Hello!
I am very happy to be writing my first blog post as the new Editorial Assistant for Continuum’s Literary Studies list and who better to write about whilst making my first mark at Continuum than Oscar Wilde, a man who certainly made his mark on the world.
Our great new book Oscar Wilde, a part of the ‘Writers’ Lives’ series, is an accessible and lively guide to Wilde’s significance in the context of his own time and his extensive afterlife in literature, criticism and popular culture. Ruth Robbins introduces Wilde through a focus on his manipulations of genre, and sets Wilde’s life and work in its literary and cultural context.
I doubt anyone could put it more astutely than Julian Wolfreys, Professor of Modern Literature and Culture, Loughborough University and author of Literature, in Theory has done –
‘If literature, as Oscar Wilde once claimed, is not read at all, then either his work is not literature or Ruth Robbins has proved him wrong in this wonderfully original and provocative, deeply insightful critical account and appreciation of the text of Wilde. More than merely introductory—though Robbins' study is the single most indispensable inauguration to the Wildean oeuvre I've had the fortune to read—here is a radically challenging, beautifully written, and intimately perceptive reading of Wilde.’
Appealing to students and readers, the Writers’ Lives series has delivered another informative and enjoyable read with Oscar Wilde.
So while I’m fairly sure I will not make my reputation as a major figure in the history of writing as Wilde did, I look forward to the future with Continuum!
- Rachel