Critical Insights: Gwendolyn BrooksThe life and career of African American poet Brooks (1917-2000) is profiled, and her work placed into literary and historical context by scholars of English. Then a selection of critical readings are presented on such topics as war and the resistive voice in "Negro Hero" and "Gay Chaps at the Bar," history and counter-memory in "In the Mecca," rethinking Black Power in the whirlwind, signifying Afrika, Riot, and the social construction of childhood.
Critical Insights: Emily DickinsonA collection of critical essays investigates the poet's work within the context of 19th century culture and American literature, and explores her legacy within feminist, psychological, and postmodern contexts.
Critical Insights: Gabriel García MárquezEditor Stavans (Latin American and Latino culture, Amherst College) and 17 co-authors provide both an overview of the body of work by author well-known author Gabriel Garcia Marquez and deeper critical discussions of his primary motifs and obsessions. Discussions focus on a variety of topics, including cultural and historical contexts, magical realism, superstition and irony, biblical justice and the military hero, and more. The collection also includes a listing of works by Marquez and a chronology of his life.
Critical Insights: James JoyceThis is a volume in Salem Press's Critical Insights literary criticism series, which in this case presents a dozen essays on James Joyce. The volume is organized into four parts, starting with an editorial introduction to the career, life, and influence of Joyce. The second section provides critical contexts, in terms of Joyce's relationship to Dublin and Ireland, but also the English and Irish languages. The third and largest section offers eight critical readings that consider the young Joyce's writings, how Joyce signifies animals, deconstructing Joyce's epiphanies, Catholicism in Joyce, Joyce's own theories of literature, and two that focus on his most complex works: Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake. Finally, the fourth section offers a chronology of Joyce's life and writings and an extensive bibliography of works by Joyce.
Critical Insights: Toni MorrisonReprinted critical readings of African-American novelist Morrison's work anchor the volume; other sections consider her career, life, and influence and the contexts for criticism. Among the topics are the critical reception of her work, the breaking and reunification of community in Beloved, subverting mythologies in Jazz, the importance of Tar Baby in periodizing her work from The Bluest Eye to Jazz, the politics of black manhood in Paradise, and the materiality of Love.
Critical Insights: Flannery O'ConnorIn thematic, social, genre, critical, and biographical contexts, May (emeritus, California State U., Long Beach) introduces the enigmatic short fiction of Flannery O'Connor with its Catholic symbolism and violence. Critical essays discuss romance tradition and U.S. Southern religious influences on her; her themes of the meaning of evil and suffering, and women's barriers in a patriarchal society; comic responses; and critical reception. An essay from The Paris Review offers a personal perspective on encountering her "wisdom literature" stories. The volume includes a chronology of Flannery's life (1925-1964), publications and awards; list of her works; and bibliography.
Critical Insights: George OrwellVolume of literary criticism concerning the life and works of American dramatist Eugene O'Neill.
Critical Insights: Sylvia PlathTalented from the very beginning of her life, Sylvia Plath published her first poem at the age of eight in the children's section of the Boston Herald. She said of her childhood: "I want to work at putting together the complex mosaic of my childhood; to practice capturing feelings and experiences from the nebulous seething of memory and yank them out into black-and-white on the typewriter." Plath won several major prizes in writing and scholarship and her poems are considered today to be the most famous by an American female poet of the 20th Century, especially those in her 1965 collection Ariel.
Critical Insights: Mary Shelley,Best known as the author of the ubiquitous Gothic novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Mary Shelley lived an eventful, though grief-stricken life, between troubled finances, her father's disownment, and the death of multiple children. Topics discussed in this compilation include autobiographical elements and themes in her work, the influence of Frankenstein today, and her relationship with her husband, Romantic poet-philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Critical Insights: John SteinbeckA collection of classic and contemporary critical essays critiques the American author's works within historical and cultural contexts, and addresses such major themes in his writing as class, workers, the environment, and naturalism.
Critical Insights: Mark TwainFifteen critical essays consider the themes of realism, race, and manhood in Twain's writings, assessing such works as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "Huckleberry Finn," and his travel and science fiction literature.
Critical Insights: Alice WalkerEssays in this volume discuss a multitude of critical viewpoints about Walker's work. topics include a discussion of her symbolism, metaphysics, and aesthetics; her views on feminism; and her responses to the issues of politics, slavery, poverty and sexism. Also included is a brief biography and a survey of the critical reception of Walker's work.
