#literarycriticism #americanauthors #americanbooks #importantreading #requiredreading #prose “the belief in transcendence that remains at the core of American imagination.”

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

New Hampshire

Why Our American Classics Matter Now

Essays discuss nineteenth and twentieth century American literature, from Henry Adams to Zora Neale Hurston

Required Reading

25e3738e-6fe1-45fd-a51c-60c0377ee0cb-1

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

California

Timeless Children's Novels to Refresh Our Tired Souls

The stories we read as children shape us for the rest of our lives. But it is never too late to discover that transformative spark of hope that children's classics can ignite within us.

Award-winning children's author Mitali Perkins grew up steeped in stories--escaping into her books on the fire escape of a Flushing apartment building and, later, finding solace in them as she navigated between the cultures of her suburban California school and her Bengali heritage at home. Now Perkins invites us to explore the promise of seven timeless children's novels for adults living in uncertain times: stories that provide mirrors to our innermost selves and open windows to other worlds.

Blending personal narrative, accessible literary criticism, and spiritual and moral formation, Perkins delves into novels by Louisa May Alcott, C. S. Lewis, L. M. Montgomery, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and other literary ""uncles"" and ""aunts"" that illuminate the virtuous, abundant life we still desire. These novels are not perfect, and Perkins honestly assesses their critical frailties and flaws related to race, culture, and power. Yet reading or rereading these books as adults can help us build virtue, unmask our vices, and restore our hope. 

Reconnecting with these stories from childhood isn't merely nostalgia. In an era of uncertainty and despair, they lighten our load and bring us much-needed hope.

Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children's Novels to Refresh Our Tired Soul

10a09d1a-63ab-4085-9393-37120e6fd44e-1

Darrell L. Bock

Louisiana

Answers to the Questions Everyone's Asking

A critique of the bestselling novel "The da Vinci Code" examines various elements of the story to separate fictitious literary creations from historical facts of Christianity.

Breaking the Da Vinci Code

6003293d-6198-4028-b7b9-c59ce8725739-1

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

New York

Class and Sex in the Flesh

"Bourgeois in the Flesh examines how late 20th and early 21st century African American literary texts grapple with the dilemma of black bourgeois subjectivity"--

Black Bourgeois

2d4c9f38-9ed5-488e-9626-950b92be7a79-1

#hardcover #literarycriticism #aeneid #vergil #greek #testprep #analysis 

Bloom's notes test prep

-- Presents concise, easy-to-understand biographical, critical, and bibliographical information on a specific literary work -- Provides multiple sources for book reports and term papers with a wealth of information on literary works, authors, and major characters -- Digests of critical extracts prefaced by headnotes -- The perfect resource for introducing readers to the analytical techniques of literary criticism

Vergil's Aeneid

e54758c1-99ec-4c9b-9d94-645d4e549e31-1

#nonfiction #literarycriticism #paperback 

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Walking Tours in Great Britain and Ireland

Literary Landscapes is for readers, writers, romantics, and lovers of all things literary, but above all, it will be a source of special pleasure to the tourist of Great Britain and Ireland.

Literary Landscapes

a81c6a54-8dc9-413f-ace6-4ced8c151dab-1

Roy Blount Jr.

CD audio book; 4 discs free on scratches and smudges. Abridged.

Maryland

The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics, and Essences; with Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory

Alphabet Juice - Audio Book on CD

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#nonfiction #literarycriticism #hardcover #writing #Poetry #Fiction #Drama #theather #plays #Essays

Tennessee

The writing of Poetry, Fiction, and Drama

Three Genres

980211d8-0326-4b44-a6f2-c49a64456858-1

#paperback #fiction #shakespeare #play #literarycriticism #moderninterpretation 

Minnesota

Performed variously as escapist fantasy, celebratory fiction, and political allegory, The Tempest is one of the plays in which Shakespeare's genius as a poetic dramatist found its fullest expression. Significantly, it was placed first when published in the First Folio of 1623, and is nowgenerally seen as the playwright's most penetrating statement about his art.Stephen Orgel's wide-ranging introduction examines changing attitudes to The Tempest, and reassesses the evidence behind the various readings. He focuses on key characters and their roles and relationships, as well as on the dramatic, historical, and political context, finding the play to be bothmore open and more historically determined than traditional views have allowed.

The Tempest

df6ed750-4527-4cff-8e45-51d20baf01d9-1

New Jersey

Four in the Morning: Essays

782052f2-7a13-4a3e-86d7-a63285da3f26-1

Nancy Pearl

Illinois

Book Lust

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#hardcover #philiproth #fictionwriter #literarycriticism
Good condition. Minimal wear. 

The interviews, essays, and articles collected here span a quarter century of Philip Roth's distinguished career and "reveal [a] preoccupation with the relationship between the written and the unwritten world." Here is Roth on himself and his work and the controversies it's engendered. Here too are Roth's writings on the Eastern European writers he has always championed; and on baseball, American fiction, and American Jews. The essential collection of nonfiction by a true American master, Reading Myself and Others features his long interview with the Paris Review.

