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....

In the rigid theocracy of Salem, Massachusetts, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town....

The Heroine’s Journey describes contemporary woman’s search for wholeness in a society where she has been defined according to masculine values....

Audie Award Winner, Personal Development, 2013 Author Benjamin Hoff shows that the philosophy of Winnie-the-Pooh is amazingly consistent with the principles of Taoism and demonstrates how you can use these principles in your daily life. Is there such thing as a Western Taoist? Benjamin Hoff says...

An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young and adult learners. Short Stories in Italian for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, and most importantly -...

For over 500 years, The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli has been one of the most influential—and controversial—works ever written on leadership, politics, and human nature.

Ramayana must rank as one of the most loved and revered books of all time. A part of India's ancient Vedas, it is a beautiful story of romance and adventure....

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 second edition of his wide-ranging and accessible work, Jason M. Baxter puts our contemporary culture in conversation with literature and its “sister arts” to make the compelling.

A brilliant investigation into the motivations and methods behind the actions of Hogwarts's renowned Headmaster! Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, is one of the most recognizable and mysterious figures in the Harry Potter series. As an unscrupulous beetle-like...

Anne Carson's remarkable first book about the paradoxical nature of romantic love Since it was first published, Eros the Bittersweet, Anne Carson's lyrical meditation on love in ancient Greek literature and philosophy, has established itself as a favorite among an unusually broad audience...

“Mary Oliver would probably never admit to anything so grandiose as an effort to connect the conscious mind and the heart (that’s what she says poetry can do), but that is exactly what she accomplishes in this stunning little handbook.”—Los Angeles Times From the beloved, legendary poet...

Short Stories in French 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! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight...

Immerse yourself in the untold, blood-chilling history of the darkest wizard of all. You love Harry Potter and his enchanting adventures. You've followed along every painstaking step of his journey and know his story inside and out. But, you're curious about the darker side of this story. You've...

The book is full of humorous anecdote and rich characterization, and paints a vivid picture of 18th-century London, peopled by prominent personalities of the time....

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. His writings cover many subjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics....

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....

A sparkling celebration of our much-loved Queen Elizabeth II including special writings and illuminating insights around key moments in her 70-year reign, introduced and edited by Joanna Lumley. In 2022 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated seventy years as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth. She was...

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Anjli Mohindra, best known for her role as Nadia in the BBC One series Bodyguard. This definitive edition includes an Introduction by Elaine Showalter, read by Kristin Atherton. On a June morning in 1923, Clarissa Dalloway is...

Slide Further Under the Duvet, get yourself comfortable, and let Marian take you places you've never been before. Places like the Irish air-guitar championships, a shopping trip to Bloomingdales with a difference, and Cannes with a chronic case of Villa-itis. Along the way you'll encounter...

Maya Angelou’s unforgettable collection of poetry lends its name to the documentary film about her life, And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters. Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them...

A Passion for Passion is a love letter to romance fiction. It celebrates the joyful silliness of books that are written about pleasure and love.

By the time Shakespeare came to write Macbeth - almost certainly in 1605/1606 - he had already completed three of the great tragedies with which modern audiences are so familiar....

In this sharp and darkly funny new essay collection from the New York Times bestselling author, Cazzie David explores the irony and existential crises of leaving youth behind. This program is read by the author. “A laugh-out-loud collection for romantics and pop culturalists who lean more...

What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear-a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter?...

Intorno alle stragi del 1993, nonostante i trent'anni trascorsi e le numerose sentenze giunte all'ultimo grado di giudizio, permangono ancora molti misteri e opacità. Tanto che sono tuttora in corso inchieste sui «concorrenti esterni» per la collocazione delle bombe esplose a Firenze, Milano e Roma che causarono dieci morti e centosei feriti. A ricostruire le inchieste nei particolari ed evidenziarne il rilievo è ora questo libro che segue il filo rosso che porta agli assassini di Falcone e Borsellino ma anche a quello di don Pino Puglisi.

