Literary History & Criticism

An intellectual detective story, this history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain....

In The Kingdom of Cain, crime novelist, screenwriter, and cultural critic Andrew Klavan explores how artists' imaginative engagement with the evil of murder in film and literature can point us to ways of living honestly, beautifully, and even joyfully in a dark world.

Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a modern American classic....

The Iliad is the world’s greatest epic poem. Its beauty and profound bleakness are intensely moving, but great questions remain: Where, how, and when was it composed and why does it endure? Robin Lane Fox addresses these questions, drawing on a lifelong love and engagement with the poem....

Hendrik Groen may be old, but he is far from dead and isn't planning to be buried any time soon....

Mythology succeeds like no other audiobook in bringing to life for the modern listener the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths and legends that are the keystone of Western culture....

Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and, most importantly, enjoyment....

For the last 20 years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us....

Celebrated, iconic, and indispensable, Joan Didion’s first work of nonfiction, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, is considered a watershed moment in American writing. First published in 1968, the collection was critically praised as one of the “best prose written in this country.”

Esteemed translator and best-selling author Stephen Mitchell energizes a heroic tale so old it predates Homer's Iliad by more than a millennium....

The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave is a study of slave making....

The poems of the Poetic Edda have waited a long time for a modern English translation that would do them justice. Here it is at last (Odin be praised!). These amazing texts from a 13th-century Icelandic manuscript are of huge historical, mythological, and literary importance....

A brilliant investigation into the motivations and methods, Dumbledore dives between the lines of the Harry Potter books to create a portrait of the controversial Headmaster....

All Souls fans have been captivated from the start by the many sources of inspiration Harkness draws on in her novels. Here, with her signature historian's touch, she offers an encyclopedic look at the series, complete with synopses, character bios, maps, recipes, and more....

From rare book dealer and guest star of the hit show Pawn Stars comes an enthralling literary adventure that introduces listeners to the women writers who inspired Jane Austen—and investigates why their books have disappeared from our shelves.

Notes of a Native Son inaugurated Baldwin as one of the leading interpreters of the dramatic social changes erupting in the United States in the 20th century, and many of his observations have proven almost prophetic....

Los Angeles, 1948: Easy Rawlins is a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant....

A bestselling historian takes listeners on an intellectual and cultural adventure, offering a carefully curated guide to great, short nonfiction works by some of the world’s most influential writers—from Plato to Toni Morrison, Ernest Hemingway to bell hooks, and Marcus Aurelius to Joan Didion.

Joan Didion is revealed at last in this “vivid, engrossing” (Vogue), and outrageously provocative dual biography “that reads like a propulsive novel” (Oprah Daily) revealing the mutual attractions—and antagonisms—of Didion and her fellow literary titan, Eve Babitz.

Scholar of the macabre Dorothy Scarborough provides us with the first comprehensive overview of supernatural fiction in literary history, a book originally written as her dissertation for her Ph.D. at Columbia University, and later so universally praised that it was published widely in print.

Take a deep dive into the real-world history and mythology that inspired the world of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. Origins of The Wheel of Time will provide exciting knowledge and insights to both new and longtime fans....

From pop culture podcaster and a voice of a generation, Kate Kennedy, a celebration of the millennial zeitgeist: One in a Millennial is an exploration of pop culture, nostalgia, the millennial zeitgeist, and the life lessons learned....

Few writers today have reshaped our view of the ancient Greek myths more than revered bestselling author Natalie Haynes. Divine Might is a female-centered look at Olympus and the Furies, focusing on the goddesses whose prowess, passions, jealousies, and desires rival those of their male kin....

The tellers of Greek myths—historically men—have routinely sidelined the female characters....

Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in essays that are also enthralling narrative adventures....

In The Truth and Beauty, Andrew Klavan explored how the work of great poets helps illuminate the truth of the gospels. Now, the award-winning screenwriter and crime novelist turns his attention to the dark side of human nature to discover how we might find joy and beauty in the world while still being clear-eyed about the evil found in it. The Kingdom of Cain looks at three murders in history—including the first murder, Cain's killing of his brother, Abel—and at the art created from imaginative engagement with those horrific events by artists ranging from Fyodor Dostoevsky to Alfred Hitchcock.

Why does the Twilight saga continue to inspire both passionate fandom and heated critique? In Why We Love (and Hate) Twilight, Sarah Elizabeth Gallagher unpacks the cultural obsession with Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and the supernatural love story that redefined YA literature and pop culture forever.

Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin just after turning eighteen. He had completed his first year at an Irish university and was struggling to free himself from a religious upbringing. Inspired by the novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, Tóibín found a writer who would be a lifelong companion and exemplar.

