Literature: history & criticism books

A panoramic account of a single year uncommonly crowded with seminal works of performance. Surveying American drama,...  Read More >>

This Element revisits the relation between Giacomo Leopardi and Samuel Beckett. It suggests that Leopardi becomes...  Read More >>

This book ranges across historical periods to offer a comprehensive and much-needed critical prehistory of contemporary...  Read More >>

What does 'Irish romanticism' mean and when did Ireland become romantic? Claire Connolly proposes an understanding...  Read More >>

This Element is the first scholarly study of the theatre of Lauren Gunderson, one of the most produced US playwrights...  Read More >>

Argues that 18th-century British literary writers deployed melancholic feeling to draw a complex web of relations...  Read More >>

A collection of 16 essays examining how armed conflict functions as a subject, theme, metaphor, symbol, or plot...  Read More >>

Yuri Lotman's biography of Pushkin is a classic work of Soviet literary scholarship, presenting an image of Russia's...  Read More >>

Provides for the first time an inclusive and detailed view of C. P. Cavafy as a “World poet,” tracing his critical...  Read More >>

Examines the connection between auditory perception and the formation of subjectivity and identity in 20th-century...  Read More >>

A fresh and timely look at Anglo-German relations in English fiction from the Cold War to Brexit.  Read More >>

A study of the origins, nature and role of fantasy literature in early 19th century colonial India, this book explores...  Read More >>

The first book devoted to exploring Marcel Proust’s influence on Irish literature and Irish themes within his work...  Read More >>

An exploration of contemporary re-imaginings of 18th-century narratives, culture, ideas and values across film,...  Read More >>

Argues that lying is fundamental to the survival of the human species, through a series of philosophical, psychological...  Read More >>

Guide to the performance history of Measure for Measure and new critical thinking on the play including its sexual...  Read More >>

A compelling quest to locate a history and poetics of the American sentence, this book uses four stages in the story...  Read More >>

First book-length study of ancient Rome’s second-shortest play, with the most intricate plot that survives from...  Read More >>

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Going against most accounts of Futurism in England, this book unpacks the profound influence of Italian Futurism’s...  Read More >>

A study of homoerotic desire and friendship and between King James VI & I, Queen Anna and his favourites through...  Read More >>

This book analyses the way Shakespeare presents the transformation of the early modern natural world through the...  Read More >>

The first interdisciplinary history of vertigo, this book covers medical accounts from antiquity to the present,...  Read More >>

Provides nuanced analyses of modernist engagements with car culture  Read More >>

Addresses the main characters’ thoughts on women and on God  Read More >>