For Henry Fielding, 'storytelling', whether in the form of a play, essay or novel, was a means of transmuting the dross of his own experiences.

In this important new critical biography, Ronald Paulson brilliantly demonstrates how Fielding's life and writings evolved according to his experiments with different professions. It is not sufficient to say that he moved from one literary genre to the next, from drama to essay, from satire to novel. As a playwright and theater manager he thematized the theater and its workings in his writings, moving on to do the same as a journalist, barrister, and finally magistrate. Tom Jones, for example, can be interpreted as a self-projection, seen from the perspective of a barrister, an advocate for the defense; or Billy Booth as a conflation of the author and his father, seen now from the perspective of a grim but just magistrate.

Each chapter in this intriguing book begins with an annotated chronology of the known facts, followed by analyses of the important issues. Paulson's account will be essential reading for all admirers of Fielding as well as serious students of his work.

Aristocratic women flourished in the Victorian literary world, their combination of class privilege and gendered exclusion generating distinctively socialized modes of participation in cultural and political activity. Their writing offers an important trope through which to consider the nature of political, private and public spheres. This book is an examination of the literary, social, and political significance of the lives and writings of aristocratic women in the mid-Victorian period.

Although Eliza Haywood was one of the best known and most prolific writers in her own time, there is no modern edition of her works. This edition provides representative texts from Haywood's entire career, which overlaps that of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Tobias Smollett. The six fictions and two plays provided here illustrate the many kinds of writing Haywood produced, the ways she treated important themes and issues, and the contributions she made to the development of the English novel.

What does it mean for a woman writer to identify strongly with her father and with the patriarchal tradition he represents? What factors motivate such identification, and what are its consequences? This book answers such questions through a close examination of the lives and selected works of two late eighteenth-century women writers, Hannah More and Maria Edgeworth, who were complicitous with their fathers' politics. While feminist theory has developed a powerful body of explanations for some women's rebellion against patriarchy, it has not yet adequately accounted for the many women - like More and Edgeworth - who gladly wrote the conservative political writings which actively proselytized against social democracy. This book exposes the complex psychological dynamics behind their choices, uncovers `daughterly complicity', and discusses the motivations behind such behaviour.

Jane Austen is one of the most extensively read writers in English literature, renowned around the world for her much-loved romantic novels. Little is often known about this brilliant author, yet in this absorbing collection of stories and trivia readers will find answers to the amazing and extraordinary aspects of Austen's life, work and legacy. From her development as a world-class author from unassuming origins and the secrets of her own life and loves, through insights into her novels and their characters along with the changing reception to them over the years, to intriguing stories behind the screen and stage adaptations of her works and her continued legacy, there is something for every enthusiast to relish. This authoritative and absorbing book is published to coincide with the 200th Anniversary of Austen's death in 2017.

""Trespassing Boundaries is an excellent collection of insightful and significant essays. Edited by the distinguished scholar-critics Kathryn N. Benzel and Ruth Hoberman--who themselves have contributed invaluable essays--this splendid volume will point the way to a reconsideration of Woolf's work in the genre of short fiction."--Daniel R. Schwarz, Professor of English and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, Cornell University
""Trespassing Boundaries is a very welcome addition to Virginia Woolf studies and to narrative theory. The ten essays offer rich explorations from diverse viewpoints of Woolf's wonderful and provocative experiments in short fiction. Woolf scholars and narrative theorists will be consulting these essays for many years to come."--James Phelan, author of "Living to Tell about It: A Rhetoric and Ethics of Character Narration and editor of "Narrative

Devil in a Blue Dress honors the tradition of the classic American detective novel by bestowing on it a vivid social canvas and the freshest new voice in crime writing in years, mixing the hard-boiled poetry of Raymond Chandler with the racial realism of Richard Wright to explosive effect.

Wilkie Collins is the only leading Victorian novelist whose letters have not been published. This two-volume edition, edited by William Baker and William Clarke, fills a gaping hole in any assessment of one of the nineteenth century's most loved novelists. It is also extremely timely. Two recent biographies have re-assessed his private life and his literary achievements. His best-known novels, The Women in White and The Moonstone, continue to feature on television, and most of his thirty-odd novels are still in print. This authorised edition reproduces his selection of around 700 key letters of the 2,000 known to be in existence, some recently discovered. Summaries and sources of the remaining letters are provided in an appendix.

Literature and Photography in Transition, 1850-1915 examines how British and American writers used early photography and film as illustrations and metaphors. It concentrates on five figures in particular: Henry Mayhew, Robert Louis Stevenson, Amy Levy, William Dean Howells, and Jack London.

