The Routledge history of literature in English : Britain and Ireland

This new guide to the main developments in the history of British and Irish Literature uniquely charts some of the main features of literary language development and highlights key language topics. Clearly structured and highly readable, it spans over a thousand years of literary history from AD 600 to the present day. It emphasizes the growth of literary writing, its traditions, conventions and changing characters but also includes literature from the margins, both geographical and culturally. Key features of the textbook include: \* an up-to-date guide to the major periods of literature in English in Britain and Ireland \* extensive coverage of post-1945 literature \* language notes spanning AD 600 to the present \* extensive quotations from poetry, prose and drama \* a timeline of the important historical and political events \* a special text design to enhance its usefulness \* a foreword by novelist Malcolm Bradbury The Routledge History of Literature in English will interest students and teachers of literature and language worldwide. Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 List of illustrations......Page 13 Foreword by Malcolm Bradbury......Page 15 Contexts and conditions......Page 23 Personal and religious voices......Page 27 Language note: The earliest figurative language......Page 31 Long poems......Page 32 French influence and English affirmation......Page 35 Language and dialect......Page 40 Language note: The expanding lexicon Chaucer and Middle English......Page 43 From anonymity to individualism......Page 45 Women's voices......Page 48 Fantasy......Page 50 Travel......Page 51 Geoffrey Chaucer......Page 52 Langland, Gower and Lydgate......Page 59 The Scottish Chaucerians......Page 64 Mediaeval drama......Page 66 Malory and Skelton......Page 69 Language note: Prose and sentence structure......Page 71 Contexts and conditions......Page 77 Language note: Expanding world: expanding lexicon......Page 82 Renaissance poetry......Page 84 Drama before Shakespeare......Page 89 From the street to a building the Elizabethan theatre......Page 95 Language note: The further expanding lexicon......Page 97 Renaissance prose......Page 98 Translations of the Bible......Page 105 Language note: The language of the Bible......Page 107 Shakespeare......Page 109 The plays......Page 110 The sonnets......Page 121 Language note: Changing patterns of 'thou' and 'you'......Page 123 The Metaphysical poets......Page 125 The Cavalier poets......Page 131 Jacobean drama to the closure of the theatres, 1642......Page 133 Masques......Page 135 Other dramatists of the early seventeenth century......Page 136 City comedy......Page 143 The end of the Renaissance theatre......Page 146 Contexts and conditions......Page 149 Early Milton......Page 153 Restoration drama......Page 159 Rochester......Page 170 Dryden......Page 172 Pope......Page 177 Journalism......Page 179 Scottish Enlightenment, diarists and Gibbon......Page 181 The novel......Page 186 Criticism......Page 201 Language note: The expanding lexicon 'standards of English'......Page 202 Johnson......Page 203 Sterne, Smollett and Scottish voices......Page 206 Drama after 1737......Page 214 Poetry after Pope......Page 216 Language note: Metrical patterns......Page 222 Melancholy, madness and nature......Page 223 The Gothic and the sublime......Page 228 Language note: Point of view......Page 231 Contexts and conditions......Page 237 Language note: William Cobbett, grammar and politics......Page 243 Blake, Wordsworth and Coleridge......Page 244 Language note: The 'real' language of men......Page 252 Keats......Page 254 Shelley......Page 259 Byron......Page 263 Clare......Page 268 Romantic prose......Page 269 The novel in the Romantic period......Page 273 Jane Austen......Page 275 Language note: Jane Austen's English......Page 279 Scott......Page 280 From Gothic to Frankenstein......Page 285 The Scottish regional novel......Page 286 Contexts and conditions......Page 291 Dickens......Page 293 Victorian thought and Victorian novels......Page 299 The Bronts and Eliot......Page 309 Other lady novelists......Page 314 Late Victorian novels......Page 316 Wilde and Aestheticism......Page 327 Hardy and James......Page 330 Language note: Dialect and character in Hardy......Page 333 Victorian poetry......Page 339 Language note: The developing uses of dialects in literature......Page 358 Victorian drama......Page 360 Contexts and conditions......Page 367 Modern poetry to 1945......Page 371 Later Hardy......Page 372 Language note: The fragmenting lexicon......Page 375 Georgian and Imagist poetry......Page 377 First World War poetry......Page 379 Irish writing......Page 383 W.B. Yeats......Page 384 T.S. Eliot......Page 386 Language note: Modernist poetic syntax......Page 391 Popular poets......Page 393 Thirties poets......Page 394 Scottish and Welsh poetry......Page 399 Modern drama to 1945......Page 402 Irish drama......Page 404 D.H. Lawrence......Page 406 Popular and poetic drama......Page 408 Language note: Literature about language......Page 410 The novel to 1945......Page 412 The Kailyard School......Page 414 Provincial novels......Page 415 Social concerns......Page 416 Light novels......Page 417 Genre fiction......Page 418 Modernism and the