Bücher der Reihe Landmarks of World Literature

A comprehensive introduction to Middlemarch offering both general information and an original interpretation.

This book offers a variety of approaches to Zola's masterpiece, published amid considerable controversy in 1876-7. L'Assommoir (the tale of a Parisian washerwoman who after a hard life turns to drink and dies in abject poverty) is analysed as a social and political novel, as a representative work of literary naturalism, and in the context of its repercussions in the history of the novel. Professor Baguley investigates its complex and sometimes ambiguous themes, its literary structures and its technical innovativeness. He provides a synthesis of the best research and criticism of the novel together with insights into its interpretation. The biographical and historical context is given, and there is a guide to further reading.

In Boccaccio's innovative text, ten young people leave Florence to escape the Black Death of 1348, and organize their collective life in the countryside through the pleasure and discipline of story-telling. David Wallace guides the reader through their one hundred novelle, which explore both new and familiar conflicts from private and public spheres of life with unprecedented subtlety, urgency and humour. He emphasises the relationship between Decameron and the precocious vitality of Florentine culture in Boccaccio's time. He also discusses gender issues and the influence of the text particularly on Chaucer and the novel.

Pound's 800 page Cantos, written over a period of more than fifty years (1917-1969), invites the reader to join the poet on a journey from darkness and despair towards light and positive activity. In this book, George Kearns addresses the reader approaching The Cantos for the first time. He examines the poem's aesthetic and political-ethical-didactic dimensions and shows that despite its complexity and the many objections which can be raised to its poetics and politics, its study can be greatly rewarding.

Professor ThorIby offers a close reading of this classic novel and explores the subtle psychology in Tolstoy's characterisation. He avoids complex terminology and assumes a readership studying the text in English translation.

This up-to-date account of the novel's composition, structure, and achievement provides readers with the literary and historical knowledge needed to make sense of the text. Professor Bellos explains how Balzac challenged prevailing nineteenth-century expectations of what novels should be like.

This is a lively and readable guide to Alexander Pushkin's novel in verse Eugene Onegin, a landmark of European Romanticism, and arguably the best of all Russian poetry. Professor Briggs addresses the question of how such remarkable poetry can have been composed about a rather banal plot, and considers the form of the work and its poetic techniques in detail. He offers fresh interpretations of the characters and events of the poem, and sets it against its European background. He discusses its influence - notably Tchaikovsky's operatic version - and points to its life-affirming philosophy and spirit of joyfulness. The book includes a chronological chart and a guide to further reading.

Galdos's four-part Fortunata and Jacinta (1886-7), the masterpiece among his almost 80 novels, tells the turbulent story of two women, their husbands and their lovers, set against the intricate web of dynastic alliances and class contrasts of Madrid in the 1870s. In this new critical introduction Professor Turner provides information on the history and social life of the times, and analyzes Galdos's theory of realism, his powerful use of imagery and metaphor to express the reality of social, mental and moral conditions, and the artistic merits of his narrative style. The book contains tables illustrating the complex family relationships fundamental to the structure of the work, and a chronological summary of the plot, as well as a detailed guide to further reading.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is perhaps the most important landmark of the so-called 'Boom' in contemporary Latin American fiction. Published in 1967, the novel was an instant success, running to hundreds of editions, winning four international prizes, and being translated into 27 languages. In 1982, its author received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Michael Wood places the novel in the context of modern Colombia's violent history, and helps the reader to explore the rich and complex vision of the world which Garcia Marquez presents in it. Close reference is made to the text itself (in English translation), and there is a guide to further reading.

Without a beginning and without an end, Tristram Shandy moves in many different directions, defying the conventional expectations of its readers. Wolfgang Iser shows how Sterne exploits the philosophy of his day and its cognitive deficiencies, using digression, humour and play to convey experience of subjectivity, and implicitly to expose the traditional concept of the self.

Eric Warner places The Waves in the context of Virginia Woolf's career and of the 'modern' age in which it was written. He examines how she came to write the novel, what her concerns were at the time, and how it is linked both in style and theme with her earlier, more accessible works. A final chapter explores the problematic relation of the book to the genre of the novel.

Nicholas Boyle offers a detailed reading of Faust Part One, as well as a fascinating survey of early versions of the Faust story. He emphasises the poetic and dramatic coherence of the work and traces its links with the thought and culture of Goethe's time.

