The short story is one of the most difficult types of prose to write and one of the most pleasurable to read. From Boccaccio's Decameron to The Collected Stories of Reynolds Price, Charles May gives us an understanding of the history and structure of this demanding form of fiction. Beginning with a general history of the genre, he moves on to focus on the nineteenth-century when the modern short story began to come into focus. From there he moves on to later nineteenth-century realism and early twentieth-century formalism and finally to the modern renaissance of the...

Paul Alkon concentrates on several key works that mark the most significant phases in the early evolution of science fiction: Frankenstein, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and The Time Machine. The author sets these works in the context of their time and place of origin, and discusses the genre in general and its relation to other kinds of literature.

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In this comprehensive study of the genre, Don Scheese traces its evolution from the pastoralism evident in the natural history observations of Aristotle and the poetry of Virgil to current American writers. He documents the emergence of the modern form of nature writing as a reaction to industrialization. Scheese's personal observations of natural settings sharpen the reader's understanding of the dynamics between author and locale. His study is further informed by ample use of illustrations and close readings of core writers such as Thoreau, John Muir, and Mary Austin showing how each...

Using a broad definition of fantasy to include myth, folklore, legend and fairy tale, this survey of the genre will entice as well as inform any student interested in the mysterious, mystical or magical. Beloved authors like J. R. R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, William Morris and Robert E. Howard are examined closely.

One of the best known, most enduring, and popular genres in all of literature is the fairy tale. Its origins stretch back to preliterate oral societies. This book surveys the origins and evolution into the modern versions we recognize today. It includes a general history of the form, analysis of exemplary texts, chronology of significant events, works, and figures from the genre's history, notes and references, and an extensive bibliographic essay with recommended reading.

Parke surveys biography from classical times to the present, focusing her analysis on Western culture, and providing detailed readings of works by James Boswell, Richard Ellman, and Gertrude Stein (who together represent the variety of modern literary biography), devoting individual chapters to Samuel Johnson and Virginia Woolf.

Following the genre's development from classical times to the present, "Travel Writing: The Self and the World" shows how it has evolved and changed, yet is always centered on encounters between the self and the other and the mediation between the familiar and the foreign. Emphasis is placed on Anglo-American travel writing since the 18th century. Identifying significant theoretical and critical contributions to the field, Casey Blanton presents an engaging historical overview of travel writing and provides close readings of exemplary texts by six major figures: James Boswell, Mary Kingsley,...

From The Odyssey to The Old Man and the Sea, the long tradition of sea voyage narratives is comprehensively explained here, including a full historical perspective supported by discussions of key texts. Whether the task is to find out more about Moby Dick or the sea voyage theme in general, this broad introduction provides the first step.

Providing the first comprehensive generic study of Holocaust literature, this student-friendly volume enables readers to understand a genre in which boundaries are often blurred between history fiction, autobiography and memoir.