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An Introduction to Applied Semiotics: Tools for Text and Image Analysis
by Louis HébertAn Introduction to Applied Semiotics presents nineteen semiotics tools for text and image analysis. Covering a variety of different schools and approaches, together with the author’s own original approach, this is a full and synthetic introduction to semiotics. This book presents general tools that can be used with any semiotic product. Drawing on the work of Fontanille, Genette, Greimas, Hébert, Jakobson, Peirce, Rastier and Zilberberg, the tools deal with the analysis of themes and action, true and false, positive and negative, rhythm narration and other elements. The application of each tool is illustrated with analyses of a wide range of texts and images, from well-known or distinctive literary texts, philosophical or religious texts or images, paintings, advertising and everyday signs and symbols. Each chapter has the same structure – summary, theory and application – and includes exercises and discussion questions, making it ideal for course use. Covering both visual and textual objects, this is a key text for all courses in semiotics and textual analysis within linguistics, communication studies, literary theory, design, marketing and related areas.
An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl
by Christopher Mackay Michel LauneyNow available to an English-speaking audience, this book is a comprehensive grammar of classical Nahuatl, the literary language of the Aztecs. It offers students of Nahuatl a complete and clear treatment of the language's structure, grammar and vocabulary. It is divided into 35 chapters, beginning with basic syntax and progressing gradually to more complex structures. Each grammatical concept is illustrated clearly with examples, exercises and passages for translation. A key is provided to allow students to check their answers. By far the most approachable textbook of Nahuatl available, this book will be an excellent teaching tool both for classroom use and for readers pursuing independent study of the language. It will be an invaluable resource to anthropologists, ethnographers, historians, archaeologists and linguists alike.
An Introduction to Critical Reading
by Leah MccraneyThis unique college reading text gives students experience reading and evaluating poetry, short stories, essays, and textbook chapters. An innovative Instructor's Manual gives instructors a wealth of teaching ideas and background material on each piece with a focus on critical thinking.
An Introduction to Criticism
by Michael RyanAn accessible and thorough introduction to literary theory and contemporary critical practice, this book is an essential resource for beginning students of literary criticism.Covers traditional approaches such as formalism and structuralism, as well as more recent developments in criticism such as evolutionary theory, cognitive studies, ethical criticism, and ecocriticismOffers explanations of key works and major ideas in literary criticism and suggests key elements to look for in a literary textAlso applies critical approaches to various examples from film studiesHelps students to build a critical framework and write analytically
An Introduction to Eighteenth-Century Fiction: Raising the Novel
by John SkinnerThe formal and expressive range of canonic eighteenth-century fiction is enourmous: between them Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett and Sterne seem to have anticipated just about every question confronting the modern novelist; and Aphra Behn even raises a number of issues overlooked by her male successors. But one might also reverse the coin: much of what is present in these writers will today seem remote and bizarre. There is, in fact, only one novelist from the 'long' eighteenth century who is not an endangered species outside the protectorates of university English departments: Jane Austen. Plenty of people read her, moreover, without the need for secondary literature. These reservations were taken into account in the writing of this book. An Introduction to Eighteenth Century Fiction is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to English fiction from Aphra Behn to Jane Austen. It deals with novel criticism, canon formation and relations between genre and gender. The second part of the book contains an extensive discussion of Richardson and Fielding, followed by paired readings of major eighteenth-century novels, juxtaposing texts by Behn and Defoe, Sterne and Smollett, Lennox and Burney among others. The various sections of the book, and even the individual chapters, may be read independently or in any order. Works are discussed in a way intended to help students who have not read them, and even engage with some who never will. The author consumes eighteenth-century fiction avidly, but has tried to write a reader-friendly survey for those who may not.
An Introduction to Ford Madox Ford
by Rob Hawkes Ashley ChantlerFor students and readers new to the work of Ford Madox Ford, this volume provides a comprehensive introduction to one of the most complex, important and fascinating authors. Bringing together leading Ford scholars, the volume places Ford's work in the context of significant literary, artistic and historical events and movements. Individual essays consider Ford's theory of literary Impressionism and the impact of the First World War; illuminate The Good Soldier and Parade's End; engage with topics such as the city, gender, national identity and politics; discuss Ford as an autobiographer, poet, propagandist, sociologist, Edwardian and modernist; and show his importance as founding editor of the groundbreaking English Review and transatlantic review. The volume encourages detailed close reading of Ford's writing and illustrates the importance of engaging with secondary sources.
