Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835– April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the "greatest humorist this country has produced", and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), the latter often called "The Great American Novel".

Mark Twain

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the best-selling of Twain’s work.   As a novel written in 1876, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer follows the antics of a young boy during his childhood on the Mississippi River. Moreover, Twain examines the carefree spirit of children, manipulation, and race in this lighthearted novel through the use of imagery and symbolism. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Twain’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Saint Thomas Aquinas (; ; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church. An immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, he is also known within the latter as the Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor Communis. The name Aquinas identifies his ancestral origins in the county of Aquino in present-day Lazio, Italy. He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology and the father of Thomism; of which he argued that reason is found in God. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy developed or opposed his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics, and political theory.

Thomas Aquinas

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by St. Thomas, philosopher canonized by the Catholic Church. Titles in this study guide include On Kingship and Summa Theologica.
  
 As an influential philosopher of the thirteenth-century, his work greatly influenced Western thought and philosophy. Moreover, Summa Theologica was his most popular work and is used as a guide to theology students. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of St. Thomas’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas

Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian ), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrote seven novels, Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1862–63), Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), Middlemarch (1871–72) and Daniel Deronda (1876), most of which are set in provincial England and known for their realism and psychological insight.

George Eliot

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by George Eliot, who developed the method of psychological analysis in modern fiction. Titles in this study guide include Silas Marner and Middlemarch.
 
As a revolutionary voice of literary realism and psychological insight of the nineteenth-century, Eliot’s books were considered intellectual art with a focus on the importance of mundane life. Moreover, Eliot is known as the “first modern novelist who observed moral, social, and medical phenomena.” This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Eliot’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:

- Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As

The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Silas Marner and Middlemarch by George Eliot

Samuel Taylor Coleridge  (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets.  He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and Charles Lloyd. He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as the major prose work Biographia Literaria. His critical work, especially on William Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. Coleridge coined many familiar words and phrases, including suspension of disbelief. He had a major influence on Ralph Waldo Emerson and American transcendentalism.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whose work has influenced many poets of the time. Titles in this study guide include Dejection an Ode, Kubla Khan, Christabel, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
  
 As a poet, critic, and philosopher of the early-nineteenth-century, he founded the Romantic Movement in England. Moreover, his poetry was characterized by imagination, passion, and the supernatural. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Henry James  ( – ) was an American-British author regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of renowned philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.

Henry James

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Henry James, a renowned American-British author. Titles in this study guide include The Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller.
  
 As an author of the nineteenth-century, James’s writing bridged the gap between literary realism and literary modernism. Moreover, James is considered a master of ghost stories, and the Turn of the Screw remains one of the most popular of the genre. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Henry James’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller by Henry James

Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857– 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British writer regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. Though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, he was a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature. Conrad wrote stories and novels, many with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit in the midst of what he saw as an impassive, inscrutable universe. 
 
Conrad is considered an early modernist, though his works contain elements of 19th-century realism. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced numerous authors, and many films have been adapted from, or inspired by, his works.  Numerous writers and critics have commented that Conrad's fictional works, written largely in the first two decades of the 20th century, seem to have anticipated later world events.

Joseph Conrad

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Joseph Conrad, Polish-British writer known as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. As a master prose stylist of nineteenth and twentieth-century modernism, Conrad’s works shaped and inspired English narrative fiction. Moreover, his novels’ anti-heroic characters inspired many other authors. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Joseph Conrad’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Lord Jim and Other Works by Joseph Conrad

John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum, became household names.

John Gay

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, without a doubt the most popular drama written during the hundred years between 1700 and 1800.   As a comedy of the Restoration period of British drama, the humor in The Beggar’s Opera serves as a medium for carrying the author's meaning - social satire - which is applicable in all countries at all times. Moreover, the basis of the play's success rests on three factors: its artistic merit; its originality (this is in part measured by the number of later dramas which clearly display the influence of its innovations); and its pervasive humor. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Gay’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including  essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay

Nathaniel Hawthorne (; né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist, dark romantic, and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, renowned American novelist. Titles in this study guide include The Marble Faun, The House of the Seven Gables, and The Scarlet Letter.
  
