6. Rewriting the Renaissance
Jerry Brotton
in The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction
What do we mean by ‘Renaissance literature’? ‘Rewriting the Renaissance’ states that this term is misleading given that it was only at the end of the 16th century that the concept of the ...
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5. Rhetoric, poetics, and poetry
Jonathan Culler
in Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
‘Rhetoric, poetics and poetry’ explores these literary effects with examples. Poetry is closely allied to rhetoric — the study of the persuasive and expressive resources of language. Poetry ...
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6. ‘The head cornerstone’: Rastafari and Caribbean culture
Ennis B. Edmonds
in Rastafari: A Very Short Introduction
Rastafari came from humble beginnings, yet it was able to become a huge creative force influencing cultural production in Jamaica and beyond. The influence Rastafari has had on contemporary ...
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2. Poetry from Romanticism to Modernismo: Bello to Darío
Roberto González Echevarría
in Modern Latin American Literature: A Very Short Introduction
‘Poetry from Romanticism to Modernismo: Bello to Darío’ charts the development of Latin American poetry. Poetry was the first art form to register changes towards a Latin American ...
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Introduction: Meeting French Literature
John D. Lyons
in French Literature: A Very Short Introduction
French Literature: A Very Short Introduction looks at literary works in terms of their central characters. The kind of person chosen as the focal point of the plot and that ...
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2. Poetry and poetics: landscapes, allusions, and alcohol
Sabina Knight
in Chinese Literature: A Very Short Introduction
‘Poetry and poetics: landscapes, allusions, and alcohol’ examines Chinese poetry. Poetry was seen as a manifestation of nature's patterns, which appeals to energies beyond the rational ...
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8. Knowledge
Jonathan Barnes
in Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction
Whereas the Prior Analytics derives the theorems of a science from its axioms, the Posterior Analytics is concerned with the nature of the axioms themselves, and hence the general form of ...
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2. Thinking with war
Harry Sidebottom
in Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction
War played a huge part in the lives of the Greeks and Romans in the ancient world. It was all pervasive. They frequently used ideas connected to war to understand their place in the world. ...
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8. ‘O Muse, be obedient to the command of God’: The spiritual and material worlds
Catriona Kelly
in Russian Literature: A Very Short Introduction
‘“O Muse, be obedient to the command of God”: The spiritual and material worlds’ looks at Pushkin's early rejection of references to religion in his work, his generation's distrust of overt ...
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The Hebrew Bible as Literature: A Very Short Introduction
Tod Linafelt
The Hebrew Bible, or Christian Old Testament, can be celebrated as among the classics of world literature. The stories of Jacob and David present the earliest surviving examples of literary ...
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Conclusion
Bernard O'Donoghue
in Poetry: A Very Short Introduction
Having started with grand claims for poetry, by Shelley, Wallace Stevens, and others, on grounds of public utility, this brief consideration of what poetry is has encountered a series of ...
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3. The biological silk road
James A. Millward
in The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction
‘The biological silk road’ considers the exchange of crops, livestock, pathogens, and genes along the silk road. Diffusion of domesticated plants and animals since Neolithic times has led ...
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4. Poetry from Modernismo to Modernism
Roberto González Echevarría
in Modern Latin American Literature: A Very Short Introduction
‘Poetry from Modernismo to Modernism’ outlines the development of Modernist Latin American poetry. Darío had brought symbolism to Spanish language literature. Leopoldo Lugones and Julio ...
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5. ‘Awakening noble feelings with my lyre’: Writers as ‘masters of minds’
Catriona Kelly
in Russian Literature: A Very Short Introduction
‘“Awakening noble feelings with my lyre”: Writers as “masters of minds”’ examines, via examples of Pushkin's work, his views on the expectations of readers and their perceptions of the ...
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2. Literary historian
Jonathan Culler
in Barthes: A Very Short Introduction
‘Literary historian’ explores why Barthes was interested in history. By showing when and how various practices came into being, historical study works to demystify the ideology of a ...
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Introduction
Tod Linafelt
in The Hebrew Bible as Literature: A Very Short Introduction
Toward the end of the twentieth century a genuine, sustained appreciation of the Bible’s literary art—regardless of its historical veracity or of its religious value—arose. The Introduction ...
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1. Biblical literature and the Western literary tradition
Tod Linafelt
in The Hebrew Bible as Literature: A Very Short Introduction
Biblical literature displays a rigorous economy of style. It is, especially, in its narrative mode, extraordinarily understated. Readers are given a bare minimum of information, and ...
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3. Reading biblical poetry
Tod Linafelt
in The Hebrew Bible as Literature: A Very Short Introduction
“Reading biblical poetry” considers the elements of Hebrew biblical poetry and how they differ from biblical narrative: lineation and a collapsed syntax that often drops particles and ...
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4. Narrative and poetry working together
Tod Linafelt
in The Hebrew Bible as Literature: A Very Short Introduction
“Narrative and poetry working together” shows how the Bible brings narrative and poetry together as complementary forms to maintain and make use of the distinctive literary resources of ...
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1. Saying everything
Robert Eaglestone
in Contemporary Fiction: A Very Short Introduction
‘Saying everything’ argues that contemporary fiction matters because it is how we work out who we are now, today. The novel is the best way of doing this. Of all the arts, the novel is the ...
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