Added by: dovesnake | Karma: 1384.51 | Coursebooks, Fiction literature | 5 October 2008
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This broad-ranging companion brings together respected American and European critics and a number of up-and-coming scholars to provide an overview of Twain, his background, his writings, and his place in American literary history. * One of the most broad-ranging volumes to appear on Mark Twain in recent years. * Brings together respected Twain critics and a number of younger scholars in the field to provide an overview of this central figure in American literature. * Places special emphasis on the ways in which Twain's works remain both relevant and important for a twenty-first century audience. * A concluding essay evaluates the changing landscape of Twain criticism
Added by: dovesnake | Karma: 1384.51 | Fiction literature | 4 October 2008
36
The Concise Companion to Feminist Theory introduces readers to the broad scope of feminist theory over the last 35 years.
* Introduces readers to the broad scope of feminist theory over the past 35 years. * Guides students along the cutting edge of current feminist theory. * Suitable for students and scholars of all fields touched by feminist thought. * Covers an exceptionally broad range of disciplines, discourses and feminist positions. * Organised around concepts rather than schools of feminism.
Exploring the Language of Drama: From Text to Context
Added by: dovesnake | Karma: 1384.51 | Fiction literature | 4 October 2008
35
Focusing on the characterization of speech as a form of action, Exploring the Language of Drama introduces students to the stylistic analysis of drama. Here, some of the world's leading scholars demonstrate the importance of analyzing the text of drama rather than focusing on performance, presenting their approaches in an engaging and accessible style. The essays employ techniques from language analysis (specifically discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics and pragmatic) to explore the language of plays, looking at how different theories and approaches can be used to help us understand characterization in dialogue, the cognitive patterns that support the narrative and discourse of drama, and the basic mechanisms of conversation in dramatic dialogue. Each chapter ends in a summary with follow-up exercises, and offers practical advice on how to analyze a play extract and write it up as an assignment.
Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender
Added by: dovesnake | Karma: 1384.51 | Fiction literature | 4 October 2008
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The influence of colonialism and race on the development of African literature has been the subject of a number of studies. The effect of patriarchy and gender, however, and indeed the contributions of African women, have up until now been largely ignored by the critics.
Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender is the first extensive account of African literature from a feminist perspective.
Added by: otherwordly | Karma: 222.42 | Fiction literature | 30 September 2008
10
Anathem is set on a planet called Arbre, where the protagonist, Erasmas, is among a cohort of secluded scientists, philosophers and mathematicians who are called upon to save the world from impending catastrophe. Erasmas - Raz to his friends - has spent most of his life inside a 3,400-year-old sanctuary. The rest of society — the Sжcular world — is described as an "endless landscape of casinos and megastores that is plagued by recurring cycles of booms and busts, dark ages and renaissances, world wars and climate change." Their planet, Arbre, has a history and culture that is roughly analogous to Earth. Resident scholars, including Raz, are unexpectedly summoned by a frightened Sжcular power to leave their monastic stronghold in the hope that they may prevent an approaching catastrophe.
