Theory in Literary Theory & Criticism & Fiction & Literature eBooks

All Desire is a Desire for Being

by René Girard ...

A new selection of foundational works from the influential philosopher who developed the theory of mimetic desireWhy do humans have such a remarkable capacity for conflict? From ancient foundational myths to the modern era, the visionary thinker Rene Girard identified the constant, competing desires at the heart of our existence - desires that we copy from others, igniting a contagious violence. ... Read more

$14.99 USD

A new selection of foundational works from the influential philosopher who developed the theory of mimetic desireWhy do humans have such a remarkable capacity for conflict? From ancient foundational myths to the modern era, the visionary thinker Rene Girard identified the constant, competing desires at the heart of our existence - desires that we copy from others, igniting a contagious violence.
... Read more
How We Write Now

Living with Black Feminist Theory

by Jennifer C. Nash ...

Series series Black Feminism on the Edge
In How We Write Now Jennifer C. Nash examines how Black feminists use beautiful writing to allow writers and readers to stay close to the field’s central object and preoccupation: loss. She demonstrates how contemporary Black feminist writers and theorists such as Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Alexander, Christina Sharpe, and Natasha Trethewey mobilize their prose to ask readers to feel, undo, and ... Read more

$17.99 USD

In How We Write Now Jennifer C. Nash examines how Black feminists use beautiful writing to allow writers and readers to stay close to the field’s central object and preoccupation: loss. She demonstrates how contemporary Black feminist writers and theorists such as Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Alexander, Christina Sharpe, and Natasha Trethewey mobilize their prose to ask readers to feel, undo, and
... 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

$28.99 USD

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
Queer Theory Now

From Foundations to Futures

by Hannah McCann, Whitney Monaghan ...

**What is the past, present and future of queer theory? How does it relate to real-world issues such as the current anti-**LGBTQ+ backlash and the global rise of right-wing politics?This textbook provides an introduction to queer theory, including key terms, concepts, debates, and applications across a range of academic disciplines and to contemporary life more generally.The authors engage with a ... Read more

$29.99 USD

**What is the past, present and future of queer theory? How does it relate to real-world issues such as the current anti-**LGBTQ+ backlash and the global rise of right-wing politics?This textbook provides an introduction to queer theory, including key terms, concepts, debates, and applications across a range of academic disciplines and to contemporary life more generally.The authors engage with a
... Read more
Wild Things

The Disorder of Desire

by Jack Halberstam ...

Series series Perverse Modernities: A Series Edited by Jack Halberstam and Lisa Lowe
In Wild Things Jack Halberstam offers an alternative history of sexuality by tracing the ways in which wildness has been associated with queerness and queer bodies throughout the twentieth century. Halberstam theorizes the wild as an unbounded and unpredictable space that offers sources of opposition to modernity's orderly impulses. Wildness illuminates the normative taxonomies of sexuality ... Read more

$19.99 USD

In Wild Things Jack Halberstam offers an alternative history of sexuality by tracing the ways in which wildness has been associated with queerness and queer bodies throughout the twentieth century. Halberstam theorizes the wild as an unbounded and unpredictable space that offers sources of opposition to modernity's orderly impulses. Wildness illuminates the normative taxonomies of sexuality
... Read more
Critical Theory Today

A User-Friendly Guide

by Lois Tyson ...

This thoroughly updated fourth edition of Critical Theory Today offers an accessible introduction to contemporary critical theory, providing in-depth coverage of the most common approaches to literary analysis today, including: feminism; psychoanalysis; Marxism; reader-response theory; New Criticism; structuralism and semiotics; deconstruction; new historicism and cultural criticism; lesbian, gay, ... Read more

$64.99 USD

This thoroughly updated fourth edition of Critical Theory Today offers an accessible introduction to contemporary critical theory, providing in-depth coverage of the most common approaches to literary analysis today, including: feminism; psychoanalysis; Marxism; reader-response theory; New Criticism; structuralism and semiotics; deconstruction; new historicism and cultural criticism; lesbian, gay,
... Read more
Meander, Spiral, Explode

Design and Pattern in Narrative

by Jane Alison ...

