Literary Studies & Criticism

These essays, reviews and articles illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of this century - a man who created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and who elevated political writing to an art.

Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot is a detailed companion to one of detective fiction’s most famous characters. Anne Hart explores Hercule Poirot’s origins, personality, tastes, relationships and remarkable detective career, drawing on his appearances across Agatha Christie’s novels and short stories. The book follows Poirot...

Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks brings together for the first time Secret Notebooks and Murder in the Making, two volumes that explore the fascinating contents of her 73 notebooks. This includes illustrations, deleted extracts, unused ideas, two unpublished Poirot stories and a lost Miss...

A new investigation from Dr Mark Aldridge, exploring a lifetime of Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple. In Agatha Christie's Marple: Expert on Wickedness, 'Agathologist' Dr Mark Aldridge looks at nearly a century of St Mary Mead's most famous resident and uses his own detective...

Encounter by Milan Kundera is a passionate collection of essays exploring the artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers who shaped Kundera's understanding of art and the modern world. Kundera reflects on figures including Francis Bacon, Leoš Janáček, Federico Fellini, Philip Roth, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Gabriel...