Literary Criticism
Voltaire and the French Enlightenment
In this Little Blue Book Number 512, Will Durant describes François-Marie Arouet, the writer, historian, and philosopher known as Vol…
Essays and Literary Studies
Essays and Literary Studies presents a collection of insightful and humorous reflections from Stephen Leacock, a prominent Canadian humorist…
Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offences
This is Mark Twain's vicious and amusing review of Fenimore Cooper's literary art. It is still read widely in academic circles. Twain's essa…
Emily Brontë
Emily Brontë (1818-1848) is best known for her only novel, "Wuthering Heights." She was born in Yorkshire, northern England, …
Stage Land
Stage Land offers a humorous exploration of the eccentricities and peculiarities of theatrical life. Jerome K. Jerome invites listeners into…
Reviews
Wilde’s literary reputation has survived so much that I think it proof against any exhumation of articles which he or his admirers would hav…
The Tale of Terror
The Tale of Terror by Edith Birkhead is a foundational exploration of the horror genre, tracing its evolution and impact on literature. This…
Appreciations
Appreciations, with an Essay on Style, is a collection of Walter Pater's previously-published essays on literature. The collection was well …
Bunyan Characters
Bunyan Characters by Alexander Whyte delves into the rich tapestry of characters from John Bunyan's renowned works, particularly focusing on…
A Student's History of American Literature
Engaging history of American Lit from the 1600's up through the late 1890's. The author, who was a professor at Knox College, really put a …
Old and New Masters
Jane Austen, WB Yeats, Chesterton, Shaw... these are personal and intelligent short essays on a selection of great (and great-ish) writers: …
Shakespeare Identified
That one who is not a recognized authority or an expert in literature should attempt the solution of a problem which has so far baffled spec…
Companionable Books
Many books are dry and dusty, there is no juice in them; and many are soon exhausted, you would no more go back to them than to a squeezed o…
The Quintessence of Ibsenism
George Bernard Shaw, a playwright with a few bones to pick of his own, undertakes a surgical analysis of the social philosophies underlying …
Prejudices
Mencken sharpens his pen and in a collection of short essays delivers acerbic opinions on issues and persons of the time. Among his targets…
Characters of Shakespeare's Plays
This famous Shakespearean exploration illuminates its plays through the frame of character, while also weighing theme, mood, structure and p…
On the Sublime
This is a classical text on aesthetics and proper style in writing and rhetoric, including commentary on various ancient Greek works such as…
The Welsh And Their Literature
Originally an article in the US Edition of the London Quarterly Review, George Borrow offers a sweeping history of Welsh literature, beginni…
Greek Literature
"The Greeks were the most intellectual people of the old world. … The study of Greek literature is therefore a proper element in a libe…
Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre
Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Marguerite de Navarre), (1492-1549), was the sister of Francis I, King of France. She was hig…