Books Edited
Critical Insights: Native Son. Amenia, N.J.: Salem Press: Grey House, 2025.Richard Wright's novel Native Son made a huge impact when it first appeared in the USA in 1940 and continues to compel, disturb and provoke twenty-first century readers. Its narrative grips like a thriller but also raises much deeper questions about ethnicity, gender, society, crime and punishment. This collection offers penetrating essays on key aspects of the novel, its cultural, social and political contexts, and its reception in the twentieth century and in our own time.
Critical Insights: In Cold Blood. Amenia, N. J.: Salem Press: Grey House, 2020.In Cold Blood, Truman Capote’s harrowing account of the brutal murder of the Clutter family and the trial and execution of the killers, stamped itself strongly on the public mind when published in 1965, and continues to generate intense controversy and debate. This volume offers a rich range of perspectives on Capote’s “non-fiction novel”, exploring its critical reception, its interplay between truth and fiction, and the crucial ethical, judicial, penal and social issues it raises. Critical Insights: The Kite Runner. Amenia, N. J.: Salem Press: Grey House, 2020. Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner combines a compelling, moving narrative with an intense engagement with the fraught and complex history and politics of Afghanistan and its relations with American culture. This volume provides fresh and informed insights into its historical contexts, its critical reception, its narrative structure, its treatment of war and sexual violence, its exploration of father-son relationships, its perceptual, sensory and cognitive dimensions, its style, and its film, stage and graphic novel adaptations. Critical Insights: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Amenia, N. J.: Salem Press: Grey House, 2020. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s best-known, most-loved and sometimes highly controversial comedy is an intricately structured drama that employs a rich range of poetry and prose to juxtapose fairies and mortals, artisans and aristocrats, court and forest, fantasy and reality, reason and madness. This volume offers a variety of new perspectives on its critical history, complex form, its rich language, its key themes, and the many theatrical and cinematic versions it has generated. Conversations with Critics. 2nd edition. Great Britain and Singapore: Verbivoracious Press, 2015. Nicolas Tredell interviews John Barrell; Catherine Belsey; Bernard Bergonzi; Christine Brooke-Rose; David Caute; Brian Cox; Donald Davie; Terry Eagleton; Stephen Heath; Robert Hewison; Philip Hobsbaum; Lisa Jardine CBE; Sir Frank Kermode; Colin MacCabe; Karl Miller; Sir Roger Scruton; C. H. Sisson CH; George Steiner; Raymond Tallis; Dame Marina Warner. ‘scrupulously researched [...] 20 lengthy and fascinating conversations with prominent literary figures’ Isobel Armstrong, Times Educational Supplement ‘as entertaining a guide to contemporary critical debates as one could hope for ... [Tredell’s] questions are informed, explicit and seek always to connect specific issues to overall literary and political contexts’ Mark Ford,Times Literary Supplement Cinemas of the Mind: A Critical History of Film Theory. Duxford: Icon, 2002. ‘[A] resourceful and stimulating study of classical and recent film theory ... an invaluable work’ John Conomos, Screening the Past ‘an excellent introduction to the rich history of film theory’ Nicolas Magenham, Cercles ‘clear and informative exposition and some nicely chosen stills’ Richard Armstrong, Kamera 03 The Fiction of Martin Amis: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000. ‘a useful volume for students ... Tredell makes a good job of selection, editing prudently and generously as required, and splices the extracts together well’ Year’s Work in English Studies William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury / As I Lay Dying: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999. ‘The criticism in this Guide aims to provide a series of suggestions, insights and indicators that will help us to navigate Faulkner’s labyrinths and to emerge with a richly enhanced understanding of the styles, structures and multiple meanings of two of his greatest works’ Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999. ‘this book is engaging, lively and scholarly: a rare combination’ Year’s Work in English Studies Charles Dickens: Great Expectations: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998. ‘[An] excellent survey of essays, articles and reviews on Great Expectations’ Professor Bernard N. Schilling, The Rain of Years: Great Expectations and the World of Dickens F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998. ‘[This book] trace[s] the novel’s critical reputation from 1925 into the 1990s, interweaving Tredell’s narrative with generous excerpts from reviews and critical essays’ Jackson R. Bryer, The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald ‘[It] skilfully imbeds excerpts from reviews, periodical articles and book sections in a narrative of the novel’s critical reception and interpretation’ Jackson R. Bryer, Approaches to Teaching Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Conversations with Critics. 1st edition. Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1994. Nicolas Tredell interviews John Barrell; Catherine Belsey; Bernard Bergonzi; Christine Brooke-Rose; Dame A. S. Byatt; David Caute; Brian Cox; Donald Davie; Terry Eagleton; Stephen Heath; Robert Hewison; Richard Hoggart; Lisa Jardine CBE; Sir Frank Kermode; Colin MacCabe; Karl Miller; Sir Roger Scruton; C. H. Sisson CH; George Steiner; Dame Marina Warner. ‘scrupulously researched [...] 20 lengthy and fascinating conversations with prominent literary figures’ Isobel Armstrong, Times Educational Supplement ‘as entertaining a guide to contemporary critical debates as one could hope for [...] [Tredell’s] questions are informed, explicit and seek always to connect specific issues to overall literary and political contexts’ Mark Ford, Times Literary Supplement
Critical Insights: Native Son. Amenia, N.J.: Salem Press: Grey House, 2025.Richard Wright's novel Native Son made a huge impact when it first appeared in the USA in 1940 and continues to compel, disturb and provoke twenty-first century readers. Its narrative grips like a thriller but also raises much deeper questions about ethnicity, gender, society, crime and punishment. This collection offers penetrating essays on key aspects of the novel, its cultural, social and political contexts, and its reception in the twentieth century and in our own time.
