Literary theory and criticism aims to cater to the academic requirements of college and university students and research scholars. Among the students of English literature, it is found that they are mostly engaged in genres like poetry, novel, drama, prose and essay. My endeavour for such students and scholars is to make this book a supplement to their marginalized genres such as 'theory and criticism'.
The Genius of Aldous Huxley is an attempt to make a critical analysis of Aldous Huxley's novels, essays and plays. The significant results of his stance in terms of his critical heritage were threefold: the explicit message of the later fiction struck most readers as being detrimental to its artistry; criticism of Huxley's craft often became indistinguishable from criticism of his ideas; the popular response to Huxley's work continued to grow, but the critical reception declined. While they were looking to him for guidance, practically none of Huxley's readers were prepared for the directions he took in the coming books. His critics had so consistently overlooked the deeper import of the earlier work that the new outspoken idealism seemed an abrupt reversal, if not a contradiction of attitudes. The shift of emphasis in Huxley's work introduced during the war years a period of new ferment and trial for his critical reputation. The volume of response never slackened; if anything, it increased. He has revealed himself as one of the few capable makers of cultural synthesis in our time. His concern for mankind is so obvious that one can only think readers who see nothing in his later fiction but obsessions and bitterness are incapable of appreciating his intentions or his powers.
Dramas and Sonnets of William Shakespeare Vol. 1 is helpful to every learner of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) who, doubtless, saw himself as merely another professional man of the theatre who moved almost casually from play-acting to playwriting. And indeed, he was very much a man of his time, a man of the Elizabethan theatre, who learnt to exploit brilliantly the stagecraft, the acting, and the public taste of his day. It happens very rarely in the history of literature that a craftsman who has acquired perfect control of his medium, masterly ease in handling the techniques and conventions of his day, is also a universal genius of the highest order, combining with his technical proficiency a unique ability to render experience in poetic language and an uncanny, intuitive understanding of human psychology. Man of the theatre, poet and expert in the human passions, Shakespeare has appealed equally to those who admire the art with which he renders a story in terms of the acted drama or the insight with which he presents states of mind and complexities of attitude or the unsurpassed brilliance he shows in giving conviction and a new dimension to the utterances of his characters through the poetic speech he puts in their mouths. It is a remarkable combination of qualities. Yet he was no poetic genius descending on the theatre from above, but a working dramatist who found himself in catering for the public theatre of his day.