Literary/Critical Theory

Engaging closely with the work of Richard Francis Burton--the iconic nineteenth century imperial spy, explorer and translator--this book sheds new light on the White Man’s ‘imperial fantasies’ and the ways in which metropolitan discourses drew upon and reinforced an intimate connection between fanta..

In this radical and deliberately controversial re-reading of Brecht, first published in 1989, Elizabeth Wright takes a new view of the playwright, giving us a more ‘Brechtian’ reading than so far achieved and making his work historically relevant here and now. The author discusses in detail Brecht’s..

Pynchon and the Political..

Queering Femininity focuses on femininity as a style of gender presentation and asks how (and whether) it can be refigured as a creative and queer style of the body...

Read together, novels from a contemporary world writer (Salman Rushdie) and two modern American authors (Faulkner and Ellision) depict a century-long transformation of how American identity and experience have been conceived and imagined; these changes are revealed in the fiction of encounters betwe..

In this volume, Joseph Coulombe argues that Native American writers use diverse narrative strategies to engage with readers and are ‘writing for connection’ with both Native and non-Native audiences...

In this volume, Joseph Coulombe argues that Native American writers use diverse narrative strategies to engage with readers and are ‘writing for connection’ with both Native and non-Native audiences...

First published in 1987, this book is written for those who are encountering Wordsworth for the first time and for those familiar with his works that are at a loss to understand his reputation or why his work has impressed them. The strength of the author’s approach is that it unravels the poet’s tr..

The classic realist text has long been derided by post-structuralist critics as an unsophisticated and reactionary form. In this study, first published 1992, John Rignall makes a powerful case for the rehabilitation of realism as a self-aware and reflexive genre.A significant contribution to the fie..

In recent years, a growing field of empathy studies has started to emerge from several academic disciplines, including neuroscience, social psychology, and philosophy. Because literature plays a central role in discussions of empathy across disciplines, reconsidering how literature relates to "feeli..

In recent years, a growing field of empathy studies has started to emerge from several academic disciplines, including neuroscience, social psychology, and philosophy. Because literature plays a central role in discussions of empathy across disciplines, reconsidering how literature relates to "feeli..

By exposing the theory of romance to the romance of theory, Diane Elam explores literature’s most uncertain, least easily definable and most tenacious genre, assessing its implications for both feminism and the understanding of history. _x005F_x000D_ Arguing for a parallel between postmodernism’s di..