This page features books written or edited by UCI Faculty within the last five years about literary criticism or are works of fiction.
Anatomía del desencanto by Text in Spanish. Through a methodology that alternates between the careful analysis of novels by Javier Marías, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, Cristina Fernández Cubas, and Juan José Millás, and the distant reading or framing that places these texts in a broader history, Anatomía del desencanto constructs a critique of the equivocal place held in our modern age by feelings that were, in another time, so noble and persistent, such as grief, fear, guilt, and compassion.
Bridges to Science Fiction and Fantasy by "The J. Lloyd Eaton Conferences on Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature have been a leading influence in the study of science fiction and fantasy for 30 years.This collection brings together 22 of the best papers--most with new afterwords by the authors--presented in chronological order to show how science fiction and fantasy criticism have evolved since 1979."
Chain of Gold by Barred from political engagement and legal advocacy, the second sophists composed and performed epideictic works for audiences across the Mediterranean world during the early centuries of the Common Era. In a wide-ranging study, author Susan C. Jarratt argues that these artfully wrought discourses, formerly considered vacuous entertainments, constitute intricate negotiations with the absolute power of the Roman Empire. Positioning culturally Greek but geographically diverse sophists as colonial subjects, Jarratt offers readings that highlight ancient debates over free speech and figured discourse, revealing the subtly coded commentary on Roman authority and governance embedded in these works.
Impossible Stories by "Merging theory and praxis, Murillo engages with Gayl Jones's Corregidora, Octavia Butler's Kindred, Toni Morrison's Beloved, Kiese Laymon's Long Division, Dionne Brand's A Map to the Door of No Return, and Paul Beatty's The Sellout to show how Afro-pessimism offers new ways to think about anti-Black racism and practice Black creativity."
Letters from Filadelfia by "Letters from Filadelfia examines Spanish-language writing published in Philadelphia in the early nineteenth century by exiles, travelers, and immigrants who sought to influence sociopolitical conditions throughout the Americas. These political tracts, economic treatises, histories, novels, and books of poetry would have been considered seditious in the colonial territories administered by Spain, and they circulated throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean, helping to inspire independence all over the region. Lazo shows how this most American of cities opened conversations about political organization and economic conditions that crossed from the English language to Spanish and back."
LISSA by "Anna is the daughter of Americans working in Cairo. But she feels more at home with the humble family of her friend Layla, who lives in the doorman's shack adjacent to Anna's apartment building. As the women grow up, their unlikely friendship is put to the test as they each face a family health crisis. Gulfs of misunderstanding emerge, as Anna deals with her family history of breast cancer, and Layla makes difficult decisions about her father's kidney failure. When the Arab Spring in Egypt erupts, each gets swept up in the revolutionary fervor in Tahrir Square. Amidst this personal and political turmoil, Anna and Layla must reckon with illness, risk, and loss in different ways. Ultimately they come to learn the power of friendship and the importance of hope against all odds -- that there is still time to fight for a better tomorrow, together"
Uncertain Refuge by Medieval felons could take sanctuary from prosecution in any church, but far from static refuge, sanctuary staged dynamic action, even violence. While sanctuary has usually been analyzed as part of legal history, in Uncertain Refuge Elizabeth Allen explores the symbolic consequences of sanctuary seeking in English literary works.
Understanding Maxine Hong Kingston by Understanding Maxine Hong Kingston is the first book-length work to examine the entirety of Kingston's literary career, from The Woman Warrior to her most recent volume of poetry. Julia H. Lee weaves together scholarly assessments, interviews, biographical information, and her own critical analysis to provide a complete and complex picture of Kingston's works and its impact on memoir, feminist fiction, Asian American literature, and postmodern literature.
Beyond This Narrow Now by "Nahum Dimitri Chandler examines W. E. B. Du Bois's early thought and its continued relevance, demonstrating that Dub Bois must be re-read, appreciated, and studied anew as a philosophical writer and thinker contemporary to our time."
Glorious by Audacious astronauts encounter bizarre, sometimes deadly life forms, and strange, exotic, cosmic phenomena, including miniature black holes, dense fields of interstellar plasma, powerful gravity-emitters, and spectacularly massive space-based, alien-built labyrinths. Tasked with exploring this brave, new, highly dangerous world, they must also deal with their own personal triumphs and conflicts.
Journey to Italy by Marquis de Sade by "In the mid-1770s, the Marquis de Sade fled to Italy from France after being accused of mistreatment by multiple prostitutes and sentenced to death by sodomy and poisoning. This book is an English translation of his Voyage d'Italie, an unfinished and unpolished project that he wrote while travelling throughout Florence, Rome and Naples for about a year. Blending travel writing and philosophy, the work includes descriptions and analyses of the Italian landscape, architecture, and art, as well as examinations of the social more and culture practices of the Italian people. In his substantial introduction and extensive annotations, James A. Steintrager demonstrates how Sade's travels in and writings about Italy would have a major impact on his later, much more famous and controversial works, including The 120 Days of Sodom (1785) and Justine (1791)."
The Last Great Road Bum by In The Last Great Road Bum, H ector Tobar turns the peripatetic true story of a naive son of Urbana, Illinois, who died fighting with guerrillas in El Salvador into the great American novel for our times.
Minutes of Glory by A collection of short stories by the Kenyan writer covering the period of British colonial rule and resistance in Kenya to the experience of independence and including two stories that have never before been published in the United States
Rewrite by 2002: Charlie Moment, a professor of history going through an unpleasant divorce, gets into a car accident and wakes up, fully aware as his adult mind, in his sixteen-year-old body in 1968. He takes what he remembers of the future and uses it for himself in his present, becoming a screenwriter. In a 1980s life of excess, he dies, and wakes up again in his bedroom at sixteen in 1968. Realizing that there is a society of folks, including Robert Heinlein, Albert Einstein, and Philip K. Dick, who loop through time to change the world for their agenda, Charlie tries to go back and change one of the events of 1968.
Shakespeare Dwelling by Focusing on five works (Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Pericles, Cymbeline, and The Winter’s Tale), Lupton remakes the concept of dwelling by drawing on a variety of sources, including modern design theory, Renaissance treatises on husbandry and housekeeping, and the philosophies of Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. The resulting synthesis not only offers a new entry point into the contemporary study of environments; it also shows how Shakespeare’s works help us continue to make sense of our primal creaturely need for shelter.
The Upright Revolution by Science has given us several explanations for how humans evolved from walking on four limbs to two feet. None, however, is as riveting as what master storyteller Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o offers in The Upright Revolution. Blending myth and folklore with an acute insight into the human psyche and politics, Ngũgĩ conjures up a fantastic fable about how and why humans began to walk upright. It is a story that will appeal to children and adults alike, containing a clear and important message: 'Life is connected.'
Thomas Mann by This is an engaging new account of a significant German writer, which illustrates how the context of Mann’s life shaped his achievements. It will appeal to students and scholars of German literature, as well as all with an interest in the history and culture of the twentieth century.