Reading Myself and Others

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Alabama

Modern Critical Interpretations: Waiting for Godot 

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#nonfiction #literarycriticism #paperback #janeaustin

North Carolina

How Jane Austen Conquered the World

Jane's Fame

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Essays on the Art of Reading

A Voice from the Attic

350ba0a3-0c69-443b-9891-5ff9605b0914-1

Charles Olson

Merton M. Sealts

One of the most stimulating essays ever written on Moby Dick, and for that matter on any piece of literature, and the forces behind it."—San Francisco Chronicle First published in 1947, this acknowledged classic of American literary criticism explores the influences—especially Shakespearean ones—on Melville's writing of Moby-Dick. One of the first Melvilleans to advance what has since become known as the "theory of the two Moby-Dicks," Olson argues that there were two versions of Moby-Dick, and that Melville's reading King Lear for the first time in between the first and second versions of the book had a profound impact on his conception of the saga: "the first book did not contain Ahab," writes Olson, and "it may not, except incidentally, have contained Moby-Dick." If literary critics and reviewers at the time responded with varying degrees of skepticism to the "theory of the two Moby-Dicks," it was the experimental style and organization of the book that generated the most controversy.

Call Me Ishmael

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#hardcover #literarycriticism #outlander #fiction #dianagabaldon 

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Pennsylvania

The creator of the Outlander series gives fans the skinny on her epic saga of time travel, adventure, and love everlasting, offering a complete listing of the characters and their genealogy; a glossary of Gaelic terms; and more. Tour.

The Outlandish Companion

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essay reviews of 100 outstanding books published in US during 1980

Wisconsin

Grolier’s Masterplots 1981 Annual

#nonfiction #literarycriticism #hardcover 

Iowa

How to read and why

dee9dd80-6cb9-46d2-870f-94a731dae041-1

#paperback #shakespeare #play #literarycriticism #drama #tragedy #analysis #historicalfiction #classic

The Moor of Venice

A discussion of the sources and historical background of the play accompanies the text and critical commentaries

Othello

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Thomas C. Foster

There is some shelf damage on the upper and lower left side. I have included pictures. Otherwise the book is in like new condition. 

South Carolina

A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines

A thoroughly revised and updated edition of Thomas C. Foster's classic guide—a lively and entertaining introduction to literature and literary basics, including symbols, themes, and contexts—that shows you how to make your everyday reading experience more rewarding and enjoyable. While many books can be enjoyed for their basic stories, there are often deeper literary meanings interwoven in these texts. How to Read Literature Like a Professor helps us to discover those hidden truths by looking at literature with the eyes—and the literary codes—of the ultimate professional reader: the college professor. What does it mean when a literary hero travels along a dusty road? When he hands a drink to his companion? When he's drenched in a sudden rain shower? Ranging from major themes to literary models, narrative devices, and form, Thomas C. Foster provides us with a broad overview of literature—a world where a road leads to a quest, a shared meal may signify a communion, and rain, whether cleansing or destructive, is never just a shower—and shows us how to make our reading experience more enriching, satisfying, and fun. This revised edition includes new chapters, a new preface, and a new epilogue, and incorporates updated teaching points that Foster has developed over the past decade.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor Revised Edition

1672e7e2-fd95-4319-94cd-44f239bb8c58-1

The Dean Koontz companion

e74f67fb-b012-4385-a89d-ed8f55b6c4c8-1

The Patch

Euripides

Philip Vellacott

Ohio

Medea, in which a spurned woman takes revenge upon her lover by killing her children, is one of the most shocking and horrific of all the Greek tragedies. Dominating the play is Medea herself, a towering and powerful figure who demonstrates Euripides' unusual willingness to give voice to a woman's case. Alcestis, a tragicomedy, is based on a magical myth in which Death is overcome, and The Children of Heracles examines the conflict between might and right, while Hippolytus deals with self-destructive integrity and moral dilemmas. These plays show Euripides transforming the awesome figures of Greek mythology into recognizable, fallible human beings.

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Andrew Delbanco

Required Reading

Mitali Perkins

Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children's Novels to Refresh Our Tired Soul

Darrell L. Bock

Breaking the Da Vinci Code

Candice M. Jenkins

Black Bourgeois

Harold Bloom (Editor, Introduction by)

Vergil's Aeneid

L. N. Franco

Literary Landscapes

Roy Blount Jr.

Alphabet Juice - Audio Book on CD

Stephen Minot

Three Genres

William Shakespeare; Stephen Orgel (Editor)

The Tempest

Sy Safransky

Four in the Morning: Essays

Nancy Pearl

Book Lust

Philip Roth

Reading Myself and Others

Multiple

Modern Critical Interpretations: Waiting for Godot

Claire Harman

Jane's Fame

Robertson Davies

A Voice from the Attic

Charles Olson; Merton M. Sealts; Merton M. Sealts

Call Me Ishmael

Diana Gabaldon

The Outlandish Companion

Grolier’s Literary Annual

Grolier’s Masterplots 1981 Annual

Harold Bloom

How to read and why

William Shakespeare; Alvin B. Kernan (Contribution by)

Othello

Thomas C. Foster

How to Read Literature Like a Professor Revised Edition

Martin Harry Greenberg, Edward Gorman

The Dean Koontz companion

John McPhee

The Patch

Euripides; Philip Vellacott

Medea and Other Plays