суббота, 17 января 2009 г.

Literary Movements for Students




Literary Movements for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Literary Movements

by David Galens (Editor)


Each chapter consists of an introduction, brief entries for representative authors and works, and discussion of themes, styles, variations, and historical context. An original signed critical essay is included in each chapter along with, in most cases, lengthy excerpts from one or more previously published critical works. Black-and-white photos, sidebars listing such items as media adaptations and suggested topics and resources for further study, bibliographies of source material, and annotated further reading lists complete most chapters. A particularly useful feature is "Compare and Contrast," in which the cultural and historical background of each movement is compared to conditions in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

A History of Western Political Thought




A History of Western Political Thought

by J. S McClelland


A History of Western Political Thought traces the development and consolidation of a tradition of Western political thought from ancient Greece through to the development of the modern state, the American Enlightenment, the rise of liberalism and the very different reactions it engendered.McClelland's definition of politics encompasses both power wielded from above and power threatened from below. The sustained pursuit of this theme leads him to present an original and often controversial view of the theorists of the received canon and to add some writers to that canon whom he feels have been unjustly neglected.A History of Western Political Thought will inform, challenge, provoke and entertain any reader interested in what people have had to say about politics in the last two and a half thousand years and why it matters.


четверг, 15 января 2009 г.

The Cambridge Introduction to Ezra Pound




The Cambridge Introduction to Ezra Pound (Cambridge Introductions to Literature)

by Ira B. Nadel

Ezra Pound is one of the most visible and influential poets of the twentieth century. He is also one of the most complex, his poetry containing historical and mythical allusions, experiments of form and style and often controversial political views. Yet Pound's life and work continue to fascinate. This Introduction is designed to help students reading Pound for the first time. Pound scholar Ira B. Nadel provides a guide to the rich webs of allusion and stylistic borrowings and innovations in Pound's writing. He offers a clear overview of Pound's life, works, contexts and reception history and his multidimensional career as a poet, translator, critic, editor, anthologist and impresario, a career that placed him at the heart of literary modernism. This invaluable and accessible introduction explains the huge contribution Pound made to the development of modernism in the early twentieth century.

The Cambridge Introduction to Sylvia Plath




The Cambridge Introduction to Sylvia Plath (Cambridge Introductions to Literature)

by Jo Gill


Sylvia Plath is widely recognized as one of the leading figures in twentieth-century Anglo-American literature and culture. Her work has constantly remained in print in the UK and US (and in numerous translated editions) since the appearance of her first collection in 1960. Plath's own writing has been supplemented over the decades by a wealth of critical and biographical material. The Cambridge Introduction to Sylvia Plath provides an authoritative and comprehensive guide to the poetry, prose and autobiographical writings of Sylvia Plath. It offers a critical overview of key readings, debates and issues from almost fifty years of Plath scholarship, draws attention to the historical, literary, national and gender contexts which frame her writing and presents informed and attentive readings of her own work. This accessibly written book will be of great use to students beginning their explorations of this important writer.

The Cambridge Introduction to T. S. Eliot




The Cambridge Introduction to T. S. Eliot (Cambridge Introductions to Literature)

by John Xiros Cooper


Must-have guides designed to introduce students and teachers to key topics and authors. T. S. Eliot is not only one of the most important poets of the twentieth century; as literary critic and commentator on culture and society, his writing continues to be profoundly influential. Every student of English must engage with his writing to understand the course of modern literature. This book provides the perfect introduction to key aspects of Eliot's life and work, as well as to the wider contexts of modernism in which he wrote. John Xiros Cooper explains how Eliot was influenced by the intellectual climate of both twentieth-century Britain and America, and how he became a key cultural figure on both sides of the Atlantic. The continuing controversies surrounding his writing and his thought are also addressed. With a useful guide to further reading, this is the most informative and accessible introduction to T. S. Eliot.

The Cambridge Introduction to W.B. Yeats




The Cambridge Introduction to W.B. Yeats (Cambridge Introductions to Literature)

by David Holdeman


Must-have guides designed to introduce students and teachers to key topics and authors. This introduction to one of the twentieth century's most important writers examines Yeats's poems, plays and stories in relation to biographical, literary, and historical contexts. Yeats wrote with passion and eloquence about personal disappointments, his obsession with Ireland, and the modern era's loss of faith in traditional beliefs about art, religion, empire, social class, gender and sex. His works uniquely reflect the gradual transition from Victorian aestheticism to the modernism of Pound, Eliot and Joyce. This is the first introductory study to consider his work in all genres in light of the latest biographies, new editions of his letters and manuscripts, and recent accounts by feminist and postcolonial critics. While using this introduction, students will have instant access to the world of current Yeats scholarship as well as being provided with the essential facts about his life and literary career and suggestions for further reading.

The Cambridge Introduction to Joseph Conrad




The Cambridge Introduction to Joseph Conrad (Cambridge Introductions to Literature)

by John G. Peters


Must-have guides designed to introduce students and teachers to key topics and authors. Joseph Conrad is one of the most intriguing and important modernist novelists. His writing continues to preoccupy twenty-first-century readers. This introduction by a leading scholar is aimed at students coming to Conrad's work for the first time. The rise of postcolonial studies has inspired new interest in Conrad's themes of travel, exploration, and racial and ethnic conflict. John Peters explains how these themes are explored in his major works, Nostromo, Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness, as well as his short stories. He provides an essential overview of Conrad's fascinating life and career and his approach to writing and literature. A guide to further reading is included which points to some of the most useful secondary criticism on Conrad. This is the most comprehensive and concise introduction to studying Conrad available, and will be essential reading for students of the twentieth-century novel and of modernism.