Literary Theory

Parody often stands accused of producing derivative art deficient in taste and skill. But in the hands of writers such as Ezra Pound, Wyndham Lewis...

A witty, refreshing, and fun book on the experience of reading Marcel Proust. What would the world be like without this work, where would we be if...

A new selection of foundational works from the influential philosopher who developed the theory of mimetic desireWhy do humans have such a remarkab...

This book treats Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy as a work of imaginative literature, and applies modern techniques of criticism to his writing...

The Drama of Complaint: Ethical Provocations in Shakespeare's Tragedy is the first book-length study of complaint in Shakespearean drama. Emily Sho...

This book explains how the brain interacts with the social worldand why stories matter.How do our brains enable us to tell and follow stories? And ...

Trauma and its aftermath pose acute problems for historical representation and understanding. In Writing History, Writing Trauma, Dominick LaCapra ...

Given the long-standing belief that children ought to be shielded from disturbing life events, it is surprising to see how many stories for kids in...

Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: The Johns Hopkins Guide is a clear, accessible, and detailed overview of the most important thinkers and...

What the Victorian history of self-help reveals about the myth of individualism.Stories of hardworking characters who lift themselves from rags to ...

What the Victorian history of self-help reveals about the myth of individualism.Stories of hardworking characters who lift themselves from rags to ...

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Fog, a cloud that touches the ground, ...

A field-defining study of the novel as a tragic form.Sandra Macpherson's groundbreaking study of the rise of the novel connects its form to develop...

Literature matters, says Paul B. Armstrong, for what it reveals about human experience, and the very different perspective of neuroscience on how t...

Outstanding Academic Title, Choice In The Practice of Satire in England, 1658-1770, Ashley Marshall explores how satire was conceived and unders...

Originally published in 1989. In this companion volume to the acclaimed Pure Lives, Reed Whittemore probes the often-complex motives behind the rel...

Soleil de la Conscience (Sun of Consciousness) was Martinican philosopher Édouard Glissants first published work, and opened the Poétique (Poetics)...

In this powerful book, Brook Thomas revisits the contested era of Reconstruction. He evokes literature's immediacy to recreate arguments still unre...

This revised, expanded anthology, compiled and edited by pioneering scholar and translator Peter H. Lee, offers a representative selection of tradi...

What is a literature? How do literatures of different countries interact with each other? In this groundbreaking study, Alexander Beecroft develops...