This study provides a broad-ranging introduction to the major trends in the development of the Italian novel from its early modern origins to the contemporary era. It examines some of the most influential and important novelists of the twentieth century, such as Luigi Pirandello, Primo Levi, Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino. Readers will be exposed to the vitality of the Italian novel throughout its history, in addition to learning about the debates and criticism that have contributed to its development.

This Companion of specially-commissioned essays offers a comprehensive account of his life and work, providing a rounded contemporary appraisal of Central Europe's most distinctive Modernist. Contributions cover all the key texts, and discuss Kafka's writing in a variety of critical contexts such as feminism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, Marxism, and Jewish studies. The essays are enhanced by supplementary material including a chronology of the period and detailed guides to further reading. They will be of interest to students of German, European and Comparative Literature, and Jewish...

Essays by leading scholars explore the lives and tragic early deaths of the three Bronte sisters. They set two of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century: Charlotte's Jane Eyre and Emily's Wuthering Heights, in the context of the other prose and poetry of the sisters, and trace the reputation of the Brontes through history. A detailed chronology and guides to further reading are included.

Presenting the development of the modern Spanish novel from 1600 to the present, this Companion draws on the combined legacies of Don Quijote and the traditions of the picaresque novel. Essays focus on invention and experiment and examine the role played by historical events and cultural contexts in the Spanish novel's evolution. Including a chronology and guide to further reading, the survey reveals the innovative techniques characterizing the Spanish novel as well as the debates surrounding it.

Shakespeare's history plays have been performed in recent years more than ever before throughout Britain, North America, and Europe. This volume is an accessible introduction to Shakespeare's historical and classical plays. Comprehensive in scope, it offers chapters on the individual plays and accounts of the genre of the history play, Renaissance theories of history, and masques and pageants. It compares them with other European history plays, and includes an account of women's roles, genealogical tables and a list of principal and recurrent characters.

A companion to one of the greatest writers of classical antiquity, and arguably the single most influential ancient poet for post-classical literature and culture, is long overdue. Chapters by leading authorities discuss the backgrounds and contexts for Ovid, the individual works, and his influence on later literature and art. Coverage of essential information is combined with exciting new critical approaches.

This Companion is designed for readers interested in the creation, production and interpretation of Victorian and Edwardian theater. An introduction surveying the historical period of the theater is followed by an essay contextualizing it within the culture as a whole. Succeeding chapters examine performance and production, (including music, actors, stagecraft and audience), plays and playwriting and issues of class and gender. Types of performances (such as comedy, farce, melodrama) and the economics of the theater are also analyzed.

Beginning with an examination of the different stages of women's lives--childhood, virginity, marriage and widowhood, this Companion addresses various aspects of medieval life that affected women's writing. These include the nature of authorship in the period, the position of women at home or in nunneries, and their relationship to religion. Additional essays cover the lives and work of such prominent women writers as Heloise, Marie de France, Christine de Pizan, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe and Joan of Arc. A chronology and guides to further reading add information which students and...

Key dimensions of Tolstoy's writing and life are explored in this collection of specially commissioned essays. While the essays focus on Tolstoy's artistic production, the introduction provides a brief, unified account of the man for whom art was only one activity among many. The essays are enhanced by supplementary material including a chronology of the period and detailed guides to further reading. Altogether the volume provides an invaluable resource for scholars and students.

Offering a comprehensive introduction to the thought of Walter Benjamin, the highly influential twentieth-century critic and theorist, this Companion examines different significant aspects of Benjamin's work. Topics of contributions include Benjamin's relationship to the avant-garde movements of his time; his theories on language, mimesis and modernity; and his relevance to modern cultural studies. Additional material includes autobiographical writings, a guide to further reading and a chronology.