Literary Criticism

“But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” This tremendously famous novella, written in 1952, underlined Hemingway's influence and presence in the literary world. The Old Man and the Sea is a story of fr...

A lucid, comprehensive yet compact text focusing on core language skills in English, including vocabulary building, lexis, syntax, and communicative grammar. Functional English for Communication will help readers enrich their listening, speaking,...

The book Higher English Grammar and Composition is based on Modern English Grammar which has its base in descriptive linguistics and describes the structure/system of English language under Sound System, Word System, Syntax, and Punctuation; diffe...

About the Book This volume includes two long essays—the first explores the poetry of Negritude by analysing the work of several Black poets of the time; thesecond, a meditation on the poetry of renowned French author FrancisPonge (1899–1988), ...

There has been much debate and discussion on the origin of language in human species. The exact time of origin of human language is still unknown due to lack of direct evidence. Experts have drawn inferences from secondary sources like fossils and...

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Relativity as a concept was not new to physics when Albert Einstein developed an interest in the field. Dissecting Relativity into the General Theory and ...

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, usually shortened to just Hamlet, was written by Shakespeare sometime between 1599–1602. It is arguably one of his most famous tragedies. The lines from Hamlet's monologue in act three that begin "To be, o...

The book combines general rules of English language for common users as well as complex issues for expert philologists. It contains the chief peculiarities of English language and delineates the growth and significance of those features in its str...

“Let us strike the keynote, Coketown, before pursuing our tune... It was a town of machines and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever, and never got uncoiled...” — Hard Times The novel is set in the...

“I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics.” A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett follows the heartwarming story of Sara Crewe, a young girl with a vivid imagination, who attends Miss Minchin’s school in London....

Man and Superman, a four-Act drama, was written in 1903 as a response to those who had questioned Shaw as to why he had never written a play based on the Don Juan theme. It deserves the position of Bernard Shaw’s masterpiece. The plot revolves aro...

Women in Love, the book Lawrence considered his best, was written during World War I, and while that conflict is never mentioned in the novel, a sense of background danger, of lurking catastrophe, continually informs its drama of two couples dynam...

Interpreting Poetry and Evaluating Criticism seeks to evaluate canonical Indian English poetry and interpret the poetry of W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes and Nissim Ezekiel as beacon light to English, Irish and Indian English po...

About the Book Sartre met Albert Camus in Occupied France in 1943—an odd pair: onefrom the upper reaches of French society; the other, a pied-noir borninto poverty in Algeria. The love of ‘freedom’ brought them togetherquickly as closest of ...

The Secret Garden is one of the most delightful and enduring classics of children’s literature, which has remained a firm favorite with children the world over ever since it made its first appearance in The American Magazine in 1910. It was brough...

About the Book In this broad, thought-provoking introduction to Jewish literature from 1492 to the present, cultural historian Ilan Stavans focuses on its multilingual and transnational nature. Stavans presents a wide range of traditions within Je...

The unifying motif of Bimal Krishna Matilal's work is the study of rational traditions in Indian philosophical thought. With his ability to span the divide between the Indian and Western intellectual traditions, he brought contemporary techniques ...

Oliver Twist, Dickens's critique of the harsh Poor Law of 1834, and a grim picture of the sordid reality the London underworld of Dickens's times, shows Dickens's deep concern for the underprivileged. The only token of identity left by his dying m...

It is observed that criticism in the latter half of the twentieth century becomes language-oriented. By and large, it aims to analyze the work of literature on the basis of diction, syntax, imagery, tropes, etc. and to apply the analysis to the ge...

This book is intended to capture the interest of anyone who has been attracted to Russian culture through the greats of Russian literature, either through the texts themselves, or encountering them in the cinema, or opera. Rather than a convention...

Jane Eyre remains one of the most widely read of English Classics. In this novel, Charlotte Bronte invented a romantic tale of passion and thrill and created one of the most unforgettable heroines of all the times. When her first novel, The Profes...

NET is one of the most difficult examinations, more so because the syllabus is very vast and only a few lucky ones can cross the threshold, especially in English. This is borne out by the small number of students who have been able to clear the te...

The book is a scholarly work which throws ample light on Hardy, a poet-thinker so far a neglected genius. The author penetrates deep into Hardy’s Poetry in the light of atheistic Existentialism. He focuses on Hardy’s views on Man, his relationship...

The Voyage of the Beagle is the title given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as Journal and Remarks. It covers Darwin’s part in the second survey expedition of the ship HMS Beagle. Due to immense popularity of Darwin’s a...

The Alchemist is considered Jonson’s best and most characteristic comedy. It was first performed in 1610 by King’s Men. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a great romantic poet, claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature. The play...

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian fiction portraying a society ruled by an oligarchical dictatorship. The Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, through government surveillance and continuous public mind control. Oceania ...

The growing trend of inter-cultural migration brought by global market forces has infused fresh interest among people across the world in learning major world languages. This has resulted in the emergence of linguistics as a highly relevant discip...

Literary theory is a systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for analyzing literature. Literary theory and literary criticism are interpretative tools that enable us to think insightfully about the literature we read. The b...

The book is based on the uniform pattern of syllabus for M.A. in English for Indian Universities prescribed by the UGC. It is comprehensive and covers the entire history of British Literature. It also includes exhaustive material on American Liter...

Literary studies are supplemented by critiques that offer unique perspectives on diverse and complex concerns influencing every epoch. While literary theory provides an expansive philosophical background to comprehend literature, literary criticis...

