Kirjahaku

What is 'English' about the English novel, and how has the idea of the English nation been shaped by the writers of fiction? How do the novel's profound differences from poetry and drama affect its representation of national consciousness? Nation and Novel sets out to answer these questions by tracing English prose fiction from its late medieval origins through its stories of rogues and criminals, family rebellions and suffering heroines, to the present-day novels of immigration. Major novelists from Daniel Defoe to the late twentieth century have drawn on national history and mythology in novels which have pitted Cavalier against Puritan, Tory against Whig, region against nation, and domesticity against empire. The novel is deeply concerned with the fate of the nation, but almost always at variance with official and ruling-class perspectives on English society. Patrick Parrinder's groundbreaking new literary history outlines the English novel's distinctive, sometimes paradoxical, and often subversive view of national character and identity. This sophisticated yet accessible assessment of the relationship between fiction and nation will set the agenda for future research and debate.

This book, first published in 1980, examines issues such as the definition of the genre, its function as social criticism and as an embodiment and critique of the scientific outlook. In order to work towards a more comprehensive view of the genre, the author analyses science fiction by turns as a mode of popular literature, as a socially responsible and quasi-realistic form of writing, and as a home for a fantastic and parodic use of language. How much are ‘future histories’, to name but one type of SF, the answer to a frustration of the epic impulse? These questions and more are closely examined in this lively and informative book.

This book, first published in 1980, examines issues such as the definition of the genre, its function as social criticism and as an embodiment and critique of the scientific outlook. In order to work towards a more comprehensive view of the genre, the author analyses science fiction by turns as a mode of popular literature, as a socially responsible and quasi-realistic form of writing, and as a home for a fantastic and parodic use of language. How much are ‘future histories’, to name but one type of SF, the answer to a frustration of the epic impulse? These questions and more are closely examined in this lively and informative book.

First Published in 2002. This volume is about Science Fiction, its criticisms and teaching and covers the rise of science-fiction as a study and genre, looking at the work of H.G Wells, and the themes of epic, fable, language, cultures, its sociology, as a romance, and of a working daydream.

First Published in 2002. This volume is about Science Fiction, its criticisms and teaching and covers the rise of science-fiction as a study and genre, looking at the work of H.G Wells, and the themes of epic, fable, language, cultures, its sociology, as a romance, and of a working daydream.

James Joyce holds a unique position in literature. No writer has a higher reputation, none attracts more ardent devotees, and none poses so many difficulties for the first-time reader. This book is an original and well-informed survey of the whole of Joyce's work. It offers close readings of his early writings such as Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and an extended examination of his masterpiece, Ulysses, as well as a stimulating introduction to that notoriously difficult work Finnegans Wake. Dr Parrinder stresses Joyce's ambivalent relationship to the Ireland of his youth, and his ability to incorporate the most banal and profane levels of experience and language into profound celebration of the human capacity for survival and regeneration. The Joyce who emerges is a writer of innocence and gusto as well as immense artistic cunning.

First published in 1979. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

H. G. Wells, the inventor of the concept of the time machine and the phrase ‘the Shape of Things to Come’ described his life’s work as one of ‘critical anticipation’. Shadows of the Future identifies this attempt to imagine possible futures as the unifying principle behind Wells’s diverse and sometimes wayward literary career. Described by John Middleton Murry as ‘the last prophet of bourgeois Europe’, he was also its first futurologist.

Scientific progress is usually seen as a precondition of modern utopias, but science and utopia are frequently at odds. Ranging from Galileo's observations with the telescope to current ideas of the post-human and the human-animal boundary, this study brings a fresh perspective to the paradoxes of utopian thinking since Plato.

First published in 1979. What do we mean by Science Fiction? What does it do, and why do so many people read it? What are its characteristic values, attitudes and procedures? Is it a creative force in our society, or merely a pathological symptom? How much of it is worth the attention of the ordinary 'non-scientific' or 'non-addicted' reader?That these questions are frequently asked is a consequence of Science Fiction's current status as a highly popular and fashionable art-form. They are not easy to answer because SF is a confused concept and a confused field, varying from formula-repetition and institutionalized self-congratulation on the one hand to the most profound imaginative achievements on the other. This Critical Guide attempts a composite portrait of science fiction as a form of creative literature: not, that is, as a disembodied current of notions and ideas (e.g. about technological progress), nor as a 'sub-literature' which may only one day hope to aspire to literary status.

H.G. Wells, one of the founding fathers of science fiction created a rich universe of short stories, many of which are collected here in this special deluxe edition. The Star, The Time Machine, The Land Ironclads and A Dream of Armageddon are amongst the many gems which have inspired generations of writers (including those who contribute to our own Gothic Fantasy short story editions) to explore the world around us, its pasts, its complicated present, and its many futures.

Visitors from other planets have long obsessed us. H.G. Wells’ War of Worlds spawned a huge wave of speculative fiction but the roots of such fears run deep in our literature, where the mysteries of other cultures have long threatened the familiar and the comfortable. Did aliens build the ancient pyramids? do they live amongst us today? what happens when they invade? And are they just the people from the next valley? or country? or planet? Would it be an inevitable act of aggression, one of assistance and care, or simply a reminder of our paltry existence in a crowded universe? Flame Tree’s successful Gothic Fantasy series brings a brilliant new mix of classic and new writing, in this beautiful edition. New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Bo Balder, Jennifer Rachel Baumer, Maria Haskins, Suo Hefu (???), Rachael K. Jones, Claude Lalumière, Rich Larson, Angus McIntyre, Stephen G. Parks, Sunil Patel, Laura Pearlman, Tim Pieraccini, Eric Reitan, John Walters, S.A. Westerley, and William R.D. Wood. These appear alongside classic stories by authors such as George Allan England, Austin Hall, H.P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt and H.G. Wells.