Best Literary Theory

Don Gifford's annotations to Joyce's great modern classic comprise a specialized encyclopedia that will inform any reading of Ulysses. "Teaches more than how to read a particular novel; it teaches us more profoundly how to read anything.

"Bradbury, all charged up, drunk on life, joyous with writing, puts together nine past essays on writing and creativity and discharges every ounce of zest and gusto in him."

"No denunciation without its proper instrument of close analysis," Roland Barthes wrote in his preface to Mythologies . There is no more proper instrument of analysis of our contemporary myths than this book―one of the most significant works in French theory, and one that has transformed the way readers and philosophers view the world around them. “One of the great public teachers of our time, someone who thought out, argued for, and made available serveral steps in a penetrating reflection on language sign systems, texts --and what they have to tell us about the concept of being human” ― Peter Brooks.

Michel Foucult offers an iconoclastic exploration of why we feel compelled to continually analyze and discuss sex, and of the social and mental mechanisms of power that cause us to direct the questions of what we are to what our sexuality is. "The Care of the Self shares with the writings on which it draws the characteristic of being carefully constructed, exquisitely reasoned and internally cogent."

"The poems of the Poetic Edda have waited a long time for a Modern English translation that would do them justice. Jackson Crawford earned his Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.A.

The New York Times -bestselling collection of poems from celebrated poet Mary Oliver In A Thousand Mornings , Mary Oliver returns to the imagery that has come to define her life’s work, transporting us to the marshland and coastline of her beloved home, Provincetown, Massachusetts. Some read like brief fables, such as when an old fox compares their respective species and tells the poet, “You fuss, we live.” A Bob Dylan quote inspires a poem about song, while a mockingbird’s mimicry elicits thoughts about authenticity and one’s true self.

The authoritative edition of Much Ado About Nothing from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes: -An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

One of the biggest problem areas for writers is conveying a character's emotions to the reader in a unique, compelling way. Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are bestselling authors, writing coaches, and international speakers.