Oscar Wilde never danced as a hobby, but he was keen on featuring dancers in his literary works. His fairy-tale collections provide detailed depictions of dancing, ranging from classic ballroom dance to strange, uncanny kinds. The motif of dancing in Wilde's stories conveys the idea of estrangement in a double sense: referring to the divisions in…

Children who are currently, or were previously, 'looked after' by the state, are educationally disadvantaged, with exclusion rates historically higher than in other groups in the UK. A conventional way of thinking about these children is that they have been affected by trauma and attachment issues in their early years, and that they import their…

This article explores child-authored texts, both real and fictional, and the adult discourse surrounding or commenting on such texts. It focuses on the example of young Marcel's writing in Proust's "In Search of Lost Time," and on the critical commentary on the juvenilia of child authors of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. I…

Victorian fiction can provide a valuable source of information about society by virtue of its topicality and realistic techniques, influenced by contemporary journalism. In particular, the novels of Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy throw light on literacy practices, including reading aloud. The higher the literacy levels of the novels' characters,…

The article deals with a complicated archetypal tree complex in Russian literature. The object chosen here is "white willow" (vetla) as one of the species of willow in its different variations--daphne willow (verba) and goat willow (rakita), and willow itself. In the 19th century Russian literature we can find the image of white willow…

This paper explores representation of "Woman Question" in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" and George Bernard Shaw's "Candida." The paper argues that unlike many studies that have read Candida and Nora as two disparate characters, they can be considered as the same "New Woman" represented only from different…

Many Critics believe that Henry James has set the definitive standards of modern fiction writing. Undoubtedly his groundbreaking article "The Art of Fiction," which published for the first time in 1884, has a major contribution in developing the theories of fiction writing. The term Organic Unity has derived from a major Formalist…

In "Wuthering Heights," Brontë provides us with the opportunity to meet two writing subjects; Emily Brontë herself and her character Catherine Earnshaw. Both these writers resist and challenge the authority of the patriarchal. Their different methods of interaction, though, cause one to fail and the other one to succeed. The objective of…

Fyodor Dostoevsky ranks among the most accomplished and respected figures in the history of literature. Almost a century and a half after his death, the major works for which he has become known--"The Brothers Karamazov," "Crime and Punishment," Demons", and "The Idiot" (Dostoevsky 1991, 1993, 1994, 2001,…

Drawing books can be seen as a vital component to teaching and learning art. They serve as an excellent resource for understanding the historical context of teaching drawing. As the industrial revolution geared forward in the nineteenth century, drawing books became a crucial source for sharing and disseminating educational philosophies for the…

According to the theory of dialogism propounded by Mikhail Bakhtin, all discourse in the novel is a product of a process of dialogic imagination. Yet heteroglossic situation in the novel differs from general narration, as it involves interaction among two or more characters speaking in their respective voices to represent different aspects of…

Heralded as a sympathizer with the oppressed nineteenth century femininity, Thomas Hardy adopted an aggressive stance towards the institutionalized codes of the time, particularly the ideal of femininity which results in presenting him as one of the promethean forerunners of "New Woman" fiction. His outspoken attitudes are tangible in…

The dolls' house as children's plaything is anything but simple. Inasmuch as the dolls' house may be the reproduction of domestic ideals on a minute scale and an educational model prompting girls to become good housewives, this article argues that it is also a means and space to express imagination, creativity, and agency. Including a short…

The study attempts to indicate how the manifest content of a text is in essence the projection of the obsessional thoughts of the neurotic author. The research approach adopted in this study is what is referred to as psychobiography or the Freudian psychoanalytic criticism. Freud's ideas have been employed due to the increasing shift to him in the…

As a prolific nineteenth-century novelist, Thomas Hardy witnessed how women were treated as well as the dreadful conditions in which they lived. Well aware of the nineteenth-century limitations on femininity, Hardy stood for women's downtrodden rights. Henceforth, so as to examine Hardy's personal thoughts and impressions towards the prevailing…