The Post-War British Literature Handbook

Description

Literature and Culture Handbooks are an innovative series of guides to major periods, topics and authors in British and American literature and culture. Designed to provide a comprehensive, one-stop resource for literature students, each handbook provides the essential information and guidance needed from the beginning of a course through to developing more advanced knowledge and skills. Written in clear language by leading academics, they provide an indispensable introduction to key topics, including: * Introduction to authors, texts, historical and cultural contexts * Guides to key critics, concepts and topics * An overview of major critical approaches, changes in the canon and directions of current and future research * Case studies in reading literary and critical texts * Annotated bibliography (including websites), timeline, glossary of critical terms. The Post-War British Literature Handbook is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to literature and culture in post-war Britain.

Katharine Cockin is Professor of English at the University of Hull, UK. She has published widely on women's suffrage literature and on the lives and work of Ellen Terry and her daughter, Edith Craig. She is editor of the eight-volume Collected Letters of Ellen Terry and author of several books on Edith Craig and women's suffrage literature, including the first biography of Craig (1998), Women and the Theatre in the Age of Suffrage (2001) and two volumes of women's suffrage literature (2007). JAGO MORRISON is Head of English at the University of Chichester, UK.

'With its clear explanations of key terms and contexts for the study of Contemporary British Literature and its attractive sample readings of selected texts, this is sure to become a favourite with students and teachers in the field.' - Richard Brown, Reader in Modern Literature, School of English, University of Leeds, UK "This a highly accessible introduction to the field of contemporary British literature. Its most admirable contribution is its opening contextualization of current debates in two spectacular chapters by the editors and by Patricia Waugh. Each exemplifies the qualities of the volume as a whole, offering a synthetic historical trajectory combined with brilliant literary readings, often deceptively compacted into a single paragraph. The book is suitable for students at the point of entry into university education; indeed, I cannot think of a volume that provides a clearer or more nuanced overview of the field for those considering literary studies at the undergraduate level." -Timothy Bewes, Associate Professor, Department of English, Brown University, USA "Editors Cockin and Morrison have assembled a comprehensive and accessible introduction to literature and culture in post-war Britain. The book includes introductions to authors, texts and contexts; guides to key critics, concepts and topics; an overview of major critical approaches, changes in the canon and directions of current and future research; case studies in reading primary and secondary texts; and annotated further reading (including websites), timeline and a glossary of critical terms." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc. "The Post-war British Literature Handbook is a valuable resource for students, teachers and researchers alike. It brings together some of the leading literary critics in the field, is well organized, and Katharine Cockin and Jago Morrison have done a fine editing job. It provides important historical and cultural contexts set against illuminating readings of important writers of the period as well as some of the most influential critical theory." -- Nick Bentley, Lecturer in English Literature, Keele University, UK