Critical Insights: In Cold Blood. Amenia, N. J.: Salem Press: Grey House, 2020.In Cold Blood, Truman Capote’s harrowing account of the brutal murder of the Clutter family and the trial and execution of the killers, stamped itself strongly on the public mind when published in 1965, and continues to generate intense controversy and debate. This volume offers a rich range of perspectives on Capote’s “non-fiction novel”, exploring its critical reception, its interplay between truth and fiction, and the crucial ethical, judicial, penal and social issues it raises. Critical Insights: The Kite Runner. Amenia, N. J.: Salem Press: Grey House, 2020. Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner combines a compelling, moving narrative with an intense engagement with the fraught and complex history and politics of Afghanistan and its relations with American culture. This volume provides fresh and informed insights into its historical contexts, its critical reception, its narrative structure, its treatment of war and sexual violence, its exploration of father-son relationships, its perceptual, sensory and cognitive dimensions, its style, and its film, stage and graphic novel adaptations. Critical Insights: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Amenia, N. J.: Salem Press: Grey House, 2020. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s best-known, most-loved and sometimes highly controversial comedy is an intricately structured drama that employs a rich range of poetry and prose to juxtapose fairies and mortals, artisans and aristocrats, court and forest, fantasy and reality, reason and madness. This volume offers a variety of new perspectives on its critical history, complex form, its rich language, its key themes, and the many theatrical and cinematic versions it has generated. Conversations with Critics. 2nd edition. Great Britain and Singapore: Verbivoracious Press, 2015. Nicolas Tredell interviews John Barrell; Catherine Belsey; Bernard Bergonzi; Christine Brooke-Rose; David Caute; Brian Cox; Donald Davie; Terry Eagleton; Stephen Heath; Robert Hewison; Philip Hobsbaum; Lisa Jardine CBE; Sir Frank Kermode; Colin MacCabe; Karl Miller; Sir Roger Scruton; C. H. Sisson CH; George Steiner; Raymond Tallis; Dame Marina Warner. ‘scrupulously researched [...] 20 lengthy and fascinating conversations with prominent literary figures’ Isobel Armstrong, Times Educational Supplement ‘as entertaining a guide to contemporary critical debates as one could hope for ... [Tredell’s] questions are informed, explicit and seek always to connect specific issues to overall literary and political contexts’ Mark Ford,Times Literary Supplement Cinemas of the Mind: A Critical History of Film Theory. Duxford: Icon, 2002. ‘[A] resourceful and stimulating study of classical and recent film theory ... an invaluable work’ John Conomos, Screening the Past ‘an excellent introduction to the rich history of film theory’ Nicolas Magenham, Cercles ‘clear and informative exposition and some nicely chosen stills’ Richard Armstrong, Kamera 03 The Fiction of Martin Amis: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000. ‘a useful volume for students ... Tredell makes a good job of selection, editing prudently and generously as required, and splices the extracts together well’ Year’s Work in English Studies William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury / As I Lay Dying: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999. ‘The criticism in this Guide aims to provide a series of suggestions, insights and indicators that will help us to navigate Faulkner’s labyrinths and to emerge with a richly enhanced understanding of the styles, structures and multiple meanings of two of his greatest works’ Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999. ‘this book is engaging, lively and scholarly: a rare combination’ Year’s Work in English Studies Charles Dickens: Great Expectations: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998. ‘[An] excellent survey of essays, articles and reviews on Great Expectations’ Professor Bernard N. Schilling, The Rain of Years: Great Expectations and the World of Dickens F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby: A Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998. ‘[This book] trace[s] the novel’s critical reputation from 1925 into the 1990s, interweaving Tredell’s narrative with generous excerpts from reviews and critical essays’ Jackson R. Bryer, The Cambridge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald ‘[It] skilfully imbeds excerpts from reviews, periodical articles and book sections in a narrative of the novel’s critical reception and interpretation’ Jackson R. Bryer, Approaches to Teaching Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Conversations with Critics. 1st edition. Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1994. Nicolas Tredell interviews John Barrell; Catherine Belsey; Bernard Bergonzi; Christine Brooke-Rose; Dame A. S. Byatt; David Caute; Brian Cox; Donald Davie; Terry Eagleton; Stephen Heath; Robert Hewison; Richard Hoggart; Lisa Jardine CBE; Sir Frank Kermode; Colin MacCabe; Karl Miller; Sir Roger Scruton; C. H. Sisson CH; George Steiner; Dame Marina Warner. ‘scrupulously researched [...] 20 lengthy and fascinating conversations with prominent literary figures’ Isobel Armstrong, Times Educational Supplement ‘as entertaining a guide to contemporary critical debates as one could hope for [...] [Tredell’s] questions are informed, explicit and seek always to connect specific issues to overall literary and political contexts’ Mark Ford, Times Literary Supplement