Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers

A great deal of scholarship has focused on Joss Whedon's television and film work, which includes Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, The Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers.

Spartacus, the Thracian gladiator turned rebel leader, endures as a near-mythic hero who fought for the oppressed against a Roman oligarchy built on the backs of slave labor.

Films produced in late 1960s and early 1970s America--along with later films focusing on that period--continue to frame our understanding of the counterculture era.

Edgar Allan Poe exerted a profound influence on many aspects of 20th century culture, and continues to inspire composers, filmmakers, writers and artists.

Contemporary American horror literature for children and young adults has two bold messages for readers: adults are untrustworthy, unreliable and often dangerous; and the monster always wins (as it must if there is to be a sequel).

Imagining the figure of the fictional detective as an archetype in the study of modern culture, the author argues that contemporary detective fiction can help us better comprehend fundamental shifts of the Digital Age--in communication, family, entertainment, society, even the way we think as individuals.

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This book begins with a history of the detective genre, coextensive with the novel itself, identifying the attitudes and institutions needed for the genre to emerge in its mature form around 1880.

Action figures are more than toys or collectibles--they are statements on race, gender, class, body positivity and more.

This project examines the representation of anxiety about technology that humans feel when encountering artificial intelligences in four science fiction novels: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

At a time when debates about social inequality are in the spotlight, it is worth examining how the two most popular media of the 20th and 21st centuries--film and television--have shaped the representation of social classes.

Evangelical Christianity--the faith professed by one in four Americans--exerts an enormous influence in American society.

This collection of new essays explores various ways of reading, interpreting and using digital comics.

To read a crime novel today largely simulates the exercise of reading newspapers or watching the news.

As video gaming and gaming culture became more mainstream in the 1970s, science fiction authors began to incorporate aspects of each into their work.

Generally acknowledged as the preeminent gathering of baseball scholars, the annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture has made significant contributions to baseball research and pedagogy.

The crime fiction world of the late 1970s, with its increasingly diverse landscape, is a natural beginning for this collection of critical studies focusing on the intersections of class, culture and crime--each nuanced with shades of gender, ethnicity, race and politics.

For nearly a century, the work of Belgian crime writer and psychological novelist Georges Simenon, creator of Chief Inspector Maigret, has captivated readers worldwide.

The horror genre is continually being reinvented as societal fears evolve.

These new essays comprise a critical analysis of present-day crime fiction and nonfiction works set in Italy (all of which are available in English).

Vincent van Gogh continues to fascinate more than a century after his death in 1890.

One of the major figures in science fiction for more than sixty years, James Gunn has been instrumental in making the genre one of the most vibrant and engaging areas of literary scholarship.

How is science fiction from the Arab and Muslim world different than mainstream science fiction from the West?

This critical history of Iain M.

Science and science fiction have become inseparable--with common stories, interconnected thought experiments, and shared language.

The Incredible Hulk is one of the earliest Marvel Comics superheroes.

Combining elements of medievalism, the historical novel and the detective narrative, medieval crime fiction capitalizes upon the appeal of all three--the most famous examples being Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (one of the best-selling books ever published) and Ellis Peters' endearing Brother Cadfael series.

George R.

Ian Rankin is considered by many to be Scotland's greatest living crime fiction author.

Major League Baseball was in crisis in 1968.

Americans began chewing gum long before 1850, scraping resin from spruce trees, removing any bits of bark or insects and chewing the finished product.

From the Star Wars expanded universe to Westworld, the science fiction western has captivated audiences for more than fifty years.

Over its five seasons on the air, the televised series Outlander has combined romance, adventure, history, and time travel into a classic saga of love, war, and the ties that bind family together.

Widely considered one of the leading experts on the works of J.

Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany plays a host of the show's main characters, all clones of an illegal experiment.

While all fiction uses words to construct models of the world for readers, nowhere is this more obvious than in fantasy fiction.

This is a book about the comics genre and language, how these were used to create Batman, and how that character's longevity is largely due to the medium's unique formal qualities.

Fictional war narratives often employ haunted battlefields, super-soldiers, time travel, the undead and other imaginative elements of science fiction and fantasy.

In the twenty-first century, the romance genre has gained a growing academic response, including the creation of the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance.

While many American superheroes have multiple powers and complex gadgets, the Flash is simply fast.

Leading critic S.

Toys--those celebrated childhood cohorts and lead actors in children's imaginative play--have a fantastic history of heroism in fiction.

Alternate Worlds was first published in 1975 and became an instant classic, winning a Hugo award.

This book explores vampire narratives that have been expressed across multiple media and new technologies.

A chronological listing of the creative output and other antics of the members of the British comedy group Monty Python, both as a group and individually.

This book explores common representations and experiences of American fitness.

Over the last three decades, Italian crime fiction has demonstrated a trend toward a much higher level of realism and complexity.

In more than 30 novels, several short stories, graphic novels, movies, plays and poems, Ernest Hemingway has been introduced or "e;appropriated"e; as an important fictional character.

Robert A.

Vampire narratives are generally thought of as adult or young adult fare, yet there is a long history of their appearance in books, film and other media meant for children.