Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was first published in 1818. From that point onwards, Frankenstein's monster has remained a key figure in the popular imagination. The novel is one of the most widely studied works of English literature, but we can also find traces of Frankenstein and his monstrous creation in a range of cultural forms from film to the erotic novel.

William Shakespeare's Othello (1601-2) has delighted and disturbed theatre audiences for the past four centuries, and remains one of the most frequently performed and widely studied of his plays. This volume is a broad-ranging guide to Othello, providing an introduction to: the contexts of the play, through a concise, accessible overview, a chronology and reprinted documents from the period; the range of critical responses to the play, through a brief critical history and reprinted critical texts, accompanied by explanatory headnotes; and the play in performance, through a selection of...

Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) is the founding text of modern feminism. In this sourcebook, Adriana Craciun provides a starting point for readers new to Wollstonecraft's work. Key materials include: letters by Wollstonecraft and important contemporary documents; 19th-century responses to the text; 20th-century critical readings; annotated key passages, cross-referenced to critical texts; and suggestions for further reading. With substantial introductory materials throughout and extensive annotation, this is a useful guide to a key literary and political...

First published in book form in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin quickly became a bestseller, recognized as a powerful contribution to anti-slavery debates. After more than 150 years, it remains one of the most widely discussed works of American literature.

This sourcebook is ideal for those new to Yeats's poetry or those who wish to look deeper into its workings, its reception and the contexts from which it emerged.

Few modern critics would dispute Keats's status as one of the great English poets and many consider his 'Lamia', 'Isabella', 'The Eve of St. Agnes' and Other Poems as the most important single volume of verse to be published during the Romantic period. Perhaps more importantly, he remains one of the most popular poets of any era. This sourcebook offers an introduction to his life, contexts and work, and to the wealth of critical responses to his poetry. The Contexts section offers a sketch of Keats's brief but crowded life and excerpts from key letters, as well as a chronology and key to...

Since Hedda Gabler exploded on to European and American stages in the 1890s, the play and its title character have troubled and transfixed audiences, performers and critics the world over. This sourcebook balances essential reprinted texts with incisive commentary to: set the play within the contexts of Norwegian nationalism, the women's movement and the cultural movement of Naturalism; examine and emphasize the links between the performance and criticism of the play, from 1890 onwards; offer a guide to key passages in the play, showing how a knowledge of the play's contexts, performance...

First published in 1899, The Awakening's engagement with taboo issues of female sexuality and infidelity prompted a flurry of damning reviews that sent the book out of print and into obscurity for several decades. However, it is now hailed as a key early feminist text and has become one of the most widely studied works of American literature. This Sourcebook combines accessible commentary with reprinted documents to provide the ideal introduction to the novel. Its first section, 'Contexts' provides biographical information on Chopin and explores 1890s American society to reveal the contextual...

Perhaps E.M. Forster's most challenging work, A Passage to India has, since 1924, provoked debate on topics from imperialism to modernism to ethnicity, sexuality and symbolism. This sourcebook introduces not only the novel but the key issues which surround it. The sourcebook offers: a contextual and biographical overview, with a chronology of important dates; contemporary reviews key extracts from Forster's relevant essays, books and articles; a summary of the work's critical history; substantial contemporary essays by important critics of the novel; a consideration of film and television...

With Shylock's pound of flesh and Portia's golden ring, The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare's most controversial, disturbing and unforgettable plays. This title explores the contexts of the play, including early modern images of Venice, the commercialism of the play, Shakespeare's theatre and London, and images of Jewishness.