This book contains 200 reviews of significant fiction and nonfiction published in 2009. It provides coverage for works that are likely to be of particular interest to the general reader, and that will stand the test of time.
By filtering the thousands of books published every year down to 200 notable titles, the editors have provided the busy librarian with an excellent reader's advisory tool and patrons with fodder for book discussion groups and a guide for choosing worthwhile reading material.
Feminism has dramatically influenced the way literary texts are read, taught and evaluated. Feminist literary theory has deliberately transgressed traditional boundaries between literature, philosophy and the social sciences in order to understand how gender has been constructed and represented through language. This lively and thought-provoking Companion presents a range of approaches to the field.
Oscar Mandel, Professor of literature at the California Institute of Technology, is the author of numerous acclaimed books of poetry, drama, essays, fiction, literary criticism, translation, and art history.
Offering a new interpretation of the hidden messages and symbols that have ornamented Beatles mythology for years, this examination of the Beatles' recordings and album artwork theorizes that John Lennon's murder was eerily foretold. Following a fascinating and unique trail of sorcery, mysticism, numerology, backwards masking, anagrams, and literary and theological writings, the book posits that John Lennon sold his soul in order to achieve international fame and fortune and subsequently paid the ultimate price for his success.
Modern British and Irish Criticism and Theory offers the student and general reader a comprehensive, critically informed overview of the development of literary and cultural studies from the nineteenth century to the present day. Beginning with Coleridge and Arnold, examining the contribution of cultural commentators and novelists, and considering the institutionalisation of literary criticism in the universities of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, the book addresses in detailed, accessible and rigorous essays the rise and significance of literary and cultural studies.