Critical Insights: Tennessee WilliamsCollects critical essays on the life, influences, and works of Tennessee Williams; discussing "The Glass Menagerie," "A Streetcar Named Desire," "The Night of the Iguana," and others; and including selections by Sasha Weiss, Henry I. Schvey, and Kenneth Elliott.
Critical Insights: Alfred HitchcockRegarded as "The Master of Suspense" and one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, Alfred Hitchcock is remembered for a long career, consisting of more than fifty films made in six decades. This volume discusses themes that make a film truly "Hitchcockian"-The plot twist, voyeurism, and the innocent man accused-and analyzes some of Hitchcock's best-known work, including Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Rear Window, and more.
Critical Insights: Bonnie & ClydeDirected by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the infamous gangster duo, 1967?s Bonnie and Clyde helped pave the way for the ?New Hollywood? school of filmmaking, given its rapid shifts of tone, portrayal of sex and violence, and popularity with a younger audience. This compilation in the Critical Insights Film series provides essays that take a closer look at the landmark film, its influences, and the controversies surrounding its release.
Critical Insights: CasablancaConsidered one of the greatest films of the twentieth century, Casablanca earned three Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and instant critical and commercial success following its release in 1942. This inaugural volume in the Critical Insights Film series contains insightful essays analyzing the reasons for this film classic's acclaim, as well as its influences on the film industry as we know it today.
Critical Insights: Stanley KubrickIn a 1964 interview, Orson Welles famously remarked, "Among those whom I would call 'younger generation,' Kubrick appears to me to be a giant." Noted for his breathtaking cinematography, groundbreaking use of music, and strict perfectionist style, Stanley Kubrick remains a cinematic giant today. This volume analyzes the legendary director and his techniques in such films as 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket.
Critical Insights: American Multicultural IdentityThe cultural diversity of the United States makes it impossible to describe American identity as homogenous or monolithic. The sense of belonging to multiple cultures and its relationship to identity are central concerns in literary works by African, Native, Asian, Latino/a, and other ethnic Americans. While some prioritize one culture over another, others emphasize the space in between, to insist on a balance between the two, or to express a feeling of being in-between, or the inability to participate in either side, as so brilliantly evoked in Sui Sin Far's description: "I give my right hand to the Occidentals and my left to the Orientals, hoping that between them they will not utterly destroy the insignificant 'connecting link'". In multicultural America, identity can be complicated, confusing, even frustrating while at the same time inspiring new perspectives, creativity, and a rich source of pride. This volume features studies of works as diverse as Sherman Alexie's National Book Award-winning The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land, and the lesser known but equally powerful Real Women Have Curves by Josefina Lopez. Also offered are essays exploring cultural and historical contexts including one by Annette Harris Powell on the changing politics of hyphenation in the United States and its literature over the course of the 20th century.
Critical Insights: American Short StoryEnglish, literature, and writing scholars from the US and Europe offer 14 essays on the American short story. The first four essays discuss the development of the genre, scholarship on it, the short stories of Annie Proulx, and metafiction by Tim O'Brien and Richard Russo, followed by analysis of Henry James' "In the Cage"; Stephen Crane's "The Blue Hotel"; Ernest Hemingway's "The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio"; Zora Neale Hurston's "The Country in the Woman"; Weldon Kees' "Vanishing American"; Richard Wright's Uncle Tom's Children; Eudora Welty's The Golden Apples; Jhumpa Lahiri's "Unaccustomed Earth"; Sherman Alexie's Blasphemy; and microfiction.
Critical Insights: American Writers in ExileHumorist David Sedaris once said, "Living in a foreign country is one of those things that everyone should try at least once." For many American writers, living abroad has been a necessary task to finding the freedom, identity, and perspective that the United States has failed to offer. Writers profiled and analyzed in this volume include Henry James, Ezra Pound, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, and members of the "Lost Generation" such as Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and T.S. Eliot.
Critical Insights: Censored & Banned LiteratureCensored & Banned Literature examines the wide range of important literary texts that have been subjected to censorship, either at the time of their first publication, later in their history, or both. Because important works frequently offer challenging responses to social, historical, and political issues, often it is the very best works that provoke - at least initially - the most hostility or discomfort. This volume includes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (1884), The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger (1951) and Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987).
Critical Insights: Civil Rights LiteratureAmerican civil rights literature has largely been associated with speeches, letters, and non-fiction works produced by African-American activists of the 1950s and 60s such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. This volume not only examines key works of the African-American civil rights debate past and present, it also explores issues of gender equality and sexual orientation integral to civil rights studies.
