The New Critical Idiom
About the Book Series
The New Critical Idiom is an invaluable series of introductory guides designed to meet the needs of today's students grappling with the complexities of modern critical terminology. Each book in the series provides:
- A clear, explanatory guide to the use (and abuse) of the term
- An original and distinctive overview by a leading literary and cultural critic
- Helpful definitions of the boundaries between the literary and non-literary
- Basic guidance for the introductory reader in how the term relates to the larger field of cultural representation
With a strong emphasis on clarity, lively debate and the widest possible breadth of examples, The New Critical Idiom is an indispensable guide to key topics in literary studies.
Trauma
1st Edition
By Lucy Bond, Stef Craps
October 24, 2019
Trauma has become a catchword of our time and a central category in contemporary theory and criticism. In this illuminating and accessible volume, Lucy Bond and Stef Craps: provide an account of the history of the concept of trauma from the late nineteenth century to the present day examine ...
Race
1st Edition
By Martin Orkin, Alexa Alice Joubin
February 01, 2019
Race offers a compelling introduction to the study of ideas related to race throughout history. Its breadth of coverage, both geographically and temporally, provides readers with an expansive, global understanding of the term from the classical period onwards. This concise guide offers an overview ...
Satire
1st Edition
By John T. Gilmore
November 27, 2017
What is satire? How can we define it? Is it a weapon for radical change or fundamentally conservative? Is satire funny or cruel? Does it always need a target or victim? Combining thematic, theoretical and historical approaches, John T. Gilmore introduces and investigates the tradition of satire ...
Reception
1st Edition
By Ika Willis
October 02, 2017
Reception introduces students and academics alike to the study of the way in which texts are received by readers, viewers, and audiences. Organized conceptually and thematically, this book provides a much-needed overview of the field, drawing on work in literary and cultural studies as well as...
The Sublime
2nd Edition
By Philip Shaw
February 27, 2017
Related to ideas of the great, the awe-inspiring and the overpowering, the sublime has been debated for centuries amongst writers, artists, philosophers and theorists and has become a complex yet crucial concept in many disciplines. In this thoroughly updated edition, Philip Shaw looks ...
Modernism
3rd Edition
By Peter Childs
October 04, 2016
Modernist movements radically transformed the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literary establishment, and their effects are still felt today. Modernism introduces and analyzes what amounted to nothing less than a literary and cultural revolution. In this fully updated, expanded, and ...
The Aphorism and Other Short Forms
1st Edition
By Ben Grant
June 07, 2016
The aphorism captures a huge amount of truth, meaning or wit in a very short statement. It has been used and studied from classical times to contemporary theory and takes on a new relevance when we look at today’s communication media such as text messages and twitter. This concise guide offers an ...
Adaptation and Appropriation
2nd Edition
By Julie Sanders
December 08, 2015
From the apparently simple adaptation of a text into film, theatre or a new literary work, to the more complex appropriation of style or meaning, it is arguable that all texts are somehow connected to a network of existing texts and art forms. In this new edition Adaptation and Appropriation ...
Colonialism/Postcolonialism
3rd Edition
By Ania Loomba
May 05, 2015
Colonialism/Postcolonialism is a comprehensive yet accessible guide to the historical, theoretical and political dimensions of colonial and postcolonial studies. This new edition includes a new introduction and conclusion as well as extensive updates throughout. Topics covered include globalization...
Genre
2nd Edition
By John Frow
September 22, 2014
This second edition of John Frow’s Genre offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the area. Genre is a key means by which we categorize the many forms of literature and culture, but it is also much more than that: in talk and writing, in music and images, in film and television, genres...
Comedy
2nd Edition
By Andrew Stott
June 26, 2014
This new edition of Andrew Stott’s Comedy builds on themes presented in the first edition such as focusing on the significance of comic 'events' through study of various theoretical methodologies, including deconstruction, psychoanalysis and gender theory, and provides case studies of a number of ...
Narrative
2nd Edition
By Paul Cobley
November 27, 2013
Human beings have constantly told stories, presented events and placed the world into narrative form. This activity suggests a very basic way of looking at the world, yet, this book argues, even the most seemingly simple of stories is embedded in a complex network of relations. Paul Cobley traces ...