Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji, written in Japan in the early eleventh century, is acknowledged to be one of Japan's greatest literary achievements, and sometimes thought of as the world's first novel. This introduction to the Genji sketches its cultural background, offers detailed analysis of the text, including language and style, and ends by tracing the history of its reception through nine centuries of cultural change. This book will be useful for survey courses in Japanese and world literature.

This volume offers an accessible and stimulating introduction to one of the most influential texts of western literature. This guide highlights Milton's imaginative daring as he boldly revises the epic tradition, brilliantly elaborates upon Genesis, and shapes his ambitious narrative in order to retell the story of the Fall. The book considers the heretical dimensions of Paradise Lost and its theology, while situating Milton's great poem in its literary, religious, and political contexts. A concluding chapter addresses the influence of Milton's sublime poem as a source of creative inspiration for later writers, from the Restoration to the Romantics. Finally, the volume offers an extremely useful and updated guide to further reading, which students will find invaluable.

Patrick McCarthy analyzes The Stranger, one of the vital texts of existentialism and twentieth-century literature, in the context of French and French-Algerian history and culture. McCarthy examines how the work undermines traditional concepts of fiction and explores parallels and contrasts between Camus' work and that of Jean-Paul Sartre. Providing students with a useful companion to The Stranger, this second edition features a revised guide to further reading and a new chapter on Camus and the Algerian War. First Edition Hb (1988): 0-521-32958-2 First Edition Pb (1988): 0-521-33851-4