Virginia Woolf's The Common Reader is a celebrated collection of essays that demonstrates her extraordinary literary criticism and unique perspective on literature. This classic work brings together Woolf's reflections on various authors and their contributions to literature, offering insightful and often provocative commentary on both canonical and lesser-known works. Woolf's essays cover a wide range of subjects, from her thoughts on Shakespeare...

Explores the reasons why women do not have the same influence, power, and wealth as men do. Meditates on the writer-temperament and explores the need for a woman to have a room of her own and five hundred pounds a year being symbols of the power to think for oneself and contemplate.

Homer's world,' 'the world that Homer knew,' these are familiar phrases; and criticism is apt to tell us that they are empty phrases. Nevertheless when we use them we think of that enchanted land, so clearly seen in the light of 'the Sun of Greece'; in the light of Homer. It is a realm of splendid wars, of gleaming gold and bronze, of noble men and of the most beautiful of women, which shines through a rift in the mists that hide the years before...

The King of France gives Helena the hand of any man she wants in marriage, but the one she chooses, Bertram, flees to Tuscany, and she must use her wits to get him back; this text includes background on the play's sources and stage history, as well as a textual analysis.

Weird fiction wouldn't exist without the women who created it. Meet the female authors who defied convention to craft some of literature's strangest tales. And find out why their own stories are equally intriguing. Monster, She Wrote shares the stories of women past and present who invented horror, speculative, and weird fiction and made it great. You'll meet celebrated icons (Ann Radcliffe, V.C. Andrews), forgotten wordsmiths (Eli Coltor, Ruby Jean...

"The story of literature in sixteen acts, from Alexander the Great and the Iliad to ebooks and Harry Potter, this engaging book brings together remarkable people and surprising events to show how writing shaped cultures, religions, and the history of the world"-- "Great stories of people, history, and literature are combined to show how the power of the written word has influenced civilizations throughout time. Puchner writes about Ezra and the Old...

The story of four landmark albums of 1970, tracing the musical, political, and cultural changes of the time.

Surveys the history and components of music, concentrating on Western musical traditions.

Shares expert guidelines on how to read and appreciate Herman Melville's classic work, offering insight into its history, characters, and themes while explaining its literary relevance in the modern world.