English Literature: A Very Short Introduction

There's a lot of ground to cover in Eng Lit: 'sweeping across two millennia and every literary genre', as the inside flap promises. For a while, it seems as though the need to cram everything in might be the book's undoing - even though at 167pp it's one of the longer Shorts. Such worries are premature: analysis comfortably outweighs potted literary history. For me, it isn't the chapter on Shakespeare (Bate's specialism) that forms the book's highlight, but the last two, on the novel and on multicultural English. In the first of these, the development of the 'stream of consciousness' in such novels as Ulysses and Orlando is considered in relation to recent work in brain science. As with The Genius of Shakespeare, therefore, Bate shows a willingness to look beyond the confines of his own subject in order to understand it more fully. And in his concluding chapter, entitled The Englishness of English Literature?, Bate examines a diversity that has characterised the literature of these islands since even the pre-modern, pre-mass immigration era, with its sharp political, religious and social divisions. Witty as well as thought-provoking, the book is itself literary (I noted homage to EM Forster and Blake, and doubtless missed other instances) in a way that will probably appeal to those who are 'in' without annoying those who aren't. It is also wide-ranging, up to date and perceptive (Coleridge and Hazlitt are seen as the originators of opposing 'formalist' and 'historicist' schools of criticism). With so much to commend it, we might even excuse its rather sniffy attitude to the on-line review - the 'free-for-all ... in which everyone is a critic'. Bate does, after all, concede that such electronic chat may just be an extension of the democratisation that began in the C18 coffee house. Ultimately, therefore, one of the more inspired and inspiring VSIs.

Como o nome da coletânea já sugere, é uma breve introdução. Muito bem elaborado por um dos grandes nomes de pesquisa acadêmica em Literatura Inglesa e em Shakespeare.

Delivery was within the stipulated time period, without any hassle. Bravo 👍

A good way to get related to a general overview on the English literature. It arrived on time and in good condition.

Il testo presenta un breve excursus sulla letteratura inglese, utile per chi ha già una certa competenza riguardo l'argomento. L'autore compie attraverso i 9 capitoli vari salti avanti e indietro nelle varie epoche. Elenco dei capitoli: 1.Once upon a time 2. What it is 3.When it began 4.The study of English 5. Periods and movements 6. Among the English poets 7. Shakespeare and dramatic literature 8. Aspects of the English novel 9. The Englishness of English Literature?