This Reader's Guide analyses the critical history of two major nineteenth-century novels by the popular Victorian author Thomas Hardy, from the time of their publication to the present. Simon Avery explores how different generations of readers and critics have responded to the texts and maps out the ways in which various critical and theoretical schools have deployed differing - and often contradictory - interpretative strategies towards them. The ideological complexities of film and television adaptations of the two works are also considered, as are possible future developments in Hardy...

This Guide discusses the range of critical reactions to three of Jane Austen's most widely-studied and popular novels. Annika Bautz takes the reader chronologically through the profusion of criticism by selecting key approaches from the immense variety of responses these three Austen novels have provoked over the last two centuries.

This Guide outlines the initial critical responses to the novels of one of the most popular contemporary authors and explores thekey critical positions that have developed.Matthew Beedham explores the themes which are central to Ishiguro's work, such as issues of narration, memory and ethnicity."

In this Readers' Guide, David Smale traces the critical reception of this fascinating writer by examining the changing responses to his two best-known works. As a novelist and icon, Rushdie has embraced both 'popular' and 'high' culture; reflecting this, the Guide brings together both academic criticism and journalism to investigate the passions and preoccupations of Rushdie's many critics, steering the reader through the inflamed debates and rhetoric surrounding this much admired but controversial author.

In this Readers' Guide, Sarah Gamble, herself a leading interpreter of Carter's work, examines the critical reception of her writing, including the much-debated non-fiction text, The Sadeian Woman. Drawing on interviews, articles, books and Carter's own assessments of her role as writer, it focuses on the controversy surrounding Carter's portrayals of sadistic eroticism; her adaptation of the Gothic, science-fiction and fairy-tale genres; her subversion of gender identity; and the extent to which she was influenced by postmodern theory.

Margaret Atwood is one of the most significant writers working today. Her writing spans seven decades, is phenomenally diverse and ambitious, and has amassed an enormous body of literary criticism. In this invaluable guide, Fiona Tolan provides a clear and comprehensive overview of evolving critical approaches to Atwood’s work. Addressing all of the author’s key texts, the book deftly guides the reader through the most characteristic, influential, and insightful critical readings of the last fifty years. It highlights recurring themes in Atwood’s work, such as gender, feminism, power...