Literary History & Criticism

An intellectual detective story, this history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain....

Sir Ian McKellen, fresh from his performance as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, is Prospero, and heads a strong cast in Shakespeare’s last great play....

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, Lucy Worsley has written an Introduction to her Sunday Times Bestselling biography - the book that leads us into the rooms from which our best-loved novelist quietly changed the world.

Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and, most importantly, enjoyment....

A brilliant investigation into the motivations and methods, Dumbledore dives between the lines of the Harry Potter books to create a portrait of the controversial Headmaster....

Harold Bloom explores our Western literary tradition by concentrating on the works of twenty-six authors central to the Canon...

The poems of the Poetic Edda have waited a long time for a modern English translation that would do them justice. Here it is at last (Odin be praised!). These amazing texts from a 13th-century Icelandic manuscript are of huge historical, mythological, and literary importance....

Ramayana must rank as one of the most loved and revered books of all time. A part of India's ancient Vedas, it is a beautiful story of romance and adventure....

An assemblage of reflections on the nature of writing and the writer from one the greatest American writers of the 20th century....

The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of Twain’s death. In celebration of this important milestone, here, for the first time, is Mark Twain’s uncensored autobiography....

In the rigid theocracy of Salem, Massachusetts, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town....

For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote In Search of Lost Time (while bedridden no less), Alain de Botton has the answer....

A collection of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour....

The Gutenberg Parenthesis traces the epoch of print from its fateful beginnings to our digital present – and draws out lessons for the age to come....

Los Angeles, 1948: Easy Rawlins is a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant....

A compelling argument for the necessity for art in life, Nietzsche's first book is fuelled by his enthusiasms for Greek tragedy, for the...

Discover everything you’ve ever wondered about the legendary spirits, creatures, and figures of Japanese folklore including how they have found their way into every corner of our pop culture from the creator of the podcast Uncanny Japan....

An engaging, accessible guide to educating yourself in the classical tradition....

Short Stories in French for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment....

This third edition of Hans Bertens’ bestselling book is an essential guide to the often confusing and complicated world of literary theory. Literary Theory: The Basics explores a broad range of topics from Marxist and feminist criticism to postmodernism and new historicism....

The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave is a study of slave making....

Detective Easy Rawlins returns in a mystery set in 1961 Los Angeles as Easy accepts a job searching for a beautiful woman nicknamed Black Betty who works as a housekeeper in Beverly Hills....

Cumbres Borrascosas es la única novela de Emily Brontë, fue publicada por primera vez en 1847 bajo el seudónimo de Ellis Bell, y es considerada un clásico...

Originally published in 1966, Susan Sontag's first collection of essays is a modern classic and includes the famous essays "Notes on Camp" and "Against Interpretation", as well as, her impassioned discussions....

Writing advice tends to be full of "rules" and "tips" which are either too broad to be helpful or outright wrong. In On Writing and Worldbuilding, we will discuss specific and applicable ideas to consider....

In the six lectures of Teenage Wastelands: A Guide to Dystopian Young Adult Fiction, award-winning YA author Sherri L. Smith will show you why dystopian stories have become so successful and why they continue to inspire. As you trace the history of dystopian stories and dive into some of YA’s most influential tales of the future, you’ll see why these often dark and challenging works have such a hold on the imagination. From The Giver to The Hunger Games to Orleans, dystopian tales allow us to grapple with hard questions and consider how we want to live—both now and in the future.

What is it about Stoicism that Marcus found so important then, and that millions find relevant today? In the 12 fascinating lectures of Books That Matter: Meditations, professor Massimo Pigliucci explores the questions Marcus believed were crucial to address in a life of value, the answers he proposed, and the many ways in which you can use Stoic philosophy. While Meditations was originally written for an audience of just one, what Marcus wanted to examine certainly still applies to us today. What exactly should we be mindful of in this life?

100 years after Proust's death, In Search of Lost Time remains one of the greatest works in World Literature. At 3,000 pages, it can be intimidating to some. This short volume invites first-time listeners and veterans alike to view the novel in a new way. Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was arguably France's best-known literary writer. He was the author of stories, essays, translations, and a 3,000-page novel, In Search of Lost Time (1913-27). This book is a brief guide to Proust's magnum opus.

Dickens the Enchanter takes us deep into an imagination whose power and originality struck some contemporaries as godlike while others thought it demonic. If you already love Dickens, it will renew your understanding of him; if you have yet to experience him, it will lure you into his astonishing, alarming, enchanted world.

Plongez au cœur de l’ambition monumentale d’Honoré de Balzac avec cet Avant-propos, véritable clé de lecture de La Comédie Humaine. Dans ce texte fondateur, l’auteur expose sa vision grandiose : dresser le portrait fidèle de la société du XIXe siècle, en saisir les mécanismes cachés, les passions dévorantes et les luttes sociales impitoyables.

