Literary Collections

This anthology aims to challenge stereotypes of women travellers. Rather than simply presenting writings by Victorian women who travelled bravely around the world disregarding social convention and danger, the editors present a range of writing and possible ways of being a woman traveller.

As well as the ‘eccentric’ woman traveller, the editors have included writings by those who might be seen as failed travellers, cautious and conventional travellers and those who did not conform to the adventurous heroine stereotype. Because travelling as a woman and writing as a woman presents the author with a number of textual problems which must be negotiated, Foster and Mills have chosen to include writings which confronted these problems and which resolved them (or did not resolve them) in different ways.

These textual problems include the depiction of other women, the representation of spatial relations, the negotiations undertaken in relation to the adventure heroine narrative and character and the position taken by the author in relation to the representation of knowledge. These issues are all crucial in relation to travel writing by women , and the women, whose writing has been collected together in this anthology have made bold decisions in relation to them.

An intimate history of the pornographic publisher behind some of the greatest works of the twentieth-century avant-garde.

From the 1930s to the 1970s, in New York and in Paris, daring publishers and writers were producing banned pornographic literature.

The authors of the books were young, impecunious writers, poets and artists. Most of them wrote to survive, but some relished the freedom to experiment that anonymity provided - men writing as women, women writing as men - and some, such as Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller, went on to become influential figures in modernist literature.

Dirty books tells the stories of these writers and their remarkable publishers: Jack Kahane of Obelisk Press and his son Maurice Girodias of Olympia Press, whose catalogue and repertoire anticipated that of the more famous US publisher Grove Press.

From the 1930s to the 1970s, in New York and in Paris, daring publishers and writers were producing banned pornographic literature. The books were written by young, impecunious writers, poets, and artists, many anonymously. Most of these pornographers wrote to survive, but some also relished the freedom to experiment that anonymity provided - men writing as women, and women writing as men - and some (Anaïs Nin, Henry Miller) went on to become influential figures in modernist literature.

Dirty books tells the stories of these authors and their remarkable publishers: Jack Kahane of Obelisk Press and his son Maurice Girodias of Olympia Press, whose catalogue and repertoire anticipated that of the more famous US publisher Grove Press. It offers a humorous and vivid snapshot of a fascinating moment in pornographic and literary history, uncovering a hidden, earlier history of the sexual revolution, when the profits made from erotica helped launch the careers of literary cult figures.

"A wide ranging, challenging and constantly surprising collection ... focusing on the divisions the war created between men and women."
Pat Barker

This is an anthology of short stories of World War I from 25 classic writers.

Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield are among the women writers whose works account for half the volume. The stories are by turn poignant, violent, harsh, tender and desolating.

This anthology makes available to students and general readers the rich variety of Victorian magazines for women. The extracts range from fashion magazines to feminist journals, from serious works for Christian mothers to tales of romance and passion for ‘sweethearts’. Focusing on the historical development of the British women’s magazine, this extensively illustrated work gives access to texts which few readers ever see.

The first main section describes and illustrates eight kinds of magazine for women. Though they have common features, the differences between the drawing room journal of the 1830s and 1840s and the cheap domestic magazines of the 1890s are clearly demonstrated. The second section focuses on those elements which made up the magazine’s typical mix of ingredients, including fiction, the fashion plate, poetry, political journalism, advice columns and reader’s letters. The last section is the most comprehensive listing of British Victorian women’s magazines which currently exists.

This is a work of scholarship but one which will appeal to students of Cultural, Historical, Literary and Women’s Studies, as well as to the general interested reader. Like the magazines it represents, it offers its readers both entertainment and instruction.

This is the first full-length, published study of Beethoven’s songs. All the composer’s songs with piano are included, with full German texts and translations, together with comprehensive notes on the poetry and the music. The inclusion of unfinished songs gives a fascinating insight into Beethoven’s compositional methods.

An introductory essay considers reasons for the relative neglect of the songs, the significance of Beethoven’s choice of texts, his crucial role in the development of German art-song and specific aspects such as choice of key. Throughout the book, poetic and musical texts are discussed in their historical context, and in the overall context of Beethoven’s life and music.

