{"title":"Student Companions To Classic Writers","description":"\u003cp\u003eUnlock deeper understanding of literary giants with Student Companions. Ideal for students and avid readers alike, these guides offer insightful analysis of classic writers and their works. Begin your literary journey here.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"student-companion-to-tennessee-williams-book-nancy-m-tischler-9780313312380","title":"Student Companion to Tennessee Williams","description":"From his earliest success in 1945 with the poignant The Glass Menagerie, until his final curtain call with the 1979 production of The Two-Character Play, Tennessee Williams never stopped experimenting with theatrical techniques and striving to explain his richly provocative ideas. This new critical study of Williams traces the shape of the playwright's life and career, both full of wanderings, failures, love, anguish, and unparalleled triumphs. Incorporating much of the new information that is emerging in the recent publication of letters, biographies, and previously unpublished plays, this Student Companion distills a vast body of scholarship to give a fresh and accessible presentation of the key elements of Williams' complicated works. In-depth analysis of 7 of Williams' plays explore the literary styles, themes, and influences Williams drew from poetry, movies, mythology, religion, and personal experiences. This book allows the general reader and theatre enthusiast a glimpse at the shape of his life, his mind, and his work. Readers will come to appreciate why plays such as A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) have come to be considered American classics.    Following the successful series format, this volume introduces readers to Tennessee Williams with a richly detailed biography, followed by a Literary Heritage chapter. A full chapter is devoted to examining each of his major plays. In addition to analysis of character, plot, themes, and style, each play is also given an alternate reading from formal, feminist, psychological, gay, or theological criticism. The concluding bibliography cites all of Williams' dramatic output, as well as his poetry and prose. It also gives many sources for biographical information, criticism of individual works, and original reviews from the first staging of his plays. 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This Student Companion offers an absorbing biographical account of the Bront^De sisters' upbringing, tracing the familial and personal influences that shaped their intellectual lives. A literary heritage chapter also helps students grasp the importance of the sisters' literary accomplishments. A thorough, clear critical analysis is provided for each novel, including sections on plot, character development, thematic issues, literary devices and craft, and the historical\/social-cultural context of each work. In addition to Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, original analysis is also given for Shirley (1849), Villette (1853),and The Professor (1857), Charlotte's first written but posthumously published novel.  Five different contemporary literary theories--Marxist, Freudian, Jungian, Postcolonial, and Feminist--are included in the analysis and are discussed and applied to the novels. Difficult concepts are clearly explained, in non-academic prose. In-depth historical information not usually found in books about the Bront^Des is included, such as Belgian history, which is important in understanding Villette and The Professor. Clear writing and additional background information make this book a good choice for non-specialists, including students and general readers. An up-to-date bibliography includes the most recently published books and articles in Bront^De studies.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50050671542545,"sku":"GOR013846179","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50767635448081,"sku":"GOR014064050","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52149416132881,"sku":"NLS9780313310539","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/031331053X.jpg?v=1751459331"},{"product_id":"student-companion-to-arthur-miller-book-susan-c-w-abbotson-9780313309496","title":"Student Companion to Arthur Miller","description":"This critical introduction to Arthur Miller provides an indispensable aid for students and general readers to understand the depth and complexity of some of America's most important dramatic works. Beginning with a discussion of his life, this work traces not only Miller's theatrical career, but his formulative experiences with the Great Depression, the Holocaust, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Detailed discussions of eight important plays are organized around the social and moral themes Miller derived from such events; these themes are evident in such works as Death of A Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, and All My Sons. By placing Miller, within the context of his times, this discussion reveals how he was influenced by and reacted to the major events in his own life and in American culture. Analysis of his more recent works such as The American Clock, Broken Glass and The Ride Down Mt. Morgan illustrate the consistency of Miller's strong moral vision, and his continuing innovative contributions to American theatre.  A fascinating biographical chapter takes readers from Miller's childhood, through the Depression years, through three marriages; and from his theatrical apprenticeship, to eventual fame and critical acclaim for his plays and other literary and cinematic projects. The literary heritage chapter outlines Miller's literary and dramatic precursors, and considers the major aspects of his dramatic impact. The six chapters discussing his major plays are systematically presented to allow the reader to easily grasp the intricacies of their plots, characterizations, stylistic devices, and themes. In addition, each chapter offers a view of the social and\/or historical context that influenced the plays' thematic development, as well as an alternate critical reading that demonstrates the richness of Miller's work. Lastly, the bibliography provides information on Miller's published works, including his screenplays and essays, biographical information, selected general criticism, and both contemporary reviews and critical studies of the plays discussed.