Published February 2005
A Taste for the Negative: Beckett and Nihilism
Shane Weller
Legenda (General Series)
Authorial Echoes: Textuality and Self-Plagiarism in the Narrative of Luigi Pirandello
Catherine O'Rawe
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘A short review cannot do justice to this arresting critical work. A combination of bold ideas with a meticulous attention to detail and a broad theoretical foundation characterizes O'Rawe's critical approach. Insights are always well substantiated with abundant evidence... Both a major contribution to Pirandello scholarship and a seminal challenge to narrative criticism.’ — Jennifer Lorch, Modern Language Review 103.4, October 2008, 1140-41 (full text online)
England and the Avignon Popes: The Practice of Diplomacy in Late Medieval Europe
Karsten Plöger
Legenda (General Series)
- Ralf Lützelschwab, Quellen und Forschungen aus Italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken 86, 2006, 814-16
- Medioevo Latino XXVIII, July 2007, 1153)
- ‘From the perspective of communication developments, the present book produces important insights into the many challenges with which medieval diplomacy had to cope.’ — Sophia Menache, The Medieval Review February 2007
- ‘A thorough and enlightening study of how diplomacy was conducted between the two courts at a time when war, plague, and the activities of unemployed mercenaries made travel between Westminster and Avignon dangerous and exacting, while the reception enjoyed by envoys was likely to be frosty at best.’ — Norman Housley, Speculum April 2006
- Stefan White, Francia-Recensio 2008.3
Reinventing Community: Identity and Difference in Late Twentieth-Century Philosophy and Literature in French
Jane Hiddleston
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘This is a lucid, cogently-argued work that is both extensive and focused. As such it represents an important contribution to the urgent discussion of community and the fraught relationship between "singular-plural" beings and the collectivities they form.’ — Nicole Simek, French Review 80.3, 2007, 670-71
Teresa of Avila's Autobiography: Authority, Power and the Self in Mid-Sixteenth-Century Spain
Elena Carrera
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘In sum, Carrera succeeds admirably in her goal of elucidating the textual models and controversies that underlie Teresa's religious practices and her self-presentation in Vida. She provides expert guidance through the theological maze...’ — Alison Parks Weber, Iberoamericana VI, 24, 2006, 213-15
The Feminine in the Prose of Andrey Platonov
Philip Bullock
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘The author traces with great clarity the development of Platonov's thinking... This appears to be Legenda's first excursion into the Russian field, and the results are impressive. There are long, carefully analysed quotations in Cyrillic, all fully translated in a way which does justice to Platonov's highly idiosyncratic style.’ — Michael Pursglove, Slavonic and East European Review 84.2, 2006, 314-15 (full text online)
- ‘Interesting... Although Bullock sets out to concentrate on a single topic (gender) from specific points of view (feminism and psychoanalysis), he admits to his "admiration of the paradoxical nature of [Platonov's] prose", and it is exactly this admiration that prevents the monograph from becoming a single-minded study of just one theme in the prose in question.’ — Anat Vernitski, Modern Language Review 103.3, July 2008, 921-23 (full text online)
- ‘The book is founded on close readings that every scholar of Platonov will want to consult. The formulations are elegant and are likely to be quoted frequently in the scholarly literature... This indispensable book on Platonov is also a compelling study in the value and limits of methodology.’ — Eric Naiman, Russian Review 68.4, 2009, 693-94
- ‘Philip Bullock’s important new book on Andrei Platonov energetically elaborates what it promises at its outset: a feminist reading of Platonov’s most significant prose works... an eloquent and insightful investigation into a distinctly unsettled element in Platonov’s worldview. Bullock follows earlier studies of gender relations and sexuality in Platonov by Eric Naiman, Eliot Borenstein, and Valerii Podoroga but offers a far more extensive and synthetic account of the oeuvre.’ — Thomas Seifrid, Slavic Review 69.1, Spring 2010, 236-37
- ‘(notice in Japanese)’ — Susumu Nonaka, Bulletin of the Japanese Association of Russian Scholars 38, 2006, 143-46
- ‘(notice in Russian)’ — Tat’iana Krasavchenko, Literaturnovedenie 1 (2007), 124-32
Published September 2005
Women in Russian Literature after Glasnost: Female Alternatives
Carol Adlam
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘An engaging look at some of the most influential figures in post-Soviet writing.’ — Benjamin Sutcliffe, Modern Language Review 104.1, January 2009, 307-08 (full text online)
The Object and the Cause in the Vulgate Cycle
Miranda Griffin
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘One notable quality of the book is its didactic aspect. Griffin takes time to define and explain precisely the complex notions she uses. She states clearly (sometimes excessively so) what she intends to do, balancing presentation of psychoanalytic concepts and examination of the Vulgate Cycle.’ — Michelle Szkilnik, Speculum January 2006, 193-94
- ‘If we can judge a book by its cover, Miranda Griffin's study wins top accolades: the blue and red of the cover design mimic precisely the prevalent colors of typical 13th-century Arthurian manuscript decorations, while the cover illustration of king dictating to scribe suggests authenticity and accountability both outside and within. Inside, the text is neatly organized into four cleverly titled chapters - see, for example, chapter 4: "Death, Doubles, and (De)composition - along with an Introduction and Conclusion... Her extraction of appropriate examples from the texts of the Vulgate Cycle and application of psychoanalytic theory to these episodes is surrounded by an ample survey of and response to the critical tradition in Arthurian studies.’ — Joan E. McRae, Encomia 28, 2006, 46-47
- ‘This is a highly accomplished and subtle analysis of the Vulgate Cycle that manages to negotiate successfully between primary material, the critical debates surrounding that material, and psychoanalytic theory. The difficulty of such an enterprise should not be underestimated. Griffin maintains throughout an impressive command of a large corpus... explanations of the psychoanalytic models she deploys are remarkably lucid, well-informed and to-the-point... New, impeccably researched and exciting perspectives on a highly complex corpus of texts.’ — Emma Campbell, The Medieval Review October 2008
- ‘This stimulating study springs from its author's observation of the striking parallels between psychoanalytic theories of human desire and the centuries-older Vulgate Cycle's complicated narration of the Arthurian Grail quest... The quest for wholeness that marks the Cycle is also, as Griffin cogently observes, paralleled by our own scholarly pursuit of a unified text and comprehensively coherent reading of this multilayered work - a reading that, perhaps despite its author's own intentions, this study quite effectively achieves.’ — Lisa H. Cooper, Arthuriana 16.4, 2006, 88-89
- ‘The critical encounter between psychoanalytic theory and medieval French literature has produced several stimulating texts in recent years, and Miranda Griffin's study of the thirteenth-century Vulgate Cycle is a welcome addition to the list.’ — Thomas Hinton, French Studies 62.4, 2008, 464-519