By Lynn Festa (NHC Fellow, 2013–14) Although the Enlightenment is often associated with the emergence of human rights and humanitarian sensibility, “humanity” is an elusive category in the literary, philosophical, scientific, and political writings of the period. Fiction Without Humanity offers a literary history of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century efforts to define the human. … Continued
By Gregory of ToursTranslated by Raymond Van Dam (NHC Fellow, 1986–87) The first translation into English of one of Gregory’s eight books of miracle stories, which contains a series of anecdotes about the lives and cults of martyrs.
By Jefferson Hunter (NHC Fellow, 1984–85) The complementarities and antipathies between photographs and literary texts allow the two arts to play off each other, denigrate or exalt each other, and sometimes reach a true collaboration that has more significance than either could achieve alone. Jefferson Hunter examines these symbiotic relationships in a highly original book that will … Continued
By Elżbieta Skłodowska (NHC Fellow, 1989–90) In this brilliant overview of parodic praxis in the Spanish-American novel during the years 1960-1985, Elzbieta Skłodowska examines several aspects of parody: its role in the renovation of anachronistic forms of discourse (mock-epic) and the re-writing of the canon of the historical novel; its function in transgressing literary formulas … Continued
By Andrew Cayton (NHC Fellow, 2012–13) In 1798, English essayist and novelist William Godwin ignited a transatlantic scandal with Memoirs of the Author of "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman." Most controversial were the details of the romantic liaisons of Godwin's wife, Mary Wollstonecraft, with both American Gilbert Imlay and Godwin himself. Wollstonecraft's life and writings … Continued
By Michael Kulikowski (NHC Fellow, 2009–10) The multivolume series Mosaics of Time offers for the first time an in-depth analysis of the Roman Latin chronicle traditions from their beginnings in the first century BC to their end in the sixth century AD. For each chronicle it presents a comprehensive introduction, edition, translation, and historical and historiographical commentary. … Continued
By Erdağ Göknar (NHC Fellow, 2007–08; 2022–23) Orhan Pamuk, Secularism and Blasphemy is the first critical study of all of Pamuk’s novels, including the early untranslated work. In 2005 Orhan Pamuk was charged with "insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code. Eighteen months later he was awarded the Nobel Prize. After decades … Continued
By Howard Erskine-Hill (NHC Fellow, 1988–89) This is a major study of the relation between poetry and politics in sixteenth and seventeenth-century English literature, focusing in particular on the works of Spenser, Shakespeare, Jonson, Milton, and Dryden. Taking issue with the traditional concept of the political poem and with recent New Historicist criticism, Erskine-Hill argues … Continued
Edited by Lilian R. Furst (NHC Fellow, 1988–89) Realism is one of the most common terms in the critical vocabulary, yet has been described as a 'monster with many heads desperately in need of disentangling'. Professor Furst's collection is ideally placed to help the student understand its complexities and the range of responses it has … Continued
Edited by Laura Engelstein (NHC Fellow, 1997–98) and Stephanie Sandler Russians have often been characterized as people with souls rather than selves. Self and Story in Russian History challenges the portrayal of the Russian character as selfless, self-effacing, or self-torturing by exploring the texts through which Russians have defined themselves as private persons and shaped … Continued