"How lovely to discover a book on the craft of writing that is also fun to read . . . Alison asserts that the best stories follow patterns in nature, and by defining these new styles she offers writers the freedom to explore but with enough guidance to thrive." ―VultureAs Jane Alison writes in the introduction to her insightful and appealing book about the craft of writing: “For centuries there’s ... Read more

$12.99 USD

"How lovely to discover a book on the craft of writing that is also fun to read . . . Alison asserts that the best stories follow patterns in nature, and by defining these new styles she offers writers the freedom to explore but with enough guidance to thrive." ―VultureAs Jane Alison writes in the introduction to her insightful and appealing book about the craft of writing: “For centuries there’s
... Read more
Judith Butler

by Sara Salih ...

Series series Routledge Critical Thinkers
Since the publication of Gender Trouble in 1990, Judith Butler has revolutionised our understanding of identities and the ways in which they are constructed. This volume examines her critical thought through key texts, touching upon such issues as:* The subject* Gender* Sex* Language* The PsycheWith clear discussions of the context and impact of Butler's work and an extensive guide to further ... Read more

$33.99 USD

Since the publication of Gender Trouble in 1990, Judith Butler has revolutionised our understanding of identities and the ways in which they are constructed. This volume examines her critical thought through key texts, touching upon such issues as:* The subject* Gender* Sex* Language* The PsycheWith clear discussions of the context and impact of Butler's work and an extensive guide to further
... Read more
Green Shakespeare

From Ecopolitics to Ecocriticism

by Gabriel Egan ...

Series series Accents on Shakespeare
Ecocriticism, a theoretical movement examining cultural constructions of Nature in their social and political contexts, is making an increasingly important contribution to our understanding of Shakespeare’s plays. Gabriel Egan's Green Shakespeare presents:an overview of the concept of ecocriticismdetailed ecocritical readings of Henry V, Macbeth, As You Like It, Antony & Cleopatra, King Lear, ... ... Read more

$60.99 USD

Ecocriticism, a theoretical movement examining cultural constructions of Nature in their social and political contexts, is making an increasingly important contribution to our understanding of Shakespeare’s plays. Gabriel Egan's Green Shakespeare presents:an overview of the concept of ecocriticismdetailed ecocritical readings of Henry V, Macbeth, As You Like It, Antony & Cleopatra, King Lear, ...
... Read more
Postmodernism

A Very Short Introduction

by Christopher Butler ...

Series series Very Short Introductions
Postmodernism has been a buzzword in contemporary society for the last decade. But how can it be defined? In this Very Short Introduction Christopher Butler challenges and explores the key ideas of postmodernists, and their engagement with theory, literature, the visual arts, film, architecture, and music. He treats artists, intellectuals, critics, and social scientists 'as if they were all ... Read more

$7.99 USD

Postmodernism has been a buzzword in contemporary society for the last decade. But how can it be defined? In this Very Short Introduction Christopher Butler challenges and explores the key ideas of postmodernists, and their engagement with theory, literature, the visual arts, film, architecture, and music. He treats artists, intellectuals, critics, and social scientists 'as if they were all
... Read more
Tree

by Matthew Battles ...

Series series Object Lessons
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Tree explores the forms, uses, and alliances of this living object's entanglement with humanity, from antiquity to the present. Trees tower over us and yet fade into background. Their lifespan outstrips ours, and yet their wisdom remains inscrutable, treasured up in the heartwood. They serve ... Read more

$12.99 USD

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Tree explores the forms, uses, and alliances of this living object's entanglement with humanity, from antiquity to the present. Trees tower over us and yet fade into background. Their lifespan outstrips ours, and yet their wisdom remains inscrutable, treasured up in the heartwood. They serve
... Read more
Contemporary Drift

Genre, Historicism, and the Problem of the Present

by Theodore Martin ...

Series series Literature Now
What does it mean to call something “contemporary”? More than simply denoting what’s new, it speaks to how we come to know the present we’re living in and how we develop a shared story about it. The story of trying to understand the present is an integral, yet often unnoticed, part of the literature and film of our moment. In Contemporary Drift, Theodore Martin argues that the contemporary is not ... Read more

$26.99 USD

What does it mean to call something “contemporary”? More than simply denoting what’s new, it speaks to how we come to know the present we’re living in and how we develop a shared story about it. The story of trying to understand the present is an integral, yet often unnoticed, part of the literature and film of our moment. In Contemporary Drift, Theodore Martin argues that the contemporary is not
... Read more
Sexuality Beyond Consent

Risk, Race, Traumatophilia

by Avgi Saketopoulou ...

