After Reception Theory: Fedor Dostoevskii in Britain, 1869-1935
Lucia Aiello
Legenda (General Series) 25 September 2013

  • ‘This new study complements a number of existing accounts of Dostoevsky reception in Britain and adds to our understanding of Anglo-Russian cul- tural exchange more generally. It also explores the current state of reception studies in the literary humanities (which it views rather pessimistically), creatively blurring the distinction between ques- tions of individual aesthetic reaction (‘reader response’) and patterns of transmission and cultural exchange.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 51.1, January 2015, 87
  • ‘This book calls attention to the complexity of reception and literary criticism, analyzes temporal and geographic context, and stresses the importance and nuances of the cultural context in which a work and its criticism arise. Aiello's study re-evaluates a familiar theoretical framework, providing a new perspective for scholars in the field.’ — Megan Luttrell, Slavic and East European Journal 58.4, Winter 2014, 722-24
  • ‘Fedor Dostoevskii once wrote in a letter to his brother, ‘Man is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled.’ Lucia Aiello’s new monograph traces the broad scope of social, psychological, and, most frequently, biographical criticism in Britain that has sought to unravel the mysteries of his major works.’ — Patrick Jeffery, Modern Language Review 111.2, April 2016, 600-601 (full text online)

Form and Feeling in Modern Literature: Essays in Honour of Barbara Hardy
Edited by William Baker with Isobel Armstrong
Legenda (General Series) 4 March 2013

  • ‘The editors are to be congratulated on putting together a volume which maintains a consistently high quality, while ranging widely over a multitude of topics.’ — Leonee Ormond, George Eliot-George Henry Lewes Studies 64-65, October 2013, 99-100
  • ‘An excellent tribute to the work of Professor Hardy; however, the critical essays and their approach to fiction in the nineteenth century also make this collection of interest to scholars in the field who may not be as familiar with the work of Hardy.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 50.4, October 2014, 506

Iris Murdoch and Elias Canetti: Intellectual Allies
Elaine Morley
Studies In Comparative Literature 2925 September 2013

  • ‘As Elaine Morley aptly observes in her exciting and innovative book, the majority of publications foreground personality and relationship issues but allow little room for discussion of the creative affinity between the two authors... The much-needed shift of focus from the personal to the literary and philosophical in Morley’s analysis of Murdoch and Canetti as intellectual allies is path-breaking.’ — Dagmar C. G. Lorenz, Modern Language Review 109.4, October 2014, 1142-43 (full text online)

Ovid in English, 1480-1625: Part One: Metamorphoses
Edited by Sarah Annes Brown and Andrew Taylor
Tudor and Stuart Translations 4/1 of 21 October 2013

  • ‘This volume is particularly useful for those interested in translation and adaptation culture in early modern England and could be especially valuable for scholars working on the specific myths highlighted.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 50, 2014, 503
  • ‘This is a beautifully presented edition of a selection of early modern translations of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which manages to be both student-friendly and a provocative resource to stimulate further research.’ — Tamsin Badcoe, Modern Language Review 110, 2015, 1110-11 (full text online)
  • ‘The comprehensibility, and thus accessibility, of each item is incomparably enhanced by the editors’ modernization of texts, by their full annotation (both in the form of marginal glosses and extensive on-the-page commentary), and by their lengthy and learned Introduction which sets each piece in context and points out its potential interest for students of both English and classical literature.’ — David Hopkins, Translation and Literature 23, 2014, 402-04
  • ‘Brown and Taylor provide a real service to the student not only of the reception of the Metamorphoses in the English Renaissance but also of the pervasive Ovidianism in Tudor and Stuart literary culture. This attractively produced volume should spur new interest in the Ovidian vogue in early modern England.’ — Alison Keith, Renaissance and Reformation 39, 2016, 214-17

The Realist Author and Sympathetic Imagination
Sotirios Paraschas
Studies In Comparative Literature 2828 May 2013

  • ‘The arguments are based throughout on meticulous research, close attention to textual detail, and an adroit engagement with literary theory. They are also conveyed with notable elegance and clarity. Paraschas is not afraid to contest claims made by such influential theorists as Paul de Man, whose view of realism as a regression from the ironic novel of the eighteenth century is here neatly reversed. Undergraduates would find his admirably succinct introductory discussion of the ‘realist author’ a source of elucidation and stimulus.’ — Michael Tilby, French Studies 68.3, July 2014, 405-06
  • ‘In arguing for a more nuanced understanding of the realist mode, Paraschas has written an important contribution to nineteenth-century French studies, and a book that will serve as an invaluable reference for students and scholars alike.’ — Andrew Watts, Modern Language Review 110.2, April 2015, 516-17 (full text online)
  • ‘Extremely useful for understanding the attitude of early nineteenth-century Realists and their attempts to present verisimilitude as art.’ — Catherine Winters, Nineteenth-Century French Studies 43.3-4, 2015

Shandean Humour in English and German Literature and Philosophy
Edited by Klaus Vieweg, James Vigus and Kathleen M. Wheeler
Legenda (General Series) 4 March 2013