Available for the first time in audio, America’s most revered novelist reflects on the themes that preoccupy her work and increasingly dominate national and world politics: race, fear, borders, the mass movement of peoples, the desire for belonging. What is race and why does it matter? What motivates the human tendency to construct Others? Why does the presence of Others make us so afraid?

To the ceaseless seekers of truth, the quiet questioners in a world often too eager to provide answers, and to all those who sense the undercurrents beneath the surface of everyday events. This book is dedicated to those who refuse to accept the presented narrative without scrutiny, who understand that history is not always as it is written, and that the shadows can hold more than just darkness. It is for the discerning mind, the restless spirit, and the unwavering belief that understanding the world, in all its complexity, is a noble and necessary pursuit.

A selection of the lively letters between one of the world’s greatest literary critics and the poets, novelists, and scholars he most admired Bringing together a collection of Harold Bloom’s letters to and from eight of his favorite contemporary writers, Heather Cass White provides an...

'Prose that is precise and beautiful as northern light … this book is an absolute delight' MOYA CANNON Join David Gange on a seabound journey along Atlantic coasts and islands, exploring places and ways of life that have been built on small rowed or paddled boats. These small boats outnumber...

This book recreates in written form seventeen of the most popular, frankly personal and engaging lectures on literature given by the award-winning teacher Richard Jacobs, who has been working with students for over forty years. This is a book written for students, whether starting their studies...

UPLIFTING, PRACTICAL AND SURPRISING WISDOM FROM THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING CLASSICIST 'Wonderful. Thoughtfully chosen, carefully explained and beautifully expressed' NATALIE HAYNES 'A literary phenomenon' TLS 'She leaves her readers inspired, invigorated and sincerely grateful' TELEGRAPH Why...

Las sílabas imitan la repetición del oleaje y su misterio, anuncian un paisaje entrañable en el horizonte, nos sitúan al pie en blanco de la vida diaria —esos que la imaginación y la casualidad llenan con sorpresa e invenciones—. El aniversario personal, la novedad literaria, las presencias que van y vienen al compás de la querencia y la memoria, la relectura de los clásicos, el paseo por una ciudad soñada, un elogio del microhistoriador, la música de The Beatles.

Para cualquier lector hay dos México: uno real y otro imaginado. La patria es lo que sabemos de la patria. Y para quienes han leído a Juan Rulfo, Elena Garro, Roberto Bolaño o Fernanda Melchor, lugares como Comala, Ixtepec, Santa Teresa o La Matosa son parte central y entrañable de su México. Atlas de (otro) México nos invita a recorrer un mapa inasible -pero completamente cierto- de los sitios imaginados por nuestra literatura. Este libro es un atlas que sirve lo mismo para encontrarnos que para perdernos.

Это—развернутый комментарий Анатолия Наймана к главным, основополагающим русским поэмам: «Медный всадник» А. С. Пушкина, «Мороз, Красный Нос» Н. А. Некрасова, «Двенадцать» А. Блока, «Облако в штанах» В. Маяковского и «Поэма без героя» А. Ахматовой. Каждая из этих поэм не только нова по отношению к предыдущей, но всякий раз дарит возможность нового опыта прочтения.

"Is Shakespeare Dead?" by Mark Twain is a reflective and satirical treatise on the authorship of Shakespeare’s works, written during the early 20th century. In this work, Twain grapples with long-standing debates over who truly wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare, questioning the...

A probing essay collection that chronicles one woman’s complicated quest to find home in a fractured America, from the award-winning author of Field Study “In Chet’la Sebree’s sensitive and tender hands, this book’s quest (and question) of home is captivating. An intimate rendering of...