This is a radical introduction to the Life of Johnson. It discusses the main structural, dramatic, historical and imaginative aspects of the work, and establishes its intellectual contexts: Hume's philosophy, earlier biographical writings by Boswell, and the French and German Enlightenment and romantic traditions.

The tradition of the German novel, before the emergence of its 'classic' writers in the first half of the twentieth century does not have an assured place in the canon of European literature. The one signal exception is Goethe's novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers

Scott's Waverley (1814), set in and around the Jacobite Rising in the Scotland of 1745-6, was the first historical novel in world literature. In this study, Richard Humphrey traces and accounts for the text's broad impact on and shows its originality in tackling the manifold issues of rebellion and warfare, separatism and union, prejudice and cultural tolerance.

This textbook series is ambitious in scope. It provides concise and lucid introductions to major works of world literature from classical antiquity to the twentieth century. It is not confined to any single literary tradition or genre, and will cumulatively form a substantial library of textbooks on some of the most important and widely read literary masterpieces.

In Doctor Faustus, his last major novel, Thomas Mann attempted to interpret and judge Germany's role in European culture and history since the Reformation. In this study, Michael Beddow analyses the chief historical, theological, psychological and musical themes of this complex work, and considers Mann's indebtedness to the Faust tradition, Nietzsche and neo-Marxism.

This book offers a fresh approach to Hardy's novel, highlighting its modern qualities. Dale Kramer re-examines the main characters and investigates Hardy's handling of the plot and the novel's characteristics as a tragedy. He gives special consideration to Tess's search for her identity, and the role of her sexuality in this process.

This is a critical introduction that gives a fresh and impartial account of the world-famous satire. It explores the historical and literary backgrounds, Swift's narrative and stylistic art and discusses the the relation of the four parts of the Travels to one another.

Aimed at students of all levels this series attempts to provide companions to key works of world literature. This volume examines "Swann's Way" which forms the first part of Proust's seven-part novel, "A la Recherche du Temps Perdu".

In this introduction to Wordsworth's greatest poem, its creation, historical context, structure and reception history, Stephen Gill places The Prelude in the context of Wordsworth's life, and discusses the various states in which it survives.

This is the first critical study of Sons and Lovers to engage with the new Cambridge edition, which prints for the first time the whole text that Lawrence wrote, restoring the substantial cuts made by the first editor.

Graham Storey explores Dickens' vital engagement with the social and political issues of his study of his day, and shows how these are reflected in the plot and characterization of Bleak House. He also assesses the surprisingly varied reception this great novel has had, and places it in the overall context of European literature.

This introductory study presents Racine's Phedre as the culmination of French classical tragedy. It situates the play in its historical, literary and theatrical context, shows its relationship with other tragedies of Racine, and sketches its influence on later European literature.

Peter France sets the Confessions in the context of Rousseau's life and society, discussing the different aims he set himself, and examining in detail the form and structure of the work.

Conrad's great novel is a rich study not only of a typical South American country, but of the politics of any underdeveloped country, and for this reason it is permanently topical. Ian Watt addresses Conrad's concerns when writing the work, and provides an accessible introduction, taking account of background, history and politics, and reception and influence.

This study places the novel, first published in 1830, in the context of its time and highlights the interpretration of the personal and the fictional in Stendhal's writing. The realism of the novel is derived from an incorporation of history and legal reportage.

Dr Wood traces in detail the frequently paradoxical development of themes and situations introduced in the opening chapters and lays stress on the novel's intricate writing. He places the book in its historical, intellectual and biographical context and examines its reception by writers as various as Stendhal, George Eliot, and Tolstoy.

Journey to the End of the Night is a novel of sauage, exultant misanthropy, full of cynical humor and of the blackest pessimism in respect of humanity. In this detailed study, John Sturrock shows why Celine's extraordinary work should be acknowledged one of the chief literary landmarks of the twentieth century.

This volume offers an accessible and stimulating introduction to one of the most influential texts of western literature. This guide highlights Milton's imaginative daring as he boldly revises the epic tradition, brilliantly elaborates upon Genesis, and shapes his ambitious narrative in order to retell the story of the Fall. The book considers the heretical dimensions of Paradise Lost and its theology, while situating Milton's great poem in its literary, religious, and political contexts. A concluding chapter addresses the influence of Milton's sublime poem as a source of creative inspiration for later writers, from the Restoration to the Romantics. Finally, the volume offers an extremely useful and updated guide to further reading, which students will find invaluable.