Series series Sexual Cultures
Radical alternatives to consent and traumaArguing that we have become culturally obsessed with healing trauma, Sexuality Beyond Consent calls attention to what traumatized subjects do with their pain. The erotics of racism offers a paradigmatic example of how what is proximal to violation may become an unexpected site of flourishing. Central to the transformational possibilities of trauma is a ... Read more

$21.99 USD

Radical alternatives to consent and traumaArguing that we have become culturally obsessed with healing trauma, Sexuality Beyond Consent calls attention to what traumatized subjects do with their pain. The erotics of racism offers a paradigmatic example of how what is proximal to violation may become an unexpected site of flourishing. Central to the transformational possibilities of trauma is a
... Read more
Turning Away

The Poetics of an Ancient Gesture

by Benjamin A. Saltzman ...

Series series Thinking Literature
A sweeping account of how we are at our most human when we turn away from the pains of the world.Why do we look away from the suffering of others? Why do we cover our faces in shame? Why do we lower our heads in grief? Few gestures are as universal as the averted gaze. Fewer still are as ambivalent and inscrutable. In this incisive study, Benjamin A. Saltzman reveals how the kaleidoscopic ... Read more

$21.99 USD

A sweeping account of how we are at our most human when we turn away from the pains of the world.Why do we look away from the suffering of others? Why do we cover our faces in shame? Why do we lower our heads in grief? Few gestures are as universal as the averted gaze. Fewer still are as ambivalent and inscrutable. In this incisive study, Benjamin A. Saltzman reveals how the kaleidoscopic
... Read more
Not Like a Native Speaker

On Languaging as a Postcolonial Experience

by Rey Chow ...

Although the era of European colonialism has long passed, misgivings about the inequality of the encounters between European and non-European languages persist in many parts of the postcolonial world. This unfinished state of affairs, this lingering historical experience of being caught among unequal languages, is the subject of Rey Chow's book. A diverse group of personae, never before assembled ... Read more

$26.99 USD

Although the era of European colonialism has long passed, misgivings about the inequality of the encounters between European and non-European languages persist in many parts of the postcolonial world. This unfinished state of affairs, this lingering historical experience of being caught among unequal languages, is the subject of Rey Chow's book. A diverse group of personae, never before assembled
... Read more
Blackface

by Professor Ayanna Thompson ...

Series series Object Lessons
A New Statesman essential non-fiction book of 2021Featured in Book Riot's 12 best nonfiction books about Black identity and historyA Times Higher Education Book of the Week2022 Finalist for the Prose Awards (Media and Cultural Studies category)Why are there so many examples of public figures, entertainers, and normal, everyday people in blackface? And why aren't there... ... Read more

$12.99 USD

A New Statesman essential non-fiction book of 2021Featured in Book Riot's 12 best nonfiction books about Black identity and historyA Times Higher Education Book of the Week2022 Finalist for the Prose Awards (Media and Cultural Studies category)Why are there so many examples of public figures, entertainers, and normal, everyday people in blackface? And why aren't there...
... Read more
The Gutenberg Parenthesis

The Age of Print and Its Lessons for the Age of the Internet

by Prof Jeff Jarvis ...

A 2024 CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLEPROSE AWARDS MEDIA AND CULTURAL STUDIES FINALIST 2024The Gutenberg Parenthesis traces the epoch of print from its fateful beginnings to our digital present – and draws out lessons for the age to come.The age of print is a grand exception in history. For five centuries it fostered what some call print culture – a worldview shaped by the completeness, ... Read more

$18.99 USD

A 2024 CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLEPROSE AWARDS MEDIA AND CULTURAL STUDIES FINALIST 2024The Gutenberg Parenthesis traces the epoch of print from its fateful beginnings to our digital present – and draws out lessons for the age to come.The age of print is a grand exception in history. For five centuries it fostered what some call print culture – a worldview shaped by the completeness,
... Read more
Tone

by Sofia Samatar, Kate Zambreno ...

Tone is a collaborative study of literary tone, a notoriously challenging and slippery topic for criticism. Both granular and global, infusing a text with feeling, tone is so difficult to pin down that responses to it often take the vague form of “I know it when I see it.”In Tone, a cooperative authorial voice under the name of the Committee to Investigate Atmosphere begins from the premise that ... Read more

$18.99 USD

Tone is a collaborative study of literary tone, a notoriously challenging and slippery topic for criticism. Both granular and global, infusing a text with feeling, tone is so difficult to pin down that responses to it often take the vague form of “I know it when I see it.”In Tone, a cooperative authorial voice under the name of the Committee to Investigate Atmosphere begins from the premise that
... Read more
Culture in a Liquid Modern World

by Zygmunt Bauman ...