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50349625901329,"sku":"CIN0313309493G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52151566631185,"sku":"NLS9780313309496","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0313309493.jpg?v=1751985544"},{"product_id":"student-companion-to-john-steinbeck-book-cynthia-burkhead-9780313314575","title":"Student Companion to John Steinbeck","description":"This book guides readers through these and other important Steinbeck works, particularly those that are most often taught, including The Pearl (1945), The Red Pony (1933), and significant short fiction. Clear analysis of each work includes discussions of character development, plot and setting, thematic treatment, historical contexts, and alternate critical readings. A biographical chapter, as well as an examination of the author's contributions and career, helps readers gain a sense of Steinbeck the man and his position as one of America's most important writers.    Since the publication of Tortilla Flat in 1935, Steinbeck's treatment of American landscapes and themes has struck a chord with readers. His novels Of Mice and Men (1937), The Grapes of Wrath (1939), and Cannery Row (1945) were instant critical and popular successes. Each went on to become a feature film, which added to Steinbeck's cultural impact. His works have long endured to earn a place in the canon of American Literature. This book guides readers through these and other important Steinbeck works, particularly those that are most often taught, including The Pearl (1945), The Red Pony (1933), and significant short fiction.    Clear analysis of each work includes discussions of character development, plot and setting, thematic treatment, historical contexts, and alternate critical readings. A biographical chapter, as well as an examination of the author's contributions and career, helps readers gain a sense of Steinbeck the man and his position as one of America's most important writers.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51630285816081,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51630287618321,"sku":"NGR9780313314575","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52423643627793,"sku":"NLS9780313314575","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0313314578.jpg?v=1751557276"},{"product_id":"student-companion-to-stephen-crane-book-paul-m-sorrentino-9780313331046","title":"Student Companion to Stephen Crane","description":"Born into a family of writers, Stephen Crane wrote his first poem, I'd Rather Have when he was eight, and his first short story, Uncle Jake and the Bell-Handle, at around the age of 13. Despite never having completed a course of study at any of the colleges he attended, Crane decided, in the spring of 1891, to pursue a career as a writer. While working as a journalist, he penned Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, a novella written in the Naturalist style that depicted the seaminess of urban tenement life. Enduring his own poverty, and taking temporary reporting jobs, Crane completed his literary masterpiece, The Red Badge of Courage, a dramatic depiction of a soldier's inner life during the American Civil War, in April 1894. The author, who continued to write both journalistic pieces and short stories until his death in June 1900, is one of the most highly regarded and popularly taught American authors today.    Stephen Crane pursued his writing career during a time when the literary world was moving from Romanticism to Realism and Naturalism, and later in his life, Impressionism and Modernism. Sorrentino examines each of Crane's works, identifying the influence of these literary movements, and world events, on his novels, short stories, and poetry, including: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, New York City Stories and Sketches, The Red Badge of Courage, War Stories, Western Stories, and Tales of Whilomville.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51630286897425,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51630288666897,"sku":"NGR9780313331046","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52342050685201,"sku":"NLS9780313331046","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0313331049.jpg?v=1751457040"},{"product_id":"student-companion-to-herman-melville-book-sharon-talley-9780313334993","title":"Student Companion to Herman Melville","description":"Student Companion to Herman Melville provides a critical introduction to the life and literary works of Herman Melville, the nineteenth-century American author of Moby-Dick, as well as nine other novels and numerous short stories and poems. In addition to providing an overview of Melville's life in relation to his literary works, the book places his writings within their historical and cultural contexts, and then examines each of his major works fully, at the level of the nonspecialist and generalist reader. The chapters that address major works by Melville feature close readings of the literary texts that include analysis of point of view, setting, plot, characters, symbolism, themes, and historical contexts when appropriate. In addition, the four chapters devoted to individual novels, as well as the chapter on Melville's poetry, feature alternate readings to introduce the reader to postcolonial, feminist, genre, reader response, and deconstructionist approaches to literary criticism. The book concludes with an extensive bibliography that includes lists of Melville's published works, biographies, contemporary reviews, and recent critical studies.    -Early Narratives, from Typee to White Jacket -Moby Dick -Pierre -The Piazza Tales -Other magazine tales: I and My Chimney, The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids, and Israel Potter -The Confidence-Man -Poetry, including","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52124783771921,"sku":"NLS9780313334993","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780313334993.jpg?v=1757459160"},{"product_id":"student-companion-to-james-fenimore-cooper-book-craig-white-9780313334139","title":"Student Companion to James Fenimore Cooper","description":"The Student Companion to James Fenimore Cooper At the dawn of America's continental empire, James Fenimore Cooper in the early 1800s became the new nation's first major novelist, inaugurating a great period in American literature and bequeathing a number of classic texts including the Leather-Stocking Tales. This Companion to Cooper's writings appeals to high school and college students by outlining Cooper's most frequently assigned novels and establishing their historical backgrounds concerning American Indians and the early United States. Two opening chapters review the author's life and accomplishments, and another offers tips for managing Cooper's style and subject matter. Cooper's breakthrough novel The Spy (1821), which features George Washington as a major actor, has a chapter of its own. The second half of the Companion highlights the Leather-Stocking Tales, with one chapter on the overall saga and five chapters devoted to the individual novels in the series: The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneers, and The Prairie. 