 As an author of the nineteenth-century, his novels and short stories primarily contained themes of mortality, religion, and history. Moreover, his writing influenced and followed the literary subgenre of dark romanticism, which reflected a fascination of the irrational and strange. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Scarlet Letter and Other Works by Nathaniel Hawthorne

David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885– 2 March 1930) was an English writer and poet. His collected works represent, among other things, an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. Some of the issues Lawrence explores are sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity, and instinct.

D. H. Lawrence

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by D.H. Lawrence, distinguished British writer and poet. Titles in this study guide include Sons and Lovers, The Plumed Serpent, The Rainbow, and Women in Love.
  
 As a controversial writer of the twentieth-century, Lawrence unknowingly shaped early modernism. Moreover, his reflections of human behavior depict the effects that industrialism had on the British people and their communities. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of D.H. Lawrence’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Sons and Lovers and Other Works by D. H. Lawrence

Euripides (;  Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom a significant number of plays have survived. Some ancient scholars attributed 95 plays to him but, according to the Suda, it was 92 at most. Of these, 18 or 19 have survived more or less complete (there has been debate about his authorship of Rhesus, largely on stylistic grounds) and there are also fragments, some substantial, of most of the other plays. More of his plays have survived intact than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, partly because his popularity grew as theirs declinedhe became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education, along with Homer, Demosthenes, and Menander.

Euripides

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Euripides, one of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived. Titles in this study guide include Rhesus, Iphigenia In Aulis, Bacchae, Phoenissae, Orestes, Electra, Trojan Women, Helen, Iphigenia In Tauris, Ion, Suppliants, Hecuba, Heracles, Cyclops, A Satyr-Play, Andromache, Heracleidae, Hippolytus, Medea, and Alcestis.
  
 As a Greek playwright of fifth-century BCE his tragedies influenced modern dramas and even comedy. Moreover, many of his plays questioned politics of the time, setting him apart as a progressive writer. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Euripides’ classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Plays of Euripides

Edward Morgan Forster  (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. Many of his novels examine class difference and hypocrisy, including A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924). The last brought him his greatest success. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 16 different years.

E. M. Forster

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by E.M. Forster, one of the most gifted writers of his time. Titles in this study guide include Howards End and A Passage to India.
 
As a thirteen-time Nobel Prize in Literature nominee, Forster created well-plotted and ironic stories that explored themes of class and hypocrisy in English society. Moreover, Forster employed an intricate structure of ideas, idealized connection, and sincerity above all else to express his vision of the world. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Forster’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasonsthey have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:

- Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As

The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.


Study Guide to Howards End and A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 70 BC – 21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He wrote three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, are sometimes attributed to him.

Virgil

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Virgil, ancient Roman poet. Titles in this study guide include The Aeneid.
  
 As a poet of the Augustan period, his poems are regarded as one of the most important poems in Latin literature. Moreover, The Aeneid captures the personal qualities of Romans and what life in Rome looked like. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Virgil’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Aeneid by Virgil

thumb|John Locke's portrait by Godfrey Kneller, National Portrait Gallery, London

John Locke

Thomas Hobbes (; 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679), in some older texts Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, which expounded an influential formulation of social contract theory. In addition to political philosophy, Hobbes also contributed to a diverse array of other fields, including history, jurisprudence, geometry, the physics of gases, theology, ethics, and general philosophy.

Thomas Hobbes

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan and John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government. These two English philosophers are recognized for being some of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers.
 
As two of the most prominent philosophers of the seventeenth century, Hobbes and Locke illustrated opposing and rebellious views on the ideal form of government and sovereignty, that included religion and empiricism. Moreover, these works have paved the way for modern theories such as the formulation of social contract theory and liberalism. This Bright Notes Study Guide includes
notes and commentary on the literary classics Leviathan and Two Treatises of Government, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons these works have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:

- Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As

The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to the Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke

Herman Melville (born Melvill; August 1, 1819– September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851), Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia, and Billy Budd, a posthumously published novella. Although his works were not widely appreciated at the time of his death, the centennial of his birth in 1919 was the starting point of a Melville revival in which critics re-evaluated his work and his novels became recognized as world classics.

