Theory in Literary Theory & Criticism & Fiction & Literature eBooks

Cruel Optimism

by Lauren Berlant ...

A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. Offering bold new ways of conceiving the present, Lauren Berlant describes the cruel optimism that has prevailed since the 1980s, as the social-democratic promise of the postwar period in the United States and Europe has retracted. People have remained attached to unachievable fantasies of ... Read more

$29.69 CAD

A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. Offering bold new ways of conceiving the present, Lauren Berlant describes the cruel optimism that has prevailed since the 1980s, as the social-democratic promise of the postwar period in the United States and Europe has retracted. People have remained attached to unachievable fantasies of
... Read more
Where I'm Reading From

The Changing World of Books

by Tim Parks ...

Why do we need fiction? Why do books need to be printed on paper, copyrighted, read to the finish? Do we read to challenge our vision of the world or to confirm it? Has novel writing turned into a job like any other? In Where I’m Reading From, the novelist and critic Tim Parks ranges over decades of critical reading—from Leopardi, Dickens, and Chekhov, to Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, and Thomas ... Read more

$15.99 CAD

Why do we need fiction? Why do books need to be printed on paper, copyrighted, read to the finish? Do we read to challenge our vision of the world or to confirm it? Has novel writing turned into a job like any other? In Where I’m Reading From, the novelist and critic Tim Parks ranges over decades of critical reading—from Leopardi, Dickens, and Chekhov, to Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, and Thomas
... Read more
The Cambridge Companion to Bede

Edited by Scott DeGregorio ...

Series series Cambridge Companions to Literature
As the major writer and thinker of the Anglo-Saxon period, the Venerable Bede is a key figure in the study of the literature and thought of this time. This Companion, written by an international team of specialists, is a key introductory guide to Bede, his writings, and his world. The first part of the volume focuses on Bede's cultural and intellectual milieu, covering his life, the secular ... Read more

Was $36.99 CAD Now $31.99 CAD

As the major writer and thinker of the Anglo-Saxon period, the Venerable Bede is a key figure in the study of the literature and thought of this time. This Companion, written by an international team of specialists, is a key introductory guide to Bede, his writings, and his world. The first part of the volume focuses on Bede's cultural and intellectual milieu, covering his life, the secular
... Read more
Writing Poetry

Creative and Critical Approaches

by Dr Chad Davidson, Dr Gregory Fraser ...

Series series Approaches to Writing
Writing Poetry combines an accessible introduction to the essential elements of the craft, with a critical awareness of its underpinnings. The authors argue that separating the making of poems from critical thinking about them is a false divide and encourage students to become accomplished critics and active readers of poetic texts. ... Read more

$42.19 CAD

Writing Poetry combines an accessible introduction to the essential elements of the craft, with a critical awareness of its underpinnings. The authors argue that separating the making of poems from critical thinking about them is a false divide and encourage students to become accomplished critics and active readers of poetic texts.
... Read more
The Shakespearean Forest

by Anne Barton ...

The Shakespearean Forest, Anne Barton's final book, uncovers the pervasive presence of woodland in early modern drama, revealing its persistent imaginative power. The collection is representative of the startling breadth of Barton's scholarship: ranging across plays by Shakespeare (including Titus Andronicus, As You Like It, Macbeth, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Timon of Athens) and his ... Read more

$30.39 CAD

The Shakespearean Forest, Anne Barton's final book, uncovers the pervasive presence of woodland in early modern drama, revealing its persistent imaginative power. The collection is representative of the startling breadth of Barton's scholarship: ranging across plays by Shakespeare (including Titus Andronicus, As You Like It, Macbeth, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Timon of Athens) and his
... Read more
Eye Chart

by Professor William Germano ...

Series series Object Lessons
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Desert nomads tested their vision by distinguishing a pair of stars. But we have since created more disquieting ways to test the strength of the eyes.Reading the eye chart is an exercise in failure, since it only gets interesting when you cannot read any further. It is the opposite of ... Read more

$15.79 CAD

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Desert nomads tested their vision by distinguishing a pair of stars. But we have since created more disquieting ways to test the strength of the eyes.Reading the eye chart is an exercise in failure, since it only gets interesting when you cannot read any further. It is the opposite of
... Read more
Criticism and Politics

A Polemical Introduction

by Bruce Robbins ...

