Brian Docherty – författare

This volume offers critical and theoretical perspectives on a genre which has remained popular for nearly two hundred years: American horror fiction. There are essays on Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P.Lovecraft, William Faulkner, Robert Bloch, Patricia Highsmith, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King and Suzy McKee Charnas, covering the period from 1798 to 1983. Each essay deals with a major figure in the genre, from Gothic orginators to modern feminist reworkings. A variety of reading strategies are employed to interrogate these texts, with feminist and psychoanalytic approaches well represented. These essays illustrate the fact that modern literary theory can usefully be applied to any text or genre. Students of horror fiction seeking new readings, and readers interested in modern approaches to literature, will find this book useful and informative. The essays are all new, and have been specially written for Insights by leading academics.

This collection looks at the developments in British poetry from the Movement until the present. The introduction not only provides a context for these changes but also argues that poetry criticism has been debilitated by the quest for political respectability, a trend which can only be reversed by reconsidering the idea of tradition. The essays themselves focus on general themes or individual authors. Written in a clear and informed manner, they provoke the reader into a fresh awareness of the nature of poetry and its relation to society.

This volume offers critical and theoretical perspectives on some of the major figures in European drama in the twentieth century. There are thirteen essays covering Luigi Pirandello, Bertolt Brecht, Stanislaw Witkiewicz, Samuel Beckett, Antonin Artaud, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Anouilh, Fernando Arrabal, Jean Genet, Peter Weiss, Vaclav Havel, comtemporary German theatre, and Dario Fo and Franca Rame. These specially commissioned essays combine contemporary theory with a discussion of the dramatic work of the playwrights who created modern drama in Europe.

Tracing its origins back to Walt Whitman, the Modernist tradition in American poetry is driven by the same concern to engage with the world in revolutionary terms, inspired by the concept of democracy vital to the American dream. But this tradition is not confined to a few writers at the beginning of the century: instead it has been an enduring force, extending from coast to coast and of varying hues: Imagist, Objectivist, Beat. International in flavour but shaped by the language and conditions of America, this poetry continues to speak to us today.This collection of specially commissioned essays brings together leading scholars and critics to define the American Modernist canon, providing a range of perspectives helpful to all those interested in this fascinating poetry.

This volume offers critical and theoretical perspectives on one of the most popular and enduring literary genres: American crime fiction. There are essays on Edgar Allan Poe, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M.Cain, Mickey Spillane, George V. Higgins and Jerome Charyn, covering the period from 1840 to 1980. Hammett and Chandler have two essays each, reflecting their importance, and lasting influence on the genre. Each essay deals with a major aspect or concept associated with crime fiction. A variety of reading strategies are employed to interrogate these texts, illustrating both the range of approaches available and the fact that modern literary theory can usefully be applied to any text or genre. Students of crime fiction seeking new readings, and readers interested in modern approaches to literature, such as psychoanalytic theories, Marxist theory, semiotics, and linguistic theory, will find this book useful and informative. The essays are all new, and have been specially written for Insights by leading academics.

This volume offers critical and theoretical perspectives on a genre which has remained popular for nearly two hundred years: American horror fiction. There are essays on Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P.Lovecraft, William Faulkner, Robert Bloch, Patricia Highsmith, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King and Suzy McKee Charnas, covering the period from 1798 to 1983. Each essay deals with a major figure in the genre, from Gothic orginators to modern feminist reworkings. A variety of reading strategies are employed to interrogate these texts, with feminist and psychoanalytic approaches well represented. These essays illustrate the fact that modern literary theory can usefully be applied to any text or genre. Students of horror fiction seeking new readings, and readers interested in modern approaches to literature, will find this book useful and informative. The essays are all new, and have been specially written for Insights by leading academics.

This volume offers critical and theoretical perspectives on some of the major figures in European drama in the twentieth century. There are thirteen essays covering Luigi Pirandello, Bertolt Brecht, Stanislaw Witkiewicz, Samuel Beckett, Antonin Artaud, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Anouilh, Fernando Arrabal, Jean Genet, Peter Weiss, Vaclav Havel, comtemporary German theatre, and Dario Fo and Franca Rame. These specially commissioned essays combine contemporary theory with a discussion of the dramatic work of the playwrights who created modern drama in Europe.

This collection focuses on British poetry from the Georgians to the Second World War. The introduction provides the framework for the articles which follow by considering the question of the relation between poetry and society as it appears in the work of F.R. Leavis, T.W. Adorno and Antony Easthope. Written by experts, the essays cover poetic movements and individual authors, both mainstream and neglected, and address the difficult problem of making value judgements while situating poetry in its historical context.

Tracing its origins back to Walt Whitman, the Modernist tradition in American poetry is driven by the same concern to engage with the world in revolutionary terms, inspired by the concept of democracy vital to the American dream. But this tradition is not confined to a few writers at the beginning of the century: instead it has been an enduring force, extending from coast to coast and of varying hues: Imagist, Objectivist, Beat. International in flavour but shaped by the language and conditions of America, this poetry continues to speak to us today.This collection of specially commissioned essays brings together leading scholars and critics to define the American Modernist canon, providing a range of perspectives helpful to all those interested in this fascinating poetry.