It is anticipated that this book, like its predecessor The Schubert Song Companion, will encourage the performance and study of an important but comparatively neglected aspect of the work of the world’s most celebrated composer.

This is the first full-length, published study of Beethoven’s songs. All the composer’s songs with piano are included, with full German texts and translations, together with comprehensive notes on the poetry and the music. The inclusion of unfinished songs gives a fascinating insight into Beethoven’s compositional methods.

An introductory essay considers reasons for the relative neglect of the songs, the significance of Beethoven’s choice of texts, his crucial role in the development of German art-song and specific aspects such as choice of key. Throughout the book, poetic and musical texts are discussed in their historical context, and in the overall context of Beethoven’s life and music.

It is anticipated that this book, like its predecessor The Schubert Song Companion, will encourage the performance and study of an important but comparatively neglected aspect of the work of the world’s most celebrated composer.

The 15 writers featured in this new anthology of French short stories represent the best of the genre, from Merimee to the present day. The selection includes writers as diverse as Balzac, Colette, Duras and Boulanger and is designed to introduce students to both the modern French short story and modern French literature in general.

The anthology covers a wide range of texts and reflects the contribution of women writers. Not only is there a substantial introduction covering the history of the short story, thematic trends, developments in narrative technique and the notion of genre, but each story also comes with its own preface and notes.

The editor's intentions are to enhance students' appreciation and understanding of individual stories at the same time as introducing a variety of critical ideas and perspectives, many of them reflecting recent developments in literary theory.

Postcolonialism has become one of the most exciting, popular and stimulating fields of literary and cultural studies in recent years. Yet the variety of approaches, the range of debate and the critical vocabularies often used may make it challenging for new students to establish a firm foothold in this area.

Beginning Postcolonialism is a vital resource for those taking undergraduate courses in postcolonial studies for the first time and has become an established international best-seller in the field. In this fully revised and updated second edition, John McLeod introduces the major areas of concern in a clear, accessible and organised fashion. He provides an overview of the emergence of postcolonialism as a discipline and closely examines its many established critical approaches while also exploring important recent initiatives in the field. In particular, Beginning Postcolonialism demonstrates how many key postcolonial ideas and concepts can be effectively applied when reading texts and enables students to develop their own independent thinking about the possibilities and pitfalls of postcolonial critique.

Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams, published in 1900, has been one of the most influential texts of the modern era, fundamentally changing the ways in which people have thought about their waking lives as well as their dreams. This book, more than any other in Freud's massive oeuvre, has shaped a vast amount of work in linguistics and semiotics, literary studies, film theory, psychology, philosophical hermeneutics and the history of ideas. This influence is reflected in the editor's introduction, which includes a substantial discussion of the theory and practice of representation, and the six essays specially commissioned for this volume. The contributors are renowned for their knowledge of Freudian theory and for their interdisciplinary expertise in a wide range of fields. They examine, for example, the relationship of Freud's text to theories of interpretation, autobiography and literary production. The book as a whole gives a clear sense both of the context of Freud's text and of its influence throughout the twentieth century.

This volume is an ideal introduction to Freud's work for students and teachers of English and other literatures, philosophy and social and cultural studies, as well as the wider audience concerned with psychoanalysis and its cultural ramifications.

First published in 1776, Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations is much more than just a handbook on the principles of free-market economics; it is a founding text for the organisation of Western society in its broadest sense.

In order to understand the impact of Smith's text across the academic disciplines, this volume brings together leading scholars from fields of economics, politics, history, sociology and literature. Each essay offers a different reading of Wealth of Nations and its legacy.

Contributors consider the historical context in which Wealth of Nations was written, its reception and its profound impact on contemporary concepts of market liberalism, on education, on gender relations and on environmental debates. The volume also offers deconstructive analyses of the text and a feminist critique of Smith's construction of the economy.

This volume will be the ideal companion to Smith's work for all students of literature, politics and economic history.

