Douglas Dunn is one of the most widely-read and respected poets of his generation. In a career spanning over 30 years, he has refined lyric and elegiac poetry into an instrument with which to make acu
This book treats separately all four poems: Pearl, Cleanness, Patience and Sir Gawain. There are also chapters on: the history of the poems and their rediscovery; alliterative verse; and what little i
Penelope Fitzgerald (1916-2000) has been acclaimed as one of the finest British novelists of the late twentieth century. Four of her novels were shortlisted for the Booker Prize and one of them, Offsh
A concise and informative account of the development of Beckett's prose and drama from the early experiments in fiction through the major work to the minimal.
Change and transformation are central to the action, themes and language of A Midsummer Night's Dream. In this lucid study Helen Hackett shows how the play participates in a widespread 1590s concern w
Browning has been identified as the greatest 19th century poet of human psychology, but the category most popular in his own time defined him as a poet of 'the grotesque'. This book undertakes to spec
W. G. Sebald was a literary phenomenon: a German literary scholar working in England, who took up creative writing out of dissatisfaction with German post-war letters. Within only a few years, his uni
This concise book opens with an overview of the life, work, and critical reception of African American author James Baldwin, then examines his fiction, nonfiction, and plays in chapters structured aro
Rosamond Lehmann's first book, Dusty Answer (1927), with its scandalous subject matter, made her a literary celebrity at the age of twenty-seven. Seen as the voice of a new generation, she became the
Edward Lear wrote a well-known autobiographical poem that begins 'How pleasant to know Mr Lear!' But how well do we really know him? On the one hand he is, in John Ashbery's words, 'one of the most po
Edward Lear wrote a well-known autobiographical poem that begins 'How pleasant to know Mr Lear!' But how well do we really know him? On the one hand he is, in John Ashbery's words, 'one of the most po
T.S. Eliot's life took him from the United States to England, from philosophy to poetry and from modern scepticism to traditional Christianity. Colin MacCabe's study places Eliot's poetry in the conte
Margaret Drabble is a writer whose subject matter and technique have developed profoundly since the early sixties: this book draws together the different aspects of her narrative practice, and looks a
This book gives a historical and critical introduction to the genre of crime fiction, from Edgar Allan Poe's first detective story The Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1841 to the present day. It concentr
The novels and stories of Elizabeth Taylor (1912-75) have always had an enthusiastic following among the general reading public. This study aims to introduce her work, to trace some of its recurrent p
John Bunyan (1628-88) lived and wrote through some of the most turbulent years of political, social, and religious change in British history from civil war, through Commonwealth and Protectorate to th
Martin Amis is one of the most important and distinctive writers of the last 30 years; this study provides a critical evaluation of all his work from his first novel, The Rachel Papers, to The Pregnan
