LITERARY THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION
Author: Terry Eagleton
Edition: Anniversary
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Pages: 248
Price: £16.99
ISBN 9781405179218
Criticism dates, art doesn't - but that doesn't mean we shouldn't revisit Terry Eagleton's classic, if only to see how far we have come. This book shaped the reception of theory in Britain for a generation.
Who is it for? A collector's item.
Presentation: This book offers an introduction to a range of theories from phenomenology to post-structuralism.
Would you recommend it? If your original copy has fallen to pieces, now is your chance to replace it.
MODERN CRITICISM AND THEORY
Authors: David Lodge and Nigel Wood
Edition: Third
Publisher: Pearson
Pages: 864
Price: £24.99
ISBN 97805884543
This is one of the best of its kind, containing extracts from key thinkers on everything from discourse to detective fiction. The new edition brings readers up to date with the latest thinking in literary and cultural studies.
Who is it for? A useful resource for lecturers, research students and undergraduates.
Presentation: The contents are arranged historically and thematically. Each extract begins with an introduction and ends with suggestions for further reading. The text also uses a helpful cross-referencing system.
Would you recommend it? A must-buy.
MODERNISM: A SOURCEBOOK
Editor: Steven Matthews
Edition: First
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Pages: 291
Price: £55.00 and £18.99
ISBN 9781403998293 and 8309
This is a sourcebook of documents from the Modernist period, drawn mainly from the Anglo-American tradition. The extracts focus on historical and cultural issues rather than the usual aesthetic ones.
Who is it for? This book belongs on any undergraduate Modernism course. It will help students relate developments in art to changes in the wider world.
Presentation: There is a substantial introduction, a good chronology of major events and publications and an overview of each section.
Would you recommend it? Yes - order it for your students.
MODERN LITERARY CRITICISM AND THEORY: A HISTORY
Author: M.A.R. Habib
Edition: First
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Pages: 264
Price: £50.00 and £12.99
ISBN 9781405176675 and 6668
Habib covers an astonishing array of thinkers from Mikhail Bakhtin to Martha Nussbaum. Not the least of this book's appeal is Habib's belief in the continuing value of criticism.
Who is it for? This will appeal to specialists.
Presentation: Good browsing, but gives the narrative a slightly static quality.
Would you recommend it? Those who want to know where literary critics may be going should have this.
THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NOVEL AND CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL ISSUES: AN INTRODUCTION
Author: Stuart Sim
Edition: First
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Pages: 207
Price: £50.00 and £15.99
ISBN 9780748625994 and 6007
This introduces key authors from the "long" 18th century. Focusing on individual novels, it looks at the development of a range of genres from realism to science fiction. The main claim is that the concerns of novelists such as Ann Radcliffe are still relevant today. Tom Jones, for instance, addresses our anxieties about anti-social behaviour.
Who is it for? If you want your students to connect with 18th-century literature, put this book on your course. It is accessible, challenging and guaranteed to liven up the dullest seminar.
Presentation: Each chapter begins with the issue to be discussed: family values, the surveillance society and so on.
Would you recommend it? It's a bargain at £15.99 for the paperback.