No text has attracted more controversy over the centuries than Machiavelli's The Prince. Placed on the Index of Prohibited Books by the Catholic Church in 1599, The Prince nevertheless proved to be the means by which Machiavelli came to be known throughout Europe, establishing his name as a byword for the cunning and unscrupulous politician.

Written as the medieval world was giving way to the new dynamic of renaissance capitalism, The Prince embodies a whole series of vital issues that affect our understanding of modern politics, including power and morality, history and human nature, language and meaning, gender and government. It is these issues which the essays in this volume debate and explore from a variety of perspectives, from the original responses to The Prince through to feminist and deconstructive approaches. The result is a volume packed with ideas and insights.

With contributions by international scholars and critics, a chronological table and select bibliography, this is an essential guide for anyone studying Machiavelli.

This volume marks a new approach to a seminal work of the modern scientific imagination: Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species (1859). Darwin's central theory of natural selection neither originated nor could be contained, with the parameters of the natural sciences, but continues to shape and challenge our most basic assumptions about human social and political life.

Several new readings, crossing the fields of history, literature, sociology, anthropology and history of science, demonstrate the complex position of the text within cultural debates past and present. Contributors examine the reception and rhetoric of the Origin and its influence on systems of classification, the nineteenth-century women's movement, literary culture (criticism and practice) and Hinduism in India. At the same time, a re-reading of Darwin and Malthus offers a constructive critique of our attempts to map the hybrid origins and influences of the text.

This volume will be the ideal companion to Darwin's work for all students of literature, social and cultural history and history of science.

First published in 1790 Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France initiated a debate not only about the nature of the unprecedented historical events taking place across the channel, but about the very identity of the British state and its people. It has subsequently been appropriated by a variety of conservative and liberal thinkers and has played a major role in our understanding of the relationship between rhetoric, aesthetics and politics.

In this volume, leading Burke scholars offer new and challenging essays which allow us to reconsider the historical context in which Reflections on the Revolution in France was written. The essays consider its reception, its engagements in the discourses of nationalism and toleration, its legacy to English and Irish writers of the Romantic period and its impact within our contemporary cultural and critical theory. The volume demonstrates a range of interdisciplinary critical methods and cultural perspectives from which to read Burke's most famous work.

This volume will be the ideal companion to Burke's Reflections for all students of literature, history, politics and Irish studies.

The Great Exhibition of 1851 has become a touchstone for the nineteenth century. The Crystal Palace produced a commodity world, an imperial spectacle, a picture of capitalism, a liberal dream, a vision of modern life. Historians have saturated the Great Exhibition with meanings.

This collection of essays exposes how meaning has been produced around the Great Exhibition. It contains a series of critical readings of the official and popular historical record of the Exhibition. Critics and historians of art, culture, design and literature have been brought together to examine the objects, the images, the documents and the fictions of 1851. Their essays explore the determined use of industrial knowledge, the contested definitions of nation and colony, and the actual control of the space of the Crystal Palace after the Great Exhibition closed.

The Great Exhibition of 1851 presents new interpretations of one of the most significant exhibitions in the nineteenth century and will be essential reading for anyone studying cultural history, design history, art history and literature.

Julia Kavanagh was a popular and internationally published writer of the mid-nineteenth century whose collective body of work included fiction, biography, critical studies of French and English women writers, and travel writing. In this critically engaged study Eileen Fauset sees Kavanagh as a significant but neglected writer and returns her to her proper place in the history of women's writing.

With few known primary sources to go on, the author manages, through her skilful selection of letters, official documents and historical commentary, to piece together some of the jigsaw of Kavanagh's life. Throughout this study, the biographical element informs and directs discussion of Kavanagh's writing itself. What emerges is a succinct and telling portrait of a woman who, through a desire to write, acquired both economic independence and a means through which she could voice her sexual politics. Eileen Fauset challenges the historical attitudes to 'popular romance', a genre read mainly by women and generally discounted as simple entertainment. She argues that in Kavanagh's novels romance is often the pivot around which issues of cultural and sexual difference are examined, a perspective that, invariably, also informed Kavanagh's non-fiction.