Blake was a visionary like no other. To some, like William Wordsworth, the only explanation for the remarkable spiritual world Blake witnessed and brought to life in his books was 'insane genius'. Although such a view persisted well into the twent...

This Very Short Introduction examines all the major aspects of Dante's work, emphasizing the features that have made him such an important point of reference for modern writers and their readers. Exploring and explaining The Divine Comedy, they al...

Sons and Lovers is considered to be D.H. Lawrence’s first mature novel. What is unique about this novel is its profound psychological insights into the complex relationships between son and mother and between son and other women. Novel is largely ...

The Comedy of Errors, in five-acts, is one of the shortest and most lively of Shakespeare’s comedies. It was written during 1589—94 and first published in the First Folio of 1623 from Shakespeare’s manuscript. It is based on Menaechmi by Plautus, ...

Language of Fiction was the first book of criticism by the renowned novelist and critic David Lodge. His uniquely informed perspective - he was already the author of three successful novels at the time of its first publication in 1966 - and lucid ...

The Apple Cart: A Political Extravaganza, a wry political satire, was completed in December 1928 and first performed in Warsaw (in Polish) in June 1929. Its English premiere was at the first Malvern Drama Festival in August 1929. It is a satirical...

One of the best-known works of Bradley, the present volume consists of lectures delivered during the author’s tenure of the Chair of Poetry (1901-1906) at Oxford. The lectures approach the style and craftsmanship, views and theories of Shakespeare...

Dalit literature defies inequality, injustice, subjugation, and marginalization; and sows the seeds of revulsion, resistance, and revolution in human minds. It offers a platform for the erstwhile voiceless, dispossessed, and underprivileged sectio...

This Arden edition of Hamlet, arguably Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, presents an authoritative, modernized text based on the second quarto text with a new introductory essay covering key productions and criticism in the decade since its first pu...

About the Book James Joyce is one of the greatest writers in English. His first book, A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man laid down the template for the Coming of Age novel, while his collection of short stories, Dubliners, is of perennial int...

Presenting a range of material from both Greek and Latin literature, William Allan illustrates the variety and sophistication of these works. He shows what makes the classics such masterpieces and why they influence and fascinate even today.

The Way of the World is based around two lovers Mirabell and Millamant. In order for the two to get married and receive Millamant’s full dowry, Mirabell must receive the blessing of Millamant’s aunt, Lady Wishfort. Unfortunately, she is a very bit...

Red Oleanders/Raktakarabī is one of the best plays of Tagore, the myriadminded and multifaceted genius; understandably ‘meanings’ have been sought ‘under the petals’, in spite of the author’s admonition, by countless readers, theatre-goers, perfor...

Thinking of the usefulness and the great popularity of the first eight editions of the book, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism and considering the valuable suggestions received from several quarters, the current ninth edition has been revised a...

Regarded notoriously pornographic when published in 1928, the novel is a triumph of passion, an erotic celebration of life, exploring the emotions of a lonely woman, Constance Chatterley, trapped in a sterile marriage and her growing love for Mell...

In this ground-breaking and influential study Fredric Jameson explores the complex place and function of literature within culture. At the time Jameson was actually writing the book, in the mid to late seventies, there was a major reaction against...

Stephen Greenblatt argued in these celebrated essays that the art of the Renaissance could only be understood in the context of the society from which it sprang. His approach - 'New Historicism' - drew from history, anthropology, Marxist theory, p...

Shakespeare produced most of his work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were comedies and histories—genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote tragedies until about 1608, includin...

Shakespeare produced most of his work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were comedies and histories—genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote tragedies until about 1608, includin...

Indian research in English Studies has a long and rich tradition but, unfortunately, it has failed to make any notable impact on the academic world. This is largely due to the fact that most of the Indian doctoral dissertations in English studies ...

The bestselling Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms provides clear and concise definitions of the most troublesome literary terms, from abjection to zeugma. It is an essential reference tool for students of literature in any language. Now expanded...

About the Book We find ourselves face to face with Sartre the literary critic in thiscollection of brief but insightful essays that carefully examine the worksof renowned French writers such as François Mauriac, Nathalie Sarraute,Jean Giraudoux, ...

In this Very Short Introduction, Peter Hainsworth and David Robey consider Italian literature from the Middle Ages to the present day, looking at themes and issues which have recurred throughout its history and continue to be of importance today. ...

Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a brilliant tale of seduction, love, betrayal, and murder, is generally regarded as Thomas Hardy’s finest novel. This is a tragic story of the intelligent, charming and naturally dignified Tess. Daughter of a poor villa...

(1) The Jungle Books: - Kipling's allegory, The Jungle Books, set in India and filled with high adventure and extraordinary characters that touch both our intellect and our emotions, is an unforgettable mythic tale of a boy Mowgli, the fearless ma...

Set in Scotland just after the Jacobite rebellions and narrated by the teenager David Balfour, Kidnapped is an adventure book that focuses very much on travel. It moves from the Lowlands of Scotland, to a ship, to the west of Scotland and then all...

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 f...

During the post-war years the experimental tendency in British novel continued, but the critics lamented that the mid-twentieth century British literature produced no Ulysses. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954) was accepted as an experimen...

This book brings together critical articles on all the English works of the brilliant Indian writer Nirad Chaudhuri—from his Autobiography of an Unknown Indian—up to his last work, The East is East and the West is West. Though these chapters are i...