Topic: Literary Criticism

Found 24 articles
The Resilient Czech Spirit, on Display in Bohumil Hrabal's "Closely Observed Trains" and "I Served the King of England"
03/09/10 - 3629 words
Bohumil Hrabal was born in 1915, and lived through some of the most tumultuous years of Czech history. Hrabal grew up in the time of the First Republic, when literature moved away from nationalism to a more aesthetic view. In... Go to Article »
Shakespeare's Apemantus: The Amazing, Changing Flat Character
03/04/10 - 1419 words
In William Shakespeare's The Life of Timon of Athens, the character Apemantus is a Cynic philosopher, who delights in presenting the truth to other characters in the most offensive manner possible. He is a secondary character... Go to Article »
Revisiting H.G. Wells' Depiction of Science and Religion in War of the Worlds
03/02/10 - 1282 words
Every passing decade, the culture of human beings as a whole has been significantly affected by technology and science. Whether it’s something small, like the invention of automatic doors, or something enormously important... Go to Article »
Perspective in the Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin
02/26/10 - 1342 words
Reading a story by Ursula Le Guin is like watching a poignant movie unfold on screen: captivating and intriguing, a tale that is not simply about inciting reactions but also about finding meaning behind words and images. Le Guin... Go to Article »
Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Reflection and Rebuke of Victorian Society
02/25/10 - 4196 words
Bram Stoker’s now legendary novel, Dracula, is not just any piece of cult-spawning fiction, but rather a time capsule containing the popular thoughts, ideas, and beliefs of the Victorian era that paints an elaborate picture... Go to Article »
Analyzing Reader-Response in J.D. Salinger's "The Laughing Man"
02/25/10 - 3310 words
J.D. Salinger’s “The Laughing Man” is a classic frame story which displays the parallels between a storyteller and his real life.  The narrator of the story, along with his friends, acts as the “readers... Go to Article »
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue: Psychoanalyzing Connie in Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"
02/24/10 - 1809 words
It is perhaps an understatement to say that the character Connie in Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” has a lot of issues. Oates has provided the perfect character to... Go to Article »
In Defense of The Spirit Of An Author: On Anne Fadiman's "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down"
02/19/10 - 1743 words
Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures is a non-fiction exploration of culture and medicine that tells the tragic story of the Lee... Go to Article »
Mikhail Bulgakov and Antun Gustav Matos: Two Authors and Periods Collide
02/16/10 - 800 words
If Bulgakov is a well know name, the same cannot be said for Matos, who was a literary man considered one of the Croatian masters of Modernism, and a key persona in the country’s culture. He was not only a writer, but also... Go to Article »
Comparing Female Characters in "Christabel" and "The Eve of St. Agnes"
02/05/10 - 2225 words
Despite both being the leading female characters in their respective pieces, Christabel from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Christabel and Madeline from John Keats’ The Eve of St. Agnes have many striking similarities.... Go to Article »
The Relevance of Food to Representations of Gender in 'The Awkakening' and 'Goblin Market'
02/02/10 - 3299 words
Carole Counihan argues that ‘men’s and women’s ability to produce, provide and consume food is a key measure of their power,’ (1998:2) whilst Jack Goody has argued, ‘gender hierarchies are maintained... Go to Article »
Brief Review: "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
01/28/10 - 1060 words
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is about a man on a voyage by ship, who in one impulsive and heinous act, changes the course of his life – and death.  The Mariner faces... Go to Article »
Women as the Submissive Sex in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'
01/26/10 - 864 words
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the author characterizes each woman as passive, disposable and serving a utilitarian function. Female characters like Safie, Elizabeth, Justine, Margaret and Agatha provide nothing more but... Go to Article »
Comparing Characters from Albert Camus's "The Fall" and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
01/14/10 - 1360 words
Jean-Baptiste Clamence in Albert Camus's The Fall and the mysterious Ancient Mariner in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner each experience something that radically shifts his worldview and his view of... Go to Article »
Ovid's Metamorphoses and the Plays of Shakespeare
12/31/09 - 4547 words
The number of ancient sources available to the readers and playwrights of Elizabethan times was truly immeasurable. These sources could be reached both as original texts in Greek and Latin, and in French and English translations... Go to Article »
How Now, Hecate?: The Supernatural in Shakespeare's Tragedies
12/17/09 - 4151 words
William Shakespeare wrote these lines, but his use of the mythological tradition of otherworldly appearances in his plays is anything but insubstantial. Sometimes he crafted them as a permeating presence, other times passing... Go to Article »
An Insatiable Hunger: A Literary Analysis of Richard Wright's Autobiography, "Black Boy"
12/08/09 - 2080 words
The autobiography Black Boy, by Richard Wright, is a tale of hope and determination. It catalogues Wright’s life growing up as an African-American in Jim Crow South, depicting the economic and social struggles that were... Go to Article »
Contrasting Views of Money in Ian Rand's "Atlas Shrugged"
12/04/09 - 1689 words
Atlas Shrugged’s presentation of money departs from the traditional dichotomy of the “haves and have-nots.” In fact such a characterization of money succinctly captures the ultimate evil, in conflict with the... Go to Article »
Biblical Allusions in "The House of Fame"
12/03/09 - 867 words
In Book II of “The House of Fame,” the narrator states that his dream is of greater significance than the biblical visions of “Isaye,…kyng Nabugodonosor, [and] Pharoa” (514-5). Beginning with line... Go to Article »
Anton Chekhov and the Development of the Modern Character
11/27/09 - 1177 words
Considered by some to be the father of the short story, Anton Chekhov created a paradigmatic form for writing fiction. By mimicking reality he produced a representational art through his stories. The revelations in Chekhov&rsquo... Go to Article »
A Brief Look at Feminism in Shakespeare's Macbeth
11/25/09 - 748 words
In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, he presents the conflicting character of Lady Macbeth. Upon receiving her husband’s letter about the witches’ prophesies, she attempts to be like a man in order to exude the strength... Go to Article »
Literary Analysis: Turn of the Screw
11/24/09 - 989 words
In “The Turn of the Screw,” Henry James presents to the reader a story that seems as factual as the recorded ghost sightings that were a major influence for this novel. However, upon further investigation, the reader... Go to Article »
Derek Walcott's "A Far Cry from Africa"
11/18/09 - 671 words
Derek Walcott’s “A Far Cry from Africa” expresses how he is torn between “Africa and the English tongue [he] love[s]” (30). Several of Walcott’s poems – “The Schooner Flight&rdquo... Go to Article »
Viewing Four Vonnegut Novels Through the Lens of Literary Criticism
11/17/09 - 2599 words
I like Kurt Vonnegut because he’s innovative and unique, his literary voice speaking out of a time period I love, when he “was actually helping to breathe life into a new genre—modern, pop fiction,”[1]... Go to Article »