Literature

Roland Barthes: A Very Short Introduction elucidates the varied theoretical contributions of Roland Barthes, whose lifelong fascination was with the way people make their world intelligible. It describes the many projects, which Barthes explored and which helped to change the way we think about a range of cultural phenomena — from literature, fashion, wrestling, and advertising to notions of the self, of history, and of nature. To some, he is the structuralist who outlined a ‘science of literature’, and the most prominent promoter of semiology; to others he stands not for science but pleasure, espousing a theory of literature which gives the reader a creative role.Less

The Beats: A Very Short Introduction offers an overview of the social, cultural, and aesthetic sensibilities of the Beats, bringing out the similarities that connected them, and also the many differences. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Beat Generation writers revolutionized American literature with their iconoclastic approach to language and their angry assault on the conformity and conservatism of postwar society. They and their followers took aim at the hypocrisy and taboos of their time. Members of the Beat Generation hoped to inspire others to purify their lives and souls, yet they urged the remaking of consciousness on a profoundly inward-looking basis. The idea was to revolutionize society by revolutionizing thought, not the other way around.Less

Bestsellers: A Very Short Introduction shows that bestseller lists monitor one of the strongest pulses in modern literature and are therefore worthy of serious study. It lifts the lid on the bestseller industry, examines what makes a book into a bestseller, and asks what separates bestsellers from canonical fiction. Exploring the relationship between bestsellers and the fashions, ideologies, and cultural concerns of the day, this VSI includes short case-studies and lively summaries of bestsellers through the years, including both classic and contemporary novels, alongside some surprising titles and long-forgotten namesLess

Children's Literature: A Very Short Introduction provides an overview of the history of children's literature as it has developed in English, introducing key debates, developments, and figures in the field. This vast and amorphous subject is both intimately related to other areas of literary and cultural investigation but also has its own set of concerns, issues, and challenges. Raising questions about what shape the future of literature for children should take, and exploring the crossover with adult fiction, this VSI shows that writing for children — whether on page or screen — participated in shaping and directing ideas about culture, society, and childhood.Less

Chinese Literature: A Very Short Introduction tells the story of Chinese literature from antiquity to the present, focusing on the key role literary culture played in supporting social and political concerns. Embracing traditional Chinese understandings of literature as encompassing history and philosophy as well as poetry and poetics, storytelling, drama, and the novel, this VSI discusses the philosophical foundations of literary culture as well as literature's power to address historical trauma and cultivate moral and sensual passions. From ancient historical records through the modernization and globalization of Chinese literature, lively examples underscore the close relationship between ethics and aesthetics, as well as the diversity of Chinese thought.Less

Colonial Latin American Literature: A Very Short Introduction provides a vivid account of the literary culture of the Spanish-speaking Americas from the time of Columbus to Latin American Independence. This VSI explores the origins of Latin American literature in Spanish and tells the story of how Spanish literary language developed and flourished in the New World. The works of Spanish, creole, and Amerindian authors highlighted here, including Bartolomé de las Casas, Felipe Guaman Poma, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Andrés Bello, have been chosen for the merits of their writings, their participation in the larger literary and cultural debates of their times, and their resonance among readers today.Less

Comedy: A Very Short Introduction studies written forms of comedy such as prose fiction, poetry, caricatures, and cartoons. There are also performance forms of comedy such as comic drama, pantomime, comic opera, silent cinema, popular music, Broadway shows, music-hall, stand-up and circus acts, rom-coms, sketch shows, sit-coms. To consider comedy in its incarnations is to raise diverse questions: what is humour, and how may it be used (or abused)? When do we laugh, and why? What is it that writers and speakers enjoy — and risk — when they tell a joke, indulge in bathos, talk nonsense, or encourage irony? Comedy is both a literary genre and a forum for a range of non-literary phenomena, experiences, and events.Less

Comparative literature is both the past and the future of literary studies. Its history is intimately linked to the political upheavals of modernity: from colonial empire-building in the 19th century to the postcolonial culture wars of the 21st century. But what is comparative literature? Comparative Literature: A Very Short Introduction tells the story of comparative literature as an agent of international relations, from the point of view both of scholarship and of cultural history. Outlining the complex history and competing theories of comparative literature, it offers an accessible means of entry into a notoriously slippery subject, and shows the value and importance of encountering literature from outside one’s own culture.Less

Contemporary Fiction: A Very Short Introduction explores a wide and diverse field, now global in dimension, with an enormous range of novels and writers that continues to grow at a fantastic speed. This VSI provides an exploration of the major themes, patterns, and debates of contemporary fiction. From genre, form, and experimentalism to the legacies of modernism and postmodernism, the relationship between globalization and terrorism, and the impact of technology, it examines how works both reflect the world in which we live and the artistic concerns of writers and readers alike.Less

Crime Fiction: A Very Short Introduction explores the history of ‘crime fiction’ and the various definitions of the genre and considers how it has developed over time. Discussing the popularity of crime fiction worldwide and its various styles; the role that gender plays within the genre; spy fiction, legal dramas, and thrillers; it explores how the crime novel was shaped by the work of British and American authors in the 18th and 19th centuries. Highlighting the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler, the role of the crime novel in modern popular culture is considered and it asks whether crime fiction can be considered serious ‘literature’.Less