Literary Criticism: Most bookmarked
The American Wife
by Elaine Ford
“Elaine Ford’s collection roams the territory between the intellect and the heart. She writes of the human condition with precision, in language that is both grave and conversational. Her characters step out of the real world onto the page, where she develops them quietly, but...
(2009)
no bookmarks
Set in Motion
Essays, Interviews, and Dialogues
by A. R. Ammons
Set in Motion collects for the first time the prose writings of A. R. Ammons, one of our most important and enduring contemporary poets. Hailed as a major force in American poetry by such redoubtable critics as Harold Bloom and Helen Vendler, Ammons has reflected upon the infl...
(2009)
no bookmarks
Mapping Michel Serres
by Niran Abbas
Provides an extremely valuable introduction to the work of Michel Serres for an English-speaking audience, as well as offering useful critical approaches for those already familiar with its outlines. ---Robert Harrison, Stanford University [blurb from review pending permission...
(2009)
no bookmarks
The Social Politics of M...
Anglo-German Relations (1066-1307)
Late nineteenth- and twentieth-century political and intellectual boundaries have heavily influenced our views of medieval Germany. Historians have looked back to the Middle Ages for the origins of modern European political crises. They concluded that while England and France ...
(2009)
no bookmarks
Grand River and Joy
by Susan Messer
"With unsparing candor, Susan Messer thrusts us into a time when racial tensions sundered friends and neighbors and turned families upside down. The confrontations in Grand River and Joy are complex, challenging, bitterly funny, and---painful though it is to acknowledge it---s...
(2009)
no bookmarks
Greetings from Cutler Co...
A Novella and Stories
Greetings from Cutler County is both a nonstop ride of tragic hilarity, and a piercing look at the complexities of youth. In one northern Michigan community the lives of desperate small-town dreamers are examined through an ensemble cast as earnest as they are outrageous, and ...
(2009)
no bookmarks
How Like an Angel
A Novel
How Like an Angel is a powerfully imagined, lyrically wrought novel, overflowing with the senses. Jack Driscoll is a marvel. ---Rick Bass "How Like an Angel is a lyrical, lonely ode to fatherhood, an aria in words that looks forward and backward at once. Jack Driscoll is a wri...
(2009)
no bookmarks
The Goat Bridge
A Novel
Brilliant. . . . The intricately layered narrative, moving back and forth in time and space, builds to a conclusion both bloody and subtle . . . ---Chicago Tribune ". . . in his most far-reaching and scorchingly beautiful novel, [McNally] extends his acute insights into the wo...
(2009)
no bookmarks
A Watch of Nightingales
by Liza Wieland
A modest, quiet woman, Mara Raynor never dreamed she'd one day find herself in charge of the small private school in Washington, D.C., where for many years she taught music and choir. But after the unexpected death of her husband, the school's headmaster, Mara finds herself th...
(2010)
no bookmarks
Good for the Jews
by Debra Spark
". . . a smart, sprightly, sex-drenched, and neatly plotted novel . . ." ---Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio and the Chicago Tribune "Spark is at her sly, funny, and cutting best in her third novel, a clever and affecting variation on the biblical story of Esther." ---Bookli...
(2010)
no bookmarks
Coming After
Essays on Poetry
by Alice Notley
Coming After gathers critical pieces by acclaimed poet Alice Notley, author of Mysteries of Small Houses and Disobedience. Notley explores the work of second-generation New York School poets and their allies: Ted Berrigan, Anne Waldman, Joanne Kyger, Ron Padgett, Lorenzo Thoma...
(2010)
no bookmarks
Fables of Representation
Essays
by Paul Hoover
From the acclaimed author of Winter (Mirror) and Rehearsal in Black, Fables of Representation is a powerful collection of essays on the state of contemporary poetry, free from the stultifying theoretical jargon of recent literary history. With its title essay, "Fables of Repre...
(2010)
no bookmarks
Orpheus in the Bronx
Essays on Identity, Politics, and the Freedom of Poetry
"Orpheus in the Bronx not only extols the freedom language affords us; it embodies that freedom, enacting poetry's greatest gift---the power to recognize ourselves as something other than what we are. These bracing arguments were written by a poet who sings." ---James Longenba...
(2010)
no bookmarks
The Body of Poetry
Essays on Women, Form, and the Poetic Self
The Body of Poetry collects essays, reviews, and memoir by Annie Finch, one of the brightest poet-critics of her generation. Finch's germinal work on the art of verse has earned her the admiration of a wide range of poets, from new formalists to hip-hop writers. And her ongoin...
(2010)
no bookmarks
American Audacity
Literary Essays North and South
One of the foremost critics in contemporary American letters, Christopher Benfey has long been known for his brilliant and incisive essays. Appearing in such publications as the New York Review of Books, the New Republic, and the Times Literary Supplement, Benfey's writings ha...
(2010)
no bookmarks
Noise That Stays Noise
Essays
by Cole Swensen
Praise for Cole Swensen: "One of the most assured voices in contemporary poetry." ---Library Journal "Engaging and delightful." ---Publishers Weekly A volume in the Poets on Poetry series, which collects critical works by contemporary poets, gathering together the articles, in...
(2011)
no bookmarks
The Game Changed
Essays and Other Prose
Praise for Lawrence Joseph: "Poetry of great dignity, grace, and unrelenting persuasiveness… Joseph gives us new hope for the resourcefulness of humanity, and of poetry." ---John Ashbery "Like Henry Adams, Joseph seems to be writing ahead of actual events, and that makes him o...
(2011)
no bookmarks
A Spell on the Water
"I couldn't put it down." ---Barbara Kingsolver In 1955, Mary and Jim Leader have the American dream: careers in medicine; a young and healthy family; and even a vacation home---a shabby resort far from bustling Chicago. But one hot afternoon changes everything. Mary, now a wi...
(2011)
no bookmarks
Literacy for Life
Further Results from the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey
Literacy for Life is the second report from the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey. It presents additional results on the nature and magnitude of the literacy gaps faced by OECD countries and how these gaps have evolved over the medium term. It offers new insights into the...
(2011)
no bookmarks
Sexuality in the Age of ...
The theme of sexuality is often integral to Shakespeare's works and therefore merits a thorough exploration. _Sexuality in the Age of Shakespeare_ begins with descriptions of sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome, medieval England, and early-modern Europe and England,...
(2011)
no bookmarks

