Literary History & Criticism

A leading scholar draws on fifty years of reading and studying J.R.R. Tolkien to explain how he created an entire world.

Renowned as a novelist, journalist, and humorist, Mark Twain is not only one of the most widely read and admired American writers, he is also among the most quoted. Wit and repartee permeate his work — from the short, light pieces to his great novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and even later, in dark meditations on the human condition where his humor takes on a cynical, satirical twist.

Award-winning British playwright, composer and screenwriter Leo Butler looks back over 25 of writing for the stage and his extensive experience teaching and mentoring emerging playwrights. With honesty and humour, Leo Butler shares his experiences from his working-class upbringing in Sheffield, including his disastrous state education, his years on the dole, to his breakthrough into the professional theatre industry.

Drawing on examples ranging from Chaucer to children's rhymes, Cole Porter to Dylan Thomas, and from around the English-speaking world, it shows how any reader can understand and gain pleasure from poetry. This comprehensive guide explores poetry's relationship to everyday language and introduces major genres and technical aspects. Each chapter proceeds through chronological examples from a wide range of English language poems.

For centuries, readers have marveled at the imaginative brilliance of authors like C. S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Charles Williams. But what inspired these literary giants? The Way of Dante takes you on a journey of discovering how the medieval poet Dante Alighieri and his masterwork, The Divine Comedy, shaped their thoughts, artistry, and faith.

Par un minuit lugubre, un esprit las veille sur d’anciens volumes quand un léger heurt à la porte trouble le silence. Bientôt, un corbeau ténébreux s’installe et, avec un refrain implacable, pousse le narrateur au bord de l’obsession. Chambre close, décembre âpre, souvenirs d’un amour perdu: tout conspire à faire monter la fièvre du doute et du deuil. Chef-d’œuvre de l’imaginaire romantique, ce poème allie cadence hypnotique et atmosphère funèbre.

Rarely do we ask these profound, expansive questions of ourselves and of our relationship to the joy of reading. But in this gentle, philosophical collection celebrating books, reading and language, Hwang Bo-reum doesn't just tell us, but shows us what living a life immersed in reading means. While this is a book about books, at its heart is an attitude to life, one outside capitalism and climbing the corporate ladder.

An updated version of Mark Twain's classic examination of James Fenimore Cooper's classic works.

George Orwell is considered one of the greatest writers and thinkers of the 20th century, best known for his incisive political critiques in his celebrated novels Animal Farm and 1984. This comprehensive guide explores Orwell's position on the issues that truly mattered to him, including poverty, social class, nationalism, imperialism, political ideologies, and totalitarianism.

One of the most transcendent poets of his generation, Darwish composed this remarkable elegy at the apex of his creativity, but with the full knowledge that his death was imminent. Thinking it might be his final work, he summoned all his poetic genius to create a luminous work that defies categorization.

Humpty Dumpty est une histoire anglaise intrigante et captivante qui parle d’un personnage emblématique d’une comptine pour enfants très connue. Il s’agit d’une devinette très ancienne dont la réponse est un œuf qu’on ne peut pas reconstituer sur une table ou une chaise après sa chute. Le cheminement personnel de l’oeuf qui apprend à vaincre ses peurs même après avoir connu la souffrance et l’échec est une leçon de vie pour les enfants.

The first detailed account of Austen's characters' reading experience to date, this book explores both what her characters read and what their literary choices would have meant to Austen's own readership, both during her life and today. Jane Austen was a voracious and extensive reader, so it's perhaps no surprise that many of her characters are also readers—from Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice to Fanny Price in Mansfield Park.

“Once upon a time…” These compelling words stir something deep within us—a longing for truth, transformation, and the comfort of a good story. Folk and fairy tales have enchanted us for generations, but what if they hold more than fantasy? Daughter, Arise invites you to see these timeless tales through a new lens—one rooted in biblical truth and spiritual insight.

An A-Z of Jane Austen 's richly textured worlds have enchanted readers for centuries and this neatly organized, playful book provides Austen enthusiasts and students alike with a unique insight into the much-loved writer's way with words. Using a lively A-Z structure, Greaney provides fresh angles on familiar Austen themes (D is for dance ; M is for matchmaking ), casts light on under-examined corners of her imagination (R is for risk ; S is for servant ), and shows how current social and cultural concerns are re-shaping our understanding of her work ( Q is for queer; W is for West Indies).

Obligatorischer Absatz: Karl Kraus gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Aphoristiker deutscher Sprache. Ob berühmte Schriftsteller oder die Presse - nichts und niemand wurde von der Kritik seiner Feder verschont. Bekannte Künstler wie Stefan Zweig, Georg Trakl, Thomas Mann und andere zollten ihm Respekt, aber die Zahl seiner Feinde in Kunst und Gesellschaft war enorm. Als Vorleser hinterließ er aufgrund seiner Sprachgewalt und Persönlichkeit angeblich einen äußerst außergewöhnlichen Eindruck.

A Very Merry Matchup Machine is a sharp, warm look at how holiday rom-coms, small towns, and well-meaning relatives turn December into a matchmaking factory—and what that does to anyone who doesn’t fit the script. Starting from the cozy chaos of a Christmas romance full of pageants, cocoa and “accidental” setups, this book opens the casing of the holiday-love machine to examine the gears underneath: the pressure to be coupled by year’s end, the way communities act like human algorithms, and the quiet shame of spending the season unresolved.

Le isole greche sono terre del mito. Sono palcoscenici per avventure di eroi e divinità. L'Egeo è un mare di prodigi, un paesaggio di labirinti e di colossi, di vulcani e di palazzi. Ospita terre sacre, come la divina Delo, isola-ninfa che ha propiziato la nascita miracolosa di Apollo. Accoglie luoghi arcani, come Santorini, spezzata in due da un cataclisma, in tempi remoti, ma anche patria, secondo il folklore moderno, dei primi vampiri. Ogni isola ha la sua mitologia: a Creta è cresciuto Zeus, a Naxos si sono amati Arianna e Dioniso, a Serifos è apparsa la testa di Medusa.

Obligatorischer Absatz: Karl Kraus gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Aphoristiker deutscher Sprache. Ob berühmte Schriftsteller oder die Presse - nichts und niemand wurde von der Kritik seiner Feder verschont. Bekannte Künstler wie Stefan Zweig, Georg Trakl, Thomas Mann und andere zollten ihm Respekt, aber die Zahl seiner Feinde in Kunst und Gesellschaft war enorm. Als Vorleser hinterließ er aufgrund seiner Sprachgewalt und Persönlichkeit angeblich einen äußerst außergewöhnlichen Eindruck.

Une nuit. Le Panthéon pour enceinte d’un dialogue entre Richard Malka, incroyant bien décidé à rire encore de Dieu, en guerre contre le « respect » nouvellement dû aux religions, et Voltaire, le plus irrévérencieux philosophe des Lumières, défenseur de Calas et du Chevalier de la Barre. Sont-ils d’accord sur tout ? Pas tout à fait. Disciple de Robert Badinter et Georges Kiejman, l’avocat évoque les attentats, les morts, son histoire familiale, sa répulsion envers le prosélytisme et les enfermements communautaires.

Mark Twain’s Jim, introduced in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), is a shrewd, selfaware, and enormously admirable enslaved man, one of the first fully drawn Black fathers in American fiction. Haunted by the family he has left behind, Jim acts as father figure to Huck, the white boy who is his companion as they raft the Mississippi toward freedom. Jim is also a highly polarizing figure: he is viewed as an emblem both of Twain’s alleged racism and of his opposition to racism.