Herman Melville

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Herman Melville's Moby Dick, deemed by author Raymond Weaver as “indisputably the greatest whaling novel.”   As an 1851 tragic epic, Moby Dick tells the story of a captain’s expedition to track down and seek revenge on a whale from the point of view of one of the sailors. Moreover, Melville uses allusion, simile, and metaphor to showcase themes such as revenge, sanity, and human limitations. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Melville’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Franz Kafka (3 July 1883– 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic.  It typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers.  It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include "" ("The Metamorphosis"),  (The Trial), and  (The Castle). The term Kafkaesque has entered the English language to describe situations like those found in his writing.

Franz Kafka

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Franz Kafka, a pioneer of modernist movement. Titles in this study guide include The Trial, Amerika, The Castle, In the Penal Colony, A Country Doctor, The Metamorphosis, The Judgement, and The Great Wall of China.
  
 As an author of the twentieth-century, Kafka’s work combined themes of supernatural nature and realism. Moreover, the word Kafkaesque was created to represent the bizarre themes found in Kafka’s works. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Franz Kafka’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Trial and Other Works by Franz Kafka

Emily Jane Brontë (, commonly ; 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. She also published one book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte and Anne titled Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell with her own poems finding regard as poetic genius. Emily was the third-eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother Branwell. She published under the pen name Ellis Bell.

Emily Brontë

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, one of the most famous novels of Victorian literature.   As Emily Brontës sole work, Wuthering Heights unveils the harsh reality behind a toxic and abusive relationship, in which the complex characters are unpredictable. Moreover, Brontë’s lyrical and mystic novel allows the reader to explore various interpretations and metaphors. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Brontë’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and also a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.

Virginia Woolf

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Virginia Woolf, one of the most controversial feminist writers. Titles in this study guide include Mrs. Dalloway and The Lighthouse.
  
 As an author of twentieth- century modernism, her writing have greatly impacted the feminist movement. Moreover, Woolf establish the stream of consciousness method as a narrative device. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Virginia Woolf’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire (; also , ), was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church, as well as his advocacy of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.

Voltaire

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Voltaire’s Candide, considered one of Voltaire's most signature works.
 
As an influential philosophical novel of the Age of Enlightenment, Candide is a pivotal and powerful example of french satirical wit of social and political justice. Moreover, Voltaire's work reflects sharp criticism against nobility, philosophy, the church, and cruelty. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Voltaire’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:

- Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As

The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Candide by Voltaire

Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri (; ), commonly known by his pen name Dante Alighieri or simply as Dante (, also , ;  – 1321), was an Italian poet. His Divine Comedy, originally called  (modern Italian: Commedia) and later christened  by Giovanni Boccaccio, is widely considered the most important poem of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language.

Dante Alighieri

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Dante’s The Divine Comedy, a defining work of religious literature for the Renaissance time period.   In Pilgrim’s exploration through the Inferno, Purgatory, and Heaven, Dante takes readers on a religious journey of the soul as defined by the Renaissance era. In doing so, his work also displayed the dominant views of the culture and organized religion for that time period. Moreover, The Divine Comedy demonstrates for students the numerous new ideas which originated during the Renaissance, as well as how the time period influenced Catholicism. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Dante’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Divine Comedy by Dante

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (,  or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist, and scholar of Latin and Greek whose work has exerted a profound influence on modern intellectual history. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest ever to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24. Nietzsche resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900.

Friedrich Nietzsche

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. Titles in this study guide include The Birth of Tragedy, The Genealogy of Morals, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and Beyond Good and Evil. 
 
As a prominent influencer of modern intellectual history, Nietzsche’s writings on human nature, morality, and individuality have wielded an enormous impact on Western philosophy. His attempts to expose the motives that underlie traditional Western religion, morality, and philosophy can be seen through his continual use of value as a theme in his work. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Nietzsche’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:

- Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As

The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.


Study Guide to Birth of Tragedy and Other Works by Friedrich Nietzsche

Aristotle (;  Aristotélēs, ; 384 – 322BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He was the founder of the Lyceum and the Peripatetic school of philosophy and Aristotelian tradition. Along with his teacher Plato, he has been called the "Father of Western Philosophy". His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, esthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics and government. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him, and it was above all from his teachings that the West inherited its intellectual lexicon, as well as problems and methods of inquiry. As a result, his philosophy has exerted a unique influence on almost every form of knowledge in the West and it continues to be a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.

Aristotle

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for an Introduction to Aristotle, a philosopher whose ideas were largely a product of Greek culture.
  
