This comprehensive introductory study considers the full range of Barthes' work - from his early structuralist phase, through his post-structuralist explorations of "Text", to his late writings. In looking at the late work, often of an autobiographical or personal-lyrical nature, Rylance examines the relationship between the critical and the personal, as well as Barthes' relation to developments in feminism and postmodernism. Throughout, Barthes' writings are presented as paradigmatic of many of the major shifts in intellectual opinion in the post-war period. The book is part of a series reflecting the broad spectrum of modern European and American theory. It focuses on those cultural theorists who have had the most significant impact in the 20th century. The series aims to show how modern thinkers differ in their approaches to interpreting culture, texts, society, language, history, gender and social life. Designed to be accessible to students, each volume in the series discusses the thought and work of often difficult theorists in a clear and informative way, balancing exposition and critique.

Roland Barthes (Modern Cultural Theorists)

Reference

Rylance, Rick

Words, Language & Grammar

Harvester/Wheatsheaf

This book offers a history of the interdisciplinary development of Victorian psychology alongside detailed studies of three leading writers: Alexander Bain, Herbert Spencer, and G. H. Lewes. Examining work in several different fields, including evolutionary theory, philosophy, literature, and the bio-medical sciences, it sets the development of psychology in the context of the social and intellectual pressures of the time. The book includes detailed analyses of the work of George Eliot, whose writing is saturated with ideas developed alongside those of the great psychologists who formed her circle.

Victorian Psychology and British Culture 1850-1880

Literature & Fiction

British & Irish

Oxford University Press

The Literary Agenda is a series of short polemical monographs about the importance of literature and of reading in the wider world and about the state of literary education inside schools and universities. The category of "the literary" has always been contentious. What is clear, however, is how increasingly it is dismissed or is unrecognised as a way of thinking or an arena for thought. It is sceptically challenged from within, for example, by the sometimes rival claims of cultural history, contextualized explanation, or media studies. It is shaken from without by even greater pressures: by economic exigency and the severe social attitudes that can follow from it; by technological change that may leave the traditional forms of serious human communication looking merely antiquated. For just these reasons this is the right time for renewal, to start reinvigorated work into the meaning and value of literary reading. Rick Rylance addresses the debate over the public value of literary studies in a book which starts from the widely-remarked predicament of the humanities in modern times. By comparison with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the humanities can be negatively characterised as at best optional extras; at worst, frivolous and wasteful. Funders and policy-makers can question their value in terms of utility, vocational prospects and intrinsic worth, while journalists and commentators predict extinction. So what is the justification for literature at the present time? Rylance argues that literature's value lies in its enormous public presence and its contribution to the public good. Far from being apologetic for our investment in literature, he argues for its value to all parts of our society from economic productivity to personal and social wellbeing. He examines discussion of literature's public role over time, taking in key moments of self-reflection such as Sir Philip Sidney's "Defense of Poesy" (1581) and work by John Mill and Ruskin. He reviews current arguments about how culture creates value: from the idea of 'public goods' in economics to the value of reading for social consciousness in cognitive psychology. The book makes strong claims for the importance and urgency of reading literature today.

Literature and the Public Good: The Literary Agenda

History & Criticism

A new collection of modern essays on Lawrence's first major novel representative of both new and classic critical approaches. The essays - by leading critics such as Terry Eagleton, Kate Millett, Frank Kermode, John Goode and Paul Delany - explore a variety of ways of examining the novel including the psychoanalytic, feminist, marxist and formalist. The introduction sets these in the context of traditional ways of exploring the novel.

Sons and Lovers (New Casebooks, 80)

Red Globe Press

This book examines a key topic in modern literary studies. Contextual factors shape our perception of how literary texts are made, and how they are read. Their understanding is fundamental to the study of English at undergraduate level and is becoming increasingly important at 'A' Level. This book contains accessible essays by leading scholars on the contextual understanding of works of literature from Chaucer to the present day. The writers and texts chosen are central in 'A' Level and undergraduate syllabuses. The book is endorsed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and the Council for College and University English (CCUE).

Literature in Context

Simons, Judy

A survey of critical theory presents examples from the most important theoretical schools of the twentieth century and includes writings by F.R. Leavis, Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, and Ramond Williams

Debating Texts

Open University Press

Roland Barthes (Modern cultural theorists)

This comprehensive introductory study considers the full range of Barthes' work - from his early structuralist phase, through his post-structuralist explorations of "Text", to his late writings. In looking at the late work, often of an autobiographical or personal-lyrical nature, Rylance examines the relationship between the critical and the personal, as well as Barthes' relation to developments in feminism and postmodernism. Throughout, Barthes' writings are presented as paradigmatic of many of the major shifts in intellectual opinion in the post-war period. The book is part of a series reflecting the broad spectrum of modern European and American theory. It focuses on those cultural theorists who have had the most significant impact in the 20th century. The series aims to show how modern thinkers differ in their aproaches to interpreting culture, texts, society, language, history, gender and social life. Designed to be accessible to students, each volume in the series the thought and work of often difficult theorists in a clear and informative way, balancing exposition and critique.

Roland Barthes (Wall Street Journal Book)

Biographies & Memoirs

Routledge

Roland Barthes

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rylance, Rick. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Rylance, Rick

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rylance, Rick. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Roland Barthes (Modern Cultural Theorists)

Victorian Psychology and British Culture 1850-1880

Literature and the Public Good: The Literary Agenda

Sons and Lovers (New Casebooks, 80)

Literature in Context

Literature in Context

Debating Texts

Roland Barthes (Modern cultural theorists)

Roland Barthes (Wall Street Journal Book)

Roland Barthes