An accessible introduction to cultural theory and an original polemic about the purpose of criticism.What is criticism for? Over the past few decades, impassioned disagreements over that question in the academy have burst into the news media. These conflicts have renewed the culture wars over the legacy of the 1960s, becoming entangled in national politics and leading to a new set of questions ... Read more

$26.39 CAD

An accessible introduction to cultural theory and an original polemic about the purpose of criticism.What is criticism for? Over the past few decades, impassioned disagreements over that question in the academy have burst into the news media. These conflicts have renewed the culture wars over the legacy of the 1960s, becoming entangled in national politics and leading to a new set of questions
... Read more
The Barbara Johnson Reader

The Surprise of Otherness

by Barbara Johnson ...

Series series a John Hope Franklin Center Book
This Reader collects in a single volume some of the most influential essays written by Barbara Johnson over the course of her thirty-year career as a pioneering literary theorist and cultural critic. Johnson achieved renown early in her career, both as a brilliant student of the Yale School of literary criticism and as the translator of Jacques Derrida's Dissemination. She went on to lead the way ... Read more

$36.29 CAD

This Reader collects in a single volume some of the most influential essays written by Barbara Johnson over the course of her thirty-year career as a pioneering literary theorist and cultural critic. Johnson achieved renown early in her career, both as a brilliant student of the Yale School of literary criticism and as the translator of Jacques Derrida's Dissemination. She went on to lead the way
... Read more
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics, Media, and Communication

Edited by Marcel Danesi ...

Semiotics, Media Studies and Communication Studies are three closely interlinked fields. Briefly stated, Semiotics, the science of signs, looks at how humans search for and construct meaning; Communication Studies is concerned with how meaning is conveyed; and Media Studies considers the ways in which messages are transmitted and received. This dictionary is designed to help students and general ... Read more

$33.59 CAD

Semiotics, Media Studies and Communication Studies are three closely interlinked fields. Briefly stated, Semiotics, the science of signs, looks at how humans search for and construct meaning; Communication Studies is concerned with how meaning is conveyed; and Media Studies considers the ways in which messages are transmitted and received. This dictionary is designed to help students and general
... Read more
The Art Instinct

Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution

by Denis Dutton ...

The Art Instinct combines two of the most fascinating and contentious disciplines, art and evolutionary science, in a provocative new work that will revolutionize the way art itself is perceived. Aesthetic taste, argues Denis Dutton, is an evolutionary trait, and is shaped by natural selection. It's not, as almost all contemporary art criticism and academic theory would have it, "socially ... Read more

$11.59 CAD

The Art Instinct combines two of the most fascinating and contentious disciplines, art and evolutionary science, in a provocative new work that will revolutionize the way art itself is perceived. Aesthetic taste, argues Denis Dutton, is an evolutionary trait, and is shaped by natural selection. It's not, as almost all contemporary art criticism and academic theory would have it, "socially
... Read more
You Can't Joke About That

Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together

by Kat Timpf ...

What happens when we can’t joke about some of the most important stuff in life?In a 2019 study, 40% of people reported censoring themselves out of fear that voicing their views would alienate them from the people they care about most. Those people should probably not read this book in public.In You Can’t Joke About That, Kat Timpf shows why much of the way we talk about sensitive subjects is wrong ... Read more

Was $18.99 CAD Now $2.99 CAD

What happens when we can’t joke about some of the most important stuff in life?In a 2019 study, 40% of people reported censoring themselves out of fear that voicing their views would alienate them from the people they care about most. Those people should probably not read this book in public.In You Can’t Joke About That, Kat Timpf shows why much of the way we talk about sensitive subjects is wrong
... Read more
The Historical Novel

by Jerome de Groot ...

Series series The New Critical Idiom
The historical novel is an enduringly popular genre that raises crucial questions about key literary concepts, fact and fiction, identity, history, reading, and writing. In this comprehensive, focused guide, Jerome de Groot offers an accessible introduction to the genre and critical debates that surround it, including:the development of the historical novel from early eighteenth-century works ... Read more

$46.71 CAD

The historical novel is an enduringly popular genre that raises crucial questions about key literary concepts, fact and fiction, identity, history, reading, and writing. In this comprehensive, focused guide, Jerome de Groot offers an accessible introduction to the genre and critical debates that surround it, including:the development of the historical novel from early eighteenth-century works
... Read more
Geocritical Explorations

Space, Place, and Mapping in Literary and Cultural Studies

by Palgrave Macmillan ...