Na ponta da língua não busca ser um mero guia de etimologia. Mais do que ensinar ao leitor a origem das palavras, Caetano W. Galindo—autor de Latim em pó, êxito de crítica e público—nos dá as ferramentas para que possamos, também, ser investigadores do nosso português.

Afterlives of Endor offers an analysis of the way early modern English literature addressed the period's anxieties about witchcraft and theatricality. What determined whether or not a demonologist imagined a trial as a spectacle? What underlying epistemological constraints governed such choices and what conceptions of witchcraft did these choices reveal? Pairing readings of demonological texts with canonical plays and poetry, Laura Levine examines such questions.

In The Ancient Wisdom of Baseball, author Christian Sheppard interweaves Homer’s epics with glorious stories from the green fields of America’s pastime, celebrating Achilles’ courage and Odysseus’ cunning along with the virtues of Hall of Fame players such as Jackie Robinson and Babe Ruth and of great teams such as the 2004 Red Sox and the 2016 Cubs.

James Baldwin (1924–1987) was a pivotal figure of the twentieth century, an influential author, intellectual, and activist who led a celebrated public life—and whose words and image and persona remain current in our culture. Baldwin's many incarnations have reemerged in the digital age as Baldwin's work becomes a touchstone for a new generation. It is the private, vulnerable, and messier Baldwin—the man behind the prophet and the online meme—who is the focus of this book.

In this Very Short Introduction, Anthony Welch places the Western epic canon alongside traditional heroic poetry from Asia, Africa, and the Near East. Tracing shared themes and practices that unite the world's epic literature, Welch examines the roles that epic poets serve in society and how epic storytelling differs from other narrative forms. Ranging widely from Gilgamesh to Derek Walcott's Omeros, the author acquaints listeners with some of the world's greatest literary works and asks why the epic holds such power over our imaginations.

Dive into the fascinating world of German language and culture with One Hundred Quirky German Idioms and What They Really Mean by Johann Kluge. This engaging and entertaining book is your ultimate guide to understanding the colorful expressions that make German so unique. From "biting the grass" to "stepping on someone's tie," you'll discover the hidden meanings behind these playful phrases that leave language learners both puzzled and delighted.

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.

My guest Star is here to talk to us about Heroine's Journey and we are discussing the heroine's journey in Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables and Jo's heroine's journey in Little Women. I was told that Gilbert's proposal to Anne in the 80s AOGG is almost exactly the same as Laurie's proposal to Jo in 1933 Little Women. Of course, I had to check if this was true and I have recorded these two proposals and mine and Star's reactions.

Now in the pantheon of great thinkers, Simone Weil (1909–1943) lived largely in the shadows, searching for her spiritual home while bearing witness to the violence that devastated Europe twice in her brief lifetime. The letters she wrote to her parents and brother from childhood onward chart her intellectual range as well as her itinerancy and ever-shifting preoccupations, revealing the singular personality at the heart of her brilliant essays. The first complete collection of Weil's missives to her family, A Life in Letters offers new insight into her personal relationships and experiences.

Transcendentalism remains the most important literary and philosophical movement to have originated in the United States. Most accounts of it trace its emergence to a group of intellectuals dissatisfied with their religious, literary, and social culture. Yet there is a forgotten history of transcendentalism that features women who were central to the development of the movement. Bright Circle is intended to reorient our understanding of transcendentalism. It recounts the lives of Mary Moody Emerson, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Sophia Peabody Hawthorne, Lydia Jackson Emerson, and Margaret Fuller.

John is the underrated love interest in the Little Women canon, but he is actually really great. He is a gentleman and a wonderful father and he adores Meg. I am joined by Little Women expert, the author of March Sisters Sweet Romance Book series, Jen Brady. In Jen's book "Falling for the tutor" we get John's point of view on things. What does he think about the March family and how did he fall in love with Meg? Join us in this wonderful discussion. We shall be discussing about Meg's character.

What does it take to escape the plotlines mapped onto us? Searching for clues in the work of her literary foremothers, Lipson untangles what it means to be a girl, a woman, a lover, a partner, a daughter, and a mother in a world all too ready to reduce us to stock characters.

The Hero and the Victim situates Iraq War fiction in war literature’s broader history. In contrast to the emphasis of most pre-modern war literature on the figure of the warrior-as-hero, and the growing modern emphasis on the figure of the soldier-as-victim, Iraq War fiction reflects the troubled emergence of a new narrative: the story of the ordinary soldier as a wrongdoer or even criminal.

For 2500 years people have been debating how literature changes lives, and versions of those debates continue today in classrooms, school and library boardrooms, and state legislatures. The life-transforming potential of books caught the attention of Dante, Cervantes, Jane Austen, Percy Shelley, and many others. Better Living through Literature surveys what the great thinkers have said on the subject, from Plato and Aristotle to Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud to W. E. B Du Bois, Harold Bloom, and Martha Nussbaum.

Karl Kraus gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Aphoristiker deutscher Sprache. Ob berühmte Schriftsteller oder die Presse - nichts und niemand wurde von der gnadenlosen 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.