Martin Stannard – författare

The long-awaited biography of one of the great writers of the twentieth century - ''a wonderful blend of scholarly fact and juicy storytelling'' (Mail on Sunday).

Muriel Spark ended was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. Hers is a Cinderella story, the first thirty-nine years of which she presented in her autobiography, Curriculum Vitae (1992), politely blurring the intensity of her darker moments: her relations with her brother, mother, son, husband; a terrifying period of hallucinations and subsequent depression; and the disastrously misplaced love she had felt for two men she had wanted to marry, Howard Sergeant and Derek Stanford.

Aged nineteen, Spark left Scotland to marry in Southern Rhodesia, escaping back to Britain on a troopship in 1944 after her divorce. Her son returned in 1945 to be brought up by her parents in Edinburgh while she established herself as a poet and critic in London. After becoming a Roman Catholic in 1954, she began a novel, The Comforters, and with Memento Mori, The Ballad of Peckham Rye and The Bachelors rose rapidly into the literary stratosphere.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), with its adaptation into a successful stage-play and film, marked her full translation into international celebrity and from that point she went to live first in New York, then Rome, and finally Tuscany where for over thirty years, until her death in 2006, she shared a house with her companion, the artist Penelope Jardine.

First published in 1999, this volume perceives that English literature in under threat as an academic discipline. In Challenging Theory, Catherine Burgass warns against the recent trend towards the conflation of literature teaching with cultural studies in British and American universities. Focusing on theory of deconstruction, as developed by Jacques Derrida in the 1960s, the book redresses some common mistenterpretations of Derrinda’s work relating to the status of metaphysical oppositions. Part One discusses textual differences and the ways in which these may dissolve and reform according to different cultural contexts. The practical issues associated with teaching literature and literary theory in universities are examined in Part Two, while Part Three high-lights some of the move invidious claims of literary theorists, and questions the value of metaphysical analysis as a tool for political critique. Challenging Theory tackles an important debate that lies at the heart of humanities teaching. It illuminates the impact on academia of the work of critical theorists over the last thirty tears, and provides a platform for future reassessment of the relationships between literature, philosophy and theory.

First published in 1999, this volume perceives that English literature in under threat as an academic discipline. In Challenging Theory, Catherine Burgass warns against the recent trend towards the conflation of literature teaching with cultural studies in British and American universities. Focusing on theory of deconstruction, as developed by Jacques Derrida in the 1960s, the book redresses some common mistenterpretations of Derrinda’s work relating to the status of metaphysical oppositions. Part One discusses textual differences and the ways in which these may dissolve and reform according to different cultural contexts. The practical issues associated with teaching literature and literary theory in universities are examined in Part Two, while Part Three high-lights some of the move invidious claims of literary theorists, and questions the value of metaphysical analysis as a tool for political critique. Challenging Theory tackles an important debate that lies at the heart of humanities teaching. It illuminates the impact on academia of the work of critical theorists over the last thirty tears, and provides a platform for future reassessment of the relationships between literature, philosophy and theory.

This set comprises 40 volumes covering nineteenth and twentieth century European and American authors. These volumes will be available as a complete set, mini boxed sets (by theme) or as individual volumes. This second set compliments the first 68 voulme set of Critical Heritage published by Routledge in October 1995.

This set comprises 40 volumes covering nineteenth and twentieth century European and American authors. These volumes will be available as a complete set, mini boxed sets (by theme) or as individual volumes. This second set compliments the first 68 voulme set of Critical Heritage published by Routledge in October 1995.