In a lively chronological narrative, this new guide situates original readings of authors and texts within the literary, historical and socio-cultural contexts of their production and charts the mutations of printing and publishing, the growth of literacy and the changing nature of the reading public. Writers and writings relegated to the margins of the canon are reassessed. New directions in contemporary thought, women''s writing and Francophone literature are a feature, together with important concepts of contemporary critical theory.

In a lively chronological narrative, this new guide situates original readings of authors and texts within the literary, historical and socio-cultural contexts of their production and charts the mutations of printing and publishing, the growth of literacy and the changing nature of the reading public. Writers and writings relegated to the margins of the canon are reassessed. New directions in contemporary thought, women''s writing and Francophone literature are a feature, together with important concepts of contemporary critical theory.

In a lively chronological narrative, this new guide situates original readings of authors and texts within the literary, historical and socio-cultural contexts of their production and charts the mutations of printing and publishing, the growth of literacy and the changing nature of the reading public. Writers and writings relegated to the margins of the canon are reassessed. New directions in contemporary thought, women''s writing and Francophone literature are a feature, together with important concepts of contemporary critical theory.