In recent years the spatial turn in literary and cultural studies has opened up new ways of looking at the interactions among writers, readers, texts, and places. Geocriticism offers a timely new approach, and this book presents an array of concrete examples or readings, which also reveal the broad range of geocritical practices. ... Read more

$83.29 CAD

In recent years the spatial turn in literary and cultural studies has opened up new ways of looking at the interactions among writers, readers, texts, and places. Geocriticism offers a timely new approach, and this book presents an array of concrete examples or readings, which also reveal the broad range of geocritical practices.
... Read more
Resolutely Black

Conversations with Francoise Verges

by Aimé Césaire, Françoise Vergès ...

Translated by Matthew Smith ...

Series series Critical South
Aimé Césaire’s work is foundational for decolonial and postcolonial thought. His Discourse on Colonialism, first published in 1955, influenced generations of scholars and activists at the forefront of liberation struggles in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean and it remains a classic of anticolonial thought.This unique volume takes the form of a series of interviews with Césaire that were ... Read more

$19.99 CAD

Aimé Césaire’s work is foundational for decolonial and postcolonial thought. His Discourse on Colonialism, first published in 1955, influenced generations of scholars and activists at the forefront of liberation struggles in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean and it remains a classic of anticolonial thought.This unique volume takes the form of a series of interviews with Césaire that were
... Read more
Anatomy of Criticism

Four Essays

by Northrop Frye ...

Series series Princeton Classics
A landmark work of literary criticismNorthrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism is the magnum opus of one of the most important and influential literary theorists of the twentieth century. Breaking with the practice of close reading of individual texts, Frye seeks to describe a common basis for understanding the full range of literary forms by examining archetypes, genres, poetic language, and the ... Read more

$25.29 CAD

A landmark work of literary criticismNorthrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism is the magnum opus of one of the most important and influential literary theorists of the twentieth century. Breaking with the practice of close reading of individual texts, Frye seeks to describe a common basis for understanding the full range of literary forms by examining archetypes, genres, poetic language, and the
... Read more
THE WAVES

Enriched edition. Six Interwoven Soliloquies on Friendship, Existence, and Time in a Lyrical Modernist Experiment

by Virginia Woolf ...

Virginia Woolf's novel 'The Waves' is a groundbreaking work that showcases her innovative narrative techniques and modernist style. The book is composed of soliloquies spoken by six characters as they navigate their lives from childhood to old age, exploring themes of existence, friendship, and the passage of time. Woolf expertly weaves together the inner thoughts and feelings of each character, ... Read more

$1.99 CAD or Free with Kobo Plus

Virginia Woolf's novel 'The Waves' is a groundbreaking work that showcases her innovative narrative techniques and modernist style. The book is composed of soliloquies spoken by six characters as they navigate their lives from childhood to old age, exploring themes of existence, friendship, and the passage of time. Woolf expertly weaves together the inner thoughts and feelings of each character,
... Read more
Frank Herbert's "Dune"

A Critical Companion

by Kara Kennedy ...

Series series Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
This book offers a critical study of Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965), the world’s bestselling science fiction novel. Kara Kennedy discusses the novel’s exploration of politics and religion, its influential ecological messages, the focus on the human mind and consciousness, the complex nature of the archetypal hero, and the depiction of women’s influence and control. In Dune, Herbert demonstrated that ... Read more

$70.49 CAD

This book offers a critical study of Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965), the world’s bestselling science fiction novel. Kara Kennedy discusses the novel’s exploration of politics and religion, its influential ecological messages, the focus on the human mind and consciousness, the complex nature of the archetypal hero, and the depiction of women’s influence and control. In Dune, Herbert demonstrated that
... Read more
Poetics

by Aristotle ...