Critical Insights: Coming of AgeThis volume in the Critical Insights series presents a variety of new essays on the perennial theme. Essays survey the critical conversation regarding the theme, explore its cultural and historical contexts, and offer close and comparative readings of key texts in the genre. Readers seeking a deeper understanding of the theme can explore it in depth through a variety of critical approaches.
Critical Insights: Contemporary Immigrant Short FictionEssays in this volume review and analyze contemporary short stories about immigrant living by such authors as Junot Diaz, Sui Sin Far, William Saroyan, Isaac Bashevis, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Edwidge Danticat, Yi-yun Li, Ernesto Quiänonez, and Ha Jin.
Critical Insights: Crisis of FaithThis is a reader of critical readings and contextualizing essays focused on the idea of "crises of faith." Though religion figures prominently, the essays emphasize "crises" in the plural rather than a singular "crisis." After two editorial introductions by Robert Evans (English, Auburn U.), the essays are organized in this series into three standard sections. There are four essays providing "critical contexts," nine "critical readings," and a resource section with a bibliography and other works on crises of faith. Essay topics include an overview of critical commentary on crises of faith, a close reading of Elie Wiesel's Night, frustration and revelation in the Book of Job, the poetry of Wilfred Owen, Jay Gatsby and the hope of spiritual salvation in The Great Gatsby, and more.
Critical Insights: DystopiaThis text is a critical primer in literary dystopia and critical dystopia in particular. The first section provides critical contexts for the topic. These include an overview of the critical reception of dystopias, Ursula K. Le Guin's "impure" dystopias, totalitarian technocracies, the interplay of media culture, and conformism and commodification in Fahrenheit 451. The bulk of the text is comprised of essays on topics like: science and politics in 1984, sympathetic villains, utopian rationalism, the meaning of "I" in Ayn Rand's Anthem, and some more examples of more contemporary dystopias in Miéville and Cory Doctrow, as well as dystopian science-fiction films. The essays are high quality and exhibit both economy of language and clarity of analysis. The contributors are primarily professors of literature, history, and political science from around the world.
Critical Insights: FamilyThis volume addresses the theme of family in literature through a diverse set of texts and through multiple methodologies. Essays survey the critical conversation regarding the theme, explore its cultural and historical contexts, and offer close and comparative readings of key texts in the genre. Readers seeking a deeper understanding of the theme can explore it in depth through a variety of critical approaches.
Critical Insights: FeminismEssays in this volume discuss a multitude of critical viewpoints about Walker's work. topics include a discussion of her symbolism, metaphysics, and aesthetics; her views on feminism; and her responses to the issues of politics, slavery, poverty and sexism. Also included is a brief biography and a survey of the critical reception of Walker's work.
Critical Insights: Good and EvilThis text is a critical reader comprised of essays about good and evil in literature. It's intended to introduce major trends and influential literary figures in Western literature. Organization is in four sections, the first introducing the volume, its theme, and comments on the unity in the contributors' diversity. The second part stakes out the critical contexts of modernity and social inclusion/exclusion. Critical readings make up the bulk of the book and examine everything from classical western to newer world literature and popular culture. Topics include demons in Rime of the Ancient Mariner, metamorphosis of evil in Holocaust era literature and art, gothic themes in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the problem of evil in Paradise Lost. Evil is the predominant theme. The final section contains resources for further study and a bibliography. The contributors are primarily literature professors, but include an art historian, another historian, and a librarian.
Critical Insights: GreedProvides a collection of essays on the topic of greed as a theme in literature.
Critical Insights: Harlem RenaissanceExamines the literary and artistic period of the 1920s known as the Harlem Renaissance that includes the work of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen and others.
Critical Insights: InequalityIntroduces the theme of inequality and includes critical readings in classic and contemporary works.
Critical Insights: Magical RealismProvides several essays that discuss the struggle between the hegemonic imposition of western modernity and subaltern, ethnicized, nonwestern conceptualizations in the Third World.
Critical Insights: PatriotismPatriotism has long been an important theme in world literature, especially during the era of the so-called "nation-state." Millions of people, motivated by patriotism, have served their countries in many different ways, including in military service in which millions have died. What is patriotism? How has it been defined, embraced, and sometimes rejected? How are various attitudes toward it reflected in literature? These are the kinds of questions this volume will explore from deliberately diverse perspectives.
Critical Insights: Political FictionLevene presents students, academics, and general interest readers with a collection of academic essays and articles that investigate political fiction as a genre of literature. The thirteen selections that make up the main body of the text are split between essays examining critical contexts and essays providing critical readings. Critical contexts explored include the great American political novel of the Vietnam War, American fiction after 9/11, politics and postcolonial literature, and others. Authors examined include Joseph Conrad, J. M. Coetzee, Amitav Ghosh, George Orwell, Christa Wolf, Doris Lessing, Don DeLillo, and others.
