Literary theory books

First published in 1972, Goethe presents a biography looking at one of the few great Europeans to be universally...  Read More >>

In this important study, originally published in 1985, Ronald Hayman scrutinizes Grass’s development and assesses...  Read More >>

This book, originally published in 1983, begins with an analysis of the patterns of Graham Greene’s mind. It explores...  Read More >>

Malcolm Lowry’s Under the Volcano is now recognized as one of the major novels of the 20th Century, whose breadth...  Read More >>

Originally published in 1956, this study of Spenser’s poetry shows how the conceptions of his earlier work in visions...  Read More >>

When it was originally published in 1986, this book was the first full-length study of Farrell’s fiction. Ronald...  Read More >>

First published in 1974, European Drama of the Early Middle Ages stresses the distinctive variety of the dramatic...  Read More >>

Originally published in 1982, this study examines Orton’s principal plays, but its main concern is to identify his...  Read More >>

First published in 1992, Political Stylistics is a way of studying the formal properties of texts based on the principle...  Read More >>

The stylistic aims of the Alexandrian poets have been much discussed, as has their reliance on literary tradition.First...  Read More >>

In this book, originally published in 1982, Blake Morrison identifies the central characteristics of his achievement,...  Read More >>

Originally published in 1989, The Origins of Literary Studies in America brings together for the first time hard-to-find...  Read More >>

First published in 1992, The Inward Gaze looks at men’s fantasies and self-images from a wide range of texts (notably...  Read More >>

Originally published in 1985, this study provides a clear and intelligent introduction to the work of the former...  Read More >>

Through incisive analysis, Stacey McDowell shows how Romantic writers reflect on ideas about reading, revealing...  Read More >>

Arguing against the reductive understanding of risk as negative possibility, this book shows how risk is a necessary...  Read More >>

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How do we define plagiarism in literature? In this wide-ranging study, Muhsin J. al-Musawi examines debates surrounding...  Read More >>

Originally published in 1970, this account of Tolstoy’s achievement as a novelist concentrates on the best known...  Read More >>

Demonstrates William James's role in the history of Anglo-American literary production and the practice of literary...  Read More >>

Documenting senses of life and practices of refusal hidden at the edges of Black literature and thought.  Read More >>

A final work by one of our major critics, contemplating how acts of distant witnessing can continue in future generations....  Read More >>

Written for literary and animal studies scholars, this book shows how animal illnesses influence our cultures and...  Read More >>

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Organizing Relation investigates how attachment theory can shift major conversations in literary criticism about...  Read More >>