This is a collection of research by leading international scholars on Beckett, as well as younger academics, analyses a number of Beckett's poems, plays and short stories through consideration of mortality and death. Death is indisputably central to Beckett's writing and reception. This collection of research considers a number of Beckett's poems, novels, plays and short stories through considerations of mortality and death. Chapters explore the theme of deathliness in relation to Beckett's work as a whole, through three main approaches. The first of these situates Beckett's thinking about death in his own writing and reading processes, particularly with respect to manuscript drafts and letters. The second on the death of the subject in Beckett links dominant 'poststructural' readings of Beckett's writing to the textual challenge exemplified by the "The Unnamable". A final approach explores psychology and death, with emphasis on deathly states like catatonia and Cotard's Syndrome that recur in Beckett's work. "Beckett and Death" offers a range of cutting-edge approaches to the trope of mortality, and a unique insight into the relationship of this theme to all aspects of Beckett's literature.

This compelling New Casebook is the first essay collection devoted to the work of groundbreaking American author Robert Cormier. Written by a team of international children's literature experts, the volume offers a variety of critical and theoretical approaches to the range of Cormier's controversial young adult novels. The newly-commissioned essays explore the author's earlier best-known writings for teenagers as well as his later less critically examined texts, focussing on key issues such as adolescence, identity, bullying and child corruption. Recognizing Cormier's achievement, this long-overdue critical resource is essential reading for anyone with an interest in his influential work and lasting impact on young adult fiction.

Pynchon and Philosophy radically reworks our readings of Thomas Pynchon alongside the theoretical perspectives of Wittgenstein, Foucault and Adorno. Rigorous yet readable, Pynchon and Philosophy seeks to recover philosophical readings of Pynchon that work harmoniously, rather than antagonistically, resulting in a wholly fresh approach. Dr. Martin Paul Eve is a lecturer in literature at the University of Lincoln, UK. In addition to editing the open access journal of Pynchon Studies, Orbit, he has work published or forthcoming in Textual Practise, Neo-Victorian Studies, C21, Pynchon Notes and several edited collections. This book was originally published with exclusive rights reserved by the Publisher in (2014) and was licensed as an open access publication in [SEPTEMBER 2021] under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license if changes were made. This is an open access book.

This is an introductory portrait of Thackeray the writer, focusing on his philosophy and religion, relations with women, his illustrations, his narrative strategies, and the demands his texts make on modern readers. Suggests themes and ways to read sample books rather than offering a comprehensive life or critical survey.

In this thoughtful and compelling book, leading Spanish literature scholar Noel Valis re-examines the role of Catholicism in the modern Spanish novel. While other studies of fiction and faith have focused largely on religious themes, "Sacred Realism" views the religious impulse as a crisis of modernity: a fundamental catalyst in the creative and moral development of Spanish narrative.

Rooms of Their Own travels around the world examining the unique spaces, habits and rituals in which famous writers created their most notable works. The perennial question asked of all authors is, 'How do you write?'. What do they require of their room or desk? Do they have favourite pens, paper or typewriters? And have they found the perfect daily routine to channel their creativity? Crossing centuries, continents and genres, Alex Johnson has pooled 50 of the best writers and transports you to the heart of their writing rooms - from attics and studies to billiard rooms and bathtubs. Discover the ins and outs of how each great writer penned their famous texts, and the routines and habits they perfected. Meet authors who rely on silence and seclusion and those who need people, music and whisky. Meet novelists who travel half-way across the world to a luxury writing retreat, and others who just need an empty shed at the bottom of the garden. Some are particular about pencils, inks, paper and typewriters, and some will scribble on anything - including the furniture. But whether they write in the library or in cars, under trees, private islands, hotel rooms or towers - each of these stories confirms that there is no 'best way' to write. From James Baldwin, writing in the small hours of the morning in his Paris apartment, to DH Lawrence writing at the foot of a towering Ponderosa pine tree, to the Bronte sisters managing in a crowded co-working space, this book takes us into the lives of some of history's greatest ever writers, with each writing space illustrated in evocative watercolour by James Oses. In looking at the working lives of our favourite authors, bibliophiles will be transported to other worlds, aspiring writers will find inspiration and literature fans will gain deeper insight into their most-loved authors.

A series of introductory books, the Genre Series offers students, writers and academics a window into some of the most popular topics, styles and periods in literature. Designed to be user-friendly, each volume shares the same structure, including: A broad definition of the genre and its essential elements; A timeline of historical developments; Critical concerns to bear in mind while reading; Detailed readings of several key texts; In-depth analysis of major themes and issues; Signposts for further study; A summary of the most important criticism in the field; A glossary of terms; An annotated, critical reading list.

This book charts Fitzgerald's use of racial stereotypes to encode the dual nature of his literary ambition: his desire to be on the one hand a popular American entertainer, and on the other to make his mark among the elite members of an international literary field. Taking his cue from some under-appreciated stories, Michael Nowlin argues that Fitzgerald's early use of tropes from blackface minstrelsy anticipated his race-inflected treatment of divided artist figures in the major novels from "The Beautiful and Damned" to the unfinished "The Love of the Last Tycoon." At issue in all these novels, both formally and thematically, is the dynamic state of the modern, multi-faceted, and ethnically diverse American cultural field Fitzgerald was constantly re-negotiating in order to meet his goal of long-term literary success.

