Key Concepts in Contemporary Literature offers a comprehensive overview of the literature and critical debates of the period since 1945. Setting texts in their historical, political and cultural contexts, it demonstrates how literature has dealt with and been shaped by the changing face of the modern world.

Key Concepts in Contemporary Popular Fiction represents an invaluable starting point for students wishing to familiarise themselves with this exciting and rapidly evolving area of literary studies. It provides an accessible, concise and reliable overview of core critical terminology, key theoretical approaches, and the major genres and sub-genres within popular fiction. Because popular fiction is significantly shaped by commercial forces, the book also provides critical and historical contexts for terminology related to e-books, e-publishing, and self-publishing platforms. By using focusing in particular on post-2000 trends in popular fiction, the book provides a truly up-to-date snapshot of the subject area and its critical contexts.

‘Contemporary Literature’ is among the most popular areas of literary study but it can be a difficult one to define. This book equips readers with the necessary tools to take an analytical and systematic approach to contemporary texts. The author provides answers to some of the critical questions in the field: What makes a literary text contemporary? Is it possible to have a canon of contemporary literature? How does a reader’s location affect their understanding? How do print, electronic, and audio-visual media impact upon contemporary literature? Which key concepts and themes are most prevalent? Containing diverse illustrative examples and discussing the topics which define our current sense of the contemporary, this is an ideal starting point for anyone seeking to engage critically with contemporary literature.

A minefield of ambiguous concepts, leaden prose, and circular definitions await anyone who wishes to tackle the terms used to describe literature. Indeed, words like hermeneutics, heteroglossia, and mimesis more often impede than enhance one's appreciation of a great literary work. Cutting through the cant, How Literature Works offers a reader-friendly, easy-to-navigate guide that will aid anyone - from the undergraduate to the general reader - who's seeking a greater appreciation of their favorite novel, poem, or play. With a series of pithy, jaunty essays, the renowned literary critic John Sutherland - widely admired for his wit and crystal-clear reasoning - strips away the obscurity and pretension associated with literature. His book offers concise definitions and clear examples of 50 terms and concepts that all book lovers should know. An indispensable reference tool, How Literature Works will be a boon to readers of all sorts, from fans of William Shakespeare and Philip Roth to readers of Jane Smiley and J.K. Rowling.

Key Concepts in Literary Theory presents the student of literary and critical studies with a broad range of accessible, precise and authoritative definitions of the most significant terms and concepts currently used in psychoanalytic, poststructuralist, Marxist, feminist, and postcolonial literary studies. The volume also provides clear and useful discussions of the main areas of literary, critical and cultural theory, supported by bibliographies and an expanded chronology of major thinkers. Accompanying the chronology are short biographies of major works by each critic or theorist.The third edition of this reliable reference work is both revised and expanded, including:* more than 100 additional terms and concepts defined.* newly defined terms include keywords from the social sciences, cultural studies and psychoanalysis and the addition of a broader selection of classical rhetorical terms.* an expanded chronology, with additional entries and a broader historical and cultural range.* expanded bibliographies including key texts by major critics.

Drawing is experiencing an unparalleled surge in the art world. Passé notions that once defined drawing as being a preparatory stage for painting or sculpture have long since been cast aside. Drawing is now fully recognized as its own art form—in the biennials, art fairs, museum exhibitions, and beyond. Drawing has come of age. Contemporary artists are increasingly discovering that drawing is something unique and different from painting. It is an intense, sensitive, compelling, personal, and utterly direct art form, one with its own concepts, characteristics, and techniques. In addition, contemporary drawing is not governed by any particular imagery, but rather encompasses a variety of approaches, including realist, abstract, modernist, and post-modernist. Contemporary Drawing delves into the essential and far-reaching concepts of this medium, exploring surface, mark, space, composition, scale, materials, and intentionality in turn. Key techniques, such as using nature to induce marks and working with a checklist to determine a drawing’s problems, are introduced throughout. Plus, an in-depth chapter examines a number of artists, such as William Kentridge and Gego, who are breaking traditional boundaries that separate one artistic discipline from another. Lushly illustrated by a wide range of highly accomplished contemporary artists, Contemporary Drawing offers a broad perspective on this expansive and energized field of art.

This handbook of Classical Chinese literature from 1000 bce through 900 ce aims to provide a solid introduction to the field, inspire scholars in Chinese Studies to explore innovative conceptual frameworks and pedagogical approaches in the studying and teaching of classical Chinese literature, and facilitate a comparative dialogue with scholars of premodern East Asia and other classical and medieval literary traditions around the world. The handbook integrates issue-oriented, thematic, topical, and cross-cultural approaches to the classical Chinese literary heritage with historical perspectives. It introduces both literature and institutions of literary culture, in particular court culture and manuscript culture, which shaped early and medieval Chinese literary production.