Michael G. Cornelius

Marybeth Ragsdale-Richards

Many of us grew up exploring fascinating worlds--in books, films, and, most importantly, our imaginations--places filled with mythological characters and magical landscapes where we had stunning experiences punctuated by the harmless pleasures that any child's mind can conjure. These worlds sometimes end up in our childhood fictions, which have in turn shaped countless imaginations and childhood adventures. The essays in this book attempt to comprehend the worlds of children's progressive fiction--from how they are created to how they affect readers. This book explores what happens when speculative genres (fantasy, horror, and science fiction) and imaginative spaces collide headlong with the realities and surrealities of modern childhood. It moves back and forth between Oz, Wonderland, Redwall and Fear Street, and explores series such as Nancy Drew, Inkheart, The Mortal Instruments, the Miss Peregrine series and more. Many of these works feature children who must save the day--to stop the bad guy, kill the monster, complete the quest and rescue adults--leading us to wonder if fantastic spaces in children's progressive fiction are really helping kids prepare to save the world rather than helping them temporarily escape it.

Essays on Space and Speculation in Children's Book Series

Places of Childhood Fancy

Harold Bloom

A selection of older literary criticism on John Donne.

John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets

When one sees the name Edward II, one also sees his same-sex loves; this correlation between Edward and sexuality has become ingrained into our public recall of history. This text explores the discourses of sexuality that surround Edward II in Renaissance-era works by Marlowe, Drayton, Hubert, Cary, and Niccols, arguing that, as a result of this very public conversation, Edward II emerges as a unique construction of an identity based on same-sex desire the veritable once (and future) gay king."

The Gay King in Fiction, 1590-1640

Edward II and a Literature of Same-Sex Love

Few movie genres have highlighted the male body more effectively than the sword-and-sandal film, where the rippling torso and the bulging muscle are displayed for all to appreciate. Carrying his ubiquitously phallic sword and dressed in traditional garb calculated to highlight his magnificent physique, the sword-and-sandal hero is capable of toppling great nations, rescuing heroines, defeating monsters, and generally saving the day. Each of these essays examines the issues of masculinity and utility addressed in the sword-and-sandal genre. The contributors offer insights on a film form which showcases its male protagonists as heroic, violent, fleshy, and in the end, extremely useful.

Essays on the Sword and Sandal Film

Of Muscles and Men

Sherry Ginn

The end of the world may be upon us, but it certainly is taking its sweet time playing out. The walkers on The Walking Dead have been "walking" for nearly a decade. There are now dozens of apocalyptic television shows and we use the "end times" to describe everything from domestic politics and international conflict, to the weather and our views of the future. This collection of new essays asks what it means to live in a world inundated with representations of the apocalypse. Focusing on such series as The Walking Dead, The Strain, Battlestar Galactica, Doomsday Preppers, Westworld, The Handmaid's Tale, they explore how the serialization of the end of the world allows for a closer examination of the disintegration of humanity--while it happens. Do these shows prepare us for what is to come? Do they spur us to action? Might they even be causing the apocalypse?

Essays on Society and Self at the End of the World

Apocalypse TV

Spartacus, the Thracian gladiator turned rebel leader, endures as a near-mythic hero who fought for the oppressed against a Roman oligarchy built on the backs of slave labor. The image of Spartacus as a noble if doomed avenger is familiar and his story has been retold through history as a cautionary tale about social injustice. The television series Spartacus takes a different view, with a violent depiction of the man and his times and a focus on the archetype of the gladiator--powerful, courageous and righteous. This collection of new essays studies the series as an exploration of masculinity. In the world of Spartacus, men jockey for social position, question the nature of their lives, examine their relationships with women and with each other, and explore their roles in society and the universe. The series also offers a compelling study of the composite nature of historical narrative in television and film, where key facts from original sources are interwoven with period embellishments, presenting audiences with a history and a fiction whose lines remain blurred by a distant yet all-too-familiar past.

Essays on the Starz Series

Spartacus in the Television Arena

Few movie genres have highlighted the male body more effectively than the “sword-and-sandal” film, where the rippling torso and the bulging muscle are displayed for all to appreciate. Carrying his phallic sword and dressed in traditional garb calculated to bring attention to his magnificent physique, the sword-and-sandal hero is capable of toppling great nations, rescuing heroines, defeating monsters, and generally saving the day. Each of these essays examines the issues of masculinity and utility addressed in the sword-and-sandal genre. The contributors offer insights on a film form which showcases its male protagonists as heroic, violent, fleshy, and, in the end, extremely useful.

THE ASCENSION BEGINS. A Catholic bishop. A Quaker prayer leader. A Methodist minister. A Mormon ward leader. An entire congregation of Seventh Day Adventists. What do they have in common? They all minister to people's spiritual needs. And someone-or something-is ripping them to shreds for it. A BLOODY WARNING. Police detective Caldwell "Cal" Evans, still three weeks shy of completing rehab, is called in on the case. His only clue is a chilling message written in blood at the first murder scene: "Leave the Christ alone. He does not belong to you." THE SERPENT SHALL REIGN. With bodies piling up, Cal and his partner, Velvet Rabinowitz, chase leads involving snake-handling cults, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and an ancient ceremony left unfinished for two thousand years. With the help of a graduate student and an enigmatic Roman Catholic priest, the two detectives do more than fight for their lives. .THEY FIGHT FOR US ALL.

