Books in the Cambridge Companions to Literature series

This rich and varied portrait of the drama from 1660 to 1714 provides students with essential information about playwrights, staging, dramatic themes and genres in their social and political contexts. There are also useful reference features. All essays have been newly commissioned for this Companion.

This volume places Goethe in the context of the Germany and Europe of his lifetime. His literary work is covered in individual chapters on poetry, drama, prose fiction and autobiography. A wide-ranging survey of reception and an extensive guide to further reading round off this volume.

This collected volume addresses all aspects of Mary Wollstonecraft's momentous and tragically brief career. It illuminates not only her major work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, but also the full range of her writing, and assesses her significance in her own time and since.

The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allen Poe consists of 14 essays by leading international scholars. It examines all of Poe's major writings, and places his work in a variety of literary, cultural and political contexts. It features a detailed chronology and a comprehensive guide to further reading.

This collection of specially commissioned essays, first published in 2003, explores key dimensions of Lacan's life and works. Lacan is renowned as a theoretician of psychoanalysis whose work is still influential in many countries. This Companion focuses on key terms in Lacan's work and will bring fresh, accessible perspectives to a formidable and influential thinker.

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.

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 revised edition of The Cambridge Companion to Chaucer is based on the first edition which has become a classic in Chaucer studies. Material has been updated, and new contributions have been commissioned to take into account recent trends in literary theory as well as in Chaucer studies.

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.

The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Hardy is an essential introduction to this most important and enigmatic of writers. These commissioned essays from an international team of contributors comprise a general overview of all Hardy' s work and specific demonstrations of Hardy's ideas and literary skills.

This volume, first published in 2000, explores the world of Anton Chekhov and the creation, performance and interpretation of his works. The Companion also offers insights on acting Chekhov, by Ian McKellen, and directing Chekhov, by Trevor Nunn and Leonid Heifetz, and essays on Chekhov as writer, Chekhov and women, and the Chekhov comedies.

The Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth examines Wordsworth's poetic achievement; chapters cover his poetic craft, the origin of his poetry and on the challenges it presented and continues to present. The volume aims to ensure that its readers will be grounded in the history of Wordsworth's career and his critical reception.

Specially commissioned essays consider Coleridge's poems, his notebooks and the Biographia Literaria; attention is given to his role as talker, journalist, critic, and philosopher, his politics, religion, and his reputation. A chronology and guides to further reading complete the volume.

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.

This book addresses a wide array of themes and approaches to the distinct yet multifaceted body of Jewish American literature. Essays cover writing from the 1700s to major contemporary writers such as Saul Bellow and Philip Roth. Topics covered include immigration and acculturation, Yiddish and Hebrew literature, and the Holocaust.

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.

The Cambridge Companion to D. H. Lawrence offers a series of alternative perspectives on one of the most important and controversial writers of the twentieth century. These essays offer diverse and stimulating readings of Lawrence's major novels, short stories, poetry and plays.

This collection of specially commissioned essays will enable readers to explores Frost's art and thought, from the controversies of his biography to his reinvention of poetic and metric traditions. This volume is complemented by a chronology and guide to further reading which will prove valuable to scholars and students alike.

Leading scholars from both sides of the Atlantic provide an accessible, up-to-date introduction to the life and works of Ben Jonson. The volume is an invaluable guide to current critical perspectives, focusing not only on Jonson's achievement as a dramatist but also as a poet and literary critic.

The Cambridge Companion to Writing of the English Revolution analyzes a range of literary and political writings that are central to understanding both the history and political thought of the period. These specially-commissioned essays provide an invaluable examination and explanation of this crucial period in English history and literature.

Specially commissioned essays consider Coleridge's poems, his notebooks and the Biographia Literaria; attention is given to his role as talker, journalist, critic, and philosopher, his politics, religion, and his reputation. A chronology and guides to further reading complete the volume.

Specially commissioned essays by leading scholars discuss Keats's work in several fascinating contexts: literary history and key predecessors; Keats's life in London's intellectual, aesthetic and literary culture; and the relation of his poetry to the visual arts.

This is an accessible, wide-ranging and informed introduction to Shakespeare's comedies and romances, first published in 2001. Rather than taking each play in isolation, the chapters trace recurring issues through Shakespeare's early and middle comedies, dark comedies and late romances, suggesting the creative use he made of the conventions he inherited.

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.

The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allen Poe consists of 14 essays by leading international scholars. It examines all of Poe's major writings, and places his work in a variety of literary, cultural and political contexts. It features a detailed chronology and a comprehensive guide to further reading.

This Companion offers a comprehensive introduction to the thought of the highly influential twentieth-century critic and theorist Walter Benjamin. The volume provides examinations of the different aspects of Benjamin's work that have had a significant effect on contemporary critical and historical thought.

Satire as a genre was first developed by the Romans and regarded as completely 'their own'. In this Companion a leading international cast of contributors provides a stimulating introduction aimed particularly at non-specialists. Satires' generic and literary features are explored, as well as their role as social discourse and reception.

This Companion covers British and American crime fiction from the eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth. As well as discussing the detective fiction of writers like Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler, it considers other kinds of fiction where crime plays a substantial part, such as the thriller and spy fiction.

This 2004 Companion provides perspectives on Hawthorne's classic works, and on topics such as Hawthorne's relationship to history, to women, politics, and early America. The book brings together a team of leading international scholars to offer a comprehensive introduction to Hawthorne's work and life.