Student Companion to Richard Wright

Student Companion to Richard Wright PDF Author: Robert Felgar
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN: 0313309094
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
It serves students of both literature and social history as it explores the themes of racism and all types of institutionalized oppression that Wright exposed in his writing."--BOOK JACKET.

Student Companion to Richard Wright

Student Companion to Richard Wright PDF Author: Robert Felgar
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN: 0313309094
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
It serves students of both literature and social history as it explores the themes of racism and all types of institutionalized oppression that Wright exposed in his writing."--BOOK JACKET.

Student Companion to Richard Wright

Student Companion to Richard Wright PDF Author: Robert Felgar
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313007322
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
Born in rural Mississippi, the grandson of slaves, Richard Wright overcame every social obstacle, including poverty, racism, and limited education to achieve literary recognition as the creator of some of America's most powerful Black literature. Written with unprecendented candor, Wright's works changed the cultural landscape by challenging old stereotypes and myths about race. Wright scholar Robert Felgar has written a critical volume to help students appreciate the literary significance of such groundbreaking works as Native Son and the autobiographical Black Boy. This study serves students of both literature and social history as it explores the themes of racism and all types of insitutionalized oppression that Wright exposed in his provocative writing. Felgar approaches each of Wright's major works in chronological order, offering insightful literary analysis of Uncle Tom's Children, Native Son, Black Boy, and The Outsider, as well as Wright's two works published posthumously, Eight Men, a collection of stories, and Lawd Today! The original, censored works are discussed and compared with the more recently re-published unexpurgated versions. This Student Companion introduces readers to Richard Wright with a biographical chapter, recounting the writer's struggles and achievements. A literary heritage chapter examines the genres, themes, and stylistic traditions that figured in Wright's work. Each of Wright's major works of fiction is given careful literary interpretation, with analysis of plot, character development, thematic concerns and a close alternate reading. A selective bibliography of critical works and reviews, in addition to the listings of Wright's stories, essays and full-length works will help students derive the most from their study of this important American writer.

Understanding Richard Wright's Black Boy

Understanding Richard Wright's Black Boy PDF Author: Robert Felgar
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313008035
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
In Black Boy, Richard Wright triumphs over an ugly, racist world by fashioning an inspiring, powerful, beautiful, and fictionalized autobiography. To help students understand and appreciate his story in the cultural, political, racial, social, and literary contexts of its time, this casebook provides a rich source of primary historical documents, collateral readings, and commentary. The selection of unique documents is designed to place in sharp relief the issue of pervasive racism in American society. Documents include excerpts from other autobiographies and a novel, legal documents, speeches, an interview, an anthropological study, magazine and newspaper articles, and contemporary editorials. Most of the documents are available in no other printed form. From Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Du Bois on the one hand, to Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, and white supremacist pronouncements on the other, Felgar creates a dialogue between the voices of oppressed blacks, including Richard Wright, and those of oppressing whites over the issue of race and racism. Students will be able to analyze a variety of perspectives on this issue from the earliest days of the American republic to the present day. Felgar also includes primary documents on the American dream of success, which has remained elusive for so many blacks. A chapter on the American autobiographical tradition uses excerpts from Ben Franklin's autobiography, as well as from those by Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Du Bois, to place Wright squarely in the tradition of this genre and show that Wright was more a believer in the myth of perpetual upward mobility than he realized. In a chapter called The Dream Deferred, documents show how freed blacks were just as enslaved by new and restrictive laws after the Civil War as they had been under slavery. Each chapter concludes with study questions, ideas for written and oral examination, and suggested readings to aid students in examining the issues raised by Wright's autobiography.

Richard Wright's Native Son

Richard Wright's Native Son PDF Author: Harold Bloom
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 0791096254
Category : African American men in literature
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Richard Wright is one of the greatest African-American writers of the 20th century. His masterpiece Native Son is analyzed in this volume of essays.

Student Companion to Jane Austen

Student Companion to Jane Austen PDF Author: Debra Teachman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313007306
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
Generations of readers and movie viewers have been drawn to the spirited heroines of ^USense and Sensibility and ^UEmma. Prepared especially for students, this full-length critical study of Jane Austen covers her six most beloved works, including the two novels ^UNorthanger Abbey and ^UPersuasion, published posthumously. Young readers will enjoy the vivid biographical account of how Austen herself was just a teenager when she took up the pen and began to write in guarded secrecy. Austen scholar Debra Teachman has a historian's eye for detail as she describes Austen's homelife in the English countryside and the social environment that were so much a part of Austen's stories. Teachman examines each novel, relating how historical context influenced the characters, events and themes that Austen developed. Teachman eloquently points out, for example, that while Austen does not overtly preach feminism in any of her novels, the lack of legal protection for women is a vital societal theme in ^USense and Sensibility. Her discussion of the economic realities at the core of Austen's novels will help readers appreciate that works like the best-selling Pride and Prejudice are more than just charming stories. In addition to analyzing the literary elements in each work of fiction by Jane Austen, this Companion also gives students an overview of Austen's literary heritage. Discussing first the novel itself as a genre, this useful chapter then identifies each sub-genre that influenced Austen: epistolary writing, the adventure novel, the gothic form, and Women's Rights novels. An extensive bibliography directs readers to biographical materials, historical documents, reviews, criticism and numerous other accessible sources that will enhance their further study of Austen's writings. For students of classic fiction, this well written critical study aids in the enjoyment and understanding of the life and works of Jane Austen.