Following the American War of Independence and the French Revolution, ideas of the 'Natural Rights of Man' (later distinguished into particular issues like rights of association, rights of women, slaves, children and animals) were publicly debated in England. Literary figures like Wollstonecraft, Godwin, Thelwall, Blake and Wordsworth reflected these struggles in their poetry and fiction. With the seminal influences of John Locke and Rousseau, these and many other writers laid for high Romantic Literature foundations that were not so much aesthetic as moral and political. This new study by R.S. White provides a reinterpretation of the Enlightenment as it is currently understood.

"Henry James' Narrative Technique "situates Henry James' famous method within an emerging modernist tradition with roots in philosophical debates between rationalism and empiricism. This cogent study considers James' works in the context of nineteenth-century thought on consciousness, perception, and cognition. Kristin Boudreau makes the compelling argument that these philosophical discussions influenced James' depictions of consciousness and are integral to his narrative technique.

Shows German Science Fiction's connections with utopian thought, and how it attempts Zukunftsbewaltigung: coping with an uncertain but also unwritten future. Since its beginnings, German Science Fiction (or SF) has engaged with social change and technological progress, often drawing from utopian thought. The writer Kurd Lasswitz challenged the authoritarian Wilhelmine order; later, film director Fritz Lang provided a searing critique of Weimar society. Meanwhile utopian thinkers like Ernst Bloch and Herbert Marcuse insisted on the possibility of hope, even in the face of totalitarianism. During the Cold War, German utopian writing and filmmaking were vital both as a warning and as a creative imagining of possible futures. More recently, as rapid scientific and technological advances have continued, literary and cinematic responses have become increasingly dystopian in outlook, reflecting fears connected with globalization, advances in artificial intelligence and genetic engineering, and persistent challenges like climate change, hunger, migration, and terrorism. This book explores German SF's responses to the question how humanity can match technological advances with social, ethical, and moral progress. It surveys German utopian thought and the German SF tradition-both literary and cinematic-providing close readings of selected works that paradoxically reflect boundless optimism for the possibility of change and increasing pessimism in its likelihood. English translations are provided throughout. Building on its rich tradition but now confidently entering the mainstream, German SF attempts Zukunftsbewaltigung: coping with an uncertain but also unwritten future.

James Joyce was one do the most influential modernists of the 20th century - famous for developing the 'stream of consciousness' technique in writing. In a millennial survey, "Ulysses" was voted the most popular novel of the century. The "Preface Books" series approaches the work of Joyce from a particular perspective which, by introducing the writer via a biographical sketch and a survey of his cultural and social context, encourages readers to understand his work in the period it was written. Sydney bolt's A Preface to Joyce provides a fascinating account of one of the greatest twentieth-century writers and will be essential reading for anyone interested in reading the works of Joyce.

Throughout her fiction, Willa Cather mentioned forty-three operas. References to opera appear in all but three of her twelve novels and in roughly half of her short stories. Despite a dearth of musical education, Cather produced astute writing about the genre beginning in her earliest criticism and continuing throughout her career. She counted opera stars among her close friends, and according to Edith Lewis, her companion throughout adulthood, the two women frequently visited the theater, even in the early days, when purchasing tickets to attend performances proved a financial sacrifice. Melding cultural history with thoughtful readings of her works and discussions of opera's complex place in turn-of-the-century America, David McKay Powell's Cather and Opera offers the first book-length study of what drew the writer so powerfully and repeatedly to the art form. With close attention to Cather's fiction and criticism, Powell posits that at the heart of both her work and the operatic corpus dwells an innate tension between high artistic ideals and popular acceptance, often figured as a clash between compositional integrity and raw, personal emotion. Considering her connection to opera in both historical and intertextual terms, Cather and Opera investigates what operatic references mean in Cather's writing, along with what the opera represented to her throughout her life.

Black Neo-Victoriana is the first book-length study on contemporary re-imaginations of Blackness in the long nineteenth century. Located at the intersections of postcolonial studies, Black studies, and neo-Victorian criticism, this interdisciplinary collection engages with the global trend to reimagine and rewrite Black Victorian subjectivities that have been continually marginalised in both historical and cultural discourses. Contributions cover a range of media, from novels and drama to film, television and material culture, and draw upon cultural formations such as Black fandom, Black dandyism, or steamfunk. The book evidences how neo-Victorian studies benefits from reading re-imaginations of the long nineteenth century vis-a-vis Black epistemologies, which unhinge neo-Victorianism's dominant spatial and temporal axes and reroute them to conceive of the (neo-)Victorian through Blackness.

Widely recommended, this guide to Conrad offers a vivid and incisive account of his life and literary career, and gives detailed attention to the contexts, themes, problems and paradoxes of his works.