RICK RYLANCE is Dean of the School of Arts and Letters at Anglia Polytechnic University and Professor of Modern English Literature. He is also currently Chair of the Council for College and University English.JUDY SIMONS is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at De Montfort University.

'Excellent contextualisation of the texts/authors selected, coupled with welcome illustrative (detailed) textual analysis. It's also readable - a pleasant change from some of the theoretically-based studies currently in print, which are frequently inaccessible to students.' - Peter Heaney, Staffordshire University 'I'm impressed by this collection. Although the editors mention A/AS level as the intended audience, I feel this will be suitable for 1st year BA. I am ordering multiple copies for the library, and recommending it as a key supplementary text on our new 1st year literature course.' - R.J. Spence, Edge Hill University College 'An excellent introduction to the idea of placing authors/texts in their historical and social context.' - David Olive, Manchester Metropolitan University 'An excellently accessible and succinct series of essays.' - Maggie Humm, University of East London 'I would buy anything by Rick Rylance, since he is one of the most readable, lucid and informative academic writers around. This will be particularly helpful to lecturers in English who want to know what to expect of students who have taken the new A-level courses, and to prospective undergraduates, as a splendid introduction to literary studies in general and contextualisation in particular.' - S. Byrne, University of Oxford

• Foreword;  J.White (QCA)PrefaceAcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: Why Study the Contexts of Literature?;  R.Rylance & J.SimonsChaucer:  The Canterbury Tales ;  S.KnightShakespeare: The Theatrical and Historical Contexts;  M.CoyleShakespeare: Interpretative Contexts;  C.BelseyReading Contexts for Renaissance Lyrics;  T.HealyJonathan Swift:  Gulliver's Travels ;  N.WoodWilliam Blake;  D.PunterJane Austen:  Persuasion ;  J.SimonsCharlotte Bronte:  Jane Eyre ;  H.GlenGeorge Eliot:  Middlemarch ;  E.JayThomas Hardy;  R.WebsterVirginia Woolf;  M.ShawThe Poetry of Sylvia Plath;  R.RylanceHarold Pinter;  V.GillespieGraham Swift;  P.WiddowsonToni Morrison:  Beloved ;  L.PeachIndex.

RICK RYLANCE is Dean of the School of Arts and Letters at Anglia Polytechnic University and Professor of Modern English Literature. He is also currently Chair of the Council for College and University English.JUDY SIMONS is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at De Montfort University.

'Excellent contextualisation of the texts/authors selected, coupled with welcome illustrative (detailed) textual analysis. It's also readable - a pleasant change from some of the theoretically-based studies currently in print, which are frequently inaccessible to students.' - Peter Heaney, Staffordshire University 'I'm impressed by this collection. Although the editors mention A/AS level as the intended audience, I feel this will be suitable for 1st year BA. I am ordering multiple copies for the library, and recommending it as a key supplementary text on our new 1st year literature course.' - R.J. Spence, Edge Hill University College 'An excellent introduction to the idea of placing authors/texts in their historical and social context.' - David Olive, Manchester Metropolitan University 'An excellently accessible and succinct series of essays.' - Maggie Humm, University of East London 'I would buy anything by Rick Rylance, since he is one of the most readable, lucid and informative academic writers around. This will be particularly helpful to lecturers in English who want to know what to expect of students who have taken the new A-level courses, and to prospective undergraduates, as a splendid introduction to literary studies in general and contextualisation in particular.' - S. Byrne, University of Oxford

• Foreword;  J.White (QCA)PrefaceAcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: Why Study the Contexts of Literature?;  R.Rylance & J.SimonsChaucer:  The Canterbury Tales ;  S.KnightShakespeare: The Theatrical and Historical Contexts;  M.CoyleShakespeare: Interpretative Contexts;  C.BelseyReading Contexts for Renaissance Lyrics;  T.HealyJonathan Swift:  Gulliver's Travels ;  N.WoodWilliam Blake;  D.PunterJane Austen:  Persuasion ;  J.SimonsCharlotte Bronte:  Jane Eyre ;  H.GlenGeorge Eliot:  Middlemarch ;  E.JayThomas Hardy;  R.WebsterVirginia Woolf;  M.ShawThe Poetry of Sylvia Plath;  R.RylanceHarold Pinter;  V.GillespieGraham Swift;  P.WiddowsonToni Morrison:  Beloved ;  L.PeachIndex.

RICK RYLANCE is Dean of the School of Arts and Letters at Anglia Polytechnic University and Professor of Modern English Literature. He is also currently Chair of the Council for College and University English.JUDY SIMONS is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at De Montfort University.

'Excellent contextualisation of the texts/authors selected, coupled with welcome illustrative (detailed) textual analysis. It's also readable - a pleasant change from some of the theoretically-based studies currently in print, which are frequently inaccessible to students.' - Peter Heaney, Staffordshire University 'I'm impressed by this collection. Although the editors mention A/AS level as the intended audience, I feel this will be suitable for 1st year BA. I am ordering multiple copies for the library, and recommending it as a key supplementary text on our new 1st year literature course.' - R.J. Spence, Edge Hill University College 'An excellent introduction to the idea of placing authors/texts in their historical and social context.' - David Olive, Manchester Metropolitan University 'An excellently accessible and succinct series of essays.' - Maggie Humm, University of East London 'I would buy anything by Rick Rylance, since he is one of the most readable, lucid and informative academic writers around. This will be particularly helpful to lecturers in English who want to know what to expect of students who have taken the new A-level courses, and to prospective undergraduates, as a splendid introduction to literary studies in general and contextualisation in particular.' - S. Byrne, University of Oxford

• Foreword;  J.White (QCA)PrefaceAcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: Why Study the Contexts of Literature?;  R.Rylance & J.SimonsChaucer:  The Canterbury Tales ;  S.KnightShakespeare: The Theatrical and Historical Contexts;  M.CoyleShakespeare: Interpretative Contexts;  C.BelseyReading Contexts for Renaissance Lyrics;  T.HealyJonathan Swift:  Gulliver's Travels ;  N.WoodWilliam Blake;  D.PunterJane Austen:  Persuasion ;  J.SimonsCharlotte Bronte:  Jane Eyre ;  H.GlenGeorge Eliot:  Middlemarch ;  E.JayThomas Hardy;  R.WebsterVirginia Woolf;  M.ShawThe Poetry of Sylvia Plath;  R.RylanceHarold Pinter;  V.GillespieGraham Swift;  P.WiddowsonToni Morrison:  Beloved ;  L.PeachIndex.