Truly international in scope, The Oxford Guide to Contemporary Writing provides in 28 insightful and eminently readable chapters an accessible, informative, and fluent account of all that is most significant and worth reading in the mass of writing since 1960.

opinion, the Guide offers a discriminating - and sometimes controversial - view of a broad range of contemporary literatures.

In the age of globalization, the category of "World Literature" is increasingly important to academic teaching and research. The Routledge Companion to World Literature offers a comprehensive pathway into this burgeoning and popular field. Separated into four key sections, the volume covers: the history of World Literature through significant writers and theorists from Goethe to Said, Casanova and Moretti the disciplinary relationship of World Literature to areas such as philology, translation, globalization and diaspora studies theoretical issues in World Literature including gender, politics and ethics a global perspective on the politics of World Literature. The forty-eight outstanding contributors to this companion offer an ideal introduction to those approaching the field for the first time, or looking to further their knowledge of this extensive field.

A user-friendly reference for English-language readers who are eager to explore contemporary fiction from around the world. Profiling hundreds of titles and authors from 1945 to today, with an emphasis on fiction published in the past two decades, this guide introduces the styles, trends, and genres of the world's literatures, from Scandinavian crime thrillers and cutting-edge Chinese works to Latin American narco-fiction and award-winning French novels. The book's critical selection of titles defines the arc of a country's literary development. Entries illuminate the fiction of individual nations, cultures, and peoples, while concise biographies sketch the careers of noteworthy authors. Compiled by M. A. Orthofer, an avid book reviewer and the founder of the literary review site the Complete Review, this reference is perfect for readers who wish to expand their reading choices and knowledge of contemporary world fiction. “A bird's-eye view of titles and authors from everywhere―a book overfull with reminders of why we love to read international fiction. Keep it close by.”—Robert Con Davis-Udiano, executive director, World Literature Today “M. A. Orthofer has done more to bring literature in translation to America than perhaps any other individual. [This book] will introduce more new worlds to you than any other book on the market.”—Tyler Cowen, George Mason University “A relaxed, riverine guide through the main currents of international writing, with sections for more than a hundred countries on six continents.”—Karan Mahajan, Page-Turner blog, The New Yorker

Reports announcing the death of the book are now rife, but the continued relevance of the ten master writers discussed in this volume is proof to the contrary. Here we come across the dissident Czech writer Václav Havel, who later became the nation’s president; the South African Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer, with her pronounced anti-apartheid novels; the Chilean-American Isabel Allende, ‘the world’s most widely read Spanish author’; and Günter Grass, hailed as the ‘literary spokesman of his generation’. We also meet Graham Greene and Milan Kundera alongside the Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz, who, in his quiet way, ridiculed Islamic fundamentalism. The book is rounded off with three remarkable Latin American writers: Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz and Gabriel García Márquez. Of Love and Other Sorrows takes the reader on a fascinating journey in the company of some of the biggest names in modern literature. This illuminating study of their lives and works will seduce readers to rediscover these masters for themselves.

A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory is a classic introduction to the complex yet crucial area of literary theory. This book is known for its clear, accessible style and its thorough, logical approach, guiding the reader through the essentials of literary theory. It includes two new chapters: ‘New Materialisms’ which incorporates ecocriticism, animal studies, posthumanism and thing theory; ‘21st Century and Future Developments’ which includes technology, digital humanities, ethics and affect.

Presents lucid and exemplary critical essays, introducing readers to J. M. Coetzee's works, practices, horizons and relations.

This volume focuses on how music and arts in the global Africana world are used for political and social change. It will be an essential resource for scholars and students in African studies, Africana, Afro-Atlantic studies, diaspora studies, sociology, music, literature, politics and culture. The volume is divided into three sections, namely “Music and Politics”, “Case Studies of Experiential Practices in Healing and Education”, and “Literature, the Arts, and Political Expression”, which cross subject areas such as nationalism, political identity, post-coloniality, health, education, orality, and cultural expressivity. Diverse topics are covered, such as the African thematics of jazz, the Y’en a Marre/Fed Up movement in Senegal, the Occupy Nigeria movement, NGO activism in Brazil, and Africana performance traditions, as well as the dynamics of oral and written literature. The articles explore works by Joseph Conrad, Nathaniel Mackey, Kofi Awoonor, and Ngugi wa Thiong’o, as well as the artistic expression of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

This book essentially negotiates African literature as a veritable site of artistic and cultural production and situates it within the dynamic of postcolonial cultural politics. It critically evaluates African literature as a contour of cultural contestation with the imperial politics of knowledge production about others and as an ideological strategy for knowing them. The book’s main contribution to the critical discourse on African literature and culture inheres in the fact that politics constitutes the enduring concern of society as it re/shapes and over-determines discourses which have continued to remain crucial to societal engineering. It, however, imagines the discursive existence as necessary for the evolving of a dynamic African literary tradition with an abiding fidelity to the verities of history. The book is useful for literary scholars, historians, critics, experts and students of postcolonial/cultural studies as well as general readership interested in African studies.

The present book features some introductory discussions on martial arts for the international audience and highlights in brief the complexities of translating the genre into English, often from a comparative literature perspective. Martial arts, also known as Kungfu or Wushu, refer to different families of Chinese fighting styles over many centuries. Martial arts fiction, or Wuxia literature, is a unique genre that depicts adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Understanding martial arts and the Chinese culture and philosophy behind them creates an intriguing experience, particularly, for non-Chinese readers; translating the literature into English poses unparalleled challenges for translators not only because of the culture embedded in it but also the fascinating martial arts moves and captivating names of many characters therein.