Books in the Cambridge Companions to Literature series

This Companion is the most comprehensive introduction to Dreiser's work available. It establishes new parameters for both scholarly and classroom discussion of Dreiser, and provides fresh perspectives on Dreiser's writing as well as on topics of perennial interest, such as his representation of the city and his prose style.

In this Companion, an international team of leading T. S. Eliot scholars contribute studies of different facets of the writer's work to build up a carefully co-ordinated and fully rounded introduction. Taken as a whole, the Companion comprises an essential handbook for students and other readers of Eliot.

The Cambridge Companion to Henry James provides a critical introduction to James's work. He has retained a powerful hold on readers and critics alike. All essays are written at a level free from technical jargon, designed to promote accessibility to the study of James and his work.

This collection of fifteen essays offers a guide to the work of Tom Stoppard, including insights into the recent plays, Arcadia and Invention of Love, as well as his co-authored, academy award-winning screenplay Shakespeare in Love. The volume also contains photographs from key productions, a biography and chronology.

This 2004 Companion is designed for readers interested in the production and interpretation of Victorian and Edwardian theatre in its own time and on the modern stage. Includes an essay contextualizing the theatre within its culture; other chapters examine music, actors, stagecraft, audiences, issues of class and gender, and the economics of the theatre.

The Cambridge Companion to Postcolonial Literary Studies, first published in 2004, offers a lucid introduction and overview of one of the most important strands in recent literary theory and cultural studies. The volume aims to introduce readers to key concepts, methods, theories, thematic concerns, and contemporary debates in the field.

A thorough and accessible guide to the Gothic genre. Essays explore the relationship with political and industrial revolutions, other literary traditions, nationalism and racism, colonized and post-colonial populations, the rise of film, and changing attitudes towards human identity. The volume also includes a chronology and guides to further reading.

This Companion offers thirteen original essays by leading scholars of a major American modernist novelist. The essays collected here cover the full range of Cather's career including most of her novels and short stories. A detailed chronology and guide to further reading offer a fresh introduction to this enigmatic author.

London has provided the setting and inspiration for a host of literary works, from canonical masterpieces to the popular and ephemeral. Drawing upon a variety of methods and materials, the essays in this volume explore representations of the city and its literary culture from medieval times to the present.

This Companion examines a number of issues related to the terms realism and naturalism, which have long served to designate major late nineteenth-century American fiction. It includes ten essays that deal with the historical context, application, and expansion of this movement.

This Companion serves both as an introduction for the interested reader and as a source of the best recent scholarship on the author and his works. In addition to analysing his major texts, these chapters provide insight on Hemingway's relationship with gender history, journalism, fame and the political climate of the 1930s.

This essential 1997 guide to one of the theatre's most important and influential writers, offers not only a general overview, but also incorporates some of the latest critical thinking, a detailed chronology of Wilde's work, a bibliography and illustrations from key productions.

A comprehensive account of classic Russian fiction of the past two hundred years.

This volume, first published in 2004, provides a broad ranging introduction to the major trends in the development of the German novel from the 1890s to the present. Unique in its combination of breadth of coverage and detailed analysis of individual works, this Companion will be indispensable to students and teachers.

This volume of specially commissioned essays contains studies of O'Neill's life, his intellectual and creative forebears, and his relation to the theatrical world of his creative period, 1916-42. The volume also includes an essay on O'Neill criticism containing a select bibliography of full-length studies of the playwright's work.

The Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson provides a critical introduction to Emerson's work. The tradition of American literature and philosophy as we know it at the end of the twentieth century was largely shaped by Emerson's example and practice.

This Companion, first published in 2000, addresses the work of women playwrights in Britain throughout the twentieth century. The chapters explore the historical and theatrical contexts in which women have written for the theatre and examine the work of individual playwrights. A chronological section is followed by chapters on nationality and identity.

This 2003 Companion explores crucial dimensions of Swift's life and works. As well as ensuring a broad coverage of Swift's writing, it offers a way into critical and theoretical issues surrounding the author. The volume features a detailed chronology and a guide to further reading.

An accessible, helpful guide for any student of Milton, whether undergraduate or graduate, introducing readers to the scope of Milton's work, the richness of its historical relations, and the range of current approaches to it. This second edition contains new and revised essays, reflecting new developments in Milton studies.

The first comprehensive account of English Renaissance literature in the context of the culture which shaped it: the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the Reformation, the age of printing and of discovery. The Companion covers poetry, prose, religious writing and drama in fourteen newly-commissioned essays, written for students.

Byron's life and work and the interactions between them have fascinated readers for two hundred years. In three sections devoted to the historical, textual and literary contexts of Byron's life and times, these essays by eminent Byron scholars provide a compelling picture of the diversity of Byron's writings.

Poet, painter, and engraver William Blake died in 1827 in obscurity. Yet he has become one of the most admired of English writers and artists. The essays in this Companion, together with a chronology, guides to further reading, and glossary of terms, guide students and scholars through Blake's multifarious world.

This volume of specially commissioned essays contains studies of O'Neill's life, his intellectual and creative forebears, and his relation to the theatrical world of his creative period, 1916-42. The volume also includes an essay on O'Neill criticism containing a select bibliography of full-length studies of the playwright's work.

This 2004 volume offers an introduction to British literature that challenges the traditional divide between eighteenth-century and Romantic studies. The volume focuses on broad themes including taste and aesthetics and pays close attention to the work of individual writers including Sterne, Blake, Barbauld and Austen.

This 2004 Companion provides a full introduction to the famed pioneer of both the Elizabethan stage and modern English poetry, Christopher Marlowe. Sixteen leading scholars provide accessible and authoritative chapters and the volume includes a chronology of Marlowe's life, a note on reference works, and a reading list for each chapter.

This Companion presents new essays covering the one hundred and fifty year history of the African American novel. Experts in the field from the US and Europe address some of the major issues in the genre: passing, the Protest novel, the Blues novel, and womanism among others.

Offers a comprehensive account of his life and work, providing a rounded contemporary appraisal of Central Europe's most distinctive Modernist. Contributions cover all the key texts, and discuss Kafka's writing in a variety of critical contexts such as feminism, deconstruction, psycho-analysis, Marxism, Jewish studies.

This provides fresh perspectives on the frequently read classic Uncle Tom's Cabin, as well as on topics of perennial interest, such as Stowe's representation of race, her attitude to reform, and her relationship to the American novel. Accessible and engaged, this is the most comprehensive introduction available to Stowe's work.

This Companion presents fifteen original and engaging essays by leading scholars on one of the most influential genres of Western literature, offering a clear introduction to a rich array of traditions and texts. An introduction, a chronology and a bibliography of texts and translations complete this lively, useful overview.

The first comprehensive account of English Renaissance literature in the context of the culture which shaped it: the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the Reformation, the age of printing and of discovery. The Companion covers poetry, prose, religious writing and drama in fourteen newly-commissioned essays, written for students.