Critical Insights: SatireExplores various particular works of satire, including the classics Don Quixote, Catch-22, and Animal Farm, and examines satire as a specific kind of writing.
Critical Insights: Technology and HumanityHuman engagement with technology has a deep history, as social progress and creative expression have long been connected with the development, deployment, and representation of what we recognize as technological products and processes. this volume explores the theme in such important works as Frankenstein, The Great Gatsby, The House of Seven Gables, and Neuromancer.
Critical Insights: The Hero’s QuestOdysseus, Gilgamesh, Aneas, even The Lord of the Rings' Frodo-their stories thrill us with their adventure and classic quest themes. this volume considers the hero's quest with both new and original essays that discuss works such as The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Inferno, Gulliver's Travels, Tom Jones, Moby-Dick, His Dark Materials, and Surfacing.
Critical Insights: Truth & LiesExplores important issues in human life: how to distinguish truth from falsehood, why doing so is important both morally and pragmatically, and how these topics have been treated in important literature of the western world.
Critical Insights: Violence in LiteraturePresents discussions of violence and storytelling from a number of perspectives, ranging from ancient Greece to postcolonial Africa to the American West, and topics considered include the role of the witness, how place affects our understanding of conflict, the aestheticization of violence, how trauma is written on the body, and contemporary war stories.
Critical Insights: Virginia Woolf and 20th Century Women WritersThis volume in the Critical Insights series features eleven essays written by a variety of women who come from varied cultures, backgrounds, and disciplines, yet have all been profoundly touched by Woolf's work. The essays convey comparative and critical readings of a wide variety of Woolf's writings that reveal intertextual convergences with her feminist perspectives. The essays are arranged both chronologically and thematically and provide critical analysis and contemporary, innovative scholarship by twentieth-century women writers.
Critical Insights: Adventures of Huckleberry FinnFor a novel that is now frequently regarded as perhaps the greatest in all of American fiction, one of the most interesting facts about it is that such has not always been the case for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In this compilation of analyses and discussions on the critical reception, publication history, censorship, and academic merit, old themes are examined using fresh new perspectives many of which have never before been articulated in print.
Critical Insights: The CrucibleIn-depth critical discussions of the controversial play by Arthur Miller - Plus complimentary, unlimited online access to the full content of this great literary reference. This volume offers diverse perspectives on one of Arthur Miller's most popular, most controversial and most frequently staged plays. The volume situates the play within many different contexts-historical, critical, literary, biographical, social, cultural, and others.
Critical Insights: Death of a SalesmanCollects fifteen essays critically analyzing the work, examining such subjects as literary Naturalism, Miller's treatment of women and gender, and the nature of tragedy in the play.
Critical Insights: Fahrenheit 451In this volume, introductory essays situate the novel in its historical and cultural context and also survey its critical reception, while subsequent chapters explore Bradbury's creation and reworking of the story, issues such as memory, love and morality, domesticity, intellectual property and censorship, and the appeal of Fahrenheit 451 in other media. Rounding out the volume is a bibliography of other important critical sources for readers seeking to study the novel and its themes further.
Critical Insights: Great ExpectationsPresents critical essays that discuss the plot, characters, and major themes in the author's classic exploration of identity and belonging.
Critical Insights: HamletHamlet may be the most influential play ever written. It is certainly one of the most famous and important. This volume offers diverse views of the work that many consider William Shakespeare's masterpiece. Essays provide close analyses of language, discussion of the play as a work (and film), and various contextual approaches, including essays on historical, cultural, social, philosophical, and gender contexts.
Critical Insights: Lord of the FliesThis volume will explore many different dimensions of Golding's classic novel. The book will, for instance, discuss the novel's initial critical reception, the moral issues it raises, its film adaptations, and the ways in which commentary about the novel has evolved in the six decades since its first publication. The volume will also explore the ways the novel has been received on both sides of the Atlantic and will additionally examine its themes, characters, and structures from a diversity of critical perspectives. The book will sum up previous work on Golding's text while also charting new interpretive directions.
Critical Insights: MacbethEssay topics will include consciousness, conscience, and madness in Macbeth and the lasting influence of the play. The volume will discuss the work on stage and screen and look at themes of environmentalism, nationalism and witchcraft in one of Shakespeare's most popular plays.
