Metaphor (The New Critical Idiom)

Metaphor is a central concept in literary studies, but it is also prevalent in everyday language
and speech. Recent literary theories such as postmodernism and deconstruction have transformed the study of the text and revolutionized our thinking about metaphor.

In... [Read More]

Parody (The New Critical Idiom)

Parody is everywhere in contemporary popular culture. It runs through literature, theatre and television, architecture and films and even everyday speech. Dentith, by drawing on examples from Aristophanes to The Simpsons, displays the many roles that parody plays, from its place in the... [Read More]

Autobiography (The New Critical Idiom)

Autobiography examines the theory and practice of autobiographical writing from St. Augustine to the present. Linda Anderson offers a lucid discussion of: developments in autobiographical criticism in the last thirty years and the main theoretical issues and concepts in this... [Read More]

Class (The New Critical Idiom)

This exciting new account traces the phenomenon of class from the medieval to the postmodern period, examining its relevance to literary and cultural analysis today. Drawing on historical, sociological and literary writings, Gary Day gives an account of class at different... [Read More]

Difference (The New Critical Idiom)

Difference is one of the most influential critical concepts of recent decades. Mark Currie offers a comprehensive account of the history of the term and its place in some of the most influential schools of theory of the past four decades, from Post-structuralism to French feminism.... [Read More]

Ecocriticism (New Critical Idiom)

This volume offers one of the first introductory guides to the emergent field of literary ecological criticism. With an accessible and animated approach to the subject, Greg Garrard presents the reader with the theoretical background of the genre and explores the practice of... [Read More]

Magic(al) Realism (New Critical Idiom)

The last three decades have seen an increase in popularity of magical realist fiction as a form of narrative, adopted by writers and enjoyed by readers across the globe. At the same time, the term has been open to misuse and has become conflated with related... [Read More]