Literature in the Modern World: Critical Essays and Documents - Hardcover

Walder, Dennis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019871114X ISBN 13: 9780198711148

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1991

Synopsis

This book offers a unique combination of English, European, feminist and "new writing" or "Commonwealth" perspectives upon literary studies from the 1920s to the 1980s. It is designed to enable students to gain an understanding of the main theoretical issues involved in the study of modern literary texts - chiefly but not exclusively in English. It includes the views of leading critics and theorists such as Marilyn Butler, Frank Kermode, Helene Cixous and Edward Said, as well as the originating voices of Wole Soyinka, Toni Morrison, Seamus Heaney and Virginia Woolf, and focuses on major critical topics including genre, interpretation, history and criticism, gender, race and the notion of "Englishness". This approach derives from a perceived change in what constitutes "English Literature" in a period of British imperial decline and the rise of a radical, questioning/critical and literary practice at home and abroad. The more abstract and abstruse/contemporary critics are eschewed in favour of extracts of sufficient length, force and clarity to offer relative newcomers the opportunity of engaging with a wide range of current issues. The book provides both an informed critical awareness of the debates likely to dominate discussions of literature in the 1990s as well as a major contribution to these debates.

About this title

Review

"A useful collection of critical essays about the study of modern literature in English."--Virginia Quarterly Review "An intelligent and useful sampling of recent reflections on literature. A good text for introductory courses at either the undergraduate or graduate level."--Steven Rendall, University of Oregon "Fills a need that has long been felt by teachers of courses in criticism and theory: an introductory selection of readings in, and a clear schematization of, the key debates in the discipline at present."--D.G. Myers, Texas A&M University "An excellent selection of materials."--Volek Emil, Arizona State University "A very useful text."--Gregory W. Bredbeck, University of California, Riverside "A useful collection of critical essays about the study of modern literature in English."--Virginia Quarterly Review "An intelligent and useful sampling of recent reflections on literature. A good text for introductory courses at either the undergraduate or graduate level."--Steven Rendall, University of Oregon "Fills a need that has long been felt by teachers of courses in criticism and theory: an introductory selection of readings in, and a clear schematization of, the key debates in the discipline at present."--D.G. Myers, Texas A&M University "An excellent selection of materials."--Volek Emil, Arizona State University "A very useful text."--Gregory W. Bredbeck, University of California, Riverside "A useful collection of critical essays about the study of modern literature in English."--Virginia Quarterly Review "An intelligent and useful sampling of recent reflections on literature. A good text for introductory courses at either the undergraduate or graduate level."--Steven Rendall, University of Oregon "Fills a need that has long been felt by teachers of courses in criticism and theory: an introductory selection of readings in, and a clear schematization of, the key debates in the discipline at present."--D.G. Myers, Texas A& M University "An excellent selection of materials."--Volek Emil, Arizona State University "A very useful text."--Gregory W. Bredbeck, University of California, Riverside "A useful collection of critical essays about the study of modern literature in English."--Virginia Quarterly Review "An intelligent and useful sampling of recent reflections on literature. A good text for introductory courses at either the undergraduate or graduate level."--Steven Rendall, University of Oregon "Fills a need that has long been felt by teachers of courses in criticism and theory: an introductory selection of readings in, and a clear schematization of, the key debates in the discipline at present."--D.G. Myers, Texas A&M University "An excellent selection of materials."--Volek Emil, Arizona State University "A very useful text."--Gregory W. Bredbeck, University of California, Riverside

About the Author

Dennis Walder is Professor of Literature at the Open University and Founding Director of the Literature Department's Colonial and Post-Colonial Research Group. He has published widely on topics ranging from Dickens to V.S. Naipaul.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019871114X
• ISBN 13: 9780198711148
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 394