Translated by Lydia Bauman ...

In its original formulation, ‘culture' was intended to be an agent for change, a mission undertaken with the aim of educating ‘the people' by bringing the best of human thought and creativity to them. But in our contemporary liquid-modern world, culture has lost its missionary role and has become a means of seduction: it seeks no longer to enlighten the people but to seduce them. The function of ... Read more

$16.00 USD

In its original formulation, ‘culture' was intended to be an agent for change, a mission undertaken with the aim of educating ‘the people' by bringing the best of human thought and creativity to them. But in our contemporary liquid-modern world, culture has lost its missionary role and has become a means of seduction: it seeks no longer to enlighten the people but to seduce them. The function of
... Read more
Relic

by Dr. Ed Simon ...

Series series Object Lessons
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Every culture, every religion, every era has enshrined otherwise regular objects with a significance which stretches beyond their literal importance. Whether the bone of a Catholic martyr, the tooth of a Buddhist lama, or the cloak of a Sufi saint, relics are material conduits to the ... Read more

$12.99 USD

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Every culture, every religion, every era has enshrined otherwise regular objects with a significance which stretches beyond their literal importance. Whether the bone of a Catholic martyr, the tooth of a Buddhist lama, or the cloak of a Sufi saint, relics are material conduits to the
... Read more
Energy Humanities

An Anthology

Edited by Imre Szeman, Dominic Boyer ...

How can humanities scholars help us respond to growing concerns about climate change and fossil fuels?Energy humanities is a field of scholarship that, like medical and digital humanities before it, aims to overcome traditional boundaries between the disciplines and between academic and applied research. Responding to growing public concern about anthropogenic climate change and the ... Read more

$43.99 USD

How can humanities scholars help us respond to growing concerns about climate change and fossil fuels?Energy humanities is a field of scholarship that, like medical and digital humanities before it, aims to overcome traditional boundaries between the disciplines and between academic and applied research. Responding to growing public concern about anthropogenic climate change and the
... Read more
Grave

by Allison C. Meier ...

Series series Object Lessons
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Grave takes a ground-level view of how burial sites have transformed over time and how they continue to change. As a cemetery tour guide, Allison C. Meier has spent more time walking among tombstones than most. Even for her, the grave has largely been invisible, an out of the way and ... Read more

$12.99 USD

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Grave takes a ground-level view of how burial sites have transformed over time and how they continue to change. As a cemetery tour guide, Allison C. Meier has spent more time walking among tombstones than most. Even for her, the grave has largely been invisible, an out of the way and
... Read more
Ballot

by Ms. Anjali Enjeti, Professor Ian Bogost, Dr. Christopher Schaberg ...

Series series Object Lessons
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Ballot examines the psychological, cultural, and political significance of voting in an increasingly anti-voting climate. Armed with her personal experiences as a poll worker, electoral organizer, and activist, Anjali Enjeti unspools a timely narrative about the precarious state of the ballot ... Read more

$12.99 USD

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Ballot examines the psychological, cultural, and political significance of voting in an increasingly anti-voting climate. Armed with her personal experiences as a poll worker, electoral organizer, and activist, Anjali Enjeti unspools a timely narrative about the precarious state of the ballot
... Read more
The Cambridge Companion to Lacan

Edited by Jean-Michel Rabaté ...

Series series Cambridge Companions to Literature
This collection of specially commissioned essays by academics and practising psychoanalysts, first published in 2003, explores key dimensions of Jacques Lacan's life and works. Lacan is renowned as a theoretician of psychoanalysis whose work is still influential in many countries. He refashioned psychoanalysis in the name of philosophy and linguistics at the time when it underwent a certain ... Read more

$28.99 USD

This collection of specially commissioned essays by academics and practising psychoanalysts, first published in 2003, explores key dimensions of Jacques Lacan's life and works. Lacan is renowned as a theoretician of psychoanalysis whose work is still influential in many countries. He refashioned psychoanalysis in the name of philosophy and linguistics at the time when it underwent a certain
... Read more

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