Published January 1986
Valentin Rasputin and Soviet Russian Village Prose
David C. Gillespie
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 22
Published January 2007
Beyond Écriture féminine: Repetition and Transformation in the Prose Writing of Jeanne Hyvrard
Cathy Helen Wardle
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 69
- ‘This study offers a lucid and compelling interpretation of Hyvrard that moves criticism of her work in a productive new direction. It will be of undoubted interest to researchers working on Hyvrard’s writing and equally to those working in contemporary French (women’s) writing and philosophy.’ — Kathryn Robson, Modern Language Review 103, 2008, 554 (full text online)
Published August 2008
Art and its Uses in Thomas Mann's Felix Krull
Ernest Schonfield
Bithell Series of Dissertations 32 / MHRA Texts and Dissertations 70
- ‘Concerning freedom, play, and Mann’s appeal to a community, Schonfield makes a persuasive case in his lucid and admirable study.’ — Steve Dowden, Modern Language Review 103, 2010, 905-06 (full text online)
Published October 2008
Phosphorus Hollunder und Der Posten der Frau von Louise von François
Edited by Barbara Burns
Critical Texts 13
- ‘This handsome critical edition of two of François’s lesser-known short stories from 1857 offers a valuable reminder of the writer’s many merits as a storyteller.’ — Karen Leeder, Modern Language Review 105.3, 2010, 896-97 (full text online)
Published July 2009
Istoire de la Chastelaine du Vergier
Edited by Jean-François Kosta-Théfaine
Critical Texts 9
Published February 2010
E. T. A. Hoffmann and Alcohol: Biography, Reception and Art
Victoria Dutchman-Smith
Bithell Series of Dissertations 35 / MHRA Texts and Dissertations 75
- ‘Clearly written in a jargon-free style, Dutchman-Smith’s study offers an illuminating discussion of a dimension of Hoffmann’s work that has received relatively little scholarly attention up until now, and which will be of interest to specialists and advanced students alike.’ — Birgit Röder, Modern Language Review 106, 2011, 904-05 (full text online)
The Wallenstein Figure in German Literature and Historiography 1790-1920
Steffan Davies
Bithell Series of Dissertations 36 / MHRA Texts and Dissertations 76
Published June 2010
Louis-Charles Fougeret de Monbron, Le Cosmopolite, ou le citoyen du monde (1750)
Edited by Édouard Langille
Critical Texts 22
Published October 2010
Stéphanie de Genlis, ‘Histoire de la duchesse de C***’
Edited by Mary S. Trouille
Critical Texts 21
- ‘This fine edition would be a welcome addition to undergraduate and graduate courses on the Gothic novel, alongside now more familiar English authors ... Trouille has done those of us who focus on women’s writing in the pre-Revolutionary period a great service.’ — Gillian Dow, Modern Language Review 107.3, 2012, 944-45 (full text online)
Published March 2011
Aza ou le Nègre
Edited by Loïc Thommeret
Critical Texts 27
- ‘Aza ou le Nègre, an unknown French literary fiction unearthed and introduced to us by Loïc Thommeret, certainly highlights what can be considered to be a revolution in the genre of eighteenth-century French colonial fiction advocating the abolition of slavery.’ — Christian Kittery, Modern Language Notes 127, 2012, 947-48
- ‘On ne peut que remercier Loïc Thommeret d’avoir retrouvé ce roman et de l’avoir publié ... Ce petit livre est appelé à devenir un grand classique.’ — Marie-Hélène Huet, Eighteenth-Century Fiction 25.2, 2013, 480
- ‘This is a most welcome addition to the growing number of previously little-known and largely inaccessible texts representing Blacks republished in recent years. ... Aza ou le Nègre would make an excellent text for undergraduate study.’ — Roger Little, Modern Language Review 107, 2012, 624-25 (full text online)
Kundera and the Ambiguity of Authorship
Christine Angela Knoop
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 79
Published August 2011
Flesh, by Júlio Ribeiro
Translated by William Barne
New Translations 2
Published April 2012
Wilhelm Raabe, German Moonlight / Höxter and Corvey / At the Sign of the Wild Man
Translated by Alison E. Martin, Erich Lehmann, and Michael Ritterson
New Translations 3
- ‘A major accomplishment. Raabe’s is a voice which deserves to be heard, and an oeuvre which deserves to be appreciated across linguistic boundaries. These translations allow the reader with no knowledge of German and little appreciation of the context of the originals to hear an authentic version of that voice, to understand something of the world it can open up, and so to appreciate the writer’s achievement. They merit an enthusiastic response.’ — William Webster, Translation and Literature 24, 2015, 121
Published May 2012
Space in Theodor Fontane's Works: Theme and Poetic Function
Michael James White
Bithell Series of Dissertations 38 / MHRA Texts and Dissertations 82
- ‘The book is exceptionally well written, precise, compact, and lean. It has been well edited with very few faults.’ — Jeffrey L. Sammons, Modern Language Review 109, 2014, 277-79 (full text online)
Private Lives and Collective Destinies: Class, Nation and the Folk in the Works of Gustav Freytag (1816-1895)
Benedict Schofield
Bithell Series of Dissertations 37 / MHRA Texts and Dissertations 81
