Kategoria BISAC: Literary Criticism >> Books & Reading

How did people in early America understand the authority of print and how was this authority sustained and contested? These questions are at the heart of this set of pathbreaking essays in the history of the book by one of America's leading practitioners in this interdisciplinary field.

David D. Hall examines the interchange between popular and learned cultures and the practices of reading and writing. His writings deal with change and continuity, exploring the possibility of a reading revolution and arguing for the long duration of a Protestant vernacular tradition. A newly written...

"The greatest bibliographer of our time," was how historian Robert Darnton described D. F. McKenzie. Yet until now many of McKenzie's major essays, scattered in specialist journals and inaccessible publications, have circulated mainly in tattered photocopies. This volume, edited by two of McKenzie's former students, brings together for the first time a wide range of his writings on bibliography, the book trade, and the "sociology of texts." Selected by the author himself before his sudden death in 1999, the essays range from the material transmission of Shakespeare's plays in the...

In 1962 the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring sparked widespread public debate on the issue of pesticide abuse and environmental degradation. The discussion permeated the entire print and electronic media system of mid-twentieth century America. Although Carson's text was serialized in the New Yorker, it made a significant difference that it was also published as a book. With clarity and precision, Priscilla Coit Murphy explores the importance of the book form for the author, her editors and publishers, her detractors, the media, and the public at large.

Murphy reviews the...

Whether you're preparing for your first booktalk or you're a seasoned booktalking pro, this lively and light-hearted guide provides all the information you need to create a smashing booktalking program--from finding your audience and choosing the books to performing the booktalk and evaluating the program. Filled with insightful, humorous, and inspiring stories from some of today's best booktalkers, this practical guide includes hundreds of sample booktalks, reproducible forms, and booktalk booklists for a wide variety of audiences. A must purchase for anyone who booktalks or wants to get...

From Moby-Dick to The Unnamable, from A Tale of a Tub to The Book of Questions, Bruce Kawin explores the nature of self-conscious fiction and compares its structure to that of human consciousness. Focusing on texts that confront their own limits by trying to name the unnamable, the ineffable self, Kawin draws on methods from literary criticism to systems theory to explain a variety of first-person works that "dance around the ungraspable subject."

Covered in this volume are a wide range of fascinating topics, including the cultural agency of women during the early national period; readers'...

This book and its complement (American Historical Fiction) fill a gap in the bibliographic reference shelf by identifying historical novels for both adult and young adult readers. "World Historical Fiction" contains over 6,000 novels set outside the U.S.. The newest titles, as well as old favorites, are covered and books that are appropriate for young adults are indicated. Each volume is indexed by author, title, genre, subject, and geographic setting for ease of reference.

William Faulkner once called the short story -the most demanding form after poetry.- In that form, he achieved splendid success. He wrote over a hundred short stories, published nearly all of them during his lifetime, and has become one of the most frequently anthologized writers in the genre. Countless readers of Faulkner have first entered his world through one of the forty-two doors in Collected Stories.

Reading Faulkner: Collected Stories attempts to make the process of reading America's major modern writer less daunting. It is a useful guide to Faulkner's allusions,...