First published in 1977, this book studies the picaresque as a literary genre. It begins by discriminating between the literature of roguery and the picaresque in particular before discussing the origins of the genre in Spain and tracing its development into Europe. The book concludes with a brief description of contemporary works which belong to the same tradition.

In tracing the itinerary of the "picaro" in Europe and in America, it attempts to define a myth of the picaresque which consists of two phases: the first being the traditional Spanish model of the picaresque and the second...

First published in 1972, the work provides an introduction to Dada and Surrealism. It explores the two movements and their cultural significance. It also looks at those who called themselves Dadaists and Surrealists, including their aims and achievements. In doing so, the book identifies the meaning that the two terms have acquired, which is often remote from the claims advanced by the chief adherents of each movement.

This book will be a valuable resource to those studying Dada and Surrealism and its relationship to modern literature.

First published in 1970, this work examines ‘Plot’ as a literary term. It traces the two and contrary ways of considering the word: the Aristotelian and the neo-classic interpretations. It then goes on to examine the methods by which the idea of plot has been expanded in modern criticism through a proliferation of critical terms clustering around a vital idea of poiesis, and through the development of time theories, both literary and philosophical, which describe the action of creation. In doing so, the book leads the reader from the standard definition of plot as a hackneyed...

First published in 1977, this book explores biography in the post-Renaissance period and investigates some of the problems implicit in this literary form. The introduction considers various aspects of biographical theory as expressed by practitioners and critics. The rest of the book is a detailed examination of specific works placed in chronological context — reflecting the author’s assertion that a work of biography is inseparable from the intellectual and cultural precepts of its age. Amongst the works examined are: Plutarch’s Lives, Aubrey’s Brief Lives,...

First published in 1969, this work explores aestheticism and its relationship with literature. After defining the term and examining the unique qualities of ‘the Aesthetes’, the book provides an overview of the literary movement from its emergence to its apotheosis in the 1890s.

This book will be of particular interest to those studying 19^th Century literature.

First published in 1972, this work pursues the question ‘what is comedy?’ In its quest for an answer it explores critical theory, psychology, sociology and metaphysics. It also examines the classical origins of comedy, different kinds of comedy, the rituals of comedy, its relationship with other idioms such as ‘satire’, irony’ and ‘farce’, and compares two major traditions: ‘Aristophanic’ and ‘Shakesperean’ comedy. In doing so, the book demonstrates the indefinable and flexible nature of comedy.

This work will be a valuable resource to those studying drama,...

First published in 1971, this work provides a helpful introduction to the French Symbolism movement. After an introduction to the defining ideas of the movement, it explores five key Symbolist writers: Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé and Valéry. The book concludes with a discussion of the impact of Symbolism across Europe.

This book will be of interest to those studying nineteenth-century French literature.

First published in 1973, this book provides a helpful introduction to expressionism in literature. After providing a helpful introduction to the origins and defining characteristics of expressionism, the book traces the movement in Germany from 1900 through to the 1920s and its dissemination across Europe and North America. It concludes with a summary of the decline of expressionism from the mid-twenties onwards.

This book will be of interest to those studying German and European literature in the early twentieth-century.

First published in 1971, this work examines the tradition of the epic and the many forms in which it has presented itself over time. After unpicking the defining aspects of an epic, the book tracks the literary tradition from the classical period through to modern day.

Exploring major texts such as Beowulf, Odyssey, Divina Comedia, The Faerie Queene and Ulysses, this work will be a valuable resource for those studying the epic and English literature.