Kategoria BISAC: Juvenile Nonfiction >> Literary Criticism & Collections

George Eliot is perhaps most appreciated for her ability to synthesize moral and aesthetic concerns. She has been compared to Shakespeare and Dante in her role as a moral authority. This volume presents the evolving scope of Eliot's critical reputation, offering valuable insight into her classic novels including Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda, Adam Bede, Silas Marner, and The Mill on the Floss. A chronology of the author's life, an index, and an introduction by esteemed scholar Harold Bloom round out this latest addition to the Bloom's Classic Critical Views series.

Poet laureate of England from 1843 until his death in 1850, William Wordsworth is often credited as being one of the founders of English Romanticism. The 1798 joint publication of Wordsworth's and Sameul Taylor Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads marked a turning point in English poetry, as poets began to emphasize imagination and feeling over the primacy of reason. Wordsworth's poems focused on the natural and the ordinary, as based on the "real language of men." In his preface to the third edition of Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth set forth his definition of poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of...

While his detractors found his verse to be deliberately obscure, Robert Browning resisted such charges and went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and popular English poets of the 19th century. Known for his imaginative originality and dramatic power, Browning is one of the most undervalued major poets of the English language, as is evidenced in his enduring works such as "My Last Duchess," "Fra Lippo Lippi," "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," "Andrea del Sarto," and "Caliban Upon Setebos." This volume of essays featuring criticism from both Browning's contemporaries...

With the publication of her first novel, The Joy Luck Club, in 1989, Amy Tan was immediately recognized as a major contemporary novelist. Her work has received a great deal of attention and acclaim from feminist critics for its focus on issues of matrilineage and the ultimate triumph over female victimization. Her classic debut and the many novels that followed are unlocked and explored in this valuable resource, which provides helpful suggestions for students writing about Amy Tan.

Widely acclaimed as one of the finest short story writers and known for her acerbic wit, complex themes, and acutely observed portrayals of the American South, Flannery O'Connor is a favorite among students, scholars, and general readers. Her stories "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and "Everything That Rises Must Converge" are considered classics of the form, fusing the ludicrous and mundane with O'Connor's powerful explorations of redemption and morality. This new collection of critical essays presents a chronology of O'Connor's life, a bibliography of her works, an index, and an...

Through the years, this Canadian writer has emerged as a master of the short story. The compressed and encapsulated energies of the form allow Alice Munro to peel away at the smooth and mundane surfaces that contain her characters' lives to reveal harsher truths within. This acclaimed writer is profiled for the first time in this indispensable series through full-length critical essays that plumb the depths of her rich, fictive worlds. In this new work, a chronology of her life, a bibliography of Munro's work, and an index provide valuable information for student researchers.

Anton Chekhov was one of the most important short story writers and dramatists of all time. Ranked among the giants of Russian literature during his lifetime, this playwright's legacy includes The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Seagull, "The Darling," and "The Lady with the Dog." This invaluable new study guide in the Bloom's Modern Critical Views series contains a selection of the finest contemporary criticism of Chekhov and his works.

The sublime in literature is described as the sense of awe that is evoked in the presence of nature or great works of art. In this engaging new volume, the role of the sublime is discussed in Emma, "Ode to the West Wind," Song of Myself, and many other works.

The trickster, whether in the form of a benign practical joker or an evil charlatan, has been a popular literary character for centuries. This volume examines the role of the trickster in works such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Hamlet, Love Medicine, and many other works frequently studied by high school students.

From a Polynesian word meaning "prohibition," a taboo is a social more that should never be broken. This volume discusses the role of the taboo in "Howl," Lolita, Lord of the Flies, "The Miller's Tale," and many more works.

The technique of dark humor seeks to create comedy through the use of satirical wit and grotesque situations. This thematic technique can be found in Catch-22, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," A Modest Proposal, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and many other literary works, as examined by this new volume.