An Introduction to Greek Tragedy
by Ruth ScodelThis book provides a brief and accessible introduction to Greek tragedy for students and general readers alike. Whether readers are studying Greek culture, performing a Greek tragedy, or simply interested in reading a Greek play, this book will help them to understand and enjoy this challenging and rewarding genre. An Introduction to Greek Tragedy provides background information; helps readers appreciate, enjoy, and engage with the plays themselves; and gives them an idea of the important questions in current scholarship on tragedy. Ruth Scodel seeks to dispel misleading assumptions about tragedy, stressing how open the plays are to different interpretations and reactions. In addition to general background, the book also includes chapters on specific plays, both the most familiar titles and some lesser-known plays - Persians, Helen, and Orestes - in order to convey the variety that the tragedies offer readers.
An Introduction to Jean Bodel (New Perspectives on Medieval Literature: Authors and Traditions)
by Lynn T. RameyBringing the work of a highly influential medieval French writer to English-speaking audiences for the first time This book explores the life and works of Jean Bodel, an influential author who lived in twelfth-century Arras, France. A versatile poet, playwright, and epic writer who established new genres such as fabliaux and the mystery play, Bodel remains relatively unknown to Anglophone audiences. Lynn Ramey offers translations and summaries of works never published before in English while delving into Bodel’s historical and cultural context. After a brief introduction to the poet, Ramey highlights the stimulating and cosmopolitan environment of Arras, considering the influence of the Crusades and social movements in shaping Bodel’s works. Next, Ramey provides an extensive survey of all of Bodel’s known writing across his prolific career by genre, from his most well-known work, The Play of Saint Nicholas (Le Jeu de saint Nicolas), to his final piece, Farewell (Les Congés), which offers important insight into his diagnosis of leprosy toward the end of his life. Ramey translates several pieces including pastourelles, fabliaux, and selections from the Song of the Saxons (Chanson des Saisnes). The book also includes information on Bodel’s sources, a chronology, and a glossary. With much of the existing scholarship on Bodel only available in French, this book bridges a gap in knowledge of the poet and serves as a useful resource for both students and specialists. An Introduction to Jean Bodel allows a broader audience to engage with the writer’s wide-ranging work and contributions to literary history.A volume in the series New Perspectives on Medieval Literature: Authors and Traditions, edited by R. Barton Palmer and Tison Pugh
An Introduction to Language (9th Edition)
by Victoria Fromkin Robert Rodman Nina HyamsAssuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, AN INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE, Ninth Edition, is appropriate for a variety of fields--including education, languages, psychology, anthropology, English, and teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)--at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This completely updated edition retains the clear descriptions, humor, and seamless pedagogy that have made the text a perennial best-seller, while adding new information and exercises that render each topic fresh, engaging, and current.
