Authors & Literary Criticism: Related Library Books

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Monroe College Library Books and E-books

Library E-Books

Multiethnic Literature and Canon Debates / by Mary-Jo Bona; Irma Maini This groundbreaking collection reinvigorates the debate over the inclusion of multiethnic literature in the American literary canon. While multiethnic literature has earned a place in the curriculum on many large campuses, it is still a controversial topic at many others, as recent campus and corporate revivals of The Great Books attest. Many still perceive multiethnic literature as being governed by ideological and political issues, perpetuating a false distinction between highbrow literary texts and multiethnic works. Through historical overviews and textual analyses, the contributors not only argue for the aesthetic validity of multiethnic literature, but also examine the innovative ways in which multiethnic literature is taught and critiqued. The following questions are also addressed: Who and what determines literary value? What role do scholars, students, the reading public, book awards, and/or publishers play in affirming literary value? Taken together, these essays underscore the necessity for maintaining vibrant conversations about the place of multiethnic literature both inside and outside the academy.
Call Number: E-book (Click Title for access)
ISBN: 9781429411721
Publication Date: 2006
Cather Studies : Vol. 6: History, memory, and war / by Steven Trout; Cather Studies Staff Part of a scholarship that seeks to undo Willa Cather's longstanding reputation as a writer who remained aloof from the cultural issues of her day, this chronologically arranged collection demonstrates that Cather found the subject of war both unavoidable, because of her position in history, and artistically irresistible.
Call Number: E-book (Click Title for access)
ISBN: 9780803205499
Publication Date: 2006
Mexican American Literature : the politics of identity / by Elizabeth Jacobs Presenting an up-to-date critical perspective as well as a cultural, political and historical context, this book is an excellent introduction to Mexican American literature, affording readers the major novels, drama and poetry. This volumenbsp;presents fresh and original readings of major works, and with its historiographic and cultural analyses, impressively delivers key information to the reader.
Call Number: E-book (Click Title for access)
ISBN: 9780203015933
Publication Date: 2006
Mocking the Age : the later novels of Philip Roth / by Elaine B. Safer The first comprehensive assessment of Philip Roth s later novels, Mocking the Age offers rich and insightful readings that explore how these extraordinary works satirize our contemporary culture. From The Ghost Writer to The Plot Against America, Roth uses humor to address deadly serious matters, including social and political issues, psychological problems, postmodern concerns, and the absurd. In her clear and extensive analyses of these works, Elaine B. Safer looks at how Roth s approach to the comic incorporates the self-deprecating humor of Jewish comedians, as well as the humor of nineteenth-century Eastern European Jewish storytellers and such twentieth-century writers as Bernard Malamud and Saul Bellow. Filling the void on critical examinations of Roth s later work, Safer s book provides a thorough appraisal of Roth s lifetime accomplishment and an essential evaluation of his comic genius.
Call Number: E-book (Click Title for access)
ISBN: 9781429411806
Publication Date: 2006
Modern North American Criticism and Theory / by J. Wolfreys (Ed) Modern North American Criticism and Theorypresents the reader with a comprehensive and critical introduction to the development and institutionalization of literary and cultural studies throughout the twentieth century and at the beginning of the twenty-first. Focusing on the growth and expansion of critical trends and methodologies, with particular essays addressing key figures in their historical and cultural contexts, the book offers a narrative of change, transformation, and the continuous quest for and affirmation of multiple cultural voices and identities. From semiotics and the New Criticism to the identity politics of whiteness studies and the cultural study of masculinity, this book provides an overview of literary and cultural study in North America as a history of questioning, debate, and exploration.A further reading list accompanies each chapter.Key Features* Breadth of coverage from Northrop Frye to Fredric Jameson and from The New Criticism and the Chicago School to New Historicism, African-American Studies and Canadian Literary Studies.* Focus on the history of modern criticism.* Accessibly written.* Theoretical debates are set in full historical, cultural and philosophical contexts.
Call Number: E-book (Click Title for access)
ISBN: 9780748626786
Publication Date: 2006
Key Concepts in Literary Theory / by Julian Wolfreys; Ruth Robbins; Kenneth Womack Presents the student of literary and critical studies with a range of definitions of the significant terms and concepts used in psychoanalytic, poststructuralist, Marxist, feminist, and postcolonial literary studies. This volume also provides useful discussions of the main areas of literary, critical and cultural theory.
