How do people change? Longing for personal growth and transformation is a central theme of our time. In psychotherapy we work to change the dynamics behind people's symptoms and conflicts. Writers, too, are fascinated by this theme, and have explored it frequently in their stories and characters. In...

How do people change? Longing for personal growth and transformation is a central theme of our time. In psychotherapy we work to change the dynamics behind people's symptoms and conflicts. Writers, too, are fascinated by this theme, and have explored it frequently in their stories and characters. In this volume, Barbara and Richard Almond, both psychoanalysts, explore a variety of novels that describe internal, personal change. They discover that there are fascinating parallels between the processes that lead to change in literary characters and the mechanisms observed in psychotherapeutic change.

As the American literary canon has undergone revision and expansion in recent years, the influence of women writers of the nineteenth century has been reevaluated. The first book of its kind, this reference provides alphabetically arranged entries for more than 70 nineteenth-century American women...

As the American literary canon has undergone revision and expansion in recent years, the influence of women writers of the nineteenth century has been reevaluated. The first book of its kind, this reference provides alphabetically arranged entries for more than 70 nineteenth-century American women writers, such as Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Emma Lazarus, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and includes a biography, a discussion of the author's major works and themes, an overview of the critical studies examining the writer's works, and a bibliography of works for further consultation.

This reference includes alphabetically arranged biographical and critical entries for more than 120 American Realistic and Naturalistic novelists, including Henry Adams, Sherwood Anderson, Saul Bellow, Theodore Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, and Jack London. Each entry includes basic biographical...

This reference includes alphabetically arranged biographical and critical entries for more than 120 American Realistic and Naturalistic novelists, including Henry Adams, Sherwood Anderson, Saul Bellow, Theodore Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, and Jack London. Each entry includes basic biographical information and a narrative overview of the writer's educational background, professional career, and published works. These works are briefly discussed to show how they fit within the Realistic and Naturalistic traditions.

Introducing Children's Literature is an ideal guide to reading children's literature through the perspective of literary history. Focusing on the major literary movements from Romanticism to Postmodernism, Thacker and Webb examine the concerns of each period and the ways in which these concerns...

Introducing Children's Literature is an ideal guide to reading children's literature through the perspective of literary history. Focusing on the major literary movements from Romanticism to Postmodernism, Thacker and Webb examine the concerns of each period and the ways in which these concerns influence and are influenced by the children's literature of the time. Each section begins with a general chapter, which explains the relationship between the major issues of each literary period and the formal and thematic qualities of children's texts. Close readings of selected texts follow to demonstrate the key defining characteristics of the form of writing and the literary movements. Original in its approach, this book sets children's literature within the context of literary movements and adult literature. It is essential reading for students studying writing for children. Books discussed include: *Louisa May Alcott's Little Women * Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies *Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland *Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz *Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden *P.L.Travers' Mary Poppins *E.B.White's Charlotte's Web *Philip Pullman's Clockwork .