An Introduction to Literary Debate in Late Medieval France: From <i>Le Roman de la Rose</i> to <i>La Belle Dame sans Mercy</i> (New Perspectives on Medieval Literature: Authors and Traditions)
by Joan E. McRaeHow medieval poems sparked discussions on women’s agency, love, marriage, and honor that prefigured modern feminism This volume immerses readers in a debate tradition that flourished in France during the late Middle Ages, focusing on two works that were both popular and controversial in their time: Le Roman de la Rose by thirteenth-century poets Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun and La Belle Dame sans Mercy by fifteenth-century royal secretary and poet Alain Chartier. This is the first comparative volume on these important works and the discussions they sparked. Engaging with questions of women’s agency, love, marriage, and honor, these two poems prompted responses that circulated via treatises, letters, and sermons among officials, clerics, and poets. Joan McRae provides commentary on the two texts, a timeline and summary of the resulting debates, and biographical sketches of the leading intellectuals who matched wits over different ways of reading the texts, including pioneering writer Christine de Pizan. McRae shows that these works and the debates, read together, consider a range of social issues that raise questions of gender, the place of power and hierarchy in societal relationships, and the responsibility of writers for the effect of their works on readers. An Introduction to Literary Debate in Late Medieval France is a helpful overview of these weighty arguments for both students and scholars. McRae provides a compact, comprehensive, and up-to-date study, spotlighting influential literary expressions that evolved into the “querelle des femmes,” the “woman question,” which in turn paved the way for modern feminism. A volume in the series New Perspectives on Medieval Literature: Authors and Traditions, edited by R. Barton Palmer and Tison Pugh
An Introduction to Literary Studies
by Mario KlarerThe fourth edition of this classic beginner’s guide to literary studies has been fully updated throughout. Mario Klarer offers a concise and accessible discussion of central issues in English and world literature as well as film and television series. Starting with the basics of what constitutes a literary text, the book moves through an analysis of major genres, important periods, and key theoretical approaches to literature and film. It also looks at the practicalities of finding and referencing secondary sources when writing a research paper. The expanded new edition has been updated to include: a wider range of examples from world literature, cinema, and television series additional references to contemporary streaming formats updated chapters on postcolonial theory, cultural studies, gender theory, feminism, and queer theory new sections on digital humanities, ecocriticism, literary translations, and paratexts extended explanations of traditional genres, e.g., the epic, drama, and poetry a completely revised chapter on the most recent MLA guidelines with rules for citing new media formats The detailed glossary ensures that the book is accessible to readers of any level, making this an ideal self-study guide or a course book for Introduction to Literature classes.
An Introduction to Literary Studies
by Mario KlarerIn this classic beginner's guide to English literature, Mario Klarer offers a concise and accessible discussion of central issues in the study of literary texts, looking at: definitions of key terms such as literature and text the genres of fiction, poetry, drama, and film periods and classifications of literature theoretical approaches to texts the use of secondary resources guidelines for writing research essays The new and expanded edition is fully updated to include: a wider range of textual examples from world literature additional references to contemporary cinema, a section on comparative literature an extended survey of literary periods and genres recent changes in MLA guidelines information on state-of-the-art citation management software the use and abuse of online resources. The book also features suggestions for further reading as well as an extensive glossary of key terms.
An Introduction to Literature and the Fine Arts
by The Editors at Michigan State College PressA collaborative study of the arts of literature, music, sculpture, architecture, and painting in the development of the Western tradition.
An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory
by Andrew Bennett Nicholas RoyleLively, original and highly readable, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory is the essential guide to literary studies. Starting at ‘The Beginning’ and concluding with ‘The End’, chapters range from the familiar, such as ‘Character’, ‘Narrative’ and ‘The Author’, to the more unusual, such as ‘Secrets’, ‘Pleasure’ and ‘Ghosts’. Now in its fifth edition, Bennett and Royle’s classic textbook successfully illuminates complex ideas by engaging directly with literary works, so that a reading of Jane Eyre opens up ways of thinking about racial difference, for example, while Chaucer, Raymond Chandler and Monty Python are all invoked in a discussion of literature and laughter. The fifth edition has been revised throughout and includes four new chapters – ‘Feelings’, ‘Wounds’, ‘Body’ and ‘Love’ – to incorporate exciting recent developments in literary studies. In addition to further reading sections at the end of each chapter, the book contains a comprehensive bibliography and a glossary of key literary terms. A breath of fresh air in a field that can often seem dry and dauntingly theoretical, this book will open the reader’s eyes to the exhilarating possibilities of reading and studying literature.
An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory
by Andrew Bennett Nicholas RoyleLively, original and highly readable, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory is the essential guide to literary studies. Starting at ‘The Beginning’ and concluding with ‘The End’, chapters range from the familiar, such as ‘Character’, ‘Narrative’ and ‘The Author’, to the more unusual, such as ‘Secrets’, ‘Pleasure’ and ‘Ghosts’. Now in its sixth edition, Bennett and Royle’s classic textbook successfully illuminates complex ideas by engaging directly with literary works, so that a reading of Jane Eyre opens up ways of thinking about racial difference, for example, while Chaucer, Monty Python and Hilary Mantel are all invoked in a discussion of literature and laughter. The sixth edition has been revised and updated throughout. In addition, four new chapters – ‘Literature’, ‘Loss’, ‘Human’ and ‘Migrant’ – engage with exciting recent developments in literary studies. As well as fully up-to-date further reading sections at the end of each chapter, the book contains a comprehensive bibliography and an invaluable glossary of key literary terms. A breath of fresh air in a field that can often seem dry and dauntingly theoretical, this book will open the reader’s eyes to the exhilarating possibilities of reading and studying literature.
