Cambridge Contexts in Literature – serie

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. This book explores the world in which Chaucer wrote; it offers opportunities for comparison between his work and that of his near contemporaries; and discusses stylistic variations to be found between Chaucer and other writers, and within Chaucer's own texts.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. The Great War of 1914-18 continues to fascinate readers and writers. This book aims to explore the different ways in which this war has featured both as a genre and as a theme in British literature of the past century; it asks what actually is the literature of the Great War, and looks at different ways in which people have read this literature, reacted to it and used it.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. This book is written for those beginning a study of American literature as part of an advanced course in English, or for anyone interested in American drama in the 20th century. It aims to encourage readers to explore beyond the few well-known playwrights, and to place the plays as they are read within the context of the development of American society during the 20th century.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. The literature written by Americans during the twentieth century encompasses a wide variety of voices; voices that attempt to capture the breadth and diversity of American experience in a century of dizzying change. This book examines the dramatic social changes and political events - such as the Great Depression, American involvement in the Second World War and the civil rights movement - that helped to shape American writing throughout the century.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Modernism and After focuses on those writers working in English between 1910 and 1939 whose work signalled a dramatic change in the sense of what art could and should be. An overview of Modernism is provided, but the book recognises that the term should not become a strait-jacket into which we try to fit a writer's individual distinctiveness. Rather, siginificant poetry and prose works are explored in the light both of the events of the time and of other 'modernist' developments in areas such as music, architecture and the visual arts.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Providing an invaluable resource for any teacher of English: it both presents a fascinating overview of teaching Literature today, and offers a valuable and practical guide to anyone teaching advanced courses in the subject. The book asks whether it is possible to combine the recent focus on the contextual study of literary texts with a continuing emphasis on close reading and discusses the key literary skills that universities expect students of literature to have developed. The book demonstrates surprising ways in which the study of context can give a new and sharper focus to the words on the page.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Poetry has been described as 'a necessary art' that enriches what goes on inside us. This book offers an introduction to the often challenging world of contemporary poetry. The book focuses on very recent poetry, and examines the various challenges to tradition it presents: challenges of both content and form, as well as more practical challenges such as new forms of publication. Contents include recent work by established poets such as Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes as well as poetry by writers who have emerged since 1990 such as Jackie Kay and Vicki Feaver.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Following a period when the decline of the novel was widely discussed, fiction has emerged as a vibrant and innovative genre, exploring the diversity of the contemporary world and, frequently, experimenting with form and language. Contemporary Fiction introduces students to the major and recurrent preoccupations of the post-1990 novel; it identifies some of the chief characteristics of the genre, and offers ways in which contemporary writing can be analysed and discussed. Texts are placed in their cultural contexts and are often discussed in the light of related works.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Shakespeare's reputation since his death has been so spectacular that we can be misled into thinking of him as a genius working in inspired solitude. But theatre is practical, collaborative and commercial, and plays emerge from the historical, cultural and social influences of their birth. Shakespeare on Stage provides invaluable information on the theatre of Shakespeare's lifetime, but it also explores a wider context.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. The Literature of Love is designed to introduce students to one of the central themes in literature. Focusing first on different types and aspects of love - physical, emotional, spiritual - it then offers a chronological coverage, aiming to illustrate ways in which attitudes to the representation of love in literature have evolved from Chaucer to the present time. Other sections of the book examine particular genres such as the love sonnet, the love letter and 'romantic' fiction; and the differing reception of this literature over time is also considered. The book includes extracts from a range of authors.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Landscape and Literature introduces students to the exploration of different ways in which landscape has been represented in literature. It focuses on key aspects of this topic such as the importance of pastoral, contrasts between city and country, eighteenth-century developments from neo-classical to picturesque and Romantic ideas of the sublime, regional novels of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and varied styles of twentieth-century poetry from the Georgian poets to Heaney and Hughes. Poems and prose extracts from writers such as Marvell, Wordsworth, George Eliot, Hardy, Lawrence and Seamus Heaney are included.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Writing Lives takes as its focus life writing, both autobiography and biography, discussing these genres specifically within the contexts of the lives and literary careers of writers, past and present. In addition to exploring the key characteristics of life writing, the book also examines the relationship between the lives of authors and the influence of these lives both on their own writing and on the reception of their work by contemporary and later readers. The book traces the origins of literary biography from its early roots to its position as a best-selling genre in its own right.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Romanticism offers guidance through the diversity of uses and meanings of the word 'romantic', not in terms of fixed definitions or essential qualifying characteristics, but rather in giving a helpful framework for questions and exploration. The focus throughout tends to be on the Western European cultural world of the latter half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th, as befits English literary study, but the context is far broader.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. The modern short story has suffered critical neglect in Britain. This book is something of an attempt to redress the situation. It focuses on short stories written in English mainly in Britain and America and is in three sections: short stories in the 19th century; modernism and short stories; and contemporary and post-modern short stories.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. This book encompasses experiences of the British Empire such as life in Nigeria before the arrival of the British, through to the British retreat from the Empire after the Second World War and on to reggae and 'dub' beats of black British poetry today. Includes writing from Indian, African, South African and Caribbean authors such as Salman Rushdie, Chinua Achebe, J.M. Coetzee and Derek Walcott.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. This book invites readers to reflect on the whole phenomenon of the Victorian novel and its role in dissecting and informing the society which produced it. The reasons for the growth of the novel and its spectacular success is also examined and discussed. Texts and extracts from a selection of Victorian novels and essays, including some material that readers will be unfamiliar with, help to provide a broader understanding of the range of Victorian fiction. Authors include: Thomas Carlyle, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Anthony Trollope and Max Beerbohm.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. The gothic influence on modern writers such as Angela Carter, Iain Banks and Stephen King is vivid and great as is the effect on the world of film and rock music. Part of the function of this book is to offer some guidance: not in terms of a fixed or definitive set of Gothic characteristics, but rather in giving a framework for questions and explorations.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. The purpose of satire is to expose human hypocrisy, vice and folly, and because these aspects of human behaviour are not particular to any one historical period, satires can be understood by readers at any moment in time. This book explores the social and political circumstances to deepen that understanding. Text extracts are included from Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Lord Byron, E.E. Cummings and Evelyn Waugh.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. The emotional power and intellectual challenge of metaphysical poetry are such that it still appeals to modern readers. This book looks at the many ways in which readers at different times have read metaphysical poetry, suggesting approaches for readers today.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Tragedies echoed the brutalities and injustices of the time and mirror other features of the age. Exploration was opening up new worlds, the discoveries of science were rapidly expanding knowledge and the country was fiercely divided in matters of religion. Tragedy explores what it is to be human and these anxious, sceptical times fuelled the imagination of Shakespeare and other playwrights. The book considers the tragedies of Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, John Webster and Thomas Middleton and invites the reader to consider how they are still fresh and relevant today.

Critical introductions to a range of literary topics and genres. Looking back on 20th century British drama from its' historical, social and political perspective enables the reader to set each play in a broader context. Contents include a selection of play extracts from well-known authors including Harold Brighouse, John Osborne, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard and Timberlake Wertenbaker.