 As a commentary of ancient literature, the Introduction to Aristotle summarizes the topics and philosophical concepts in the author’s works. Moreover, it comments on themes such as unity, reason, politics, and ethics. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Aristotle’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including 
 essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to an Introduction to Aristotle

Charles John Huffam Dickens  (; 7 February 1812– 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are still widely read today.

Charles Dickens

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, a unique storytelling that expands the understanding of the French Revolution.  As a novel written in 1859 but set in the years leading up to the French Revolution, the major theme of social injustice that is portrayed in this famous work allows readers to relate to the current political unrest. Moreover, this historic novel uses unique storytelling through scene-changing syntax to broaden the perspective of time. to broaden the perspective of the time. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Dickens’ classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work  - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper into their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Charles Dickens’s Bleak House, said to be one of Dickens’s most powerful novels due to the way it challenged Britain's court system and caused legal reform in the 1870s.  As an 1830 novel set in London, Bleak House unveils a different way of life where the court system is corrupt and ruled by the affluent. Moreover, the struggles throughout the story highlight the love between the characters and the push for a change in the legal system. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Dickens’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (; Russian: , tr. ; ;  ), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He received multiple nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906, and nominations for Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1910, and the fact that he never won is a major Nobel prize controversy.

Leo Tolstoy

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, with adaptations in film, radio, theatre, opera, and rock music.   As a work of 1869 historical fiction, War and Peace showcases a Russia before, during, and after the invasion by Napoleon. Moreover, Tolstoy writes of the glory of epic struggle, the horror of man-to-man combat, and the loveliness of peace. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Tolstoy’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

John Griffith London (born John Griffith Chaney; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916) was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first writers to become a worldwide celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

Jack London

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Jack London, an influential writer of the Industrial Revolution. Titles in this study guide include Call of the Wild and White Fang.
  
 As works of adventure fiction, London’s novels touched on important philosophical themes concerning the political climate in the author’s day. Moreover, his writing not only portrayed a belief in socialism, but also attempted to explain naturalism as a philosophical theory. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of London’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (; ; 11 November 18219 February 1881), sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher. Dostoevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. His most acclaimed works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Dostoevsky's body of works consists of 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short stories, and numerous other works. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychologists in world literature. His 1864 novella Notes from Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, a literary classic due to Dostoyevsky’s unique shifting writing styles and characterizations.   As a mid-nineteenth century European work, The Idiot aims to highlight perfection in an imperfect world as a major theme. Moreover, this classic will encourage students to think in a more philosophical manner and look for a deeper theme in other works and real world situations. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Dostoyevsky’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (, also  ; ; 28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His works include: four novels; epic and lyric poetry; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; and treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him have survived.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, the poetic drama that establishes Goethe as a renowned Romantic author.   As a play written in poetic verse of the Romantic era, Faust is a universally meaningful story of man's attempts to gain knowledge, wisdom perfection, and of the eternal frustration of this striving. Moreover, the character of Dr. Faust has inspired literature across centuries—beginning with a German practitioner of magic arts said to have made a pact with the devil in the late fifteenth century. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Goethe’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including  essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thomas Hardy  (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain, such as those from his native South West England.

Thomas Hardy

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, one of Hardy’s most recognizable novels featuring a strong heroine.     As a novel of the Victorian era, Tess of the d’Urbervilles was first published as a censored series in the British magazine, The Graphic. When it was published later as a single novel, it was received with mixed criticisms: one side saying the book strained ideas of credibility and another saying the book was too pessimistic. Moreover, Hardy was and is extremely readable, and the general public has been attracted and held by his exciting plots and his deep feelings for the poor, for women, for animals, and for all those other persons who somehow have been dealt losing hands of life. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Hardy’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including  essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Tess of d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native, arguably the most popular of Hardy’s 14 Wessex novels.    As a novel first published in the magazine Belgravia, popular for its sensationalism, Hardy classified The Return of the Native as a “Novel of Character and Environment.” Moreover, themes from Hardy’s novels draw interesting conversations around the power of imagination. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Hardy’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including  essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy

John Milton (9 December 16088 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual who served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse, and widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written.

John Milton

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by John Milton, who decided at a young age that God had called him to be a poet. Titles in this study guide include Paradise Lost, The Sonnets, and Minor Poems: On The Morning of Christ’s Nativity, L'Allegro, And Il Penseroso. 
 