It will appeal to academics, students and enthusiasts of Victorian literature and women's writing.

Julia Kavanagh was a popular and internationally published writer of the mid-nineteenth century whose collective body of work included fiction, biography, critical studies of French and English women writers, and travel writing. In this critically engaged study Eileen Fauset sees Kavanagh as a significant but neglected writer and returns her to her proper place in the history of women's writing.

With few known primary sources to go on the author manages, through her skilful selection of letters, official documents and historical commentary, to piece together some of the jigsaw of Kavanagh's life. Throughout this study, the biographical element informs and directs discussion of Kavanagh's writing itself. What emerges is a succinct and telling portrait of a woman who, through a desire to write, acquired both economic independence and a means through which she could voice her sexual politics. Eileen Fauset challenges the historical attitudes to 'popular romance', a genre read mainly by women and generally discounted as simple entertainment. She argues that in Kavanagh's novels romance is often the pivot around which issues of cultural and sexual difference are examined, a perspective that, invariably, also informed Kavanagh's non-fiction.

This study addresses the current enthusiasm for the reclamation of neglected women writers and also brings to light interesting material that might otherwise have remained unknown to the specialist. It will appeal to academics, students and enthusiasts of Victorian literature and women's writing.

Acknowledged by many feminists as the single most important theoretical work of the twentieth century, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) nevertheless occupies an anomalous place in the feminist 'canon'. Yet it has had an undeniable impact, not only on the development of critiques of sexual politics but on twentieth-century western thinking about the concept of 'woman' in general.

This collection of six new essays by scholars from the disciplines of French, English literature, history, cultural criticism, feminist theory and philosophy makes a valuable contribution to the task of re-reading and reassessing this enormously influential text for a new generation of feminist readers, and also for cultural theorists, for whom the question of 'the feminine' is at the centre of key debates in philosophy and postmodernity.

The contributors provide a significantly new rethinking of the place of The Second Sex in cultural history and of women and representation, the role of 'fictions' and the problem of ethical agency in the work of the leading intellectual woman of this age.

From the controversy in 1995 that heralded Blasted, to her death in February 1999, Sarah Kane built a reputation as an established playwright of international stature. This is the first volume of collected essays by some of the leading scholars in their field, providing a comprehensive approach to the body of work she produced in this brief period.

Essays included cover the political, literary and theatrical identities that have exerted influence on Kane’s work, as well as discussing and assessing her innovative theatrical experiments and the performative issues that arise from within the plays.

Sarah Kane in context examines one of the most controversial and influential dramatists who emerged during the ‘In-Yer Face’ generation of British dramatists in the 1990s and provides an essential guide to Kane for students and scholars alike.

This study argues that ignorance is a part of the narrative and poetic force of literature and is an important aspect of its thematic focus: ignorance is what literary texts are about. It sees that the dominant conception of literature since the Romantic period involves an often unacknowledged engagement with the experience of not knowing.

From Wordsworth and Keats to George Eliot and Charles Dickens, from Henry James to Joseph Conrad, from Elizabeth Bowen to Philip Roth and Seamus Heaney, writers have been fascinated and compelled by the question of ignorance, including their own. There is a politics and ethics as well as a poetics of ignorance: literature’s agnoiology, its acknowledgement of the limits of what we know both of ourselves and of others, engages with the possibility of democracy and the ethical, and allows us to begin to conceive of what it might mean to be human.

Now available in paperback, this exciting approach to literary theory will be of interest to lecturers and students of literary theory and criticism.

Andrew Bennett argues in this fascinating book that ignorance is part of the narrative and poetic force of literature and is an important aspect of its thematic focus: ignorance is what literary texts are about. He sees that the dominant conception of literature since the Romantic period involves an often unacknowledged engagement with the experience of not knowing.

From Wordsworth and Keats to George Eliot and Charles Dickens, from Henry James to Joseph Conrad, from Elizabeth Bowen to Philip Roth and Seamus Heaney, writers have been fascinated and compelled by the question of ignorance, including their own. Bennett argues that there is a politics and ethics as well as a poetics of ignorance: literature’s agnoiology, its acknowledgement of the limits of what we know both of ourselves and of others, engages with the possibility of democracy and the ethical, and allows us to begin to conceive of what it might mean to be human.

