If readers are to come to Shakespeare and to Chekhov, to Henry James and to Jane Austen, then they are best prepared if they have read Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, Robert Louis Stevenson and Rudyard
Arguably the most influential work to emerge from Spain's Golden Age, Don Quixote laid the groundwork for the Western literary canon and remains one of its major achievements. For more than four cent
The role of civil disobedience, the act of defying society for the greater good, has been a theme of many famous and often controversial literary works. This volume explores the role of civil disobed
Poet laureate of England from 1843 until his death in 1850, William Wordsworth is often credited as being one of the founders of English Romanticism. The 1798 joint publication of Wordsworth's and Sa
While his detractors found his verse to be deliberately obscure, Robert Browning resisted such charges and went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and popular English poets of the 19th
Percy Shelley left an indelible mark on English romantic poetry with his enduring works, including "Ozymandias," "To a Skylark," and "Ode to the West Wind." Esteemed scholar Harold Bloom states that
Stephen Crane is widely recognized as a master and innovator of literary naturalism. Among his more popular works are the novels Maggie: A Girl of the Street and The Red Badge of Courage and the shor
George Eliot is perhaps most appreciated for her ability to synthesize moral and aesthetic concerns. She has been compared to Shakespeare and Dante in her role as a moral authority. This volume prese
Best known as the author of Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift is one of literature's great satirists. Born and educated in Ireland, Swift became a politician and clergyman in England, where he wrote
The mythic patterns Toni Morrison explores in her third novel inform the transformation of Milkman Dead. Song of Solomon traces Milkman’s journey from spiritual death to understanding and accep
Emily Bront?'s Wuthering Heights, set among the rugged beauty of the English moors, is the tragic and passionate story of Catherine and Heathcliff, two lovers drawn together from the moment they meet
The Canterbury Tales was the first great poem in the English language, and it remains a favorite among students and scholars to this day. Ideal for research, this new title in the Bloom's Guides seri
Camus's landmark novel traces the aftermath of a shocking crime and the man whose fate is sealed with one rash and foolhardy act. The Stranger presents readers with a new kind of protagonist, a man u
The Canterbury Tales was the first great poem in the English language, and it remains a favorite among students and scholars to this day. Ideal for research, this volume includes a comprehensive coll
First appearing in 1965, The Autobiography of Malcolm X has proved an enduring and much-discussed publication for its frank portrait of the rise of one of America's most important black activists. Ta
J.D. Salinger's powerful fiction and enigmatic persona have captivated readers for more than 50 years. His works include Nine Stories; Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters; and Franny and Zooey, but
In this adventure story about a group of schoolboys stranded on a deserted island, William Golding explores the dark side of humanity and the savagery that surfaces when social structure is broken do
The Crucible still has permanence and relevance a half century after its initial publication. This powerful political drama set amidst the Salem witch trials is commonly understood as Arthur Miller's
Zora Neale Hurston was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Although her work was long ignored, it is now widely studied and praised. Her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, a classic
Composed around 1000 CE, Beowulf is the longest-known poem written in Old English. Considered to be one of the great epics, the poem tells of the heroic deeds of the great warrior Beowulf, and contai
John Steinbeck stands as one of the most popular and widely read novelists in America. The winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962, he wrote such classics as The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and
Critics have suggested that Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God has helped revise a male-dominated literary canon. All-new critical essays touch on subjects such as sight and vision, sp
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a key figure of the American Renaissance of the mid-19th century. His essay "Nature" is considered one of the most influential works in American history, and he inspired the l
Walt Whitman's passionate writing style and bold subject matter have deeply influenced American poetry. Nearly all of his poems were published in Leaves of Grass, which Whitman obsessively expanded,
Noted for her witty depictions of English country life and sharply satirical views of class structure and human behavior, 19th-century novelist Jane Austen's works, which include such classics as Emm
Perhaps best known for the horror films it has spawned, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, published in 1818 and revised in 1831, is a tale that warns against the "advancements" of modern man and the Indus
Written by Sophocles around 425 BCE, Oedipus Rex is a classic Greek tragedy that depicts the struggle between man and fate. Oedipus's story forms the foundation for the symbolic conflict between sons
An allegorical tale of passion, adultery, guilt, and social repression, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter introduces readers to Hester Prynne, America's first fictional heroine. Hawthorne's st
Written for serial publication in 1859, Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel that takes place in England and France in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It is one
The second of the two great epic poems attributed to Homer, The Odyssey takes place after the Trojan War and tells the story of Odysseus's voyage home to Ithaca and his wife, Penelope. Odysseus's jou
Initially known for her short stories and articles, Kate Chopin was considered to be little more than a regional writer. Published in 1899, her second novel, The Awakening, received little attention
Tennessee Williams is recognized as one of America s greatest dramatists and as an innovator of post-World War II theater. He looked for a mechanism for portraying the truth in theater at a time when
Having true international appeal, James Baldwin was as well known in Istanbul and Paris as he was in Harlem. His reputation was made on incendiary and eloquent essays written and published to mass ac
In a single, eye-opening volume, Edgar Allan Poe, Updated Edition presents complex critical analyses of this author's work. Critic, poet, and storyteller, Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his chilli
The prolific literary critic Bloom (humanities, Yale U.) provides the introduction to this collection of close readings. Some of the contributing scholars of English literature and American drama focu
Presents critical essays discussing the work of the poet, including his poems "Middle Passage," "Frederick Douglas," and "Homage to the Empress of the Blues."
A critical overview of the work features the writings of Lowell A. Bangerter, Thomas Harrison, Eric White, Burton Pike, Robert Zaller, and and other scholars, discussing the themes and characters of t