The Ascension

Donald E. Palumbo

“Science fiction” can be translated into “real unreality.” More than a genre like fantasy, which creates entirely new realms of possibility, science fiction constructs its possibilities from what is real, from what is, indeed, possible, or conceivably so. This collection, then, looks to understand and explore the “unreal reality,” to note ways in which our culture’s continually changing and evolving mores of sex and sexuality are reflected in, dissected by, and deconstructed through the genre of science fiction. This book is a collection of new essays, with the general objective of filling a gap in the literature about sex and science fiction (although some work has gone before, none of it is recent). The essays herein explore the myriad ways in which authors—regardless of format (print, film, television, etc.)—envision very different beings expressing this most fundamental of human behaviors.

Essays on the Carnal Side of Science Fiction

The Sex Is Out of This World

Equal parts tragedy and history play, Richard III chronicles the rise and short reign of its diabolical title character. Of this masterful creation, esteemed critic Harold Bloom has written, The manipulative, highly self-conscious, obsessed hero-villain moves himself from being the passive sufferer of his own moral and/or physical deformity to becoming a highly active melodramatist. Portrayed as England's curse and as his own worst enemy, the jealous and ambitious Richard would find little glory or peace awaiting him upon his ascension to England's throne. This collection of critical essays about the Bard's Richard III includes classic criticism from a number of notable critics throughout the centuries. Edited by Bloom, this title also features a handy index for quick reference.

Much Ado about Nothing

Where we come from, where we are, where we have been, and where we are going all have a huge impact on who we are. Theories of space and place also hold that the converse is equally true—that we have an impact on those spaces and places we inhabit or dwell within. We make space: our agencies, our cultures, our beliefs and values and understandings shape the macro- and micro-environments around us. Just as much, however, those places we inhabit shape us, causing us to adapt ourselves to them. Children exist in spaces that are crafted for them by adults—by parents, by school administrators and teachers—and, as such, their impact on space can be somewhat limited. Space is made for them, but certainly not to their own specifications or liking. In children’s literature, spaces are often seen as noteworthy markers of a child’s progression toward adulthood, whether the space is Laura Ingalls’ little house or Harry Potter’s Hogwarts. For these characters, movement through space is about growth and change, about accepting the inevitability of growing up and the responsibility of the adulthood, whether that be marriage and motherhood or vanquishing the most evil wizard of all time. However, what about juvenile series books, whose central protagonists generally never grow or change? The central character of these series—usually a flat, unchanging trope more than a fully realized, fleshed-out, dynamic figure—is a static creation. Though characters like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys frequently move through different geographies, they never change as characters. In fact, one could argue that the only dynamic that ever experiences any alteration in a series like Nancy Drew is setting. Surely there is something significant about the relationship of series books to those spaces their protagonists inhabit? This collection explores that relationship, the dynamics between the controlled spaces of childhood and the variable spaces of juvenile series literature. It shows that the unchanging series book characters demonstrate that their impact on space is far greater than its impact ever is on them, reflecting an exercise in spatial authority that most children and even children’s book heroes never quite experience.

The Spatial Dynamics of Juvenile Series Literature

Melanie E. Gregg

"This collection of essays focuses on the girl sleuth, made famous by Nancy Drew but also characterized by other detectives like Cherry Ames, Trixie Belden, Linda Carlton, and, in today's world, by Veronica Mars and Hermione Granger. Solving mysteries iswhat each of the essayists strives to do, examining the conundrums these sleuths have left in their wake"--Provided by publisher.

Essays on the Fiction of Girl Detectives

Nancy Drew and Her Sister Sleuths

Much has been written about the girl sleuth in fiction, a feminist figure embodying all the potential wit and drive of girlhood. Her male counterpart, however, has received much less critical attention despite his popularity in the wider culture. This collection of 11 essays examines the boy detective and his genre from a number of critical perspectives, addressing the issues of these young characters, heirs to the patriarchy yet still concerned with first crushes and soda shop romances. Series explored include the Hardy Boys, Tow Swift, the Three Investigators, Christopher Cool and Tim Murphy, as well as works by Astrid Lindgren, Mark Haddon and Joe Meno.

Essays on the Hardy Boys and Others

The Boy Detectives

C.W. Sullivan III

"This book is a collection of new essays, with the general objective of filling a gap in the literature about sex and science fiction. The essays explore the myriad ways in which authors writing in the genre, regardless of format (e.g., print, film, television, etc.), envision very different beings expressing this most fundamental of human behaviors"--Provided by publisher.

When one sees the name Edward II, one also sees his same-sex loves; this correlation between Edward and sexuality has become ingrained into our public recall of history. This text explores the discourses of sexuality that surround Edward II in Renaissance-era works by Marlowe, Drayton, Hubert, Cary, and Niccols, arguing that, as a result of this very public conversation, Edward II emerges as a unique construction of an identity based on same-sex desire—the veritable once (and future) gay king.

Michael G. Cornelius

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