novel......Page 420 Forster, Conrad and Ford......Page 421 Language note: Metaphor and metonymy......Page 424 D.H. Lawrence......Page 431 Woolf and Joyce......Page 439 Language note: Irish English, nationality and literature......Page 449 Novels of the First World War......Page 451 Aldous Huxley......Page 453 Women writers......Page 454 Ireland......Page 456 Early Greene and Waugh......Page 458 Thirties novelists......Page 460 Contexts and conditions......Page 467 Drama since 1945......Page 471 Poetry of the Second World War......Page 489 Poetry since 1945......Page 491 Martians and gorgons......Page 503 Towards the twenty-first century......Page 507 The novel since 1945......Page 509 Language note: Discourse, titles and dialogism......Page 510 Later Greene......Page 512 Post-war Waugh......Page 513 Orwell......Page 515 Dialogue novels......Page 519 The mid-century novel......Page 522 Amis, father and son......Page 525 Language note: City slang......Page 527 Golding......Page 529 Fowles and Frayn......Page 531 Novel sequences......Page 532 The campus novel......Page 533 Excellent women......Page 535 Muriel Spark and others......Page 539 Margaret Drabble......Page 541 Lessing, Hill and Weldon......Page 542 Iris Murdoch......Page 543 Internationalism......Page 545 'Insiders' from 'outside'......Page 546 Language note: English, Scots and Scotland......Page 552 The contemporary Scottish novel......Page 554 The contemporary Irish novel......Page 558 Endings and beginnings......Page 559 Old and Middle English......Page 563 The Renaissance......Page 569 Restoration to Romanticism......Page 573 The Romantic period......Page 575 The nineteenth century......Page 576 The twentieth century: 1900 45......Page 579 The twentieth century: 1945 to the present......Page 581 British and Irish winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature......Page 585 Acknowledgements......Page 586 Select bibliography......Page 590 Index......Page 599 In 1963 President John F. Kennedy was shot, Sylvia Plath published The Bell Jar , and the Beatles were in their prime. This was a changing world, which British and Irish writers both contributed to and reflected in drama, poetry and prose. The Routledge Guide to Modern English Writing tells the story of British and Irish writing from 1963 to the present. From the first performance of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in the 1960s to lad novels and Chick Lit in the twenty-first century, the authors guide the reader through the major writers, genres and developments in English writing over the past forty years. Providing an in-depth overview of the main genres and extensive treatment of a wide range of writers including Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, Angela Carter, Benjamin Zephaniah and Nick Hornby, this highly readable handbook also offers notes on language issues, quotations from selected works, a timeline and a guide to other works. Written by the authors of The Routledge History of Literature in English (second edition, 2001), The Routledge Guide to Modern English Writing is essential reading for all readers of contemporary writing. This new guide to the main developments in the history of British and Irish Literature uniquely charts some of the main features of literary language development and highlights key language topics. Clearly structured and highly readable, unlike traditional histories of literature it spans over a thousand years of literary history from AD 600 to the present day. It emphasizes the growth of literary writing, its traditions, conventions and changing characteristics, and includes literature from the margins, both geographical and cultural. Key features of the book are: * an up-to-date guide to the major periods of literature in English in Britain and Ireland * extensive coverage of post-1945 literature * language notes spanning AD 600 to the present * extensive quotations from poetry, prose and drama * a timeline of the important historical and political events This will be essential reading for all students of English literature and language. This completely updated and expanded second edition of the wide-ranging and accessible Routledge History of Literature in English covers the main developments in the history of British and Irish literature with accompanying language notes exploring the interrelationships between language and literature. Highly praised for its readability and narrative style it charts the principal features of literary language development and highlights key language topics. With a span of over a thousand years, from AD 600 to the present day, it emphasizes the growth of literary writing, its traditions, conventions and changing characteristics, and includes literature from the margins, both geographical and cultural. Telling the story of British and Irish writing from 1963 to 2003, this readable handbook guides the reader through the major writers, genres and developments in English writing over those 40 years. It also offers notes on language issues, quotations from selected works and a timeline This bestselling guide to the developments in the history of British and Irish literature uniquely charts the main features of literary language development, highlights key language topics and spans over 1,000 years of literary history