- ‘Schofield’s unprecedented and skillful incorporation of the author’s entire oeuvre has made a real and lasting contribution to nineteenth-century scholarship.’ — Alyssa Howards, German Quarterly 86, 2013, 489-90
- ‘Represents a valuable contribution to the field and enhances our understanding of Freytag’s strategy and agenda in no small measure.’ — Florian Krobb, Modern Language Review 109, 2014, 556-58 (full text online)
- ‘This is the only comprehensive work on Freytag that I know of, at least in our time. It is thoroughly researched... The criticism is exacting and precise.’ — Jeffrey L. Sammons, Monatshefte 106, 2014, 312-15
Published September 2013
Phantom Images: The Figure of the Ghost in the Work of Christa Wolf and Irina Liebmann
Catherine Smale
Bithell Series of Dissertations 41 / MHRA Texts and Dissertations 97
Published October 2013
Wilhelm Raabe, The Birdsong Papers
Translated by Michael Ritterson
New Translations 4
- ‘A major accomplishment. Raabe’s is a voice which deserves to be heard, and an oeuvre which deserves to be appreciated across linguistic boundaries. These translations allow the reader with no knowledge of German and little appreciation of the context of the originals to hear an authentic version of that voice, to understand something of the world it can open up, and so to appreciate the writer’s achievement. They merit an enthusiastic response.’ — William Webster, Translation and Literature 24, 2015, 121
Ovid in English, 1480-1625: Part One: Metamorphoses
Edited by Sarah Annes Brown and Andrew Taylor
Tudor and Stuart Translations 4/1 of 2
- ‘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
Published April 2014
Walter Pater: Imaginary Portraits
Edited by Lene Østermark-Johansen
Critical Texts 35 / Jewelled Tortoise 1
- ‘Long out of print, Imaginary Portraits has finally found a worthy home in print, thanks to what Pater might have characterized as Østermark-Johansen’s ‘minute and scrupulous’ lapidary care.’ — Kit Andrews, Modern Language Review 111.3, 2016, 861-63 (full text online)
- ‘It makes the portraits accessible through the lucid, highly original, and perceptive critical introductions and the useful, often necessary annotations. This is an essential text for students of Pater and Aestheticism.’ — David Riede, Pater Newsletter 65, 2014, 92
- ‘"[Østermark-Johansen] combines an encyclopedic knowledge of Pater's influences and allusions, and an astute understanding of his works and life, with enviable lightness of touch."’ — Kate Hext, Times Literary Supplement 8 August 2014, 11
- ‘The annotations are perhaps the most significant contribution this collection will make, as Pater’s highly allusive prose poses difficulties even to trained scholars – there is nothing close to its combination of comprehensiveness and critical apparatus on the market right now.’ — Matthew Potolsky, Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies 24, 2015, 112
- ‘Lene Østermark-Johansen’s magisterial new edition ... offering incisive critical and historical contexts for the individual texts.’ — James Eli Adams, English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 59, 2016, 105-08
- ‘Remarkable value and puts the exorbitant prices charged by some other publishers of textual editions to shame.’ — William Baker, The Year's Work in English Studies 95.1, 2016, 1472
- ‘This invaluable edition will hopefully bring some hitherto neglected texts of the Pater canon to a wider readership including undergraduates, especially as it comes for a very reasonable price. A definite "must-buy".’ — Bénédicte Coste, Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens 82, 2015
Published May 2014
Nicolas Edme Rétif de la Bretonne's Ingénue Saxancour
Edited by Mary S. Trouille
Critical Texts 33
- ‘Mary S. Trouille’s critical edition ... represents an invaluable tool to discover and understand Rétif de la Bretonne. It is the first edition of this novel since Pierre Testud’s and Daniel Baruch’s own editions of the text (now out of print). This new MHRA volume therefore fills in a lacuna, and it does so authoritatively. This beautiful edition of Ingénue Saxancour is adorned by 27 figures: portraits of Rétif and his relatives or friends, illustrations from his works, and engravings of eighteenth-century Paris. The volume is indeed not only an introduction to a novel but also an invitation to Rétif's universe."’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 51, 2015, 87
- ‘Trouille presents a novel that remains as unsettling for the modern reader as it was when it was first published. It offers a valuable entry point for scholars and students alike into the dark Restivian world.’ — Gemma Tidman, Modern Language Review 112.1, January 2017, 252-53 (full text online)
Published June 2014
Eugénie et Mathilde by Madame de Souza
Edited by Kirsty Carpenter
Critical Texts 26
- ‘I will be including Souza’s novel in my courses and am grateful to scholars such as Kirsty Carpenter for making these obscure but important texts available.’ — Antoinette Sol, Modern Language Review 111, 2016, 553 (full text online)
- ‘Kirsty Carpenter’s edition of Madame de Souza’s 1811 novel ... contributes to the rediscovery, understanding and appreciation not just of a writer too often considered as a minor author, but also of an overlooked period in the history of French literature, between the Revolution of 1789 and the first Napoleonic campaigns (1798–1800s).’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 51, 2015, 87-88
