Kategoria BISAC: Literary Criticism >> Subjects & Themes - General

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 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 1979, this book traces comedy of manners from the 1660s to the then present — a scope beyond the traditional focus on the Restoration and early twentieth century. It uncovers an underestimated subversive potential and socially critical force in this particularly English dramatic form, emphasising the distinctive subjects and style that distinguish it from more general forms of witty social satire. The author discusses the major comic dramatists of the post-Restoration period; reassesses the significance of Sheridan, Wilde and Coward; and examines the...

First published in 1970, this work outlines the principles of English prosody in a way that will enable the reader to recognise and scan any piece of English verse. It illustrates the close relationship between English speech patterns and verse patterns, and the primary importance of the phenomenon of stress. It also discusses the suitability of various kinds of metrical pattern for various kinds of poetic effect.

This book will be of interest to those studying poetry and English literature.