Books in the British and Irish Authors series

H. G. Wells wrote almost a hundred books, yet he is generally remembered for only a handful of them. He is known above all as a writer who heralded the future, yet throughout his life he clung to fixed attitudes from the Victorian past. In this book John Batchelor offers a readable introduction to Wells's huge and varied output as a writer and thinker.

Taking into account his posthumous works, this book views E. M. Forster as an essentially modern writer attempting to negotiate the gulf between man's spiritual needs and the demands and pressures of society. Professor Martin considers the importance of the travel theme in Forster's writing and the impact of his homosexuality on the content of his fiction.

A critical introduction to Jane Austen's writings, which considers in turn her letters, the minor works and the six complete novels.

This book offers a revaluation of Keat's major poetry. It reveals how Keat's work is both an oblique criticism of the dominant attitudes to literature, sexuality, religion, and politics in his period, and a powerful critique of the claims of the imagination.

This book provides an introduction to T.S.Eliots poetry. The poems, as well as some of the poetic drama and sections of the prose criticism, are discussed and placed in relation to the development of Eliot's oeuvre, to his life and to a wider context of philosophical and religious enquiry.

This book, with its emphasis on Dryden as a poet - as opposed simply to topical commentator or controversialist - will prove an ideal introduction for students of his work.

This book provides a valuable introduction for students and other readers of Tennyson's poetry and presents an account of its major themes and concerns.

This book provides a concise introduction to Richardson, by combining a close reading of Pamela, Clarissa and Sir Charles Gerandison with a discussion of their central themes.

This introduction to Henry James' major novels of explores his central theme, the betrayal of innocence, discussing it in a way which offers fresh interpretations. It communicates the excitement rather than the difficulty of reading James. The book includes a short account of James' life, a list of his works and a guide to further criticism.

This concise and lucid study provides an ideal introduction to the major work of Henry Fielding for all students. Fielding's stature as a great comic novelist is assured, but as Professor Varey illustrates, he was a remarkably versatile writer. In his day Fielding was one of England's leading dramatists and also pursued a career in law.

Most people agree that Wordsworth is 'great'; it is not easy to say why. Professor Durrant sets out to show this with detailed reference to particular poems. He accepts that the great creative period of Wordsworth's life was from 1798 to 1805; that in those few years he produced the poems in which his genius was realised; that these poems express a particular vision, which later faded.

In this study the author links Beckett's vision of a diminished humanity with his art of formally and verbally diminished resources, and traces the fundamental simplicity and coherence of Beckett's work beneath its complex textures.

Richard Dutton focuses on the greatest landmark of Jonson's career, the 1616 folio collection of his works with which he crowned his growing reputation as a man of letters, collecting together the majority of his most enduring works - including Every Man in his Humour, Volpone, The Alchemist; the tragedies Sejanus and Catiline; and the major masques and poems.

This book is an original and well-informed survey of the whole of Joyce's work. It offers close readings of his early writings such as Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and an extended examination of his masterpiece, Ulysses.

A revaluation of Lawrence's novels, tracing his development through them as an artist and thinker.

Jacques Berthoud attempts a full demonstration of the clarity, consistency, and depth of thought evident in the novels of Joseph Conrad. This book will be of interest to specialists in English studies and any reader looking for guidance through the complexities of the major novels.

Professor Gooneratne shows how Pope's best and most deeply-felt verse expresses the living values of the Age of Enlightenment.

Mr Mayhead examines Scott's contemplation of the detribalization of Scotland after the Jacobite rebellions, and the political and social stresses this brought about. He also picks out a vein of shrewd moral wisdom within his works, focusing on Waverley, Heart of Midlothian, Guy Mannering and The Abbot as the works which embody these interests.

A critical introduction to William Blake's poetry, which concentrates on the most accessible of Blake's writings, but which also gives careful consideration to the longer prophetic works. Professor Gillham maintains that The Songs should be viewed as a dramatic unity and that their interpretation is not aided by a study of the later prophetic works as has so often been maintained.