In P=dt, Outline of a Theory of Power, the author develops the historical dynamics that link hegemonic, imperial powers with tolerance of diversity and dissent from power throughout history. This relationship is expressed in the formula P = d.t. Before and after periods of crisis in two different global systems, this is a zero-sum equilibrium: P - d.t = 0.

Unlock the transformative power of reading with How to Read a Book: Unlocking the Mind’s Hidden Stage by Dr. Elias Vorne, PhD—the only guide you’ll ever need to master the art of reading any book, from novels to textbooks, memoirs to poetry. In a distracted world where skimming and scrolling dominate, this book is your blueprint to becoming a lifelong reader, equipping you with the mindset and tools to extract wisdom, emotion, and insight from every page. Whether you’re a student, professional, or curious learner, this is your key to making reading an invaluable, life-changing skill...

This study on the struggle over semantic fields in social narrative was originally published as a thesis by the University of Georgia in 2005. Since then, political and social events and new technologies, such as social media, have confirmed the political and historical relevance of the semantic struggle (even under the ever-present influence of production and consumption systems) presented in this book. No significant changes have been made to the overall study in this new edition. Despite its successes and failures, the author has decided to present this new English edition of The ...

Keys to Tetouan: A Saga of Resilience, Identity, and Heritage. *Keys to Tetouan* by **Mois Benarroch** is a sweeping historical fiction novel that traces the harrowing journey of the Benzimra family, Sephardic Jews forced to flee the Spanish Inquisition and rebuild their lives in Tetouan, Morocco. Spanning generations, the story intertwines personal resilience with cultural upheaval, as the family navigates exile, survival, and the enduring quest to preserve their identity. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Tetouan—a city alive with tradition and conflict—the novel illuminates a ...

Stop Settling. Start Curating. A handbook for women who bring the vibe and expect more than vibes in return. Tired of dating men who think “emotional availability” is a podcast topic and “ambition” means eventually getting their passport? This is your permission slip to raise the bar and then velvet rope it off. The Six-Figure Soulmate isn’t about chasing a man with money. It’s about becoming the woman who doesn’t chase anyone, because she knows her presence is the luxury. This book is your unapologetically smart, slightly spicy guide to finding real partnership… preferably ...

¿Alguna vez te has preguntado cuál es el instante preciso en que se desencadena el inicio de una nueva era? En el místico antiguo Egipto, Nerthi, una niña marcada por la tragedia, se refugia en un templo donde la magia ancestral y los susurros de los dioses la guían para conjurar un hechizo de protección que perdurará en el tiempo. Miles de años después, el pasado y el presente colisionan en una aventura desbordante de intriga, poder y revelaciones que te dejará sin aliento. Esta novela no solo te desvelará los secretos que entrelazan las almas, sino que también te permitirá ...

For as long as people have traveled to distant lands, they have brought home objects to certify the journey. More than mere merchandise, these travel souvenirs take on a personal and cultural meaning that goes beyond the object itself. Drawing on several millennia of examples—from the relic-driven quests of early Christians, to the mass-produced tchotchkes that line the shelves of a Disney gift shop—travel writer Rolf Potts delves into a complicated history that explores issues of authenticity, cultural obligation, market forces, human suffering, and self-presentation.

Science fiction and fantasy comprise some of the great works of the human imagination—and some of the most abhorrent. This is your Politically Incorrect Guide® to a literary tradition that is a key to understanding the modern world.

"The Signal-Man" is a first-person horror/mystery story by Charles Dickens, first published as part of the Mugby Junction collection in the 1866 Christmas edition of All the Year Round. The railway signal-man of the title tells the narrator of an apparition that has been haunting him. Each spectral appearance precedes a tragic event on the railway on which the signalman works. The signalman's work is at a signal-box in a deep cutting near a tunnel entrance on a lonely stretch of the railway line, and he controls the movements of passing trains.

The mall near Mat thew Newton’s childhood home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was one of the state’s first enclosed shopping malls. Like all malls in their heyday, this one was a climate-controlled pleasuredome where strangers converged. It boasted waterfalls, fish ponds, an indoor ice skating rink larger than Rockefeller Center’s, and a monolithic clock tower illuminated year-round beneath a canopy of interconnected skylights. It also became the backdrop for filmmaker George A. Romero’s zombie opus Dawn of the Dead.

What is silence? In a series of short meditations, novelist and playwright John Biguenet considers silence as a servant of power, as a lie, as a punishment, as the voice of God, as a terrorist’s final weapon, as a luxury good, as the reason for torture—in short, as an object we both do and do not recognize. Concluding with the prospects for its future in a world burgeoning with noise, Biguenet asks whether we should desire or fear silence—or if it is even ours to choose.

