Stephen Matterson – författare

Onboard the Fidèle, a steamboat floating down the Mississippi to New Orleans, a confidence man sets out to defraud his fellow passengers. In quick succession he assumes numerous guises - from a legless beggar and a worldly businessman to a collector for charitable causes and a 'cosmopolitan' gentleman, who simply swindles a barber out of the price of a shave. Making very little from his hoaxes, the pleasure of trickery seems an end in itself for this slippery conman. Is he the Devil? Is his chicanery merely intended to expose the mercenary concerns of those around him? Set on April Fool's Day, The Confidence-Man (1857) is an engaging comedy of masquerades, digressions and shifting identity, and a devastating satire on the American dream.

A reference guide to American literature, with more than four hundred entires devoted to aspects of American history, literary movements, influential writers and key texts. It is suitable for students of American literature at any level, and it is also relevant to those interested in American history and American Studies.

Studying Poetry is a fun, concise and helpful guide to understanding poetry which is divided into three parts, form and meaning, critical approaches and interpreting poetry, all of which help to illuminate the beauty and validity of poetry using a wide variety of examples, from Dylan Thomas to Bob Dylan.

This critical work considers the role played by elements that might be considered aberrational in a poet's oeuvre. With an introductory essay exploring the nature of aberration, these fourteen contributions investigate the work of major 20th-century poets from the U.S., Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Aberration is considered from the standpoint of both the artist and the audience, prompting discussion on a range of important issues, including the formation of the canon. Each essay discusses the status of the aberrant work and the ways in which it challenges, enlarges or supports the overall perception of the poet.

PMContents: Introduction: Tumbles and Leaps; Beginning in Wisdom; Towards a Rhetoric of Destitution; Excellence and Loss; History and Seduction; Defeats and Dreams; Notes and References; Index

A jargon-free guide to the key terms, concepts, and theoretical approaches to contemporary popular fictionKey Concepts in Contemporary Popular Fiction represents an invaluable starting point for students wishing to familiarise themselves with this exciting and rapidly evolving area of literary studies. It provides an accessible, concise and reliable overview of core critical terminology, key theoretical approaches, and the major genres and sub-genres within popular fiction. Because popular fiction is significantly shaped by commercial forces, the book also provides critical and historical contexts for terminology related to e-books, e-publishing, and self-publishing platforms.  By using focusing in particular on post-2000 trends in popular fiction, the book provides a truly up-to-date snapshot of the subject area and its critical contexts.Key FeaturesProvides an engaging and knowledgeable overview of critical terminology and theoretical approaches used by critics working within the fieldIntroduces readers to the most recent trends and newest terms, including ‘Nordic Noir’, ‘New Adult Fiction’, ‘Cli-Fi’ (Climate Change Fiction), ‘Mash-up’ and ‘Flash Fiction’ as well as significant terms related to fan fiction and web-publishing platforms such as WattPadIncludes an annotated further reading list to crime; horror; romance; fantasy; Science Fiction and comic books/graphic novels Supplies a chronology, providing  readers with a historical overview of the major popular novels, critical approaches, and technological innovations

Provides a unique snapshot of themes and trends within popular fiction in the twenty-first centuryThis groundbreaking collection captures the state of popular fiction in present day. It features twenty new essays on key authors associated with a wide range of genres and sub-genres, providing chapter-length discussions of major post-2000 works of contemporary popular fiction. The lively, accessible and academically rigorous essays presented here cover a wider range of established popular fiction genres such as fantasy, horror and the romance, as well as more niche areas such as Domestic Noir, Steampunk, the New Weird, Nordic Noir and Zombie Lit. The collection will primarily appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students but general readers may also find the focus on many of today's most prominent and influential authors to be of interest.Key FeaturesProvides students with a timely and accessible overview of current trends within contemporary popular fictionIncludes timely reassessments of recent fiction by established figures such as Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Larry McMurtry, Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling, Jodi Picoult, China Mieville, Grant Morrison, Terry Pratchett and Nora Roberts as well as consideration of authors who have emerged more recently, amongst them Stephenie Meyer, Gillian Flynn, E.L. James, Hugh Howey, Cherie Priest, and Max BrooksIncludes supplementary material such recommended further reading at the end of each chapter

Provides a unique snapshot of themes and trends within popular fiction in the twenty-first centuryThis groundbreaking collection captures the state of popular fiction in present day. It features twenty new essays on key authors associated with a wide range of genres and sub-genres, providing chapter-length discussions of major post-2000 works of contemporary popular fiction. The lively, accessible and academically rigorous essays presented here cover a wider range of established popular fiction genres such as fantasy, horror and the romance, as well as more niche areas such as Domestic Noir, Steampunk, the New Weird, Nordic Noir and Zombie Lit. The collection will primarily appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students but general readers may also find the focus on many of today's most prominent and influential authors to be of interest.Key FeaturesProvides students with a timely and accessible overview of current trends within contemporary popular fictionIncludes timely reassessments of recent fiction by established figures such as Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Larry McMurtry, Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling, Jodi Picoult, China Mieville, Grant Morrison, Terry Pratchett and Nora Roberts as well as consideration of authors who have emerged more recently, amongst them Stephenie Meyer, Gillian Flynn, E.L. James, Hugh Howey, Cherie Priest, and Max BrooksIncludes supplementary material such recommended further reading at the end of each chapter

Melville: Fashioning in Modernity considers all of the major fiction with a concentration on lesser-known work, and provides a radically fresh approach to Melville, focusing on: clothing as socially symbolic; dress, power and class; the transgressive nature of dress; inappropriate clothing; the meaning of uniform; the multiplicity of identity that dress may represent; anxiety and modernity. The representation of clothing in the fiction is central to some of Melville's major themes; the relation between private and public identity, social inequality and how this is maintained; the relation between power, justice and authority; the relation between the "civilized" and the "savage."Frequently clothing represents the malleability of identity (its possibilities as well as its limitations), represents writing itself, as well as becoming indicative of the crisis of modernity. Clothing also becomes a trope for Melville's representations of authorship and of his own scene of writing. Melville: Fashioning in Modernity also encompasses identity in transition, making use of the examination of modernity by theorists such as Anthony Giddens, as well as on theories of figures such as the dandy. In contextualizing Melville's interest in clothing, a variety of other works and writers is considered; works such as Robinson Crusoe and The Scarlet Letter, and novelists such as Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Jack London, and George Orwell. The book has at its core a consideration of the scene of writing and the publishing history of each text.

Melville: Fashioning in Modernity considers all of the major fiction with a concentration on lesser-known work, and provides a radically fresh approach to Melville, focusing on: clothing as socially symbolic; dress, power and class; the transgressive nature of dress; inappropriate clothing; the meaning of uniform; the multiplicity of identity that dress may represent; anxiety and modernity. The representation of clothing in the fiction is central to some of Melville's major themes; the relation between private and public identity, social inequality and how this is maintained; the relation between power, justice and authority; the relation between the "civilized" and the "savage."Frequently clothing represents the malleability of identity (its possibilities as well as its limitations), represents writing itself, as well as becoming indicative of the crisis of modernity. Clothing also becomes a trope for Melville's representations of authorship and of his own scene of writing. Melville: Fashioning in Modernity also encompasses identity in transition, making use of the examination of modernity by theorists such as Anthony Giddens, as well as on theories of figures such as the dandy. In contextualizing Melville's interest in clothing, a variety of other works and writers is considered; works such as Robinson Crusoe and The Scarlet Letter, and novelists such as Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Jack London, and George Orwell. The book has at its core a consideration of the scene of writing and the publishing history of each text.