Students of literature, film and cultural studies need to understand key theoretical terms and concepts but often find it hard to get to grips with exactly what they mean. This book provides precise definitions of terms and concepts in literary theory, along with explanations of the major movements and figures in literary and cultural theory and an extensive bibliography. It is designed for the student who needs to know what a particular term means,...

Provides in-depth analysis of the life, works, career, and critical importance of Northrop Frye.

Provides in-depth analysis of the life, works, career, and critical importance of H. L. Mencken.

Dr. Coles shows how the work of writers, artists, and thinkers of the past two centuries can inspire our own reflections on our daily lives. He offers a compelling call to venture outside our own selves and lives and to listen, attentively and with growing humanity, to the way others get through life, and he encourages us to examine our own character, kindness, and complexity by studying the wisdom of authors from Charles Dickens to Flannery O'Connor,...

This essential anthology of Poe's critical works features items from the Southern Literary Messenger, Graham's Magazine, and other periodicals, reviewing works by Dickens, Hawthorne, Cooper, and many others. The Theory of Poetry - consisting of "The Philosophy of Composition," "The Rationale of Verse," and "The Poetic Principle" - appears as well. Introduction.

A comprehensive encyclopedia of literary and cultural theory. Covers Literary Theory from 1900 to 1966, Literary Theory from 1966 to the present, and Cultural Theory. This encyclopedia provides accessible entries on the important concepts, theorists and trends in post-1900 literary and cultural theory. With explanations of complex terms and important theoretical concepts, and summaries of the work and ideas of key figures, it is a highly informative...