Bücher der Reihe Cambridge Introductions to Literature

This introduction presents those interested in Mikhail Bakhtin with a compact, readable, and sophisticated exposition of his work, using the most up-to-date sources and relying on the new, scholarly editions of Bakhtin's texts. It is a key resource for students and teachers of literary theory and any courses on Bakhtin.

Informative coverage of Proust's life, the social and cultural contexts of his work and a volume-by-volume study of In Search of Lost Time, as well as chapters on the novel's critical reception and its afterlives in contemporary culture.

This comprehensive Introduction is designed for students, scholars, and ambitious general readers. In addition to discussing over one hundred writers in many genres, including popular, it analyses key texts in detail, exploring British modernist fiction and thought, and relating those to history, social change, and the nature of fiction itself.

A new history of satire that brings foundational scholarship up to date with the theoretical and historical insights of literary studies from the last three decades, this book is a substantive introduction for undergraduate and graduate students, and an essential gateway to more advanced studies.

A wide-ranging study of contemporary American fiction, from the Sweet Home of Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987) to novels of the post-9/11 homeland. This Introduction explores fiction written over the last thirty years with respect to the political, historical, and cultural changes that have distinguished the contemporary period.

This introduction provides a fresh approach to the meaning and origins of performance theory for students, scholars and enthusiasts. Defining the key figures and terms within the field, Simon Shepherd ranges across theories and practices, from folklore studies to performativity to protests against road building.

This Introduction surveys the full spectrum of postmodern culture - high and low, avant-garde and popular, famous and obscure - across a range of fields, from architecture and visual art to fiction, poetry, and drama. Comprehensive and accessible, this book is indispensable for scholars, students, and general readers interested in late twentieth-century culture.

This Introduction provides an original, synthetic overview of the relations between literature and philosophy from ancient times to the present. It covers a wide range of genres, historical periods, and topics, making it a valuable guide for students, teachers, and researchers in literary criticism, literary theory, and philosophy.

Christopher Innes and Maria Shevtsova discuss the methods of rehearsal and staging created by the path-breaking directors of the twentieth century and the twenty-first. They offer a broad overview of the roots of modern directing, and highlight its innovative theatre practices through details of major productions and theoretical principles.

A clear and engaging introduction aimed at students, lay readers and academics, which presents Kafka's works in a new light. Combines close readings with an account of his wider cultural and historical context, as well as drawing on textual material which is unavailable to English-speaking readers.

Offers readers a guide to Toni Morrison and her fiction, from her status on the global intellectual stage to her engagement with the African-American experience. Lively and accessibly written, this text is ideal for readers approaching Morrison for the first time as well as those already familiar with her work.

Placing its emphasis on literary rather than theoretical texts, this book offers detailed discussion of many internationally renowned authors, including James Joyce, Chinua Achebe, Salman Rushdie, Les Murray and Derek Walcott. It also includes historical surveys of the main countries discussed, a glossary, and biographical notes on major authors.

This Introduction is designed for students of German poetry and their teachers. Covering both familiar poems and new examples, it presents an up-to-date panorama of what the German poetic tradition has to offer. Focusing on key issues, it helps readers understand the poetic texts in their cultural contexts.

This introduction offers the most wide-ranging and sophisticated account of American literary realism currently available for students. Barrish emphasizes both historical context and aesthetic form while also introducing readers to ongoing critical debates on authors including Henry James, William Dean Howells, Sarah Orne Jewett, Edith Wharton and Mark Twain.

Aimed at students of Latin American and comparative literature, this book provides essential information about his life, career, published work in literature and journalism and his political engagement. It relates the fiction effectively to the writer's own experience and his achievements to his enduring importance in world literature.

This lively introduction to Milton's life, times and writings includes a detailed explanation of his poetry and prose and discusses in depth the author's historical circumstances and critical reception. Separate sections focus on key passages from his works to illustrate how readers can interpret - and get excited about - Milton's writings.

The major Elizabethan dramatist and poet Christopher Marlowe is widely studied but his work is often seen as challenging. This Introduction provides approachable and explanatory discussions of all of Marlowe's plays and considers Marlowe's turbulent life, his poems and translations, performances of his plays and his influence on other writers.

An introduction to the forms, politics and cultural strategies of modernist poetry in English, for students and readers new to it. As well as concise, penetrating accounts of individual poets' work, it includes chapters on avant-gardism, deliberately difficult art and the modernist/postmodernist divide.

This introductory book explains the development of the genre in its formative period in Britain. The reader will gain a thorough understanding of both prominent and lesser-known novels and novelists, key social and literary contexts, formal qualities and the novel's growth from a marginal to a culturally central genre.

One of the most influential literary figures of the twentieth century, George Orwell remains a crucial voice for our times. Examining Orwell's life, work and legacy, and including detailed discussions of his masterpieces Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, this Introduction is perfect for readers approaching Orwell for the first time.

An approachable and stimulating introduction to Anglo-Saxon literature, this book provides indispensable guidance for students on this important topic in literary studies. Key individual works including Beowulf are discussed in detail, with modern English translations, and the literature is placed in larger historical and theoretical contexts.

This volume provides a succinct introduction to the life and works of Thomas Mann. The primary focus is on his literary texts, but it also touches on his evolution as one of the most controversial public intellectuals of the twentieth century.

One of the greatest modern writers, Chekhov was an influential figure in both fiction and drama. Beginning with an engaging account of Chekhov's life and cultural context in nineteenth-century Russia, this Introduction includes detailed analyses of his short stories and plays and demonstrates what makes Chekhov so important and unique.

A comprehensive guide to the pleasures and challenges of reading Shakespeare's poetry, this volume outlines the poems' complexity while making them accessible. Emphasizing the whole poetic corpus, not just the Sonnets, it addresses the many approaches and contexts available for reading the poems, and includes exemplary readings of individual poems.

With suggestions for further reading, detailed information about the Icelandic literary canon, and a map of medieval Iceland, this book is designed for students of medieval literature and assumes no prior knowledge of Scandinavian languages.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was one of the great writers and thinkers of the Romantic revolution. This introduction discusses his poems, his literary criticism and his life. Coleridge emerges as an immensely self-aware, witty and charismatic writer in the context of the literary, political, religious and scientific thinking of his time.

Outlining a series of contexts - biographical, historical and literary - as well as critical approaches to Wordsworth, this Introduction offers students ways to understand and enjoy Wordsworth's poetry and his role in the development of Romanticism in Britain.

This book offers a lively and accessible introduction to the wonderful diversity of Dickens for general readers, students, teachers, and academics. Covering key topics from Dickens and language to TV and film adaptations, it places the greatest English novelist in the context of the dizzying expansion of Victorian London.

Bringing together buildings, people and plays, this Introduction examines the features that characterise modern and current British theatre. These features include experimental performances under motorways alongside plays by Stoppard and Ayckbourn, amateur theatre and virtual spaces, the emergence of the director, the changing role of writers and political shows.

Designed to interest both students and scholars, The Cambridge Introduction to Victorian Poetry provides an accessible overview of British poetry from 1830 to 1901. It features a glossary of literary terms, a guide to further reading, and two examples of close readings of Victorian poems.