A Guardian book of the year 'Magnificent' The Times'Dazzling' New Statesman'It filled me with hope' Zadie Smith We are living in the era of...

A working father whose life no longer feels like his own discovers the transforming powers of great (and downright terrible) literature in this laugh-out-loud memoir. Andy Miller had a job...

The Collins Good Writing Guide is the essential single-volume guide for all who aspire to improve their writing skills Whether you want to write a novel, draft a report for...

Passionate, independent-minded nonfiction from the international bestselling author of 'The Corrections'. Jonathan Franzen's 'Freedom' was the literary sensation of 2010, whilst 'The Corrections' was the best-loved and most written-about novel...

From Colm Toibin comes New Ways to Kill Your Mother, a fabulously entertaining book about writers and their families.In this wonderfully entertaining and enlightening collection, Colm Toibin not only explores...

Sylvia Plath was one of the most gifted and innovative poets of the twentieth century, yet serious study of her work has often been hampered by a fierce preoccupation with...

Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-73) was a highly original author of fantastic fiction - novels and short stories - and a key in Irish conservative poitics during the first half of...

This volume includes works by Spenser (excerpts from all books of The Faerie Queene), Shakespeare (including The Tempest), Marlowe (Dr. Faustus, Hero and Leander), Donne, and Milton (Comus, Samson Agonistes,...

Charles Dickens is the definitive illustrated guide to the man and his works with images of documents from Dickens's personal archive written by one of descendants. It follows Dickens from...

This exhaustive reference on English literary culture has been updated to contain 60 new entries on contemporary novelists, poets and dramatists, ranging from Peter Ackroyd to Salman Rushdie. The coverage...

For the past thirty years, Hal Foster has pushed the boundaries of cultural criticism, establishing a vantage point from which the seemingly disparate agendas of artists, patrons, and critics have...

What it is like to be an animal? Ron Broglio wants to know from the inside, from underneath the fur and feathers. In examining this question, he bypasses the perspectives...

'My father tried to kill my mother one Sunday in June, in the early afternoon.' Thus begins Shame, the probing story of the twelve-year-old girl who will become the author...

Rupi Kaur's Writing Prompts Relationships card deck is an invitation to dive deeper into the core of your most cherished relationships.Rupi Kaur encourages you to build more honest and fulfilling...

Rupi Kaur's Writing Prompts Balance card deck is an invitation to discover what balance means to you.Rupi Kaur invites you to explore the concept of balance in your life with...

A unique look at the craft of writing from a bestelling master of storytelling.Readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely...

SEE the amazing vintage book covers featuring well-dressed skeletons, evil dolls, knife-wielding killer crabs! READ the shocking plots involving devil worship, satanic children, and haunted real estate! LEARN the stories...

This is a remarkable dictionary, exploring the vast and various symbols which abound in literature, religion, national identity and are found at the very heart of our dreams and sub-conscious....

ALSO IN THIS SERIES: Virginia Woolf, Coco Chanel and Frida Kahlo.This beautifully illustrated biography follows Jane Austen's life and work (which includes Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility and Emma)...