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Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination
Toni Morrison · back to the book
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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorIn Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose
Alice Walker · 397 pages
Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics
bell hooks · 248 pages
"For bell hooks, the best cultural criticism sees no need to separate politics from the pleasure of reading. Yearning collects together some of hooks's classic and early pieces of cultural criticism from the '80s. Addressing topics like pedagogy, postmodernism, and politics, hooks examines a variety of cultural artifacts, from Spike Lee's film Do the Right Thing and Wim Wenders's film Wings of Des
Bad Feminist
Roxane Gay · 360 pages
A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay. "Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink, all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I'm not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once l
Shadow and Act
Ralph Ellison · 317 pages
"With the same intellectual incisiveness and supple, stylish prose he brought to his classic novel Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison examines his antecedents and in so doing illuminates the literature, music, and culture of both black and white America. His range is virtuosic, encompassing Mark Twain and Richard Wright, Mahalia Jackson and Charlie Parker, The Birth of a Nation and the Dante-esque lands
The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985
James Baldwin · 690 pages
Complete collection of major nonfiction writings by author James Baldwin, composed between 1948 and 1985, providing his perceptions of the twentieth century black American experience.
The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative
Thomas King · 172 pages
"In The Truth About Stories, Native novelist and scholar Thomas King explores how stories shape who we are and how we understand and interact with other people. From creation stories to personal experiences, historical anecdotes to social injustices, racist propaganda to works of contemporary Native literature, King probes Native culture's deep ties to storytelling." "Thomas King weaves events fro
The Art of Fiction: Illustrated from Classic and Modern Texts
David Lodge · 240 pages
"The articles with which David Lodge entertained and enlightened readers of the Independent on Sunday and The Washington Post are now revised, expanded and collected together in book form. The art of fiction is considered under a wide range of headings, such as the Intrusive Author, Suspense, the Epistolary Novel, Time-shift, Magical Realism and Symbolism, and each topic is illustrated by a passag
A Reader's Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose
B.R. Myers · 149 pages
Including: A response to critics, and: Ten rules for "serious" writers, the author continues his fight on behalf of the American reader, arguing against pretension in so-called "literary" fiction, naming names and exposing the literary status quo.
The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist
Orhan Pamuk · 200 pages
What happens within us when we read a novel? And how does a novel create its unique effects, so distinct from those of a painting, a film, or a poem? In this inspired, thoughtful, deeply personal book, Orhan Pamuk takes us into the worlds of the writer and the reader, revealing their intimate connections.
How Fiction Works
James Wood · 273 pages
Provides a somewhat academic approach to a discussion of the main elements of fiction using examples (good and bad) from literature.
Talking About Detective Fiction
P.D. James · 179 pages
In a perfect marriage of author and subject, P. D. James--one of the most widely admired writers of detective fiction at work today--gives us a personal, lively, illuminating exploration of the human appetite for mystery and mayhem, and of those writers who have satisfied it.P. D. James examines the genre from top to bottom, beginning with the mysteries at the hearts of such novels as Charles Dick
An Experiment in Criticism
C.S. Lewis · 142 pages
"Professor Lewis believed that literature exists above all for the joy of the reader and that books should be judged by the kind of reading they invite. He doubted the use of strictly evaluative criticism, especially its condemnations. Literary criticism is traditionally employed in judging books, and 'bad taste' is thought of as a taste for bad books. Professor Lewis' experiment consists in rever
Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature's 50 Greatest Hits
Jack Murnighan · 374 pages
Feel bad about not reading or not enjoying the so-called great books? Don't sweat it, it's not your fault. Did anyone tell you that Anna Karenina is a beach read, that Dickens is hilarious, that the Iliad's battle scenes rival Hollywood's for gore, or that Joyce is at his best when he's talking about booze, sex, or organ meats? Writer and professor Jack Murnighan says it's time to give literature
For a New Novel: Essays on Fiction
Alain Robbe-Grillet · 175 pages
The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder
Erin Blakemore · 224 pages
In this compelling book of beloved heroines and the remarkable writers who created them, Erin Blakemore explores how the pluck and dignity of literary characters such as Anne Shirley, Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Eyre, Scarlett O'Hara, Scout Finch and Jo March can inspire women today.
Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult
Bruce Handy · 307 pages
"An irresistible, nostalgic, and insightful--and totally original--ramble through classic children's literature from Vanity Fair contributing editor (and father) Bruce Handy. In 1690, the dour New England Primer, thought to be the first American children's book, was published in Boston. Offering children gems of advice such as "Strive to learn" and "Be not a dunce," it was no fun at all. So how di
Aspects of the Novel
E.M. Forster · 176 pages
The Clark Lectures, sponsored by Trinity College of the University of Cambridge, have had a long and distinguished history and have featured remarks by some of England's most important literary minds. Leslie Stephen, T.S. Eliot, F.R. Leavis, William Empson and I.A. Richards have all given celebrated and widely influential talks as the keynote speaker. One of the Lectures' most important mileston