Key Concepts in Literary Theory provides authoritative and precise definitions of the most significant terms and concepts currently used in psychoanalytic, poststructuralist, Marxist, feminist, and postcolonial literary studies. The volume also presents clear discussions of the main areas of literary, critical, and cultural theory, supported by bib...more

This comprehensive critical survey introduces readers to the principal themes and styles of literature in England since 1945. John Brannigan examines the complex nature of the relationship between literature and history, society, and place, and argues that postwar literature is especially concerned with themes of social and cultural change. Coverin...more

Continuum's "Guides for the Perplexed" are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a tho...more

The Beetle (1897) tells the story of a fantastical creature, "born of neither god nor man," with supernatural and hypnotic powers, who stalks British politician Paul Lessingham through fin de siècle London in search of vengeance for the defilement of a sacred tomb in Egypt. In imitation of various popular fiction genres of the late nineteenth cent...more

What does it mean to read or write with ghosts, or to suggest that acts of reading or writing are haunted? How can 19th century authors be read to acknowledge the various phantom effects which return within their texts? In what ways do the traces of such "ghost writing" surface in the works of Dickens, Tennyson, Eliot, and Hardy? Beginning with an ...more