Selected Myths (Oxford World's Classics)

Once upon a time there were just the gods; mortal beings did not yet exist. We are used to thinking of myths containing lines like this simply as stories, and modern myths as made up and fictitious. For the ancient Greeks, however, a myth was unveiled reality, and for Plato, who was a myth-maker as well as a myth-teller, a myth could tell us something important about ourselves and our world. The ultimate purpose of Plato's myths is to help us live a better life, and to teach philosophical truths in a form we can most easily understand.

Irish Novels 1890-1940: New Bearings in Culture and Fiction

Studies of Irish fiction are still scanty in contrast to studies of Irish poetry and drama. Attempting to fill a large critical vacancy, Irish Novels 1890-1940 is a comprehensive survey of popular and minor fiction (mainly novels) published between 1890 and 1922, a crucial period in Irish cultural and political history. Since the bulk of these sixty-odd writers have never been written about, certainly beyond brief mentions, the book opens up for further exploration a literary landscape, hitherto neglected, perhaps even unsuspected. This new landscape should alter the familiar perspectives on Irish literature of the period, first of all by adding genre fiction  

Assia Djebar: Out of Algeria

For more than fifty years, Assia Djebar has used the tools of poetry, fiction, drama, and film to vividly portray the complex world of Muslim women. In the process, she has become one of the most important figures in North African literature.

The Companion to British Romantic Poetry

More than any other period of British literature, Romanticism is strongly identified with a single genre. Romantic poetry has been one of the most enduring, best loved, most widely read and most frequently studied genres for two centuries and remains no less so today. This Companion offers a comprehensive overview and interpretation of the poetry of the period in its literary and historical contexts.

The Companion to Byron

Byron's life and work have equally fascinated readers around the world for two hundred years, but it is the complex interaction between his art and his politics, beliefs and sexuality that has attracted so many modern critics and students. In three sections devoted to the historical, textual and literary contexts of Byron's life and times, these essays by eminent Byron scholars provide a compelling picture of the diversity of Byron's writings. This Companion provides an invaluable resource for students and scholars, including a chronology and a guide to further reading.