This Companion consists of 14 essays by leading international scholars. They provide a series of new perspectives on one of the most enigmatic and controversial American writers. Specially tailored to the needs of undergraduates, the essays examine all of Poe's major writings, his poetry, short stores and criticism, and place his work in a variety of literary, cultural and political contexts. This volume will be of interest to scholars as well as students. It features a detailed chronology and a comprehensive guide to further reading.

A poet, painter, and engraver, William Blake died in 1827 in obscurity. Yet he has become one of the most anthologized writers in English and one of the most collected British artists. His urge to create masterpieces of revelation has left complex (and sometimes bizarre) works of written and visual art. The essays in this Companion and a chronology, guides to further reading, and glossary of Blake's terms identify the key points of departure into Blake's diverse world.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge is one of the most influential, and one of the most enigmatic, of all Romantic figures. This Cambridge Companion does full justice to the many facets of Coleridge's life and work. Specially commissioned essays focus on his major poems, his notebooks and the Biographia Literaria. Attention is given to his role as talker, journalist, critic, and philosopher, his politics, religion, and his contemporary and subsequent reputation. A chronology and guides to further reading complete the volume, making this an indispensable guide to Coleridge and his work.

Once viewed solely in relation to the history of feminism, Mary Wollstonecraft is now recognized as a writer of formidable talent across a range of genres, including journalism, letters and travel writing, and is increasingly understood as an heir to eighteenth-century literary and political traditions as well as a forebear of romanticism. This Companion is the first collected volume to address all aspects of Wollstonecraft's momentous and tragically brief career. The diverse and searching essays specially commissioned for this volume do justice to Wollstonecraft's pivotal importance in her...

John Updike is one of the most prolific and important American authors of the contemporary period, with an acclaimed body of work that spans half a century and a source of inspiration that ranges from American exceptionalism to American popular culture. This Companion's distinguished international team of contributors addresses the major themes in Updike's writing as well as the sources of controversy that it has often provoked. They trace the ways in which historical and cultural changes in the second half of the twentieth century have shaped not only Updike's reassessment of America's...

Brian Friel is widely recognized as Ireland's greatest living playwright, winning an international reputation through such acclaimed works as Translations (1980) and Dancing at Lughnasa (1990). This 2006 collection of specially commissioned essays includes contributions from leading commentators on Friel's work (including two fellow playwrights) and explores the entire range of his career from his 1964 breakthrough with Philadelphia, Here I Come to his most recent success in Dublin and London with The Home Place (2005). The essays approach Friel's plays both as literary texts and as...

Feminism has dramatically influenced the way literary texts are read, taught and evaluated. Feminist literary theory has deliberately transgressed traditional boundaries between literature, philosophy and the social sciences in order to understand how gender has been constructed and represented through language. This lively and thought-provoking Companion presents a range of approaches to the field. Some of the essays demonstrate feminist critical principles at work in analysing texts, while others take a step back to trace the development of a particular feminist literary method. The essays...

In this Companion, essays by outstanding scholars illuminate Charles Baudelaire's writing for the lay reader and specialist. In addition to a survey of his life and a study of his social context, the volume includes essays on his verse and prose, analyzing the extraordinary power and effectiveness of his language and style, his exploration of intoxicants like wine and opium, and his art and literary criticism. The volume also discusses the difficulties, successes and failures of translating his poetry and his continuing power to move his readers. It features a guide to further reading and a...

A detailed introduction to Moliere and his plays, this Companion evokes his own theatrical career, his theatres, patrons, the performers and theatre staff with whom he worked, and the various publics he and his troupes entertained with such success. It looks at his particular brands of comedy and satire. L'Ecole des femmes, Le Tartuffe, Dom Juan, Le Misanthrope, L'Avare and Les Femmes savantes are examined from a variety of different viewpoints, and through the eyes of different ages and cultures. The comedies-ballets, a genre invented by Moliere and his collaborators, are re-instated to the...

An invaluable guide to the popular writer of sensation novels.