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.
Fairy Tale
1st Edition
By Andrew Teverson
July 10, 2013
This volume offers a comprehensive critical and theoretical introduction to the genre of the fairy tale. It: explores the ways in which folklorists have defined the genre assesses the various methodologies used in the analysis and interpretation of fairy tale provides a detailed account of the ...
Grotesque
1st Edition
By Justin Edwards, Rune Graulund
July 10, 2013
Grotesque provides an invaluable and accessible guide to the use (and abuse) of this complex literary term. Justin D. Edwards and Rune Graulund explore the influence of the grotesque on cultural forms throughout history, with particular focus on its representation in literature, visual art and film...
Epic
1st Edition
By Paul Innes
March 12, 2013
This student guidebook offers a clear introduction to an often complex and unwieldy area of literary studies. Tracing epic from its ancient and classical roots through postmodern and contemporary examples this volume discusses: a wide range of writers including Homer, Vergil, Ovid, Dante, ...
Spatiality
1st Edition
By Robert Tally Jr.
November 12, 2012
Spatiality has risen to become a key concept in literary and cultural studies, with critical focus on the ‘spatial turn’ presenting a new approach to the traditional literary analyses of time and history. Robert T. Tally Jr. explores differing aspects of the spatial in literary studies today, ...
Temporalities
1st Edition
By Russell West-Pavlov
November 01, 2012
Temporalities presents a concise critical introduction to the treatment of time throughout literature. Time and its passage represent one of the oldest and most complex philosophical subjects in art of all forms, and Russell West-Pavlov explains and interrogates the most important theories of ...
Romanticism
2nd Edition
By Aidan Day
February 09, 2012
Romanticism was a revolutionary intellectual and artistic movement which generated some of the most popular and influential texts in British and American literary history. This clear and engaging guide introduces the history, major writers and critical issues of this crucial era. This fully updated...
Dialogue
1st Edition
By Peter Womack
May 26, 2011
Dialogue is a many-sided critical concept; at once an ancient philosophical genre, a formal component of fiction and drama, a model for the relationship of writer and reader, and a theoretical key to the nature of language. In all its forms, it questions ‘literature’, disturbing the singleness and ...
Sexuality
2nd Edition
By Joseph Bristow
January 21, 2011
Theories of sexuality and desire are commonly used in literary and cultural studies. In this illuminating study Joseph Bristow introduces readers to the fundamental critical debates surrounding the topic. This fully updated second edition includes: a historical account of sexuality from the ...
Autobiography
2nd Edition
By Linda Anderson
January 13, 2011
If every writer necessarily draws on their own life, is any writing outside the realm of ‘autobiography’? The new edition of this classic guide is fully updated to include: developments in autobiographical criticism, highlighting major theoretical issues and concepts different forms of the genre ...
Interdisciplinarity
2nd Edition
By Joe Moran
March 05, 2010
Interdisciplinarity covers one of the most important changes in attitude and methodology in the history of the university. Taking the study of English as its main example, this fully updated second edition examines the ways in which we have organized knowledge into disciplines, and are now ...
The Historical Novel
1st Edition
By Jerome De Groot
October 28, 2009
The historical novel is an enduringly popular genre that raises crucial questions about key literary concepts, fact and fiction, identity, history, reading, and writing. In this comprehensive, focused guide, Jerome de Groot offers an accessible introduction to the genre and critical debates that ...
Allegory
1st Edition
By Jeremy Tambling
September 29, 2009
Indispensable to an understanding of Medieval and Renaissance texts and a topic of controversy for the Romantic poets, allegory remains a site for debate and controversy in the twenty-first-century. In this useful guide, Jeremy Tambling: presents a concise history of allegory, providing ...