Call Number: E-book (Click Title for access)
ISBN: 9780748626427
Publication Date: 2006
Texts : contemporary cultural texts and critical approaches / by Peter Childs Being able to analyse different types of text is an essential skill for students of literature. Textsis a new kind of book which shows students how to use literary theory to approach a wide range of literary, cultural and media texts of the kind studied on today's courses. These texts range from short stories, autobiographies, political speeches, websites and lyrics to films such as The Matrixand Harry Potterand from television's Big Brotherto shopping malls, celebrities, and rock videos.Each chapter combines an introduction to the text and aspects of its critical reception with an analysis using one of sixteen key approaches, from established angles like feminism, postcolonial studies and deconstruction to newer areas such as ecocriticism, trauma theory, and ethical criticism. Each chapter also indicates alternative ways of reading the text by drawing on other critical approaches. Texts:*is the first student guide to examine visual, virtual and performance texts alongside written texts reflecting the broadening range of the contemporary literature syllabus*demonstrates clearly how students can analyse a familiar text in different ways, a core skill which many find difficult*provides a student introduction to contemporary culture via well known popular texts and literary theories.
Call Number: E-book (Click Title for access)
ISBN: 9780748629183
Publication Date: 2006
Comparing Texts / by Nicola Onyett Focusing on the AOs most relevant to their topic, the books help students to develop their knowledge and abilities through analysis of lively texts and contemporary data. Each book in the series covers a different area of language and literary study, and offers accessible explanations, examples, exercises, summaries, suggested answers and a glossary of key terms. Comparing Texts: provides students with the skills they need to compare and contrast texts explores and compares texts from a wide range of genres and periods draws on a large number of literary and non-literary texts, from Chaucer's Wife of Bath to The Good Wife's Guide, from Frankenstein to poetry by Carol Ann Duffy, and from Nigella Lawson to Fast Food Nation introduces the main themes and issues students need to consider when comparing texts: themes, genre, time and place, form and structure, and intertextuality.
Call Number: E-book (Click Title for access)
ISBN: 9780203005170
Publication Date: 2005
The New North American Studies : culture, writing and the politics of recognition / by Winfried Siemerling Winner of the English Book Award, Grand Prix du Livre 2006 de la Ville de Sherbrooke. In this original and groundbreaking study, Winfried Siemerling examines the complexities of recognition and identity, rejecting previous nationalized thinking to approach North American cultural transformations from transnational and interdisciplinary perspectives. Using material from the United States and Canada as case studies and drawing on a wide range of texts and theorists, he examines postcoloniality and cultural emergence from the sixties to the present against earlier backgrounds. Siemerling's argument for a retheorization of the field takes on the full history of multiculturalism debates, including radical readings of W.E.B. Du Bois and Charles Taylor and their relation to G.W.F. Hegel, and challenging many of the models of multiculturalism in use today. Tackling controversial subjects such as identity politics, The New North American Studies proposes a fresh outlook on the most central issues of North American cultural politics, from debates on canon formation to the role of racial and linguistic difference. Concluding with a look at the future of cultural difference, Winfried Siemerling's study is an innovative rethinking of the whole field of North American Studies.
Call Number: E-book (Click Title for access)
ISBN: 9780203420522
Publication Date: 2004
Literature for Children : contemporary criticism / by Peter Hunt Children's literature has recently produced a body of criticism with a highly distinctive voice. The book consolidates understanding of this area by including some of the most important essays published in the field in the last five years, demonstrating the links between literary criticism, education, psychology, history and scientific theory. It includes Peter Hollindale's award- winning essay on Ideology and Children's Literature, topics from metafiction and post-modernism to fractal geometry, and the examination of texts ranging from picture books to The Wizard of Oz and the the Australian classic Midnite . Sources are as disparate as Signal and the Children's Literature Association Quarterly , and the international community is represented by writers from Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia and Germany. Each essay is set in its critical context by extensive quotation from authoritative articles.
Call Number: E-book (Click Title for access)
ISBN: 9780203167878
Publication Date: 2003

Print Library Books

Critical approaches to literature. Feminist by Salem Press Salem Press' Critical Approaches to Literature series is designed to provide students and researchers with fresh insight into the various critical approaches to literary criticism. With thought-provoking analysis of several works in a wide variety of genres, each volume helps readers develop tools to analyze literary works using a particular critical lens. Volumes begin with an overview of the critical approach and guide readers on what to look for when evaluating works using that particular critical lens. Critical Contexts: Four essays, each over 4,000 words in length, provide readers with a thorough understanding of the cultural, critical, and historical context of the critical approach. Historical Background discusses how the time period influenced the development of this form of criticism across different cultures, as well as what makes this school of criticism relevant to a contemporary audience. Critical Reception surveys major pieces of criticism that mark the evolution of this school of literary criticism and identifies major critics. Critical Lens represents a close reading of a work using the specific critical lens. Comparative Analysis analyzes the specific school of criticism in light of another form of criticism across two or three different works. Critical Readings of Ten Works: In-depth essays, over 5,000 words in length, examine ten individual works using the specific critical approach. Works covered include short fiction, poetry, drama, and film. Works span across historical periods to demonstrate the breadth of this approach to literary critical analysis. Additional Resources include a Glossary of Frequent Terms, Timeline, About the Editor, About the Contributors, General Bibliography and Subject index. This new series provides literature students with the tools necessary to study each approach to literary criticism using a unique combination of critical contexts and analysis of several works. This arrangement allows readers to develop a deeper understanding of each critical approach alongside several in-depth critical readings of popular works spanning many different genres. A must for literature collections of all sizes.
