Fiction -- History and criticism

Before the novel, the world of books was dominated by scientific tomes, religious tracts and histories of the victorious in war. There had been stories and epic poems from ancient times - Homer's Iliad and Odyssey recounted ancient Greece, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was a chivalric roman...

Whether you're a regular globe-trotter or an armchair traveller, these 80 works conjure up the spirit of place for locations on every continent. Sometimes the setting of a novel is as important as the story - where would Dickens be without London, or Edith Wharton without New York? Who can read J...

In seven independent, but closely related chapters, Milan Kundera presents his personal conception of the European novel, which he describes as 'an art born of the laughter of God'. This is a classic of literary criticism from this world famous author.

Absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder. It makes people think you're dead. So begins Christopher Fowler's foray into the back catalogues and backstories of 99 authors who, once hugely popular, have all but disappeared from our shelves. Whether male or female, domestic or international, flash-...

In this entertaining and stimulating collection of seven essays, Milan Kundera deftly sketches out his personal view of the history and value of the novel.

In the tradition of E.M. Forster's 'Aspects of the Novel' and Milan Kundera's 'The Art of the Novel', 'How Fiction Works' is a scintillating and searching study of the main elements of fiction, such as narrative, detail, characterization, dialogue, realism, and style.

Sutherland argues that reading well is almost as difficult as writing well. With almost 2000 books published each week, how do you choose? Using examples from writers as diverse as Tolstoy, Coetzee and J.K. Rowling, this book will make reading novels even more of a pleasure.