Critical Insights: Nineteen Eighty-FourThis title contextualizes George Orwell's final and finest novel within the author's multidisciplinary oeuvre, the complex cultural climate of its composition, and the diverse range of critical responses to the text. In his dystopian masterpiece, George Orwell deftly weaves political satire, cultural studies, linguistics, and prescient caveats into a haunting narrative replete with unforgettable characters and enduring motifs.
Critical Insights: Of Mice and MenWith an array of contributions by leading Steinbeck scholars, Critical Insights: Of Mice and Men provides a rich array of fresh perspectives and valuable information on this short but beloved text. Essay topics include: the masculine psyche, alienation, and the plight of migrants, and consideration of why this novel is still in high school curriculum's today.
Critical Insights: Romeo and JulietGiven the reputation of Romeo and Juliet in literary circles, theatre programs, and the ordinary world, one would assume that every aspect of this iconic play had long ago been exhausted through relentless study and debate. It's longevity and our persistence with it, however, only enhance Romeo and Juliet's endurance as a piece of writing capable of endless scrutiny and limitless interpretation. The essays within this edition of Critical Insights are no exception to the innovate perspectives that Romeo and Juliet inspires. Inside, readers can expect to find essays on film adaptations, parodies, space, and artificiality, as well as pluralistic approaches to the balcony scene, possibly the most famous scene in western literature.
Critical Insights: The Bell JarThe commissioned and previously published essays collected here show how Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar has been viewed over time, from its first publication in 1963 to the present. Essays have been selected based on their readability for college students and general readers, and represent a range of critical perspectives; all of the commissioned essays are written by female poet/scholars. The first part of the book offers a biography of Plath, an overview of The Bell Jar, and an analysis of the role of the 1950s in bringing about main character Esther's breakdown. There is also a brief essay representing the perspective of The Paris Review literary magazine. The rest of the essays explore critical contexts and offer critical readings. Some specific topics include cultural and historical context of the novel, a comparison of The Bell Jar and Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted, sexual ambivalence in The Bell Jar, and Plath and Mademoiselle magazine.
Critical Insights: The Canterbury TalesCollects critical essays about Chaucer's famed work, addressing such topics as its original reception, the narrative voice utilized, and the interpretations of the different tales.
Critical Insights: The Catcher in the RyeDewey (modern and contemporary American literature, U. of Pittsburgh) compiles 21 essays on J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Contributed by writers and scholars of literature, English, and related areas from the US, Canada, and Japan, the classic and contemporary essays approach the novel from the perspective of the reader and address the emotional impact of Holden Caulfield's voice; its literary ancestors; its impact on the perception of adolescence in novels, films, music, and television; and relationship between the novel and its cultural community. They also examine its history, including its banning in postwar America; its critique of capitalism; its themes of discontent in adolescence and Christian compassion; gender studies, social psychology, and media studies' views; the symbolic implications of the death of Holden's younger brother; its ending and Holden's epiphany; and other aspects.
Critical Insights: The Great GatsbyPresents critical essays on Fitzgerald's novel about the 1920's, discussing major themes, the Jazz Age, and its early favorable critical reception.
Critical Insights: The MetamorphosisKafka's novella The Metamorphosis was first published about 100 years ago. Essays collected here survey of the critical reception of The Metamorphosis, analyze its themes, and compare it to other works of literature. The books begins with biographical background on Kafka and a brief essay outlining Kafka's influence and the significance of The Metamorphosis, representing the perspective of The Paris Review literary magazine. The rest of the book reviews cultural and historical contexts and presents critical readings. Some specific subjects examined include Kafka's metaphor for extreme alienation, confinement in The Metamorphosis, and a comparison of Kafka's and Nabokov's images of dwarves, saints, and beetles. The book also includes a chronology of Kafka's life and list of works.
Critical Insights: The Poetry of Edgar Allan PoeCollects essays about the poetic works of the famous American writer, looking at such topics as critical reception, the author's concern with gender, and the international impact of the works.
Critical Insights: The Tales of Edgar Allan PoeCollects sixteen essays on the literary work, examining such topics as Poe's literary cultural heritage, the American Romantic narrative, and Poe's transcendental racism.
Critical Insights: Things Fall ApartChinua Achebe, the well regarded Nigerian novelist, is perhaps best known for his novel Things Fall Apart, published in 1958. After a short introduction editor Booker (comparative literature and cultural studies, U. of Arkansas), presents a series of essays and excerpted chapters from other works critically examining Achebe's themes. Four essays were written especially for this volume. A complete bibliography of Achebe's works is included.