An Introduction to Narratology
by Monika FludernikAn Introduction to Narratology is an accessible, practical guide to narratological theory and terminology and its application to literature. In this book, Monika Fludernik outlines: the key concepts of style, metaphor and metonymy, and the history of narrative forms narratological approaches to interpretation and the linguistic aspects of texts, including new cognitive developments in the field how students can use narratological theory to work with texts, incorporating detailed practical examples a glossary of useful narrative terms, and suggestions for further reading. This textbook offers a comprehensive overview of the key aspects of narratology by a leading practitioner in the field. It demystifies the subject in a way that is accessible to beginners, but also reflects recent theoretical developments and narratology’s increasing popularity as a critical tool.
An Introduction to Native North America
by Mark Q. SuttonAn Introduction to Native North America provides a basic introduction to the Native peoples of North America, covering what are now the United States, northern Mexico, and Canada.In this updated and revised new edition, Mark Q. Sutton has expanded and improved the existing text, adding to the case studies, updating the text with the latest research, increasing the number of images, providing more coverage of the Arctic regions, and including new perspectives, particularly those of Native peoples. This book addresses the history of research, the European invasion, and the impact of Europeans on Native societies. A final chapter introduces contemporary Native Americans, discussing issues that affect them, including religion, health, and politics. The book retains a wealth of pedological features to aid and reinforce learning.Featuring case studies of many Native American groups, as well as some 87 maps and images, An Introduction to Native North America is an indispensable tool to those studying the history of North America and its Native peoples.
An Introduction to Poetic Forms
by Patrick GillAn Introduction to Poetic Forms offers specimen discussions of poems through the lens of form. While each of its chapters does provide a standard definition of the form in question in its opening paragraphs, their main objective is to provide readings of specific examples to illustrate how individual poets have deviated from or subverted those expectations usually associated with the form under discussion. While providing the most vital information on the most widely taught forms of poetry, then, this collection will very quickly demonstrate that counting syllables and naming rhyme schemes is not the be-all and end-all of poetic form. Instead, each chapter will contain cross-references to other literary forms and periods as well as make clear the importance of the respective form to the culture at large: be it the democratising communicative power of the ballad or the objectifying male gaze of the blazon and resistance to same in the contreblazon – the efficacy of form is explored in the fullness of its cultural dimensions. In using standard definitions only as a starting point and instead focusing on lively debates around the cultural impact of poetic form, the textbook helps students and instructors to see poetic forms not as a static and lifeless affair but as living, breathing testament to the ongoing evolution of cultural debates. In the final analysis, the book is interested in showing the complexities and contradictions inherent in the very nature of literary form itself: how each concrete example deviates from the standard template while at the same time employing it as a foil to generate meaning.
An Introduction to Pope (Routledge Revivals)
by Pat RogersIn this concise introduction to Pope’s life and work, first published in 1975, the poet’s highly successful career as a man of letters is seen against the background of the Augustan age as a whole. Pat Rogers begins by examining the relationship of the eighteenth-century writer to his audience, and discusses the role of style and versification in this. The book covers the whole of Pope’s work and includes not only the translations of Homer and such minor poems as The Temple of Fame, but also the prose, both drama and correspondence. Based on extensive research, this book will provide literature students with a greater appreciation and understanding of Pope’s verse and the ways in which he addressed his eighteenth-century context in his work.
An Introduction to Queer Literary Studies: Reading Queerly
by Will StocktonAn Introduction to Queer Literary Studies: Reading Queerly is the first introduction to queer theory written especially for students of literature. Tracking the emergence of queer theory out of gay and lesbian studies, this book pays unique attention to how queer scholars have read some of the most well-known works in the English language. Organized thematically, this book explores queer theoretical treatments of sexual identity, gender and sexual norms and normativity, negativity and utopianism, economics and neoliberalism, and AIDS activism and disability. Each chapter expounds upon foundational works in queer theory by scholars including Michel Foucault, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Lee Edelman. Each chapter also offers readings of primary texts –ranging from the highly canonical, like John Milton’s Paradise Lost, to more contemporary works of popular fiction, like Stephen King’s ’Salem’s Lot. Along the way, An Introduction to Queer Literary Studies: Reading Queerly demonstrates how queer reading methods work alongside other methods like feminism, historicism, deconstruction, and psychoanalysis. By modelling queer readings, this book invites literature students to develop queer readings of their own. It also suggests that reading queerly is not simply a matter of reading work written by queer people. Queer reading attunes us to the queerness of even the most straightforward text.
