Willy Maley

Providing an entertaining and cutting-edge introduction to one of the most important contemporary authors, 'Irvine Welsh for Starters' discusses issues and matters raised in novels such as 'Trainspotting', 'Ecstasy', 'Filth' and 'Glue.'

Irvine Welsh for Starters

Shakespeare and Wales offers a 'Welsh correction' to a long-standing deficiency. It explores the place of Wales in Shakespeare's drama and in Shakespeare criticism, covering ground from the absorption of Wales into the Tudor state in 1536 to Shakespeare on the Welsh stage in the twenty-first century. Shakespeare's major Welsh characters, Fluellen and Glendower, feature prominently, but the Welsh dimension of the histories as a whole, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Cymbeline also come in for examination. The volume also explores the place of Welsh-identified contemporaries of Shakespeare such as Thomas Churchyard and John Dee, and English writers with pronounced Welsh interests such as Spenser, Drayton and Dekker. This volume brings together experts in the field from both sides of the Atlantic, including leading practitioners of British Studies, in order to establish a detailed historical context that illustrates the range and richness of Shakespeare's Welsh sources and resources, and confirms the degree to which Shakespeare continues to impact upon Welsh culture and identity even as the process of devolution in Wales serves to shake the foundations of Shakespeare's status as an unproblematic English or British dramatist.

From the Marches to the Assembly

Shakespeare and Wales

On 25 May 1967, Celtic beat Inter Milan 2–1 to become the first British team to win the European Cup. Fifty years on, The Lions of Lisbon relives the jubilation from the fans' point of view.

A Play of Two Halves

The Lions of Lisbon

Andrew Murphy

Shakespeare and Scotland is a collection of specially commissioned essays by major critics on both sides of the Atlantic. Together they explore, from a variety of critical perspectives, the playwright's place in Scotland, and the place of Scotland in his work.

Shakespeare and Scotland

Gareth Stanton

Bart Moore-Gilbert

Post-colonial theory is a relatively new area in critical contemporary studies, having its foundations more Postcolonial Criticism brings together some of the most important critical writings in the field, and aims to present a clear overview of, and introduction to, one of the most exciting and rapidly developing areas of contemporary literary criticism. It charts the development of the field both historically and conceptually, from its beginnings in the early post-war period to the present day. The first phase of postcolonial criticism is recorded here in the pioneering work of thinkers like Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, and Gayatri Spivak. More recently, a new generation of academics have provided fresh assessments of the interaction of class, race and gender in cultural production, and this generation is represented in the work of Aijaz Ahmad, bell hooks, Homi Bhabha, Abdul JanMohamed and David Lloyd. Topics covered include negritude, national culture, orientalism, subalternity, ambivalence, hybridity, white settler societies, gender and colonialism, culturalism, commonwealth literature, and minority discourse. The collection includes an extensive general introduction which clearly sets out the key stages, figures and debates in the field. The editors point to the variety, even conflict, within the field, but also stress connections and parallels between the various figures and debates which they identify as central to an understanding of it. The introduction is followed by a series of ten essays which have been carefully chosen to reflect both the diversity and continuity of postcolonial criticism. Each essay is supported by a short introduction which places it in context with the rest of the author's work, and identifies how its salient arguments contribute to the field as a whole. This is a field which covers many disciplines including literary theory, cultural studies, philosophy, geography, economics, history and politics. It is designed to fit into the current modular arrangement of courses, and is therefore suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate courses which address postcolonial issues and the 'new' literatures in English.

Postcolonial Criticism

Shakespeare and Scotland is a timely collection of new essays in which leading scholars on both sides of the Atlantic address a neglected national context for an exemplary body of dramatic work too often viewed within a narrow English milieu or against a broad British backdrop. These essays explore, from a variety of critical perspectives, the playwright's place in Scotland and the place of Scotland in his work. From critical reception to dramatic and cinematic adaptation, the contributors engage with the complexity of Shakespeare's Scotland and Scotland's Shakespeare. The influence of Scotland on Shakespeare's writing, and later on his reception, is set alongside the dramatic effects that Shakespeare's work had on the development of Scottish literature, from the Globe to globalisation, and from Captain Jamy and King James to radical productions at the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow.

David J. Baker

Scholars examine the role of literature in the construction of 'Britishness'.

British Identities and English Renaissance Literature

Michael Gardiner

An international line-up of authors trace the form, history, impact, reception, and decisive themes of Muriel Spark, from "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" to "The Finishing School." Original essays confront Spark's entire oeuvre& mdashpoetry, prose, and criticism& mdash;and consider how matters of biography, geography, gender, identity, nation, and religion are at work& mdash;and at play& mdash;in Spark's multifaceted writing. This anthology shows Spark to be a consummate artist as well as a proactive and persuasive thinker on social questions, including the welfare state, secularization, decolonization, and anti-psychiatry. The volume compares Spark alongside contemporaries including J.M. Coetzee, Graham Greene, and Flannery O'Connor, and it ends with a look at Spark's legacy in the twenty-first century.

Willy Maley

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