- ‘Réjouissons-nous donc que Mme Carpenter nous ait restitué ce roman parfaitement oublié, qui se trouve être, à la relecture, un des textes les plus lucides de son époque.’ — Paul Pelckmans, Dix-huitième siècle 47, 2015, 645-46
- ‘"a valuable resource for students, professors, and researchers interested in the history of the French Revolution, eighteenth-century society, women's studies, or the development of literary genres in France."’ — Theresa Kennedy, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 36, 2015, 161-62
Published November 2016
Corín Tellado, Thursdays with Leila
Translated by Duncan Wheeler, with an introduction by Diana Holmes and Duncan Wheeler, and a prologue by Mario Vargas Llosa
New Translations 9
- ‘La estimable traducción al inglés de Los jueves de Leila, por parte de los profesores Duncan Wheeler y Diana Holmes, uno de los más conocidos relatos de Corín Tellado y que inicia la serie: “Querer es poder”, abre la puerta al género romántico de esta prolí ca escritora asturiana al mundo anglosajón.’ — Estefanía Tocado, Hispania 101.2, June 2018, 344-45
- ‘Wheeler’s translation of Thursdays with Leila captures the informal, non-demanding style of Tellado’s writing, and this particular novel was a very good choice for translation as it illustrates most of the dominant characteristics of her fiction.’ — Patricia O’Byrne, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 95, 2018, 905-06
Published February 2017
Arthur Symons, Spiritual Adventures
Edited by Nicholas Freeman
Critical Texts 39 / Jewelled Tortoise 2
- ‘How gratifying it is, then, to have not one but two new volumes of Symons’ work published by the Modern Humanities Research Association’s Jewelled Tortoise imprint, thoroughly edited and placed in both a biographical and cultural context. The volumes’ editors are all wise enough to balance their informative footnotes with letting Symons’ work shine on its own.’ — Heather Marcovitch, Review of English Studies 2017
- ‘These excellent critical editions of Symons’s poetry and prose… Symons emerges much clearer for their informative and well-judged notes.’ — Kate Hext, Times Literary Supplement 12 January 2018, 3-4
- ‘The great service these two editions do to the study of Symons, and more broadly in developing our understanding of the contours and development of fin de siècle culture as it was negotiated during the period between Victorianism and modernism. We are left with the impression that the Jewelled Tortoise series is a vital scholarly project for researchers working on the period, and the hope that they will continue to publish such important scholarly editions.’ — Giles Whiteley, Notes & Queries September 2018, 459-61
- ‘Freeman’s brilliantly researched Introduction makes a compelling case for these stories as an ‘intriguing example of early modernism, providing further evidence of that movement’s evolutionary development rather than implying a clean break from earlier conventions’... Freeman’s footnotes and introductions to each story are a model: concise, judicious, and enhancing the reading experience without imposing interpretation... Under the expert eye of Catherine Maxwell and Stefano Evangelista, this series is setting a new standard in fin-de-siècle textual scholarship... Just as importantly, these texts are very reasonably priced, which means they can be set in courses on Decadence and fin-de-siècle culture, bringing Symons’s work—enriched by rigorous scholarship—to a new generation of critics.’ — Alex Murray, Modern Language Review 113.4, October 2018, 867-70 (full text online)
Rétif de la Bretonne, Ingénue Saxancour; or, The Wife Separated from Her Husband
Translated by Mary S. Trouille
New Translations 6
- ‘Mary S. Trouille’s translation admirably renders the feel of the original, does not embellish, and gives the English reader access to the source with a minimum of stylistic anachronism... Trouille’s ample introduction provides a thorough and thoughtful account of the historical and legal context of the work, its place within Rétif’s writings and contemporaneous European literature, and crucial elements of the author’s biography.’ — James A. Steintrager, Eighteenth-Century Fiction 31.4, 2019, 769-71
Published January 2018
Breaking with Tradition: Belarusian Short Prose in the Early Twenty-First Century
Arnold McMillin
Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association 20
- ‘This book aims to show the powerful creative urges that continue to mark literature in Belarus, despite the continued denigration of the national language and culture. In this the author has succeeded magnificently.’ — Jim Dingley, Slavonic and East European Review 96.4, 2018, 770-71 (full text online)
- ‘McMillin’s work makes an invaluable contribution to scholarship on Belarusian literature. Considering the difficulties with accessing the texts (often hard to find in print, as well as on the Internet), McMillin’s successful inclusion of these rare works in his analysis allows him to shed light not only on the writing of the more famous representatives of the Belarusian literary scene, but also on the subtle undercurrents of the literary process.’ — Palina Urban, Australian Slavonic and East European Studies 32, December 2018, 122-25