Audiobooks online: genre "Literary Criticism"

This is an essay providing an extended analysis of the works of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and of Ibsen's critical reception in England. Shaw uses this "exposition of Ibsenism" to illustrate the imperfections of British society, using the idea of an imaginary "community of...

There is an old anecdote, probably apocryphal, which describes how a feminine admirer wrote to Browning asking him for the meaning of one of his darker poems, and received the following reply: "When that poem was written, two people knew what it meant--God and Robert Browning....

A collection of wry looks at literature, education, and other social phenomena by Canadian humourist and economics professor, Stephen Leacock. (Summary by TriciaG) ...

George Bernard Shaw, a playwright with a few bones to pick of his own, undertakes a surgical analysis of the social philosophies underlying the work of Henrik Ibsen. Focusing his analysis on Ibsen's challenge to the conventional "ideals" which both Ibsen and Shaw consider the ...

From Ritual to Romance is a 1920 book written by Jessie L. Weston. Weston's book is an examination of the roots of the King Arthur legends and seeks to make connections between the early pagan elements and the later Christian influences. The book's main focus is on the Holy Grai...

Frederic Taber Cooper, who was an editor and author, provides a superb insight into the works of some of the most popular authors of the turn of the century decade. Excerpt: The subjects of the essays included in this volume differ widely in aim and in accomplishment; but al...

Readers of George MacDonald are used to his engaging story-telling, winsome characters, and simple theology of trust in God as Father. But this book shows a different side of MacDonald. A Dish of Orts is a varied collection of essays, mostly in the nature of literary criticism. T...

Madame Germaine de Staël (1766-1817) was the daughter of the Swiss banker and statesman, Jacques Necker. Her mother hosted a popular Paris salon where intellectuals gathered, many of whom contributed to the education of the brilliant girl. After his fall from political power in 1...

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 specialists must doubtless appear to many as a glaring act of over- boldness; whilst to pretend to have actually solved this most momentous of l...

Jane Austen, WB Yeats, Chesterton, Shaw... these are personal and intelligent short essays on a selection of great (and great-ish) writers: some well known, and some a bit more obscure to the average reader today. Robert Lynd (1879 – 1949) is best known as a literary essayist and...

Mencken sharpens his pen and in a collection of short essays delivers acerbic opinions on issues and persons of the time. Among his targets in this volume (the first of six) are critics, H.G. Wells Thorstein Veblen, Arnold Bennett, William Dean Howells, Irvin S. Cobb. Mencken's...

G. K. Chesterton was a great admirer of Charles Dickens, and wrote a noted critique of Dickens' works expressing his opinion in his own inimitable style. (Summary by Karen Merline)...