The Ethnography of Manners: Hawthorne, James and Wharton (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture)
Focusing on the novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James and Edith Wharton, this book examines fiction and ethnography as related forms for analysing and exhibiting social life.
Gr 9 Up–Though this attractive set is well conceived and includes 678 essays on the authors most studied in high school and their works (97 new essays, 130 revised from the 2000 edition), and a wealth of information and opinion, it is not essential. Each entry provides brief biographical data and a list of principal long works; a short discussion of the subject's other literary forms; sections entitled “Achievements,” “Biography,” and “Analysis,” which provide general overviews of the author's writings; and a selection of analysis and plot summaries for specific titles.
As a poet, novelist, essayist, and playwright, Oscar Wilde excelled in a range of genres, engaging and fascinating his readers with his ability to make use of compatible contraries. Many of his central works, including 'The Importance of Being Earnest', 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', 'Lady Windermere's Fan', and 'Salomé', and their lasting influence are discussed in this new edition of critical essays. This entry in the Bloom's Modern Critical Views series features an introductory essay from literary critic Harold Bloom, a chronology of Wilde's life, a bibliography of his works, and an index for handy reference.
The Taming of the Shrew (The New Cambridge Shakespeare)
One of Shakespeare's most popular yet controversial plays, this edition of The Taming of the Shrew considers its reception in the light of the hostility and embarrassment it often arouses, taking account of both scholarly defences and modern feminist criticism of the play.
For this updated edition Ann Thompson has added new sections to the Introduction which describe the 'deeply problematic' nature of debates about the play and its reception since the 1980s. She discusses recent editions and textual, performance and critical studies.
The Companion to Nabokov provides a concise introduction to the creative world of one of the twentieth century's most important writers. Fourteen individual essays cover such topics as Nabokov's storytelling techniques, his achievements as a short story writer, his evolution as a novelist, his relationship to the literary currents of his day, his world-view, and his lasting artistic legacy, particularly through Lolita, his most famous and controversial work.
