A History of Literary Criticism and Theory: From Plato to the Present

Just like the above title, this book is about the history of literature theory. For you who are studying literature, this is a must-have item on your library. However, if you are not ready to purchase the printout book in case you have no more room for your book. Then, a soft copy (ebook) of the book will just do the trick.

You can download it here.

However, I really recommend you buy the paper-book on amazon or any other book store.

Story And Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film

Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. 'For the specialist in the study of narrative structure, this is a solid and very perceptive exploration of the issues salient to the telling of a story-whatever the medium. Chatman, whose approach here is at once dualist and structuralist, divides his subject into the 'what' of the narrative (Story) and the 'way'(Discourse)... Chatman's command of his material is impressive.'

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Selections from Political Writings (1910-1920) By Antonio Gramsci

Selections from Political Writings 1910-1920
selected and edited by Quintin Hoare; translated by John Mathews
 
Traces Gramsci's development as a revolutionary socialist during the first World War, the impact on his thought of the Russian Revolution and his involvement in the general strike and factory occupations of 1920. It details his reactions to the emerging fascist movement and his contributions to the establishment of the Communist Party in Italy.


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The Antonio Gramsci Reader: Selected Writings 1916-1935 Free Download

Forgacs has produced a significant one-volume collection of most of the important writings of Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), a political thinker who has gained great influence in recent years. Forgacs stresses the "complexity and vitality" of Gramsci's views on hegemony, war, art, education, and popular culture, as well as politics.

The book is divided into two parts--the first covers the period from 1916-26, the second comes from Gramsci's notebooks written while imprisoned by the Fascists. Particularly valuable are the chapter introductions and a glossary of key terms which facilitate an understanding of Gramsci's philosophy.

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Feminism: A Very Short Introduction by Margareth Walters Free Download

How much have women's lives really changed? In the West women still come up against the 'glass ceiling' at work, most earning considerably less than their male counterparts. What are we to make of the now commonplace insistence that feminism deprives men of their rights and dignities? And how does one tackle the issue of female emancipation in different cultural and economic environments - in, for example, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent, and Africa?

This book provides an historical account of feminism, exploring its earliest roots as well as key issues including voting rights, the liberation of the sixties, and its relevance today. Margaret Walters touches on the difficulties and inequities that women still face more than forty years after the 'new wave' of 1960s feminism, such as how successful women are at combining domesticity, motherhood, and work outside the house. She brings the subject completely up to date by providing an analysis of the current situation of women across the globe, from Europe and the United States to Third World countries.

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Critical Theory And Literary Canon Free Download

Kolbas stakes out new territory in assessing the war over literary canon formation, a subject that contemporary polemicists have devoted much ink to. Throughout this succinct manuscript, Kolbas ranges through the sociology and politics of culture, aesthetic theory, and literary theory to develop his point that texts not only must should be situated in the historical and material conditions of their production, but also evaluated for their very real aesthetic content.

One reason the is an important issue, Kolbas contends, is that the canon is not simply enclosed in the ivory tower of academia; its effects are apparent in a much wider field of cultural production and use. He begins by critiquing the conservative humanist and liberal pluralist positions on the canon, which either assiduously avoid any sociological explanation of the canon or treat texts as stand-ins for particular ideologies.

Kolbas is sympathetic to the arguments of Bourdieu et. al. regarding positioning the canon in a wider "field of cultural production" than the university, but argues that theirs are purely sociological explanations of aesthetics (i.e., there is no objective aesthetic content) that ignore art's autonomous realm, which he argues -- a la Adorno -- exists (if only problematically). Ultimately, he argues that critical theory, particularly the arguments of Adorno on aesthetics, offers the most fruitful path for evaluating the canon, despite the approach's clear flaws. His vision is a sociological one, but one that treats the components of the canon as possessing objective aesthetic content, albeit content that shifts in meaning over history.

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