Science fiction is at the intersection of numerous fields. It is literature which draws on popular culture, and engages in speculation about science, history, and all varieties of social relations. This volume brings together essays by scholars and practitioners of science fiction, which look at the genre from different angles. It examines science fiction from Thomas More to the present day; and introduces important critical approaches (including Marxism, postmodernism, feminism and queer theory).

This collection of essays explores Faulkner's widespread cultural import. Drawing on a wide range of cultural theory and writing in accessible English, ten major Faulkner scholars examine the enduring whole of Faulkner's work and bring into focus the broader cultural contexts that lent resonance to his work. The collection will be particularly useful to the student seeking a critical introduction to Faulkner, while also serving the dedicated scholar interested in recent trends in Faulkner criticism.

English poetry in the first half of the seventeenth century, an outstandingly rich and varied body of verse, can be understood and appreciated more fully when set in its cultural and ideological context. This introductory Companion, consisting of fourteen new introductory essays by scholars of international standing, provides individual studies of Donne, Jonson, Herrick, Herbert, Carew, Suckling, Lovelace, Milton, Crashaw, Vaughan and Marvell, together with general essays on the political, social and religious context, and the relationship of poetry to the mutations and developments of genre...

This book provides thirteen introductory essays on every aspect of the work of Samuel Beckett, paying particular attention to his most famous plays (e.g. Waiting for Godot and Endgame) and his prose fictions (e.g. the "trilogy" and Murphy). Further essays tackle his radio and television drama, his theater directing and his poetry, followed by more general issues such as Beckett's bilingualism and his relationship to the philosophers. A chronology of Beckett's life, a list of French and English titles and a list for further reading provide additional reference material.

This multifaceted picture of the British novel in its formative decades provides an indispensable guide for students of the eighteenth-century novel, and its place within the culture of its time. Drawing on new research in social and political history, the twelve contributors to this Companion challenge and refine the traditional view of the novel's origins and purposes. Sentimental and Gothic fiction, and fiction by women, are discussed, alongside detailed readings of work by Defoe, Swift, Richardson, Henry Fielding, Sterne, Smollett and Burney.

The terms realism and naturalism are considered in the context of expressing a style of American writing in relation to late nineteenth century fiction movements. This text analyzes ten major texts, from W.D. Howell's The Rise of Silas Lapham to Jack London's The Call of the Wild.

The Cambridge Companion to Mark Twain offers new and thought-provoking essays on an author of enduring preeminence in the American canon. Accessible enough to interest both experienced specialists and students new to Twain criticism, the essays examine Twain from a wide variety of critical perspectives, and include timely reflections by major critics on the hotly debated dynamics of race and slavery perceptible throughout his writing. The volume includes a chronology of Twain's life and a list of suggestions for further reading.

Presenting essays by a distinguished array of contributors, the Companion is a valuable resource for historical and contextual material, whether on early writings such as "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers," on the monumental Walden, or on Thoreau's assorted journals and later books. It also serves in some ways as a biographical guide, offering new insights into his turbulent publishing career, and his brief but extraordinarily original life.

Written for this volume by an international team of distinguished Whitman scholars, these essays address a wide range of contemporary issues in his life and art through varying approaches. The volume includes a chronology of Whitman's life and suggestions for further reading.

This Companion serves both as an introduction for the interested reader, and as a source of the best recent scholarship on the author and his works. In addition to analyzing his major texts, these chapters provide insight on Hemingway's relationship with gender history, journalism, fame, and the political climate of the 1930s. Contributors include both the most distinguished established figures and brilliant newcomers, all chosen with regard to the clarity and readability of their prose.