Thomas Hardy and Contemporary Literary Studies - by T Dolin & P Widdowson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

For more than thirty years, books and essays on Thomas Hardy have been at the forefront of developments in academic literary studies. This collection brings together exciting new readings of Hardy's work by established and emerging critics which also reflect on continuities and changes in contemporary literary studies. Covering a wide range of topics and approaches, Thomas Hardy and Contemporary Literary Studies shows how Hardy's writing continues to provoke its readers to re-examine important issues in literary criticism and critical and cultural theory. Contributors include Terry Eagleton and J. Hillis Miller.

Review Quotes

'The excellence of this collection lies in its achieving its two central aims: to provide 'theoretical demonstrations' - examples or models of reading Hardy's stories and poems in light of a variety of critical theories - and, while doing so, to analyze important characteristic features of the stories and poems. The result is a series of always lucid, frequently brilliant, essays by well-known English, Australian, and American writers. While adopting famous theoretical concepts with a skill that will allow students to see the grounds for their approaches, the authors bring to bear on Hardy remarkable insight and originality that will reward the professional reader and enthusiast.' - Dale Kramer, Professor of English Emeritus, University of Illinois

About the Author

TIM ARMSTRONG Reader in Modern English and American Literature, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK GUY DAVIDSON Teaches in the English Studies and Communications and Cultural Studies Programs, University of Wollongong, Australia SIMON DURING Teaches at Johns Hopkins University, USA TERRY EAGLETON Professor of Cultural Theory and John Rylands Fellow, Department of English and American Studies, University of Manchester, UK ROGER EBBATSON Visiting Professor at Loughborough University, UK MICHAEL HOLLINGTON Professor at the University of Toulouse-Le Mirail, France J. HILLIS MILLER UCI Distinguished Research Professor, University of California at Irvine, 1986 BRETT NEILSON Lecturer, School of Humanities, University of Western Sydney, Australia MARY RIMMER Professor of English, University of New Brunswick, Canada LINDA M. SHIRES Professor of English, Syracuse University