Student Companion to William Faulkner

Student Companion to William Faulkner PDF Author: John Dennis Anderson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313088241
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
One of America's greatest writers, William Faulkner wrote fiction that combined spellbinding Southern storytelling with modernist formal experimentation to shape an enduring body of work. In his fictional Yoknapatawpha County—based on the region around his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi—he created an entire world peopled with unforgettable characters linked into an intricate historical and social web. An introduction to the Nobel-Prize-winning author's life and work, this book devotes opening chapters to his biography and literary heritage and subsequent chapters to each of his major works. The analytical chapters start with his most accessible book, The Unvanquished, a Civil-War-era account of a boy's coming of age. The following chapters orient readers to elements of plot, character, and theme in Faulkner's masterpieces: The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom! Also analyzed and discussed are some of Faulkner's most often anthologized short stories, including A Rose For Emily and Barn Burning, and the longer stories The Bear, Spotted Horses, and The Old Man that were incorporated in the novels Go Down, Moses, The Hamlet, and If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem. Clear, insightful analyses of the elements of Faulkner's fiction are supplemented with alternative readings from a variety of critical approaches including gender, rhetorical, performance, and cultural studies perspectives.

Student Companion to Edith Wharton

Student Companion to Edith Wharton PDF Author: Melissa McFarland Pennell
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313058199
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
One of the most accomplished American writers of the early 20th century, Edith Wharton achieved both critical recognition and popular acclaim. This Student Companion provides an introduction to Wharton's fiction. Beginning with her life and career, the volume places Wharton in the context of her times, focusing on how she was shaped by the culture of wealth and privilege into which she was born. Her struggle to resist the demands of her social world paralleled her characters' lives and contributed to the power of her writing. Included are an in-depth discussion of her writing, along with analyses of thematic concerns, character development, historical context, and plot. A close critical reading covers each of her major works, with a full chapter devoted to each: The House of Mirth (1905), Ethan Frome (1911), Summer (1917), The Age of Innocence (1920), and her two novellas, Madame de Treymes (1907) and The Old Maid (1924). Another chapter addresses Wharton's short stories and considers some of her most famous and anthologized tales, such as The Other Two and Roman Fever. This companion is ideal for students who are reading Wharton for the first time, or for general readers who are seeking a greater understanding of her writing. A select bibliography offers suggestions for further reading about Wharton and includes criticism and contemporary reviews of her work.

Student Companion to Elie Wiesel

Student Companion to Elie Wiesel PDF Author: Sanford Sternlicht
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313017158
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description
Since it was written nearly 50 years ago, Night (1958) has changed world perception of the Holocaust experience. Wiesel's oeuvre, including Holocaust narratives such as Dawn (1961), novels, essays, tales, and plays, has also altered the critical and aesthetic landscape through which we view literature, placing themes of religious identity, hope, survival, devotion to family, and humanity ahead of distinctions of fiction and nonfiction. This volume offers critical analysis of all of Wiesel's major writings, with full chapters on Night, Dawn, The Oath, and four other full-length works. His most recent five novels, including The Testament (1980) and Twilight (1987), are also covered. Plot, character development, thematic concerns, and style are discussed, as are historical contexts and alternate critical perspectives. This volume is an indispensable tool for students, whether they are encountering Night for the first time, revisiting Wiesel's literary contributions, or discovering the author's recent works, such as The Judges (1999). A biographical section relates the tragic events of Wiesel's life to his inspirational writings. A literary heritage chapter offers an overview of his achievements and situates his works within the Western literary tradition and the historical and religious frameworks. A separate chapter covers Wiesel's nonfiction writings, including his most important essays, tales, and studies. A bibliography of selected sources is included.

Student Companion to Ernest Hemingway

Student Companion to Ernest Hemingway PDF Author: Lisa Tyler
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313007020
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
The fully-lived, yet tragically ended life of Ernest Hemingway has attracted nearly as much attention as his extensive canon of writings. This critical study introduces students to both the man and his fiction, exploring how Hemingway confronted in his own life the same moral issues that would later create thematic conflicts for the characters in his novels. In addition to the biographical chapter which focuses on the pivotal events in Hemingway's personal life, a literary heritage chapter overviews his professional developments, relating his distinctive style to his early years as a journalist. With clear concise analysis, students are guided through all of Hemingway's major works including The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952). Full chapters are also devoted to examining his collections of short fiction, the African Stories, and the posthumous works. Each chapter carefully examines the major literary components of Hemingway's fiction with plot synopsis, analysis of character development, themes, settings, historical context, and stylistic features. Alternate critical readings are also given for each of the full length works. An extensive bibliography citing all of Hemingway's writings as well as biographical sources, general criticism, and contemporary reviews will help students understand the scope of Hemingway's contributions to American Literature.

Student Companion to Mark Twain

Student Companion to Mark Twain PDF Author: David E. Sloane
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313007098
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
Mark Twain's legacy is an extensive canon of writings that includes some of the most widely read, staged, debated, reinterpreted, and filmed works ever. This introductory critical study helps students and general readers appreciate the myriad perspectives of the man, his life, and his contributions to American literature. A fresh biographical account traces Twain's colorful life through his varied careers and adventures, to his rise to national prominence as a writer of short stories, to the creation of masterpieces like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Also examined are the thematic concerns, plot structure, character development, and historical background in the travel narratives, a selection of short stories, and Twain's novels. A lively biographical chapter is followed by a section on Mark Twain's career and contributions to American literature, which situates Twain within the traditions of American humor writings. A selection of Twain's early short stories and sketches are examined, followed by the personal travel narratives. A full chapter on each of the five novels examines their important literary components, and also offers alternative critical perspectives. The final chapter surveys short writings from Twain's later years. A select bibliography cites sources for all of Twain's works, with numerous contemporary reviews, and general criticism of individual and collected works. As a scholar of Twain's writings and of American humor, David Sloane's insightful analysis illuminates how Mark Twain managed to fuse his irreverent humor with his deep seated concerns about humanity.