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Hardy's publishing of fiction, drama, poetry, and the short story ranks him with Shakespeare, one of few other authors in the English language to write major works in more than one literary genre. Growing up, Hardy apprenticed as an architect but soon realized his true calling was writing. He based much of his work on his homeland and local culture in England, creating the fictional county of Wessex, the setting for most of his works. This companion explores the life of Hardy, examining his career and most important works. 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This critical study introduces students to both the man and his fiction, exploring how Hemingway confronted in his own life the same moral issues that would later create thematic conflicts for the characters in his novels. In addition to the biographical chapter which focuses on the pivotal events in Hemingway's personal life, a literary heritage chapter overviews his professional developments, relating his distinctive style to his early years as a journalist. With clear concise analysis, students are guided through all of Hemingway's major works including The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952). Full chapters are also devoted to examining his collections of short fiction, the African Stories, and the posthumous works.    Each chapter carefully examines the major literary components of Hemingway's fiction with plot synopsis, analysis of character development, themes, settings, historical context, and stylistic features. Alternate critical readings are also given for each of the full length works. 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Beginning with her life and career, the volume places Wharton in the context of her times, focusing on how she was shaped by the culture of wealth and privilege into which she was born. Her struggle to resist the demands of her social world paralleled her characters' lives and contributed to the power of her writing. Included are an in-depth discussion of her writing, along with analyses of thematic concerns, character development, historical context, and plot. A close critical reading covers each of her major works, with a full chapter devoted to each: The House of Mirth (1905), Ethan Frome (1911), Summer (1917), The Age of Innocence (1920), and her two novellas, Madame de Treymes (1907) and The Old Maid (1924).  Another chapter addresses Wharton's short stories and considers some of her most famous and anthologized tales, such as The Other Two and Roman Fever. 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This well-written study surveys his unusual and prolific life, relating his fiction writings to his concerns and active involvement with social conditions of early Victorian England. Glancy skillfully takes the reader back in time to appreciate the historical settings that inspired works like Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities. An entire chapter is devoted to each of these works, as well as to David Copperfield, Hard Times, the Christmas books, and the early novels from The Pickwick Papers to Martin Chuzzlewit. In each chapter Glancy's analysis of plot, style, and character development bring these imaginative stories to life for the reader. This book examines Dickens's keen understanding of human nature and draws out the themes that make works such as A Christmas Carol as beloved today as when first written.    This companion to Dickens will aid students in understanding the social context and literary genius of one of the greatest Victorian novelists. The thorough biographical chapter traces Dickens' life from his childhood through the development of his multi-faceted literary career. The literary heritage chapter examines the tremendous influence Dickens exerted on writing then and now. This volume surveys all of Dickens' work and provides in-depth readings of five of his novels and his Christmas works. The series format makes analysis of setting, plot, character development, and themes for each work accessible to students. The alternate critical perspectives enhance readers' understanding of Dickens' work. 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A full chapter is devoted to analysing each of Hurston's major works of fiction: Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934), Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939), Seraph on the Suwanee (1948) as well as her short fiction and her fictionalized autobiography Dust Tracks on a Road (1942).    For each of the works, plot, character development, themes, setting and symbols are identified and discussed in clear accessible language. An alternate critical perspective enhances the understanding of each of Hurston's full length works. 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It features a biographical chapter that relates his life to his work, a chapter on his career and contributions to American literature, and chapters that analyze his most important short stories and novels in turn. Examined are his best known and most frequently anthologized tales, and the romances The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun. Each of the novels is discussed in a separate chapter. Of additional value in the volume is a complete bibliography of Hawthorne's work, selected bibliography of critical and biographical sources, and lists of reviews of each novel and the stories, both from the time the literature was originally published and from contemporary sources.  The biographical chapter provides an overview of Hawthorne's life, including his years in Salem and Concord, Massachusetts. The chapter on his career traces Hawthorne's development as a writer, his contributions to the genre of the short story and the romance, and his influence on contemporaries and later writers. In examining the fiction itself, the chapters that follow feature close readings of texts that include analysis of setting, plot development, character development, and themes. 