Vergil's Aeneid has long remained a staple of the Western literary canon. The essays in this volume discuss many different aspects of Vergil's work, including the historical awareness of Rome's future greatness, the significant psychological and ethical questions on fate and free-will, personal glory versus responsibility by those who lead, and the profound influence the Aeneid has had on Christian authors such as St. Augustine and Dante Alighieri. Readers should find it accessible, even without knowledge of the poem in its original Latin. To make this volume more accessible to general...

For more than fifty years, Catcher, easily the most banned book of the twentieth century American canon, the favorite target of conservative school systems, earnest parents groups, and strident church organizations, has thrived on its reputation as an underground text, passed among ardent readers with cult-like fanaticism, hard core fans who have found in the lonely misfit Holden Caulfield a companion, a friend for life. The essays in this volume offer an examination of the novel's impact over time, and include discussions of the reach of Salinger's influence, Catcher's tumultuous history,...

This Critical Insights volume is intended to make Dante's Inferno more accessible to inquiring students who will wonder like so many of us at his genius. The contributors to this new volume are in the main Dante scholars of great importance, especially in Anglophone circles, whether in new work by current magisterial authorities or reprints of seminal scholarship over decades. Essays include a close reading of Dante, a chapter comparing and contrasting Dante's Inferno to his other writing, a history of the critical response to his work, and a chapter on the cultural and historical context of...

Original essays in this volume begin with a treatment of the historical background of Shakespeare's play, beginning with its first performances and possible audience reactions. Another offer a close reading of several key passages in King Lear, with an eye to the differences between the first published version and the revisions found in the Folio version of 1623. Two other new essays discuss the ways in which audiences and critics have responded to Shakespeare's tragedy and contrasts Lear with Marlowe's Tamburlaine. The reprinted essays provide readers with a sampling of those diverse but...

Franz Kafka's most famous novella is given the Critical Insights treatment in this volume. Essays include a new lengthy biography about the author which warns that, although The Metamorphosis is considered to be highly autobiographical, it is ultimately a work of the imagination. Other essays include a discussion of the cultural and historical context of the work, the structure and function of self-alienation, Kafka's metaphor for extreme alienation, and a selective survey of the critical reception of The Metamorphosis.

This volume begins with a biography of Virginia Woolf that provides essential information about the novelist's life. Original essays present an overview of Mrs. Dalloway, including information about the work's origins and composition, analyze the world events and social conditions that provide context for the work, and discuss Woolf's efforts to create a new form of the novel appropriate for a new age. Republished essays include a discussion of the connections between Mrs. Dalloway and Toni Morrison's Sula, an exploration of the non-linear representations of time in the work, and a discussion...

Of the essays written specifically for this volume, Tara Prescott's review of Joyce's life helpfully places his largely autobiographical novel in the context of his life and time, powerfully enlarging our understanding of the biographical fields the story covers. Another original essay survey the spectrum of critical evaluations, explanations and appreciations of the book, revealing a kaleidoscope of fruitful approaches to which readers now have access and to which more insights can and will be added. Republished essays explore the ethnic reach of the novel, the interwoven sexual and...

This Critical Insights volume on Pride and Prejudice is designed to provide students and nonspecialists in Austen studies an introduction to one of the most widely read novels of the past two centuries. New essays include a biography of Jane Austen, the critical reception of Pride and Prejudice, an examination of the novel's historical milieu, and a reading of the novel that stresses the importance Austen places on female education as a means of redefining the role of women in society. Other essays include an examination of the relationship between form and content in the novel, and several...