 As a body of work of the seventeenth-century, Milton’s writing made use of popular Renaissance conventions in his day, such as the style of poetry called an epic. Moreover, his work’s style and mannerisms mimicked the grammatical structure of Latin, and gave it a more complex and classic sound. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Milton’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Paradise Lost and Other Works by John Milton

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (, ; ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was an Italian Renaissance diplomat, philosopher and writer, best known for The Prince (Il Principe), written in 1513. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science. 

Niccolò Machiavelli

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by notable Italian poet Niccolò Machiavelli. Titles in this study guide include The Prince, Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius, Mandragola, The History of Florence, and The Art of War.
  
 As a poet of the Renaissance, Machiavelli is known for critiquing and discussing philosophy and human behavior. Moreover, his controversial political philosophy influenced what would become twentieth-century communism. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Machiavelli’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Prince and Other Works by Niccolò Machiavelli

Plato (;   Plátōn,  in Classical Attic; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder of the Platonist school of thought, and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.

Plato

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Plato, ancient Greek philosopher. Titles in this study guide include The Republic, Gorgias, Meno, Protagoras, Theaetetus, Phaedrus, Symposium, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo.
  
 As a philosopher and poet during the Classical period, Plato created dialogue and dialect within philosophy. Moreover, he is considered the father of Western political philosophy. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Plato’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Republic and Other Works by Plato

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American writer. His novels depicted the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age. Though he achieved popular success, fame, and fortune in his lifetime, Fitzgerald did not receive much critical acclaim until after his death. Considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s, today he is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night. The unfinished novel The Last Tycoon was published posthumously. Four collections of his short stories were published, as well as 164 short stories in magazines during his lifetime.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, renowned American fiction author. Titles in this study guide include The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, and Tender is the Night.
  
 As an author of the Jazz Age, his novels depict the glamor of the Roaring 20’s. Moreover, his writing impacted modernist fiction and remains widely recognized with its focus on wealth, society, and the American Dream. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Tender Is the Night and This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Geoffrey Chaucer (;  – 25 October 1400) was an English poet and author. Widely seen as the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, he is best known for The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer has been styled the "Father of English literature". He was the first writer buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his 10-year-old son Lewis. He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament. 

Geoffrey Chaucer

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, arguably the most famous of all Middle English literature.   As a series of twenty-four stories, The Canterbury Tales was written in 1392 and tells of the pilgrimage of thirty people from various social classes to Canterbury. Moreover, Chaucer uses each story to represent a theme in order to exemplify the changing of societal roles. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Chaucer’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878– November 25, 1968) was an American writer who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943.

Upton Sinclair

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, a novel portraying the harsh conditions and exploitation of immigrants in major US cities in the early twentieth century.   As a novel of the turn of the twentieth century, The Jungle reflects not only the American scene of Sinclair's young manhood but also many of his own life circumstances. It becomes important to view the novel in terms of both his life and his times. Moreover, Sinclair’s journalistic background provided him with the opportunity to expose corruption in business and government. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Sinclair’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including  essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Edgar Allan Poe (; born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. He is also generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. Poe was the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

Edgar Allan Poe

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Edgar Allen Poe, a key figure in Romanticism. Titles in this study guide include The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Cask of Amontillado.
  
 As an author of the nineteenth-century, he is credited with creating detective fiction. Moreover, he was well known for his dark and haunting imagery throughout his works. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Edgar Allen Poe’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to the Major Works by Edgar Allan Poe

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Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson  (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was a British poet. He was the Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu." He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems Chiefly Lyrical in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although decried by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Alfred Tennyson, appointed Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during Queen Victoria’s reign. Titles in this study guide include The Idylls Of The King, Ulysses and Tithonus, The Palace of Art, Lucretius, In Memoriam, and Demeter and Persephone.
  
 As a celebrated British poet of the nineteenth-century, he was one of the most renowned poets of the Victorian era. Moreover, Tennyson’s early works are responsible for shaping the revival of the medieval period. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Tennyson’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Idylls of the King and Other Poems by Alfred Tennyson

Willa Sibert Cather (; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, including O Pioneers! (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915), and My Ántonia (1918). In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours (1922), a novel set during World WarI.

