A little history of literature / John Sutherland.

ISBN:

9780300188363

9781299975637

9780300186857

Title:

A little history of literature / John Sutherland.

Author:

Sutherland, John, 1938- author.

Personal Author:

Sutherland, John, 1938- author.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 275 pages)

General Note:

Includes index.

Contents:

What is literature? -- Fabulous beginnings : myth -- Writing for nations : epic -- Being human : tragedy -- English tales : Chaucer -- Theatre on the street : the mystery plays -- The Bard : Shakespeare -- The book of Books : the King James Bible -- Minds unchained : the Metaphysicals -- Nations rise : Milton and Spenser -- Who 'owns' literature? : printing, publishing, and copyright -- The house of fiction -- Travellers' tall tales : Defoe, Swift, and the rise of the novel -- How to read : Dr. Johnson -- Romantic revolutionaries -- The sharpest mind : Austen -- Books for you : the changing reading public -- The giant : Dickens -- Life in literature : the Brontës -- Under the blankets : literature and children -- Flowers of decadence : Wilde, Baudelaire, Proust, and Whitman -- Poets laureate : Tennyson -- New lands : America and the American voice -- The great pessimist : Hardy -- Dangerous books : literature and the censor -- Empire : Kipling, Conrad, and Forster -- Doomed anthems : the War Poets -- The year that changed everything : 1922 and the Modernists -- A literature of her own : Woolf -- Brave new worlds : utopias and dystopias -- Boxes of tricks : complex narratives -- Off the page : literature on film, TV and the stage -- Absurd existences : Kafka, Camus, Beckett and Pinter -- The poetry of breakdown : Lowell, Plath, Larkins, and Hughes -- Colourful cultures : literature and race -- Magical realisms : Borges, Grass, Rushdie, and Márquez -- Republic of letters : literature without borders -- Guilty pleasures : bestsellers and potboilers -- Who's best? : prizes, festivals and reading groups -- Literature in your lifetime ... and beyond.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Literature -- History and criticism.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view
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Publication Date:

2013

Publication Information:

New Haven :

Yale University Press,

[2013]

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
809 23	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A much-loved author brings the world of literature alive for all ages

This 'little history' takes on a very big subject: the glorious span of literature from Greek myth to graphic novels, from The Epic of Gilgamesh to Harry Potter. John Sutherland is perfectly suited to the task. He has researched, taught, and written on virtually every area of literature, and his infectious passion for books and reading has defined his own life. Now he guides young readers and the grown-ups in their lives on an entertaining journey 'through the wardrobe' to a greater awareness of how literature from across the world can transport us and help us to make sense of what it means to be human.

Sutherland introduces great classics in his own irresistible way, enlivening his offerings with humor as well as learning: Beowulf, Shakespeare, Don Quixote, the Romantics, Dickens, Moby Dick, The Waste Land, Woolf, 1984, and dozens of others. He adds to these a less-expected, personal selection of authors and works, including literature usually considered well below 'serious attention' - from the rude jests of Anglo-Saxon runes to The Da Vinci Code. With masterful digressions into various themes - censorship, narrative tricks, self-publishing, taste, creativity, and madness - Sutherland demonstrates the full depth and intrigue of reading. For younger readers, he offers a proper introduction to literature, promising to interest as much as instruct. For more experienced readers, he promises just the same.

Author Notes

John Sutherland was born on October 9, 1938. After graduating from the University of Leicester in 1964, he began his academic career as an assistant lecturer in Edinburgh. He specializes in Victorian fiction, 20th century literature, and the history of publishing. He is Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus of Modern English Literature at University College, London and is currently teaching at the California Institute of Technology. He writes for The Guardian and is a well-known literary reviewer.

He is the author of more than 20 books including Stephen Spender: The Authorized Biography, How to Read a Novel: A User's Guide, The Boy Who Loved Books, Curiosities of Literature, 50 Literature Ideas You Really Need to Know, Lives of the Novelists: A History of Fiction in 294 Lives, and Magic Moments: Life-Changing Encounters with Books, Film, Music. He is also the co-author, with Stephen Fender, of Love, Sex, Death and Words: Tales from a Year in Literature.

(Bowker Author Biography)