An Introduction to Storytelling: By Storytellers from Around the World
by Christine WillisonWhere do stories come from, and how do we come to know them? Daughters listen with wonder to their grandmothers’ tales. Journalists have their trusted sources. Writers of storybooks draw unconsciously from the works of their predecessors. It is as if every story has within it an infallible truth, contained in the echo of its original telling. The storyteller recounts the tale. The listener hears, learns and remembers. In due course they will retell the same tale, adding in something of their own. And so listeners in time turn into storytellers. This inspiring book brings together the stories from across the world of listeners who themselves became storytellers. They reveal who influenced them the most, what drew them further in, what they learnt, and what they now wish to share with new generations. Tips, tools and tales: read this book, and take your turn.
An Introduction to The Gawain-Poet (Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library)
by Ad PutterThe late 14th century produced a crop of brilliant writers: Chaucer, Langland and Gower. Their achievement was rivalled only by a series of four works generally agreed to have been written by a single northern author, known as the Gawain-Poet. This book introduces the reader to the Gawain-poet's four surviving works: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, Pearl and Cleanness. The four poems are made accessible to the student by setting them in their relevant historical and cultural context and by developing some lines of critical argument. All studies are based on the author's own research and translations.
An Introduction to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English
by R. P. DraperThis critical survey of modern poetry from Thomas Hardy to Seamus Heaney considers both the self-consciously revolutionary innovations of Modernism and more traditional developments, taking fully into account the extent to which 'English' can no longer be equated solely with England. Scots, Welsh and Irish poetry, and poetry from Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean, are recognised as equally important aspects of the diversity that characterises modern poetry in English; and, in particular, the contributions of North American poets such as Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens and Robert Lowell receive the major emphasis that their achievement and extensive influence warrants and attention is given to important new perspectives in the work of women poets such as Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath and Elizabeth Bishop.
An Introduction to the Blue Humanities
by Steve MentzAn Introduction to the Blue Humanities is the first textbook to explore the many ways humans engage with water, utilizing literary, cultural, historical, and theoretical connections and ecologies to introduce students to the history and theory of water-centric thinking. Comprised of multinational texts and materials, each chapter will provide readers with a range of primary and secondary sources, offering a fresh look at the major oceanic regions, saltwater and freshwater geographies, and the physical properties of water that characterize the Blue Humanities. Each chapter engages with carefully chosen primary texts, including frequently taught works such as Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Homer’s Odyssey, and Luis Vaz de Camões’s Lusíads, to provide the perfect pedagogy for students to develop an understanding of the Blue Humanities chapter by chapter. Readers will gain insight into new trends in intellectual culture and the enduring history of humans thinking with and about water, ranging across the many coastlines of the World Ocean to Pacific clouds, Mediterranean lakes, Caribbean swamps, Arctic glaciers, Southern Ocean rainstorms, Atlantic groundwater, and Indian Ocean rivers. Providing new avenues for future thinking and investigation of the Blue Humanities, this volume will be ideal for both undergraduate and graduate courses engaging with the environmental humanities and oceanic literature.
An Introduction to the English Novel: Volume I (Routledge Revivals: An Introduction to the English Novel)
by Arnold KettleFirst published in 1951 (this edition in 1967), this book forms the first part of Arnold Kettle’s An Introduction to the English Novel. Since the novel, like every other literary form, is a product of history, the book opens with a discussion of how and why the novel developed in England in the eighteenth century, as well as the function and background of prose fiction. The third part of the book examines six great novels from Jane Austen to George Eliot. ‘A serious and rewarding study.’ The Times Literary Supplement ‘His examination of some eighteenth century writers and analysis of six famous novels- from Emma to Middlemarch- have wit, authority and a sensitivity that compel the reader’s attention.’ Dublin Magazine