Call Number: PN 56 .F46 C75 2017 (NR - REF!)
ISBN: 9781682175774
30 Great Myths about the Romantics by Duncan Wu Brimming with the fascinating eccentricities of a complex and confusing movement whose influences continue to resonate deeply, 30 Great Myths About the Romantics adds great clarity to what we know - or think we know - about one of the most important periods in literary history. Explores the various misconceptions commonly associated with Romanticism, offering provocative insights that correct and clarify several of the commonly-held myths about the key figures of this era Corrects some of the biases and beliefs about the Romantics that have crept into the 21st-century zeitgeist - for example that they were a bunch of drug-addled atheists who believed in free love; that Blake was a madman; and that Wordsworth slept with his sister Celebrates several of the mythic objects, characters, and ideas that have passed down from the Romantics into contemporary culture - from Blake's Jerusalem and Keats's Ode on a Grecian Urn to the literary genre of the vampire Engagingly written to provide readers with a fun yet scholarly introduction to Romanticism and key writers of the period, applying the most up-to-date scholarship to the series of myths that continue to shape our appreciation of their work
Call Number: PR 457 .W84 2015 (BX)
ISBN: 9781118843260
The Caribbean Novel Since 1945 : cultural practice, form, and the nation-state / by Michael Niblett The Caribbean Novel since 1945 offers a comparative analysis of fiction from across the pan-Caribbean, exploring the relationship between literary form, cultural practice, and the nation-state. Engaging with the historical and political impact of capitalist imperialism, decolonization, class struggle, ethnic conflict, and gender relations, it considers the ways in which Caribbean authors have sought to rethink and re-narrate the traumatic past and often problematic 'postcolonial' present of the region's peoples. It pays particular attention to the role cultural practices such as stickfighting and Carnival, as well as religious rituals and beliefs like Vodou and Myal, have played in efforts to reshape the novel form. In so doing, it provides an original perspective on the importance of these practices, with their emphasis on bodily movement, to the development of new philosophies of history. Beginning in the post-WWII period, when optimism surrounding the possibility of social and political change was at a peak, The Caribbean Novel since 1945 interrogates the trajectories of various national projects through to the present. It explores how the textual histories of common motifs in Caribbean writing have functioned to encode the fluctuating fortunes of different political dispensations. The scope of the analysis is varied and comprehensive, covering both critically acclaimed and lesser-known authors from the Anglophone, Francophone, and Hispanophone traditions. These include Jacques Roumain, Sam Selvon, Marie Chauvet, Luis Rafael Sánchez, Earl Lovelace, Patrick Chamoiseau, Erna Brodber, Wilson Harris, Shani Mootoo, Oonya Kempadoo, Ernest Moutoussamy, and Pedro Juan Gutiérrez. Mixing detailed analysis of key texts with wider surveys of significant trends, this book emphasizes the continuing significance of representations of the nation-state to literary articulations of resistance to the imperialist logic of global capital.
Call Number: PN 849 .C3 N53 2012 (BX)
ISBN: 9781617032479
Wordsworth Day by Day by Jeffrey C. Robinson What if the great Romantic poet William Wordsworth were alive today? Jeffrey Robinson performs an act of textual magic that gives us a sense of what that might be like. Between August 2002 and August 2003 he kept a diary while reading Wordsworth and found that work of 200 years ago shows up powerfully as a fact of daily life. Experiments with spontaneous literary criticism tease out a lifetime of familiarity with the poet, his surroundings, and Romantic culture. History now opens to chance juxtapositions with events in the world and Robinson's own mind and quotidian experience, including his own Wordsworth-related poems in open forms, along with running poetic commentaries. To renew familiar work by discovering direct ways into its animating principles, Wordsworth is read through the ears and eyes of twentieth-century experimental poetry and poetics. This shows Wordsworth's own experimentalism and principle of the life of things to be still vital to poetic life now. Robinson's critical response belongs to the tradition of H.D., Charles Olson, Ronald Johnson,and Susan Howe.
