Considered by some as enchanting as a fairy tale and in some ways as simple in its approach, George Eliot's Silas Marner extends well beyond such a sphere. The text focuses on the evils of religion and society, both of which ostracize those they do not understand. Study the novel through the work of some of the most respected critics on the subject.

This Thing of Darkness: Perspectives on Evil and Human Wickedness

Written across the disciplines of art history, literature, philosophy, sociology, and theology, the ten essays comprising the collection all insist on multidimensional definitions of evil. Taking its title from a moment in Shakespeare’s Tempest when Prospero acknowledges his responsibility for Caliban, this collection explores the necessarily ambivalent relationship between humanity and evil. To what extent are a given society’s definitions of evil self-serving?  

Few writers have captured the essence of 19th-century London the way Charles Dickens has. A master of extreme situations, Dickens is known for his colorful and often seedy characters and the elaborate settings of his works. This volume from the Bloom's Classic Critical Views series features a remarkable collection of critical essays from the 19th and early 20th centuries that paint a clear historical portrait of this important writer.

This book offers an original study of debates which arose in the 1790s about the nature and social role of literature and the new class of readers produced by the revolution in information and literacy in eighteenth-century England. The first part concentrates on the dominant arguments about the role of literature and the status of the author; the second shifts its focus to the debates about working-class activists and radical women authors, and examines the growth of a Romantic ideology within this context of political and cultural turmoil.

Noted for her witty depictions of English country life and sharply satirical views of class structure and human behavior, 19th-century novelist Jane Austen's works, which include such classics as 'Emma' and 'Pride and Prejudice', possess a timeless appeal for both general readers and literary scholars. This volume from the Bloom's Classic Critical Views series showcases essays from Austen's own time period and beyond that create a unique portrait of a writer whose works have remained relevant for more than two centuries.