During the breakdown of an unhappy marriage, writer Joanna Walsh got a job as a hotel reviewer, and began to gravitate towards places designed as alternatives to home. Luxury, sex, power, anonymity, privacy…hotels are where our desires go on holiday, but also places where our desires are shaped by the hard realities of the marketplace. Part memoir and part meditation, this book visits a series of rooms, suites, hallways, and lobbies—the spaces and things that make up these modern sites of gathering and alienation, hotels.

Among the many things expectant parents are told to buy, none is a more visible symbol of status and parenting philosophy than a stroller. Although its association with wealth dates back to the invention of the first pram in the 1700s, in recent decades, four-figure strollers have become not just status symbols but cultural identifiers.

Why are there so many examples of public figures, entertainers, and normal, everyday people in blackface? And why aren’t there as many examples of people of color in whiteface? This book explains what blackface is, why it occurred, and what its legacies are in the 21st century. There is a filthy and vile thread—sometimes it’s tied into a noose—that connects the first performances of Blackness on English stages, the birth of blackface minstrelsy, contemporary performances of Blackness, and anti-Black racism.

In Earth, a planetary scientist and a literary humanist explore what happens when we think of the Earth as an object viewable from space. As a “blue marble,” “a blue pale dot,” or, as Chaucer described it, “this litel spot of erthe,” the solitary orb is a challenge to scale and to human self-importance. Beautiful and self-contained, the Earth turns out to be far less knowable than it at first appears: its vast interior an inferno of incandescent and yet solid rock and a reservoir of water vaster than the ocean, a world within the world.

Every shelf is different and every bookshelf tells a different story. One bookshelf can creak with character in a bohemian coffee shop and another can groan with gravitas in the Library of Congress. Writer and historian Lydia Pyne finds bookshelves to be holders not just of books but of so many other things: values, vibes, and verbs that can be contained and displayed in the buildings and rooms of contemporary human existence.

We all wear hoods: the Grim Reaper, Red Riding Hood, torturers, executioners and the executed, athletes, laborers, anarchists, rappers, babies in onesies, and anyone who’s ever grabbed a hoodie on a chilly day. Alison Kinney’s Hood explores the material and symbolic vibrancy of this everyday garment and political semaphore, which often protects the powerful at the expense of the powerless—with deadly results.

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 BCE) wrote some of ancient Rome's greatest poetry, melding languages and cultures with youthful ideals and a realist's recognition of the dictatorial world around him. Horace is famed for his fine phrases, lyric sex, and guidance on how to live, but he was a poet maddened by war, and many of his most self-revealing poems have rarely been seen. He could be sublime and obscene, amusing and abusive, a model of moderation and anything but.

Obligatorischer Absatz: Karl Kraus gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Aphoristiker deutscher Sprache. Ob berühmte Schriftsteller oder die Presse - nichts und niemand wurde von der Kritik seiner Feder verschont. Bekannte Künstler wie Stefan Zweig, Georg Trakl, Thomas Mann und andere zollten ihm Respekt, aber die Zahl seiner Feinde in Kunst und Gesellschaft war enorm. Als Vorleser hinterließ er aufgrund seiner Sprachgewalt und Persönlichkeit angeblich einen äußerst außergewöhnlichen Eindruck.

Karl Kraus gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Aphoristiker deutscher Sprache. Ob berühmte Schriftsteller oder die Presse - nichts und niemand wurde von der gnadenlosen Kritik seiner Feder verschont. Bekannte Künstler wie Stefan Zweig, Georg Trakl, Thomas Mann und andere zollten ihm Respekt, aber die Zahl seiner Feinde in Kunst und Gesellschaft war enorm. Als Vorleser hinterließ er aufgrund seiner Sprachgewalt und Persönlichkeit angeblich einen äußerst außergewöhnlichen Eindruck.

Schlechter könnte es für den jungen Fuchs Jaron nicht laufen: Sein strenger Vater zwingt ihn, Fußball zu spielen, obwohl ihm das Training überhaupt nicht gefällt. Sein bester Freund verbringt plötzlich lieber Zeit mit zwei Fieslingen, die Jaron ständig ärgern. Und dann steckt ihn die Lehrerin für die große Projektarbeit auch noch in eine Mädchengruppe! Doch dort verkündet das freche Hasenmädchen Lotte: "Wir erforschen, was glücklich macht!" Sie reißt den betrübten Jaron mit - in eine abenteuerliche Suche nach dem Glück.

The purpose of this study is to understand how a new medium (Facebook) is used by Twilight literature fans and how users are gratified through their use of the new medium. Fans are categorized in one of two forms (consumer-fans and producer-fans) and a two by two matrix is developed to categorize these two fan types. In relation to media, the age of a targeted audience determines the content. It has however become a blurred line in literature and film, in which case content that was intended for a younger audience is attracting the attention of an older audience (and vice versa).