Literary Criticism

Pure Pleasure gives us fifty of the most enjoyable books of the twentieth century, chosen on a single principle - the pleasure they inspire. Pure Pleasure is an idiosyncratic antidote...

Women's Life Writing and Early Modern Ireland provides an original perspective on both new and familiar texts in this first critical collection to focus on seventeenth-century women's life writing in...

A new book by America's leading literary critic on the uses of deep reading. Practical, inspirational and learned 'How to Read and Why' is Bloom's manifesto for the preponderance of...

English is the collective work of millions of people throughout the ages. It is democratic, ever-changing and ingenious in its assimilation of other cultures. English runs through the heart of...

From the acclaimed author of The Most Dangerous Book, the incredible true story behind the creation of a masterpiece of world literature, Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and PunishmentIn the summer of...

Ever since his creation, Sherlock Holmes has enthralled readers. Our perception of him and his faithful companion, Dr Watson, has been shaped by a long line of film, TV and...

These individual volumes extracted from The Norton Shakespeare bring to readers a meticulously edited new text that reflects current textual-editing scholarship and introduces innovative teaching features. The print and digital...

'Super engaging and accessible' PIERS TORDAY'Empowers children to be creative, perseverant and write independently' TEACH PRIMARY'A must-have book for any young writer' JANE CONSIDINE'An imaginative and affordable resource' CLASS READSIf...

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDAS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKThe one and only Zadie Smith, prize-winning, bestselling author of Swing Time and White...

Over a thousand years of memoirs, reminiscences, and letters are represented in this collection of almost 500 literary anecdotes. Here we encounter those famous for their wit and eccentricity, such...

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'I cannot say enough about How to Read Now... Check it out' Roxane Gay'A red-hot grenade... One of my favourite books of the year' Jia Tolentino'Energetically brilliant, warmly humane, incisively...

Irish life between 1930 and 1960 is normally presented as a sort of cultural wasteland. In a radical re-examination of the period, Brian Fallon challenges this sterotype and argues that...

Irish Writers Against War presents an impressive range of literary voices from Ireland united by their opposition to the proposed war in Iraq. The Writers Against War movement has gathered...

Where and who do we want to be? How might we get there? What might happen if we stay on our current course?In The Future of Seduction, cultural and literary...

Expert advice to perfect your proofreading skillsMcGraw-Hill's Proofreading Handbook helps ensure that your documents are letter-perfect, every time. Veteran editor and proofreader Laura Anderson arms you with all the tools...

'The hell with it . . . let chaos reign . . . louder music, more wine . . . All the old traditions are exhausted and no new one...

In their day, the Anglo-Irish were the ascendant minority--Protestant, loyalist, privileged landholders in a recumbent, rural, and Catholic land. Their world is vanished, but shades of the Anglo-Irish linger in...

The Irish Writer and the World is a major new book by one of Ireland's most prominent scholars and cultural commentators. Declan Kiberd, author of the award-winning Irish Classics and...

This selection of Bowen's non-fictional writings includes her wonderfully funny, precise recollections of schooldays and childhood experiences, her brilliant evocations of London in wartime and of the Irish 'big house',...

______________________________'Sharp and observant writing ... A manifesto for the millennial woman.' Evening StandardModern life is full of choices. We're told that happiness lies within and we can be whoever we...

In these wonderfully stylish and eclectic essays, Charles Nicholl pursues the fugitive traces of the past with the skill and relish that have earned him a reputation as one of...

`A generation-defining collection published posthumously... Her voice is relevant, sharp, fresh, unfiltered and poetic, with a dry wit. You can dive in and out of her questioning and her musings...

Armed with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre, Caitlin Doughty took a job at a crematory and turned morbid curiosity into her life's work. She...

Spanning nearly two decades, these essays turn on a central theme: what is meant by reading a serious text at a time when theories of language and literature question the...

Presenting a study of film as storytelling, this book examines how the great works of cinema history have used the principles of myth to create stories which are dramatic, entertaining,...

"Thompson believed the folktale to be an important and living art, underlying all literary narrative forms. Most of all he wanted to acquaint readers with most of the great folktales...

Beowulf, the major surviving poem in Old English, is composed in a language that is rich but often difficult. This fully annotated edition makes the poem more accessible in its...