Call Number: PR 5888 .R56 2005 (NR)
ISBN: 9781581771022
Worrying the Line : black women writers, lineage, and literary tradition / by Cheryl A. Wall For blues musicians, "worrying the line" is the technique of breaking up a phrase by changing pitch, adding a shout, or repeating words in order to emphasize, clarify, or subvert a moment in a song. Cheryl A. Wall applies this term to fiction and nonfiction writing by African American women in the twentieth century, demonstrating how these writers bring about similar changes in African American and American literary traditions. Examining the works of Lucille Clifton, Gayl Jones, Audre Lorde, Paule Marshall, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, and Alice Walker, Wall highlights ways in which these authors construct family genealogies, filling in the gaps with dreams, rituals, music, or images that forge a connection to family lost through slavery. For the black woman author, Wall contends, this method of revising and extending canonical forms provides the opportunity to comment on the literary past while also calling attention to the lingering historical effects of slavery. For the reader, Wall shows, the images and words combine to create a new kind of text that extends meanings of the line, both as lineage and as literary tradition.
Call Number: PS 374 .N4 W354 2005 (BX)
ISBN: 0807829277
August Wilson : a literary companion by Mary Ellen Snodgrass Award-winning African-American playwright August Wilson created a cultural chronicle of black America through such works as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and Two Trains Running. The authentic ring of wit, anecdote, homily, and plaint proved that a self-educated Pittsburgh ghetto native can grow into a revered conduit for a century of black achievement. He forced readers and audiences to examine the despair generated by poverty and racism by exploring African-American heritage and experiences over the course of the twentieth century. This literary companion provides the reader with a source of basic data and analysis of characters, dates, events, allusions, staging strategies and themes from the work of one of America's finest playwrights. The text opens with an annotated chronology of Wilson's life and works, followed by his family tree. Each of the 166 encyclopedic entries that make up the body of the work combines insights from a variety of sources along with generous citations; each concludes with a selected bibliography on such relevant subjects as the blues, Malcolm X, irony, roosters, and Gothic mode. Charts elucidate the genealogies of Wilson's characters, the Charles, Hedley, and Maxson families, and account for weaknesses in Wilson's female characters. Two appendices complete the generously cross-referenced work: a timeline of events in Wilson's life and those of his characters, and a list of 40 topics for projects, composition, and oral analysis.
Call Number: PS 3573 .I45677 Z89 2004 (NR - REF!)
ISBN: 0786419032
African American Literary Criticism by Hazel Arnett Ervin (Editor) This unique anthology assembles over 200 years of critical thought on African-American literature, with contributions spanning from Philis Wheatley to Alexis Pate. The 60 seminal statements include addresses (Matthews, DuBois), manifestoes (Hughes, Petry, Wright, Baldwin, Ellison), and essays by authors who have analyzed literature and developed theory (Baraka, Chesnutt, Morrison, Gates, Walker, Hooks).
Call Number: PS 153 .N5 A33 1999 (BX)
ISBN: 0805716831
Readings on The Diary of a Young Girl by Myra H. Immell (Editor) Since its publication, Anne Frank's Diary has moved children and adults alike with its moving, unselfconscious tale of a young girl coming of age during the Holocaust. Essays cover a wide range of themes and historical background.
Call Number: DS 135 .N6 F7354 1998 (BX)
ISBN: 1565106601
The Jungle : an authoritative text, contexts and backgrounds, criticism by Upton Sinclair ; Clare Virginia Eby This story of the immigrant experience in the harrowing Chicago stockyards has drawn comment from historians, policymakers, and literary critics, and it is a widely assigned teaching text. The novel is accompanied by an introduction and explanatory annotations. "Contexts and Backgrounds" provides readers with an understanding of The Jungle's disparate social, historical, political, and literary dimensions. Included are autobiographical selections by the author; contemporary perspectives on the meatpacking industry, including writings by Theodore Dreiser, Adolphe Smith, and J. Ogden Armour; and commentary on the living conditions of immigrant workers. Historical studies by Jimmy Skaggs, Rick Halpern, James Barrett, Robert M. Crunden, John Braeman, William Cronon, and Eric Schlosser address the central issues: slaughterhouse abuses, protectionism and The Beef Trust, muckraking, Progressivism, and consumer rights. "Criticism" collects eight provocative readings of The Jungle as a literary text, as a historical document in its own right, as a contribution to Progressive-era muckraking, and as an important work in urban, economic, and labor history. Contributions include Jack London, Edward Clark Marsh, Winston Spencer Churchill, Walter Rideout, June Howard, Scott Derrick, Michael Brewster Folsom, and Christopher P. Wilson. A Selected Bibliography is also included.
Call Number: PS 3537 .I85 J85 2003 (NR)
ISBN: 9780393977790
James Baldwin by Therman B. O'Daniel (Ed.)
Call Number: PS 3552.A45 Z84 1977 (BX)
ISBN: 0882580914

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