Bücher der Reihe Landmarks of World Literature

This volume is a distinctive critical introduction to Homer's Iliad, the earliest epic poem, and the earliest known work of literature in ancient Greece. Michael Silk deals with the poem's historical context, its composition and its extensive influence, and relates its literary power to the peculiar coherence and inter-relation of such aspects of the poem as its style, character-portrayal and ideology. Through use of quotation from the original and accompanying English translation, close attention is paid to the distinctive texture of Homeric poetry. This revised edition takes account of recent scholarship in the field and includes a comprehensive updated guide to further reading. It is essential reading for students of literature and classics.

In this accessible critical introduction to Dante's Divine Comedy Robin Kirkpatrick principally focuses on Dante as a poet and storyteller. He addresses important questions such as Dante's attitude towards Virgil, and demonstrates how an early work such as the Vita nuova is a principal source of the literary achievement of the Comedy. His detailed reading reveals how the great narrative poem explores the relationship that Dante believed to exist between God as creator of the universe and the human being as a creature of God. In addition, Kirkpatrick takes due account of the historical and philosophical dimensions of the poem.

In her introduction to this brilliant and outrageous literary landmark, Anne Barton places Don Juan within the context of Byron's life and reading, and offers an interpretation of the poem which demonstrates its underlying coherence and artistic integrity, despite Byron's mischievous protestations to the contrary.

This study focuses on the Bible as a landmark of literature, showing both how it has influenced writers through the ages and how it in turn has been influenced by contemporary literature.

This textbook series provides concise and lucid introductions to major works of world literature from classical antiquity to the twentieth century. This book will have a a full account of its historical, cultural, and intellectual background, a discussion of its influence, and a guide to further reading.

Les Fleurs du mal owes its 'landmark' status to the sheer aesthetic quality of its verses. Professor Leakey provides a comprehensive guide to understanding the poems and their context and a detailed account of Le Cygne.

Stephen Heath shows how Madame Bovary with its questioning of the value of marriage and the role of women captures and articulates the experience of the post-romantic commercial-industrial, democratic period.

This book offers a concise introduction to Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan (c. 1210), one of the greatest works of medieval literature. The work is approached both through the context of other contemporary Tristan romances and through a close reading of key passages of the text.