Literary History & Criticism

An intellectual detective story, this history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain....

Dame Harriet Walter, renowned for her wonderful portrayals in Succession and Killing Eve, among others, is one of Britain's most esteemed Shakespearean actors. Now, having played most of Shakespeare's female characters, audaciously, she lets them speak their minds.

What is the role of the writer? Prophet? High priest of art? Court jester? Or witness to the real world? Looking back on her own childhood and writing career, Margaret Atwood examines the metaphors which writers of fiction and poetry have used to explain - or excuse! - their activities....

Short Stories in German for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and, most importantly, enjoyment....

Many think that Marian leads a glitzy life of limos, television, and showbiz parties - but she would argue that she spends the majority of her life writing alone, wearing her PJs....

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, Lucy Worsley has written an Introduction to her Sunday Times Bestselling biography - the book that leads us into the rooms from which our best-loved novelist quietly changed the world.

Laurence Sterne’s most famous novel is a biting satire of literary conventions and contemporary 18th-century values....

The poems of the Poetic Edda have waited a long time for a modern English translation that would do them justice. Here it is at last (Odin be praised!). These amazing texts from a 13th-century Icelandic manuscript are of huge historical, mythological, and literary importance....

For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote In Search of Lost Time (while bedridden no less), Alain de Botton has the answer....

Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and, most importantly, enjoyment....

Richard Ellmann has revised and expanded his definitive work on Joyce's life to include newly discovered primary material....

Writing advice tends to be full of "rules" and "tips" which are either too broad to be helpful or outright wrong. In On Writing and Worldbuilding, we will discuss specific and applicable ideas to consider....

A brilliant investigation into the motivations and methods, Dumbledore dives between the lines of the Harry Potter books to create a portrait of the controversial Headmaster....

The Master and Margarita is one of the most famous and best-selling Russian novels of the 20th century, despite its surreal environment....

Long renowned as one of the smartest writers on the loose, David Foster Wallace reveals himself in Consider the Lobster to be also one of the funniest....

Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life he, too, will be trying to fly....

Forty essays on history, art, and literature to lift your mind and spirit. Guy Davenport serves as the listener's guide through history and literature.

From Little Nell to Miss Havisham, Dickens’ Women tells the story of Charles Dickens’ life through his beloved characters....

Over the course of a steamy and tense afternoon, twelve jurors deliberate the fate of a 19-year-old boy alleged to have murdered his own father....

In this groundbreaking work, Sara Ahmed demonstrates how queer studies can put phenomenology to productive use. Focusing on the “orientation” aspect of “sexual orientation” and the “orient” in “orientalism,” Ahmed examines what it means for bodies to be situated in space and time.

In all of literature, few antagonists have displayed the ruthless cunning and unscrupulous deceit of Iago, the antagonist to Othello....

In this poignant collection, Alice Bolin examines iconic American works, illuminating the widespread obsession with women who are abused, killed, and disenfranchised, and whose bodies (dead and alive) are used as props to bolster men’s stories....

Witty, shocking, and instructive, 10 Books That Screwed Up the World offers a quick education on the worst ideas in human history....

In this first book in the new series Žižek’s Essays, Slavoj Žižek asks listeners to disrupt fake notions of progress in order to fight for something authentically better.

Sir Ian McKellen, fresh from his performance as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, is Prospero, and heads a strong cast in Shakespeare’s last great play....

In The Truth and Beauty, Andrew Klavan explored how the work of great poets helps illuminate the truth of the gospels. Now, the award-winning screenwriter and crime novelist turns his attention to the dark side of human nature to discover how we might find joy and beauty in the world while still being clear-eyed about the evil found in it. The Kingdom of Cain looks at three murders in history—including the first murder, Cain's killing of his brother, Abel—and at the art created from imaginative engagement with those horrific events by artists ranging from Fyodor Dostoevsky to Alfred Hitchcock.

Why does the Twilight saga continue to inspire both passionate fandom and heated critique? In Why We Love (and Hate) Twilight, Sarah Elizabeth Gallagher unpacks the cultural obsession with Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and the supernatural love story that redefined YA literature and pop culture forever.

"The Signal-Man" is a first-person horror/mystery story by Charles Dickens, first published as part of the Mugby Junction collection in the 1866 Christmas edition of All the Year Round. The railway signal-man of the title tells the narrator of an apparition that has been haunting him. Each spectral appearance precedes a tragic event on the railway on which the signalman works. The signalman's work is at a signal-box in a deep cutting near a tunnel entrance on a lonely stretch of the railway line, and he controls the movements of passing trains.

Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin just after turning eighteen. He had completed his first year at an Irish university and was struggling to free himself from a religious upbringing. Inspired by the novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, Tóibín found a writer who would be a lifelong companion and exemplar.

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 BCE) wrote some of ancient Rome's greatest poetry, melding languages and cultures with youthful ideals and a realist's recognition of the dictatorial world around him. Horace is famed for his fine phrases, lyric sex, and guidance on how to live, but he was a poet maddened by war, and many of his most self-revealing poems have rarely been seen. He could be sublime and obscene, amusing and abusive, a model of moderation and anything but.

Gli amanti: pastelli è una raccolta di racconti di Matilde Serao, pubblicata nel 1894. L'opera si compone di dodici "pastelli", ritratti letterari che esplorano le sfumature dell'amore e delle relazioni umane. Tra i racconti inclusi vi sono "L'imperfetto amante (Nino Stresa)", "Il perfetto amante (Massimo Dias)" e "Il viale degli oleandri (Mario Felice)". Serao, con la sua prosa evocativa, dipinge personaggi complessi e situazioni sentimentali variegate, offrendo al lettore un'analisi profonda delle dinamiche amorose dell'epoca.

Shakespeare’s plays and poems remain as beloved in the twenty-first century as they were in the sixteenth. For all the years between us, the world he inhabited was much like our own—afflicted by political turmoil, divisiveness, war, extreme weather, recurrent plagues, the fouling of natural resources on which everyone relied, and discrimination against people who were different. The bard’s remedy for these troubles was to offer respite and inspiration to his audience through his writing.

Scholar of the macabre Dorothy Scarborough provides us with the first comprehensive overview of supernatural fiction in literary history, a book originally written as her dissertation for her Ph.D. at Columbia University, and later so universally praised that it was published widely in print.

The Oxford Handbook of Lord Byron offers the latest in critical thinking about the poet that defined the Romantic era across Europe and beyond. The volume presents forty-four groundbreaking essays that enable listeners to assess Lord Byron's central position in Romantic traditions and his profound and far-reaching influence on British, European, and world culture.

Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl is more than a historical document—it is a timeless exploration of the human spirit, capturing resilience, hope, and the complexities of identity in the face of unimaginable adversity. This in-depth analysis examines Anne’s personal journey during her two years in hiding, revealing the universal struggles of adolescence, the moral implications of war, and the enduring power of her words. Through her vivid reflections, Anne grapples with themes of self-discovery, family dynamics, and the search for meaning in a world torn apart by hatred and intolerance.

Sherlock Holmes is back in one of his most gripping and high-stakes cases, The Sign of the Four. When a beautiful and mysterious woman seeks Holmes' help in uncovering the truth behind her father's disappearance and a series of anonymous gifts, the great detective and his steadfast companion, Dr. Watson, are pulled into a web of deception, murder, and long-buried secrets.

In a world where passion is often sanitized, The Smut Revolution shows how erotic literature has transformed from underground writings into a bold cultural statement. This book shares a journey where raw desire meets modern storytelling, challenging boundaries and sparking fresh conversations about what it means to express our deepest longings.

【100万人が沸いたスゴい読書！！！！】名作３作＋『変な家』大ヒット・雨穴「本棚」特別寄稿！ＳＮＳで話題沸騰の「オモコロ」大人気シリーズを書籍化！「読書の常識が変わる……。これは全く新しい本の読み方です」――雨穴氏「ついに日本一おもしろく『走れメロス』を読む人間が現れた」

Karl Kraus gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Aphoristiker deutscher Sprache. Ob berühmte Schriftsteller oder die Presse - nichts und niemand wurde von der gnadenlosen Kritik seiner Feder verschont. Bekannte Künstler wie Stefan Zweig, Georg Trakl, Thomas Mann und andere zollten ihm Respekt, aber die Zahl seiner Feinde in Kunst und Gesellschaft war enorm. Als Vorleser hinterließ er aufgrund seiner Sprachgewalt und Persönlichkeit angeblich einen äußerst außergewöhnlichen Eindruck.

Obligatorischer Absatz: Karl Kraus gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Aphoristiker deutscher Sprache. Ob berühmte Schriftsteller oder die Presse - nichts und niemand wurde von der Kritik seiner Feder verschont. Bekannte Künstler wie Stefan Zweig, Georg Trakl, Thomas Mann und andere zollten ihm Respekt, aber die Zahl seiner Feinde in Kunst und Gesellschaft war enorm. Als Vorleser hinterließ er aufgrund seiner Sprachgewalt und Persönlichkeit angeblich einen äußerst außergewöhnlichen Eindruck.