Literature round-up

Modernist Literature 1890-1950: Texts, Contexts, Connections (York Notes Companions)

Author: Gary Day

Edition: First

Publisher: Pearson Education

Pages: 352

Price: £10.99

ISBN 9781408204764

Via a combination of critical approaches and textual analysis, Day explores a fertile period for literary development. Works from the US, UK, Republic of Ireland and France are considered in light of the origins of Modernism and the traditions that shaped it. Authors discussed include Baudelaire, Mallarme, Eliot, Yeats, Kafka, Joyce, Woolf, Ibsen, Strindberg, Piranello and Beckett. Day also looks at the movement's critics and contemporary debates; print culture, music and the visual arts; and the impact of war.

Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present: An Introduction

Author: M.A.R. Habib

Edition: First

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Pages: 312

Price: £55.00, £19.99 and £66.00

ISBN 9781405160346, 405160353 and 444328011 (e-book)

Habib aims to offer a concise, authoritative overview of literary criticism and theory in the West via an in-depth examination of its key movements, figures and texts. He considers historical context and the links between theories. Beginning with Classical rhetoric and literary criticism, Habib covers eras, trends and important figures including the medieval era, the early modern period and the Enlightenment, French and English neoclassicism, Kant and Hegel, Romanticism, Nietzsche, Modernism, Russian Formalism, the New Criticism, Marxism, Existentialism, poststructuralism, feminism and gender studies and postcolonialism.

Churchill's Socialism: Political Resistance in the Plays of Caryl Churchill

Author: Siân Adiseshiah

Edition: First

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars

Pages: 260

Price: £39.99

ISBN 9781443813181

Acclaimed playwright Caryl Churchill is considered from the perspective of her socialist identity, rather than - as is more commonly the case - issues of gender and postmodern themes. Adiseshiah examines eight plays with reference to political movements, positioning the work within socialist discourse and considering Churchill's complex relationship with postmodernism, particularly in her later plays. A chapter on socialist contexts outlines key events, debates and movements from the late 1960s to the early 21st century. Works assessed include Top Girls, Fen, Serious Money, The Skriker and Far Away.

A Companion to African Literatures

Editors: G.D. Killam and Ruth Rowe

Edition: First

Publisher: James Currey

Pages: 336

Price: £17.99

ISBN 9781847010193

An alphabetically organised work intended as both a quick, up-to-date reference source and a user-friendly in-depth resource on English-language works by African authors. Contributions from more than 150 scholars aim to offer balance rather than ideology, via entries covering authors, titles, literary genres and movements, influences and connections and wider themes.

Shakespeare and Popular Music

Author: Adam Hansen

Edition: First

Publisher: Continuum

Pages: 200

Price: £55.00 and £17.99

ISBN 9781441116499 and 126986

Northumbria University lecturer Hansen considers the representation and reworking of Shakespeare's words, characters, texts and iconography in popular music, ranging from the Beatles to country music, and the ways these links challenge distinctions between high and low culture. Hansen's explorations, which touch on a wide range of examples, are intended to reveal both the workings of pop music and the nature of the playwright as a global cultural form.

Postcolonial Literatures in Context

Author: Julie Mullaney

Edition: First

Publisher: Continuum

Pages: 168

Price: £50.00 and £14.99

ISBN 9781847063366 and 3373

Manchester Metropolitan University scholar Mullaney seeks to provide a concise, accessible introduction to postcolonial works in English (and in English translation) and their context. Key issues covered include old and new diasporas, postcolonial nationalisms, indigenous identities and globalisation, with close readings of well-known texts from and about Africa, Australia, Canada, Palestine and South Asia. A section on afterlives and adaptations looks at wider cultural texts including film, non-fiction and art.

Writing Essays About Literature: A Guide and Style Sheet

Author: Kelley Griffith

Edition: Eighth revised international

Publisher: Cengage Learning

Pages: 480

Price: £28.99

ISBN 9780495803119

Griffith's best-selling guide is intended for use in introductory literature courses as a clear and comprehensive style guide, and offers guidelines for interpreting literature and composing essays. With reference to texts by authors as diverse as Sir Walter Raleigh, Wordsworth, Browning, Blake, Marlowe, Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson, the book considers topics including the elements of fiction, descriptive and figurative language, symbolism, metre and rhyme, our reasons for reading literature, and literary theory. Writing strategies for student essays are examined in depth.

The Edinburgh Introduction to Studying English Literature

Editors: Dermot Cavanagh, Alan Gillis, Michelle Keown, James Loxley and Randall Stevenson

Edition: First

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Pages: 248

Price: £50.00 and £15.99

ISBN 9780748640263 and 0256

Aiming to offer an up-to-date guide for students that takes into account the recent changes both in approaches to teaching the subject and advances in literary theory. Here, theory is not the only focus; emphasis is placed on pragmatic exposition of critical practice, forms, styles and techniques. Examples from works commonly used in major anthologies are used in illustration, and each chapter is contributed by leading scholars from the University of Edinburgh and based on introductory courses offered at the university.

Muriel Spark: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives

Editor: David Herman

Edition: Second

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

Pages: 256

Price: £34.00 and £15.50

ISBN 9780801895531 and 5548

Contributors including Gerard Carruthers, Patricia Waugh and Marina MacKay contextualise and analyse the novels and short stories of acclaimed Scottish writer Muriel Spark. The new edition offers three new essays and a revised introduction by the editor. Essays consider Spark as a Scottish and a world writer, place her in the context of post-war culture, and provide readings of specific works from a range of critical perspectives.

Shakespeare and Literary Theory

Author: Jonathan Gil Harris

Edition: First

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Pages: 240

Price: £25.00 and £12.99

ISBN 9780199573394 and 3387

Figures as diverse as Marx, Freud, Lacan, Foucault, Derrida, Cixous, Deleuze and Said engaged with, and reflected on, Shakespeare. Harris, professor of English at George Washington University, considers literary theory as a process of critical reflection inspired by, and emerging from, Shakespeare's writing.

Key Concepts in Romantic Literature

Authors: Jane Moore and John Strachan

Edition: First

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Pages: 336

Price: £14.99

ISBN 9781403948892

The authors offer a critically up-to-date account of the literature, criticism and history of the culturally rich and politically turbulent era spanning 1789-1832.