¿Qué causas pueden sustentar a la escritura? ¿Tiene sentido seguir escribiendo en el mundo contemporáneo? Para responder, recurre a una cita de E. L. Doctorow: «[La ficción] enseña las leyes de la comunidad y distribuye el sufrimiento». A partir de ella construye distintos argumentos a favor de la producción de ficciones y su consumo. La literatura nos ayuda a aceptar la diferencia: nos ejercita en el conocimiento de otros mundos e individuos y nos acerca al sufrimiento ajeno. Y amplía nuestra imaginación moral.

In this book, acclaimed actor Paterson Joseph opens up the process of rehearsing and preparing for the RSC's 2012 production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and, by doing so, brings a greater understanding to the play's characters; its rhetoric and the power of rhetoric in general, both on and off stage; its setting and political context and how this can be interpreted and refreshed for the 21st century.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899—1986) is one of the most influential literary figures of the twentieth century. His short stories, poems, essays, and translations explore Argentine mythology, mysticism, philosophical ideas, and myriad other topics. This Very Short Introduction gives an engaging...

Agatha Christie is a global bestseller. Her work has been translated into over 100 languages and adapted for stage and screen. Christie's writing life ran from 1920 to the 1970s, and she didn't just write puzzles, she wrote plays, supernatural stories, thrillers, satires, and domestic noir. She...

Parallel Lives tells the human stories behind 72 writers, from Homer to Joyce. Paired in 36 chapters, Austen beside Emily Brontë, Dickens beside Victor Hugo, Dostoyevsky beside Nietzsche, each portrait reveals how time, place, temperament, and sheer stubbornness shaped what these writers became.

Conventional wisdom has it that the origins of the horror genre are found in the nineteenth century, in works like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this paradigm-shaking new book, Bible scholar and cultural historian Brandon Grafius argues that the Bible...

What is literature? What is poetry? How do poets committed to the idea of using poetry as a weapon of socio-cultural and political struggle manage to impress their works in the minds and memories of men long after the struggle has been fought and won or lost? What will a new generation of poets write about after the explosive social contradictions that inspired older poets have been resolved? Why do the themes and styles of poets in transitional societies change along with human fortunes and circumstances? This audiobook provides answers to these questions and more...

Though numerous biographies have been published on William Faulkner, readers are often presented conflicting interpretations of his life and work. Faulkner’s view of himself and his own family was mercurial, and it is widely acknowledged that Faulkner was an unreliable narrator of his own life. As a result, biographies of Faulkner echo and complicate the multitude of ways he portrayed himself, accepting that truth, if it exists, is subjective. Like his work, Faulkner’s own life, then, is not only open to different readings but welcomes them within the landscape of his oeuvre.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A fascinating, first-of-its-kind exploration of Stephen King and his most iconic early books, based on groundbreaking research and interviews with King—all conducted by the first scholar to be given extended access to his private archives “A treat for fans of Stephen...

Robert J. Patterson examines so-called "traditional" slave narratives alongside writings from non-enslaved Black people in the nineteenth century, the imaginative works of twentieth century fiction, and twenty-first century cinema to create a compelling and informative introduction to the long historical arc of slavery woven into the cultural and political fabric of America.

This third edition of Hans Bertens’ bestselling book is an essential guide to the often confusing and complicated world of literary theory. Exploring a broad range of topics from Marxist and feminist criticism to postmodernism and new historicism Literary Theory: The Basics covers contemporary...

In the hierarchy of foods, snacks are deemed trivial – perhaps even childish – especially in contrast to meals, which are seen as substantial and necessary. The multiple aisles devoted to sweet and savoury treats in supermarkets, and the availability of snacks even at places like home improvement and department stores, speak to the popularity of snacking. But the ubiquity of snacks is relatively new and not common to all countries.

Ballot examines the psychological, cultural, and political significance of voting in an increasingly anti-voting climate. Armed with her personal experiences as a poll worker, electoral organizer, and activist, Anjali Enjeti unspools a timely narrative about the precarious state of the ballot during one of the most tumultuous political eras in US history, and recounts the astonishing events leading up to the 2024 presidential election.