Books in Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations series

Based partially on a Celtic legend, King Lear occupies a special place in the Shakespearean canon. Lear's descent into madness, the central event of this play, illustrates the extent to which humanity can be degraded by its errors. Harold Bloom calls King Lear the unique eminence in the world's literary world. This new edition is perfect for high school and college students doing in-depth study on this work of the Bard. Further resources such as a chronology of Shakespeare's life, a useful bibliography, and a handy index round out the title.

Published in 1960, and awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, To Kill a Mockingbird is required reading for many middle and high school students. The coming-of-age tale of its young narrator, Jean Louise Scout Finch, of Maycomb, Alabama, is interwoven with explorations of the issues of prejudice, racism, innocence, compassion, and hypocrisy. Libraries will welcome this indispensable and completely updated edition of Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. A compilation of important current criticism on Harper Lee's first and only novel gleaned from key publications, this accessible study guide also includes a chronology of the author's life and notes on the contributors.

Written in vivid detail, Kerouac's autobiographical novel describes the epic trek of his alter-ego Sal Paradise from the East coast to San Francisco; it continues today as the benchmark work of Beat fiction. The title, Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on Jack Kerouac’s On the Road through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on Jack Kerouac, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

Penned by Omar Khayy?m circa 1120, these quatrains of Arabic verse were introduced to England in 1859 by scholar poet Edward FitzGerald. The overwhelming popularity of FitzGerald's lyrical translation owes as much to the translator as the writer. The title, Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on Edward FitzGerald, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.