This exciting approach to literary theory will be of interest to lecturers and students of literary theory and criticism.

Alfredo Bryce Echenique is one of the most widely-read and most widely translated Latin American authors of recent decades, yet this is the first critical edition that makes his work available to students of Hispanic literatures in the English-speaking world. Combining humour and informal language to explore adolescence in middle-class Peru, this edition provides ready points of engagement for young (and not-so-young) adults. The stories and main themes are explained and analysed through a critical introduction, comprehensive notes and vocabulary prepared by one of the leading international scholars of the author’s work.

Huerto cerrado offers an ideal point of entry to many of the key issues of contemporary Latin American literature, such as the concern with youth and popular culture, issues relating to sexuality, and challenges to dominant social and political structures. This edition offers insights not only into contemporary Peru and the relationship between that country’s society and its literature, but also the work of one of the continent’s outstanding literary voices.

Pablo Neruda’s Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada (1924) is the most widely read and best loved book of poetry ever written in Spanish. Its verses can be recited by heart by millions of Latin Americans from every background and walk of life, and it has become almost a bible for young lovers.

Yet despite, or perhaps because of this immense popular success, it has received scant attention from scholars, often being studied out of context and in relatively superficial fashion. This new critical edition – the first to include critical notes in English – argues that the book constitutes a critical juncture in the young Neruda’s development as a poet, and that the poems are as much painstakingly wrought experiments in style, language and form as they are outpourings of youthful passion. A detailed introduction in English demonstrates that the Viente poemas represent the culmination of complex and sometimes fraught poetic apprenticeship, significant traces of which can be found in the poems themselves. This is followed by a series of commentaries which offer close readings of all twenty-one poems, an extensive bibliography, a selected vocabulary, and a list of key rhetorical and metrical terms.

Jonathan Lethem is the first full-length study dedicated to the work of an exciting, genre-busting contemporary writer with an increasingly high profile in American literature.

Examining all of Lethem’s novels, as well as a number of his short fictions, essays and critical works, this study shows how the author’s prolific output, his restlessness and his desire always to be subverting literary forms and genres, are consistent with his interest in subcultural identities. The human need to break off into small groupings, subcultures or miniature utopias is mirrored in the critical tendency to enforce generic boundaries. To break down the boundaries between genres, then, is partly to make a nonsense of critical distinctions between 'high' and 'low' literature, and partly to reflect the wider need to recognise difference, to appreciate that other people, no matter how outlandish and alien they may appear, share similar desires, experiences and problems. With this in mind, James Peacock argues that Lethem’s experiments with genre are not merely games or elaborate literary jokes, but ethical necessities, particularly when viewed in the light of the losses and traumas that shadow all of his writing. Jonathan Lethem, therefore, makes an important contribution not just to Lethem studies, but also to debates about genre and its position in postmodern or 'post-postmodern' literature.

It will be of interest to all scholars and students of contemporary American writing, as well as those interested in genre fiction and literature’s relationship with subcultures.

Martha Gellhorn was the doyenne of twentieth century war correspondence. Opinionated, honest and unafraid, she covered conflicts from the Spanish Civil War to Reagan’s wars in Central America in the 1980s. Martha Gellhorn: the war writer in the field and in the text is the first critical study of her Second World War fiction and journalism.

Often overlooked in accounts of war literature is the writer’s precise position in relation to battle and his or her resultant standing in the text. Kate McLoughlin traces Gellhorn’s daring attempts to access the war zone and her constructions of the woman war correspondent in her despatches, novels, short stories and play. Drawing on unpublished letters, close attention is given to Gellhorn’s rivalry with Ernest Hemingway (the two were married from 1940 to 1945) over reaching the Normandy beaches on D-Day and its textual outcome in the pages of Collier’s magazine. McLoughlin goes on to examine Gellhorn’s increasingly negative portrayals of the glamorous female war reporter and to suggests why such disillusionment might have set in.