The emerging field of comics studies has grown rapidly in recent years. This has seen the publication of a number of introductory and theoretically engaged books aiming to provide comics and graphic novels with their own theoretical language, separate from
Roberto Bolaño’s By Night in Chile is a study in unreliable narration. It tells the story of the writer/priest/critic Sebastian Urrutia Lacroix as he reflects, from his death-bed, on certain events in his life, particularly those in connection to the Pinochet regime.
Yukio Mishima was a twentieth century Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model and film director. He was also an ardent nationalist, with extreme right wing views. His death in 1970, aged just 45, came as a result of a failed
Pond is a collection of short stories, or perhaps a fragmented novel, centred on an unnamed female narrator living alone in a cottage in Ireland. It is often written in an expansive, mock-heroic style, using elevated language to describe the
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a novel of social comedy and observation bound up in serious issues of identity, race, and culture, in a globalised world. Obinze and Ifemelu meet at high school in Nigeria and fall in love. When the
Tim Harris’ book offers a detailed and multifaceted account of the reigns of the Stuart monarchs, James I (also James VI of Scotland), and his ill-fated son, Charles I. For anyone who isn’t familiar with this period of history, James
Tim Parks’ The Novel: A Survival Skill is part of Oxford University Press’ “The Literary Agenda” series, which has a rather wonderful aim: “to start reinvigorated work into the meaning and value of literary reading.” Parks’ monograph steps up to
Italo Calvino was an Italian writer associated with both neorealism and postmodernism. He published a number of works during the latter half of the twentieth century and won a number of awards including the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement.