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Book Series

Routledge Guides to Literature

Routledge Guides to Literature are clear introductions to authors and texts most frequently studied by undergraduate students of literature. Each book explores texts, contexts and criticism, highlighting the critical views and contextual factors that students must consider in advanced studies of literary works.

Each guide presents a variety of approaches and interpretations, encouraging readers to think critically about 'standard' views and to make independent readings of literary texts. Alongside general guides to texts and authors, the series includes 'sourcebooks', which incorporate extracts from key contextual and critical materials as well as annotated passages from the primary text.

Some books in this series were originally published in the Routledge Literary Sourcebook series, edited by Duncan Wu, or the Complete Critical Guide to English Literature series, edited by Richard Bradford and Jan Jedrzjewski.

New and Published Books

1-10 of 55 results in Routledge Guides to Literature
  1. Rgl House Of Mirth

    By Janet Beer

    Series: Routledge Guides to Literature

    Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth (1905) is a sharp and satirical, but also sensitive and tragic analysis of a young, single woman trying to find her place in a materialistic and unforgiving society. The House of Mirth offers a fascinating insight into the culture of the time and, as suggested by...

    Published January 10th 2013 by Routledge

  2. Toni Morrison

    By Pelagia Goulimari

    Series: Routledge Guides to Literature

    Toni Morrison's visionary explorations of freedom and identity, self and community, against the backdrop of African American history have established her as one of the foremost novelists of her time; an artist whose seriousness of purpose and imaginative power have earned her both widespread...

    Published June 21st 2011 by Routledge

  3. Gerard Manley Hopkins

    By Angus Easson

    Series: Routledge Guides to Literature

    Gerard Manley Hopkins was among the most innovative writers of the Victorian period. Experimental and idiosyncratic, his work remains important for any student of nineteenth-century literature and culture. This guide to Hopkins’ life and work offers: a detailed account of Hopkins life and...

    Published December 7th 2010 by Routledge

  4. Nadine Gordimer's July's People

    A Routledge Study Guide

    By Brendon Nicholls

    Series: Routledge Guides to Literature

    Nadine Gordimer is one of the most important writers to emerge in the twentieth century. Her anti-Apartheid novel July's People (1981) is a powerful example of resistance writing and continues even now to unsettle easy assumptions about issues of power, race, gender and identity. This guide to...

    Published September 9th 2010 by Routledge

  5. Kazuo Ishiguro

    By Wai-chew Sim

    Series: Routledge Guides to Literature

    Having earned an international reputation with his booker-prize-winning novel, The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro is fast emerging as an important cultural figure of our times. In this guide to Ishiguro’s varied and often experimental work, Wai-chew Sim presents: a biographical survey of...

    Published October 6th 2009 by Routledge

  6. Ted Hughes

    By Terry Gifford

    Series: Routledge Guides to Literature

    For the first time, one volume surveys the life, works and critical reputation of one of the most significant British writers of the twentieth-century: Ted Hughes. This accessible guide to Hughes’ writing provides a rich exploration of the complete range of his works. In this volume, Terry Gifford...

    Published November 25th 2008 by Routledge

  7. Martin Amis

    By Brian Finney

    Series: Routledge Guides to Literature

    Booker-shortlisted for Time's Arrow and widely known for his novels, short stories, essays, reviews, and autobiographical works, Martin Amis is one of the most influential of contemporary British writers. This guide to Amis's diverse and often controversial work offers: an accessible introduction...

    Published May 21st 2008 by Routledge

  8. William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    A Routledge Study Guide and Sourcebook

    Edited by Sonia Massai

    Series: Routledge Guides to Literature

    William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (c.1600) is one of his most captivating plays. A comedy of mistaken identities, it has given rise to thought-provoking debates around such issues as gender identity and role-playing, manipulation and deception. Taking the form of a sourcebook, this guide to...

    Published December 16th 2007 by Routledge

  9. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    A Routledge Study Guide

    By David Whittaker, Mpalive-Hangson Msiska

    Series: Routledge Guides to Literature

    Offering an insight into African culture that had not been portrayed before, Things Fall Apart is both a tragic and moving story of an individual set in the wider context of the coming of colonialism, as well as a powerful and complex political statement of cross-cultural encounters. This guide to...

    Published November 5th 2007 by Routledge

  10. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

    A Routledge Study Guide

    By D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke

    Series: Routledge Guides to Literature

    Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, has fascinated critics and readers alike, engaging them in highly controversial debate as it deals with fundamental issues of good and evil, civilisation, race, love and heroism. This classic tale transcends the boundaries of time and place and has...

    Published September 18th 2007 by Routledge

Forthcoming Books

  1. William Faulkner's Light in August: A Routledge Guide
    By Owen Robinson
    To Be Published December 31st 2013
  2. Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Sourcebook
    By Shelley Fisher-Fishkin
    To Be Published December 31st 2013

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