Annoying the Victorians addresses directly the ideology of current critical discourse. James Kincaid enlists Victorian texts to tease the reader and the practices of the critic. The author uses a unique deployment of bad criticsm, a parody of the rules of good critics, in the quest to challenge the assumptions which guide what is considered good scholarly criticism. A romp though a series of Victorian texts, both poetry and novels, Annoying the Victorians develops an absurdist criticism, which mocks respect for the text, the employment of evidence, the appeal to reason, the value of...

In "Erotic Innocence" James R. Kincaid explores contemporary America's preoccupation with stories about the sexual abuse of children. Claiming that our culture has yet to come to terms with the bungled legacy of Victorian sexuality, Kincaid examines how children and images of youth are idealized, fetishized, and eroticized in everyday culture. Evoking the cyclic elements of Gothic narrative, he thoughtfully and convincingly concludes that the only way to break this cycle is to acknowledge--and confront--not only the sensuality of children but the eroticism loaded onto them.
Drawing on...

Praise for Percival Everett:
"If Percival Everett isn't already a household name, it's because people are more interested in politics than truth."--Madison Smartt Bell, author of "The Washington Square Ensemble"
"Everett's talent is multifaceted, sparked by a satiric brilliance that could place him alongside Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison . . ."--"Publishers Weekly"
"I think Percival Everett is a genius. I've been a fan since his first novel. He continues to amaze me with each novel--as if he likes making 90-degree turns to see what's around the corner, and then over the edge ....

Explores contemporary America's preoccupation with stories about the sexual abuse of children. Claiming that our culture has yet to come to terms with the bungled legacy of Victorian sexuality, this title examines how children and images of youth are idealised, fetishised, and eroticised in everyday culture.

Discusses the production and circulation of animal narratives in colonial India in order to investigate the constructs of animals played into a variety of forms of othering that took place in England during its imperial venture.

Daily doses of linguistic verve, wild humor, and heart-wrenching pathos from Dickens.