The trickster, whether in the form of a benign practical joker or a malevolent charlatan, has been a popular literary character for centuries. This volume examines the role of the trickster in works such as 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'On the Road', 'The Wife of Bath's Tale', and many other works frequently studied by high school students. Featuring original essays and excerpts from previously published critical analyses, this addition to the Bloom's Literary Themes series gives students valuable insight into the title's subject theme.
Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory (Second Edition)
In this second edition of Beginning Theory, the variety of approaches, theorists, and technical language is lucidly and expertly unraveled and explained, and allows readers to develop their own ideas once first principles have been grasped. Expanded and updated from the original edition first published in 1995, Peter Barry has incorporated all of the recent developments in literary theory, adding two new chapters covering the emergent Eco-criticism and the re-emerging Narratology.
Filmmakers have long been drawn to the Gothic with its eerie settings and promise of horror lurking beneath the surface. Moreover, the Gothic allows filmmakers to hold a mirror up to their own age and reveal society's deepest fears. Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre, Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet are just a few examples of film adaptations of literary Gothic texts. In this ground-breaking study, Lisa Hopkins explores how the Gothic has been deployed in these and other contemporary films and comes to some surprising conclusions.
The Drama 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Plays of All Time
Which plays are truly great, and why? This fascinating reference profiles 100 of the greatest plays drawn from all cultures and periods of literature. Compiled in consultation with literary scholars, "The Drama 100" is sure to engage students and theatergoers in a spirited discussion of literary values.
Invisible Man, published in 1954, was Ralph Ellison's masterpiece and strongly influenced the rest of his life. He was known for his refusal to be categorized as a "black writer." Learn more about Ellison with this text, which includes an extensive biography of the author, literary criticism, a list of works by and about the author, and more.