Readers of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies have long noted the absence of readily explainable motivations for some of Shakespeare's greatest characters: why does Hamlet delay his revenge for so long? Why does King Lear choose to renounce his power? Why is Othello so vulnerable to Iago's malice? But while many critics have chosen to overlook these omissions or explain them away, Millicent Bell demonstrates that they are essential elements of Shakespeare's philosophy of doubt. Examining the major tragedies, Millicent Bell reveals the persistent strain of philosophical skepticism. Like his...
Readers of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies have long noted the absence of readily explainable motivations for some of Shakespeare's greatest characte...
This volume of essays offers fresh examinations of Wharton's fiction designed both to engage the interest of the student or general reader encountering Wharton for the first time, and to be valuable to advanced scholars looking for new insights into her creative achievement. Written by a mix of established commentators on Wharton and newer scholars in the field, the essays cover Wharton's most important novels as well as some of her shorter fiction. The Introduction supplies a valuable review of the history of Wharton criticism; a detailed chronology of her life and publications and a useful...
This volume of essays offers fresh examinations of Wharton's fiction designed both to engage the interest of the student or general reader encounterin...
This volume of essays offers fresh examinations of Wharton's fiction designed both to engage the interest of the student or general reader encountering Wharton for the first time, and to be valuable to advanced scholars looking for new insights into her creative achievement. Written by a mix of established commentators on Wharton and newer scholars in the field, the essays cover Wharton's most important novels as well as some of her shorter fiction. The Introduction supplies a valuable review of the history of Wharton criticism; a detailed chronology of her life and publications and a useful...
This volume of essays offers fresh examinations of Wharton's fiction designed both to engage the interest of the student or general reader encounterin...
Henry James rebelled intuitively against the tyranny and banality of plots. Believing a life to have many potential paths and a self to hold many destinies, he hung the evocative shadow of "what might have been" over much of what he wrote. Yet James also realized that no life can be lived--and no story written--except by submission to some outcome. The limiting conventions of society and literature are, he found, almost inescapable. In a major, comprehensive new study of James's work, Millicent Bell explores this oscillation between hope and fatalism, indeterminacy and form, and...
Henry James rebelled intuitively against the tyranny and banality of plots. Believing a life to have many potential paths and a self to hold many d...