Literary Criticism
The Writing of Fiction
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Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton, a successful author of fiction herself, gives us some in-depth analysis of the writing of short stories and novels. Then she …
A Dish of Orts: Chiefly Papers on the Imagination, and on Shakespeare
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George MacDonald
Readers of George MacDonald are used to his engaging story-telling, winsome characters, and simple theology of trust in God as Father. But t…
Visions and Revisions
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John Cowper Powys
Powys presents a set of literary devotions of great figures in Literature who have obsessed him. He attempts not so much a reasoned critique…
Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3
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Isaac D'Israeli
This is the third and final volume of Isaac D'Israeli's monumental work Curiosities of Literature. It covers a great range of diverse topics…
The Quintessence of Ibsenism (Version 2)
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George Bernard Shaw
This is an essay providing an extended analysis of the works of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and of Ibsen's critical reception in Engla…
The Spirit of the Age; Or, Contemporary Portraits
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William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt was a keen observer of his time and the people populating the literary landscape. He presents short monographs on such illus…
Idle Hours In A Library
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William Henry Hudson
“[these essays on Shakespeare, Pepys, Restoration novels, and bohemianism]—the results of many hours of quiet but rather aimless browsing am…
The Bible in Shakspeare
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William Burgess
A compendium and analysis of similarities between the Bible and passages in Shakespeare's plays and other works, including Biblical referenc…
The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction
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Dorothy Scarborough
Scholar of the macabre Dorothy Scarborough provides us with the first comprehensive overview of supernatural fiction in literary history, a …
Supernatural Horror in Literature
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H. P. Lovecraft
In this essay Lovecraft traces the history of hair-raising fictional stories with a focus on things that go bump in the night, starting with…
Modern Russian Literature
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D. S. Mirsky
Prince D.S. Mirsky was a prominent Russian literary historian who spent several years in emigration, teaching at the University of London. T…
The Ordeal of Mark Twain (Version 2)
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Van Wyck Brooks
The Ordeal of Mark Twain analyzes the literary progression of Samuel L. Clemens and attributes shortcomings to Clemens' mother and wife. The…
Life and Writings of Addison
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Thomas Babington Macaulay
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and Whig politician. Today he is most famous for his contributions, wi…
Essays on Modern Novelists
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William Lyon Phelps
A collection of essays on 19th century novelists, both famous ones and those largely forgotten now. Among the writers presented most wrote i…
The Ring and the Book - An Interpretation
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Francis Bickford Hornbrooke
Francis Bickford Hornbrooke was an American Unitarian minister who in later years was recognized as an expert commentator on literature, in …
Homage to John Dryden: Three Essays on Poetry of the Seventeenth Century
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T. S. Eliot
Best known as a poet and playwright, Nobel Laureate T.S. Eliot also wrote many works of literary criticism. In this volume he gives us thr…
Milton
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Thomas Babington Macaulay
John Milton (1608-1674) was an English poet, classicist, and fearless advocate for civil liberty, who served the Commonwealth of England und…
Henry James At Work
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Theodora Bosanquet
Bosanquet (1880-1961) was secretary or amanuensis to James from 1907 to his death in 1916. She wrote this essay (1924) eight years after hi…
Gossip in a Library
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Edmund Gosse
A collection of informal essays about books in his library. He combines commentary, translations, and humorous asides about authors and thei…
Some American Storytellers
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Frederic Taber Cooper
Frederic Taber Cooper, who was an editor and author, provides a superb insight into the works of some of the most popular authors of the tur…