One of the most powerful, perceptive and influential works of criticism in Western literary historyIn his near-contemporary account of classical Greek tragedy, Aristotle examines the dramatic elements of plot, character, language and spectacle that combine to produce pity and fear in the audience, and asks why we derive pleasure from this apparently painful process. Taking examples from the plays ... Read more

$10.99 CAD

One of the most powerful, perceptive and influential works of criticism in Western literary historyIn his near-contemporary account of classical Greek tragedy, Aristotle examines the dramatic elements of plot, character, language and spectacle that combine to produce pity and fear in the audience, and asks why we derive pleasure from this apparently painful process. Taking examples from the plays
... Read more
Forms

Whole, Rhythm, Hierarchy, Network

by Caroline Levine ...

A radically new way of thinking about form and context in literature, politics, and beyondForms offers a powerful new answer to one of the most pressing problems facing literary, critical, and cultural studies today—how to connect form to political, social, and historical context. Caroline Levine argues that forms organize not only works of art but also political life—and our attempts to know both ... Read more

$26.39 CAD

A radically new way of thinking about form and context in literature, politics, and beyondForms offers a powerful new answer to one of the most pressing problems facing literary, critical, and cultural studies today—how to connect form to political, social, and historical context. Caroline Levine argues that forms organize not only works of art but also political life—and our attempts to know both
... Read more
The Frenchmen

Or, My Life in Theory

by Emily Eakin ...

**“A marvelous book. It’s gossipy and personal and completely fascinating...cafe gossip with the footnotes left in.”— New York Times“A superbly engrossing adventure of ideas...this will surely be my philosophy book of the year.” —Sarah Bakewell, New York Times bestselling author of Humanly PossibleFrom leading critic and essayist Emily Eakin, a stylish personal history of French theory and its ... Read more

$18.99 CAD

**“A marvelous book. It’s gossipy and personal and completely fascinating...cafe gossip with the footnotes left in.”— New York Times“A superbly engrossing adventure of ideas...this will surely be my philosophy book of the year.” —Sarah Bakewell, New York Times bestselling author of Humanly PossibleFrom leading critic and essayist Emily Eakin, a stylish personal history of French theory and its
... Read more
The Mystery of Human Relationship

Alchemy and the Transformation of the Self

by Nathan Schwartz-Salant ...

All human relationships are containers of emotional life, but what are the structures underlying them? Nathan Schwartz-Salant looks at all kinds of relationships through an analyst's eye. By analogy with the ancient system of alchemy he shows how states of mind that can undermine our relationships - in marriage, in creative work, in the workplace - can become transformative when brought to ... Read more

$74.19 CAD

All human relationships are containers of emotional life, but what are the structures underlying them? Nathan Schwartz-Salant looks at all kinds of relationships through an analyst's eye. By analogy with the ancient system of alchemy he shows how states of mind that can undermine our relationships - in marriage, in creative work, in the workplace - can become transformative when brought to
... Read more
Stroller

by Amanda Parrish Morgan ...

Series series Object Lessons
The Best Books of 2022, The New YorkerObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Among the many things expectant parents are told to buy, none is a more visible symbol of status and parenting philosophy than a stroller. Although its association with wealth dates back to the invention of the first pram in the 1700s, in recent decades, ... Read more

$15.79 CAD

The Best Books of 2022, The New YorkerObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Among the many things expectant parents are told to buy, none is a more visible symbol of status and parenting philosophy than a stroller. Although its association with wealth dates back to the invention of the first pram in the 1700s, in recent decades,
... Read more
Bergson

Thinking Beyond the Human Condition

by Professor Keith Ansell Pearson ...

A 2018 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleA thought-provoking contribution to the renaissance of interest in Bergson, this study brings him to a new generation of readers. Ansell-Pearson contends that there is a Bergsonian revolution, an upheaval in philosophy comparable in significance to those that we are more familiar with, from Kant to Nietzsche and Heidegger, that make up our intellectual ... Read more

$39.99 CAD

A 2018 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleA thought-provoking contribution to the renaissance of interest in Bergson, this study brings him to a new generation of readers. Ansell-Pearson contends that there is a Bergsonian revolution, an upheaval in philosophy comparable in significance to those that we are more familiar with, from Kant to Nietzsche and Heidegger, that make up our intellectual
... Read more
Ways of Seeing

by John Berger ...

Series series Penguin Modern Classics
How do we see the world around us? The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever."Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.""But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we ... Read more

$10.99 CAD

How do we see the world around us? The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever."Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.""But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we
... Read more

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