Bloomsbury History of Literature – serie

The works of many Anglo-Irish writers are familiar to us. English literature has often been dominated by Irish writers who wrote in English.In this highly entertaining and informative book, Professor Jeffares surveys the whole range of one of the richest literary traditions from its beginnings in the Middle Ages to the modern period. The earlier writing is discussed chronologically, but the great wealth of writing in the last century is discussed in genres: poetry, fiction and drama.The writers are set in their social and political context. Not only are the works of major writers from Swift to Beckett surveyed, but the work of minor and neglected writers such as Charled Maturin, Lady Morgan and Emily Lawless, is bought to the fore.This is a book to help students to a great understanding of the subject. To this end a chronological table, bibliographies and photographs have been included. It is also a book for all those who have enjoyed reading the poems of Yeats, the plays of Shaw or the novels of Joyce.

The centuries between 1100 and 1500 were the crucible in which English language and literature, after the blow of the Norman Conquest, were reformed with results that affected all later times. The national language and literary culture were reconstructed influences. The medieval centuries present a fascinating success story of recovery, inventiveness and major achievement in all aspects of national life.In literature, lyric verse, narrative poetry, drama and discursive prose were all established in characteristic modes. In the present book many works are discussed, while such masterpieces as the works of Chaucer, Langland's Piers Plowman, the poems of the Gawain-poet and Malory's Morte Darthur are shown as the secular equivalent in words of the great medieval Gothic cathedrals. The forms of this varied body of literature had as characteristic a period style as contemporary Gothic art and architecture themselves. English literature may equally be described as Gothic, with assumptions and achievements which both lead to and contrast with later Neoclassical styles. Black and white photographic illustrations further the comparison and suggest some background.English Gothic literature derives from many interrelated social context - court, town, monastery and countryside. It was recorded in manuscripts that blend the qualities of popular speech and folktale with some of the more impersonal regular qualities of printing, that last of fundamental medieval inventions. In this new concept of the history of medieval literature, Derek Brewer illuminates the major literary works with detailed exposition to make them available to the reader coming fresh to them. At the same time he places them in the context of developing literacy and individualism, secular realism, romantic love, personal religion, etc., setting forth a coherent framework of cultural history which will challenge the interest of those who already know the period.

In revising this book for a second edition, Harry Blamires has updated his final chapters to give a thorough coverage to the work of dramatists, novelists and poets who have achieved prominence in the 1980s, either as new writers or rediscovered authors who have recently been brought back into print or revived by radio and television.

American literature over the last four hundred years has developed distinctive qualities and traditions, partly engendered by the land itself. The rich variety of literature flourished as the land was colonised and cultivated. In this new edition Marshall Walker has updated his wide-ranging study of American literature by giving greater attention to poets from Hart Crane and e.e.Cummings to John Ashbery and A.R.Ammons and to novelists from William Burroughs and Kurt Vonnegut to John Irving. More space is given to drama, from the later works of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller to the plays of Sam Shepard and David Mamet. The special concerns of Black, Jewish and Women writers are explored as this book demonstrates that American literary history can no longer be considered largely in terms of regional dominances.