This collection of essays is the first in 15 years to review the current state of theory on James Joyce’s Ulysses, and this volume comes more than 100 years after the fictitious Leopold Bloom steps into the novel, a day Joyceans celebrate as Bloomsday. The contributors—well known for their work in James Joyce studies—each provide three assessments in their areas of specialization: a history of the best criticism to date, a timely updating of critical positions, and an agenda for future examination.
Short Story Theories: A Twenty-First-Century Perspective problematizes different aspects of the renewal and development of the short story. The aim of this collection is to explore the most recent theoretical issues raised by the short story as a genre and to offer theoretical and practical perspectives on the form. Centering as it does on specific authors and on the wider implications of short story poetics, this collection presents a new series of essays that both reinterpret canonical writers of the genre and advance new critical insights on the most recent trends and contemporary authors.
Who is more important: the reader, or the writer? Originally published in French in 1966, Pierre Macherey’s first and most famous work, A Theory of Literary Production dared to challenge perceived wisdom, and quickly established him as a pivotal figure in literary theory. The reissue of this work as a Routledge Classic brings some radical ideas to a new audience, and argues persuasively for a totally new way of reading. As such, it is an essential work for anyone interested in the development of literary theory.
Cultural Mobility is a blueprint and a model for understanding the patterns of meaning that human societies create. Drawn from a wide range of disciplines, the essays collected here under the distinguished editorial guidance of Stephen Greenblatt share the conviction that cultures, even traditional cultures, are rarely stable or fixed.
Each volume of Drama for Students features coverage of 14 to 15 plays frequently studied in literature classes. Each detailed entry includes an overview of the play; a brief biography of the playwright; a plot summary; a discussion of the play's principal themes; essays on the play's construction; excerpted critical commentary; historical and cultural context sections, and much more. Each volume (beginning with vol. 27) includes two "Literature to Film" entries. Entries profiling film versions of plays/novels not only diversify the study of plays/novels but support alternate learning styles, media literacy, and film studies curricula as well.
