Books in the Harvard English Studies series

Presents current thinking on some of the theoretical issues and dilemmas in the conception and writing of literary history, by scholars from Europe, Australia and North America. Topics covered include the role of literary history in "new" societies and the problem of literary classification.

Here, 16 scholars from Europe and the USA offer essays on topics such as the "Child ballads" in their British and American forms; aspects of the oral literatures of France, Ireland, Scandinavia, ancient Greece, modern Egypt and medieval England as well as recent literary ballads and popular songs.

Published in the bicentennial year of Samuel Johnson's death, Johnson and His Age includes contributions by some of the nation's most eminent scholars of eighteenth-century literature. It includes sections on Johnson's life, major figures of the age, and the novel.

Published in the bicentennial year of Samuel Johnson's death, Johnson and His Age includes contributions by some of the nation's most eminent scholars of eighteenth-century literature. It includes sections on Johnson's life, major figures of the age, and the novel.

How to determine the theme of a text-can a focus on form be the theme? Can the motif be a formal category? What operations permit us to say that texts are variants of the same theme? The contributors challenge the dismissal of "merely" thematic approaches and offer different ways to tackle the issue of what a piece of writing is "about."