An introduction to the life and work of eighteenth-century English author Jane Austen, featuring a biographical profile, a critical analysis of the themes, symbols, and ideas that appear in her writing, a selection of critical essays, a chronology, and references.

"Harold Bloom explores our Western literary tradition by concentrating on the works of twenty-six authors central to the Canon. He argues against ideology in literary criticism; he laments the loss of intellectual and aesthetic standards; he deplores multiculturalism, Marxism, feminism, neoconservatism, Afrocentrism, and the New Historicism." "Insisting instead upon "the autonomy of the aesthetic," Bloom places Shakespeare at the center of the Western...

Pairs the text of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epic poem, which tells how a sailor is punished for killing an albatross, with illustrations by French artist, Gustave Dor©♭.

A collection of essays which profile the works of one hundred creative minds from every era of history.

A collection of nine critical essays on Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale" arranged in chronological order of publication.

"Frankenstein was Mary Shelley's immensely powerful contribution to the ghost stories which she, Percy Shelley, and Byron devised one wet summer in Switzerland. Its protagonist is a young student of natural philosophy, who learns the secret of imparting life to a creature constructed from relics of the dead, with horrific consequences." "Frankenstein confronts some of the most feared innovations of evolutionism: topics such as degeneracy, hereditary...

A biographical and critical review of the world's most important writers- Expert analysis by Harold Bloom- A wealth of information on the writers that are most commonly read in high schools, colleges, and universities

Contains both biographical and critical information on the author and his works including important themes, symbols, and ideas as they appear in his body of work.

Provides biographical information as well as critical analysis of style, important symbols, themes, and ideas in their major works.

Shakespeare invented characters in a new kind of way. He not only gave them personality and depth, he gave them life. Not a life that went simply from point to point, but one that developed rather than unfolded. In so doing, Shakespeare created characters with whom everyone can identify, whether the characters were kings and queens or fools and merchants. Renowned Shakespearian scholar Professor Harold Bloom presents Shakespeare's seven major tragedies...