Print ISBN: 978-1-68217-920-8
# of Pages: 286
# of Volumes: 1
Print List Price: $105
Add to Cart
eBook Info
e-ISBN: 978-1-68217-963-5
eBook User Price: $105
Free Online Access
Spread the Word
Download a Free Poster

Download and print a poster to promote your titles in your school or library.

Critical Insights: Survival

Editor: Robert C. Evans
September 2018

Tags: 1 Volume300 Pages4 Critical Contexts Essays10 Critical Readings EssaysCurrent Critical Analysis by Top Literary ScholarsIntroductory Essay by the EditorAdditional Works on ThemeDetailed Bio of the EditorGeneral BibliographyGeneral Subject IndexFurther Readings

Download: Table of Contents Sample Pages ​​Full Text Reviews
The book, in short, will explore a theme important to such key literary works as Homer’s Odyssey, Melville’s Moby-Dick, Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Elie Wiesel’s Night, as well as Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction work, Into the Wild among many others.

Why have so many writers been concerned with this theme? Why is this theme so popular with readers or with viewers of films? Why has literature, almost since the very beginning (think of Homer’s Odyssey, for instance), been so often and so strongly preoccupied with the quest to survive? How and why is this matter deeply rooted in human psychology? These are just a few of the general questions that can be asked about survival as a general theme in literature.

Critical Contexts
For readers who are studying the theme for the first time, four essays survey the critical conversation regarding the theme, explore its cultural and historical contexts, and offer close and comparative readings of key texts containing the theme. These essays emphasize four approaches in particular: the first takes a historical approach, the second offers an overview of previous scholarship on the topic, the third uses a specific critical lens (or theoretical perspective) to deal with the survival theme, and the fourth compares and contrasts the ways survival is dealt with by two different writers in two different works.

Critical Readings
Readers seeking a deeper understanding of the theme can then move on to other essays that explore it in depth through a variety of critical approaches as it appears in a variety of particular works.

Each essay is 2,500 to 5,000 words in length, and all essays conclude with a list of "Works Cited," along with endnotes.

Resources

  • Additional Works on Survival
  • Bibliography
  • Contributors
  • About the Editor
  • Index

View a Full List of Literature Titles

Reviews
“ "This volume provides an extensive exploration of the topic of survival in literature, and would assist as an excellent textbook or reference for an undergraduate class on this topic.” -ARBA, 2018
Critical Insights: Survival Review

Additional Titles of Interest

January 2017

Critical Insights: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

In this compilation of analyses and discussions on the critical reception, publication history, censorship, and academic merit, old themes are examined using fresh new perspectives many of which have never before been articulated in print.

September 2014

Critical Insights: Moby-Dick

Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is often considered the greatest American novel - a vast epic that combines deep philosophy and high adventure as well as rich comedy and profound tragedy. Containing numerous essays by many prominent Melville scholars, the book places Melville and his epic novel in their various historical contexts while also showing how the novel continues to be relevant- and powerful - today.

October 2016

Critical Insights: Holocaust Literature

Outstanding, in-depth scholarship by renowned literary critics; great starting point for students seeking an introduction to the theme and the critical discussions surrounding it.