Libraries in Literature

A collection that explores how libraries have been represented in English-language fiction, drama, and poetry from the early modern period to the present day. This accessible volume covers literature from Don Quixote to the work of M. R. James, Agatha Christie, and Haruki Murakami and draws together original essays by prestigious contributors.

List of contents

• Introduction


• 1: Robert Crawford: Rabelais, Cervantes, and Libraries in Fiction


• 2: Robert Crawford: Dramatic Libraries


• 3: Tom Jones: Battle-Sites of Books


• 4: Fiona Stafford: What Are Books For? Darcy's Library, Crabbe's The Library, and Shillito's The Country Book Club


• 5: J. Louise McCray: Libraries and the Formation of Character in Nineteenth-Century Novels


• 6: Elisabeth Jay: Margaret Oliphant's 'The Library Window'


• 7: Darryl Jones: M. R. James's Libraries


• 8: Nicola Humble: The Body in the Library: Christie and Sayers


• 9: Alice Crawford: On the Shelf? Women, Librarians and Agency in Twentieth-Century Fiction


• 10: Kristen Treen: The Act of Borrowing; or, Some Libraries in American Literature


• 11: Robyn Marsack: 'Modified Bliss': Libraries in Modern Poetry


• 12: Edwin Williamson: Borges's Libraries


• 13: Kylie Murray: Library and Scriptorium in The Name of the Rose


• 14: Chris Perkins: Murakami's Strange Library


• 15: Sara Lodge: Fantastic Books and Where to Find Them: Libraries in Fairytale and Fantasy


• Coda: Libraries and Political Identities


• Works Cited

About the author

Alice Crawford has worked as a university administrator, tutor in English Literature, and as an academic librarian at the universities of Glasgow, Dundee, and St Andrews. She retired in 2018 as Digital Humanities Research Librarian at the University of St Andrews Library.

Robert Crawford has held posts at the universities of Oxford, Glasgow, and St Andrews. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a Foreign Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

Summary

A collection that explores how libraries have been represented in English-language fiction, drama, and poetry from the early modern period to the present day. This accessible volume covers literature from Don Quixote to the work of M. R. James, Agatha Christie, and Haruki Murakami and draws together original essays by prestigious contributors.

Product details

• Authors: Alice (Retired Digital Humanities Resear Crawford
• Assisted by: Crawford (Editor), Alice Crawford (Editor), Alice (Retired Digital Humanities Research Librarian Crawford (Editor), Robert Crawford (Editor), Robert (Emeritus Professor of Modern Scottish Literature and Wardlaw Professor of Poetry Crawford (Editor), Crawford Alice (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.09.2022
• EAN: 9780192855732
• ISBN: 978-0-19-285573-2
• No. of pages: 304
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Ethnology > Ethnology; LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, LITERARY CRITICISM / Drama, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 19th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Literary studies: poetry & poets, Literary studies: general, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Library & information services, Library and information services, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary studies: plays & playwrights, Literary studies: poetry and poets, Literary studies: plays and playwrights, LITERARY CRITICISM / Novel as Form