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Carefully considering important thematic elements as well as genre, this book organizes the works of Poe into four significant groupings: the poetry, Vampiric love stories, tales of psychological terror, and the detective stories. Close readings are given for a selection of the most important works that represent Poe's canon of writings, including the chilling Tell Tale Heart and The Black Cat.  This introductory study to Edgar Allan Poe begins with a concise biographical chapter that explores Poe's troubled experiences. The Literary Heritage chapter chronicles Poe's influence on other writers, artists, and filmmakers who followed. This work examines the major poems from Poe's canon, with special attention to those works that are most often taught and anthologized. Poe's most famous tales of terror and revenge are juxtaposed because they all revolve around murders and the elements of terror associated with the act of killing. 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Written with unprecendented candor, Wright's works changed the cultural landscape by challenging old stereotypes and myths about race. Wright scholar Robert Felgar has written a critical volume to help students appreciate the literary significance of such groundbreaking works as Native Son and the autobiographical Black Boy. This study serves students of both literature and social history as it explores the themes of racism and all types of insitutionalized oppression that Wright exposed in his provocative writing. Felgar approaches each of Wright's major works in chronological order, offering insightful literary analysis of Uncle Tom's Children, Native Son, Black Boy, and The Outsider, as well as Wright's two works published posthumously, Eight Men, a collection of stories, and Lawd Today! The original, censored works are discussed and compared with the more recently re-published unexpurgated versions.  This Student Companion introduces readers to Richard Wright with a biographical chapter, recounting the writer's struggles and achievements. A literary heritage chapter examines the genres, themes, and stylistic traditions that figured in Wright's work. Each of Wright's major works of fiction is given careful literary interpretation, with analysis of plot, character development, thematic concerns and a close alternate reading. A selective bibliography of critical works and reviews, in addition to the listings of Wright's stories, essays and full-length works will help students derive the most from their study of this important American writer.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52455595114769,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52455595901201,"sku":"NLS9780313309090","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780313309090.jpg?v=1759374767"},{"product_id":"student-companion-to-jane-austen-book-debra-teachman-9780313307478","title":"Student Companion to Jane Austen","description":"Generations of readers and movie viewers have been drawn to the spirited heroines of ^USense and Sensibility  and ^UEmma. Prepared especially for students, this full-length critical study of Jane Austen covers her six most beloved works, including the two novels ^UNorthanger Abbey and ^UPersuasion, published posthumously. Young readers will enjoy the vivid biographical account of how Austen herself was just a teenager when she took up the pen and began to write in guarded secrecy. Austen scholar Debra Teachman has a historian's eye for detail as she describes Austen's homelife in the English countryside and the social environment that were so much a part of Austen's stories. Teachman examines each novel, relating how historical context influenced the characters, events and themes that Austen developed. Teachman eloquently points out, for example, that while Austen does not overtly preach feminism in any of her novels, the lack of legal protection for women is a vital societal theme in ^USense and Sensibility. 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This critical introduction, written specifically for students, offers insightful yet accessible literary criticism for five novels: ^UThis Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, Tender Is the Night, and ^UThe Last Tycoon. A full chapter is devoted to examining each of these works, with an indepth discussion of character development, thematic concerns and plot structure. The introduction to each novel traces its genesis and the critical reception it received at the time it was written. The historical context sections examine the ways visionary works like ^UThe Great Gatsby offer both a chronicle and a critique of the attitudes, dreams, and illusions of American society during the period between the First and Second World Wars. Students will also get a vivid sense of how life and art converged in the fiction of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the man who christened the Jazz Age.  This introductory study features a biographical chapter that relates Fitzgerald's life to his work and a chapter that places his fiction within its historical and literary contexts. Five chapters analyze not only the basic literary components of plot, character, and theme, but also provide an alternate critical interpretation of each novel that enriches reader's understanding of the work's complexity and vision. 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A fresh biographical account traces Twain's colorful life through his varied careers and adventures, to his rise to national prominence as a writer of short stories, to the creation of masterpieces like  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Also examined are the thematic concerns, plot structure, character development, and historical background in the travel narratives, a selection of short stories, and Twain's novels.    A lively biographical chapter is followed by a section on Mark Twain's career and contributions to American literature, which situates Twain within the traditions of American humor writings. A selection of Twain's early short stories and sketches are examined, followed by the personal travel narratives. A full chapter on each of the five novels examines their important literary components, and also offers alternative critical perspectives. The final chapter surveys short writings from Twain's later years. 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