Willa Cather

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Willa Cather, who received a Pulitzer Prize in 1923. Titles in this study guide include My Antonia, O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, One Of Ours, and Death Comes for the Archbishop.
  
 As an author of twentieth- century literature, Cather wrote about pioneer farming and post World War I pessimism. Moreover, her work had a characteristic style and contained themes like idealism and closeness to nature. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Cather’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to My Antonia and Other Works by Willa Cather

Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer. He was prolific in many genres, writing dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography, and autobiography, and even including two books on recreational war games. He is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is often called the "father of science fiction", along with Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback.

H. G. Wells

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by H. G. Wells, whose science fiction pioneered society’s ideas of the future. Titles in this study guide include The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, and Tono-Bungay. 
 
As a chief literary spokesman of the liberal optimism that preceded World War I, Wells took the ideas and fears that haunted the minds of this age and gave them symbolic expression as brilliantly devised fantasy. Moreover, Wells has been called “the father of science fiction,” seen through his imaginative visions and prophecies that broke Victorian thought and propriety conventions.This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Wells’ classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:

- Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As

The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Invisible Man and Other Works by H. G. Wells

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet   (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, poet, playwright, and historian. Many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Old Mortality, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian, and The Bride of Lammermoor.

Walter Scott

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Sir Walter Scott, the inventor and greatest practitioner of the historical novel. Titles in this study guide include Ivanhoe, The Heart of Midlothian, and Quentin Durward. 
 
As a noteworthy voice of nineteenth century literature, Scott’s writings gave way to a new and vivid telling of history into a recreation of the spirit of the time and events. Moreover, Scott captured the imagination and national pride of a generation of Europe’s politicians. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Scott’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:

- Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As

The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Ivanhoe and Other Works by Sir Walter Scott

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle  (22 May 1859– 7 July 1930) was a British writer and medical doctor. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 when he published A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and more than fifty short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction.

Arthur Conan Doyle

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, pioneer of the crime fiction genre.Titles in this study guide include Sherlock Holmes.
  
 As an author of the late- nineteenth and early- twentieth-century, Doyle’s novels impacted English fiction with vivid characters and thought provoking plot lines. Moreover, his compilation of Holmes books continue to fascinate readers today with it’s integration of humor and mystery. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Aristophanes (; , ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion (), was a comic playwright of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete. These provide the most valuable examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are used to define it, along with fragments from dozens of lost plays by Aristophanes and his contemporaries.

Aristophanes

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Aristophanes, is popularly known as the Father of Comedy. Titles in this study guide include Plutus, The Ecclesiazusae, The Frogs, The Thesmophoriazusae, Lysistrata, The Birds, Peace, The Clouds, The Wasps, The Knights, and The Acharnians.
  
 As a playwright of Old Comedy, his work explores the limits of comedy. Moreover, his work was pivotal in the progression and popularity of comedy. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Aristophanes’ classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Plays of Aristophanes

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer. In a career spanning over 50 years, Vonnegut published fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of non-fiction, with further collections being published after his death. He is most famous for his darkly satirical, best-selling novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969).

Kurt Vonnegut

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, an instant success across all popular media.    As an anti-war novel of the 1960s, Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse-Five as a double story: the main character suffers from the traumatic effects of war; the author struggles with the effects of war on both the character and the author. Moreover, his writing shows his belief that art is no longer a finished product, but it is an ongoing process. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Vonnegut’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including  essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. Scholars believe that he died on his fifty-second birthday, coinciding with St George’s Day. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others. Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world. According to historians, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets throughout the span of his life. Shakespeare's writing average was 1.5 plays a year since he first started writing in 1589. There have been plays and sonnets attributed to Shakespeare that were not authentically written by the great master of language and literature. Source: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/947.William_Shakespeare">GoodReads.com</a>

William Shakespeare

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a romance characterized by love sonnets, rhyme, and imagery of light and dark. 
 
As a tragedy of the late-sixteenth-century, Romeo and Juliet displays Elizabethan belief in astrology and fate as it applies to the two star-crossed lovers. Moreover, the story explores themes of romantic and courtly love, especially the expectations of young lovers and the conventions to which they are confined. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Shakespeare’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:

- Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As

The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1961.   As a novel of the Civil Rights era, To Kill a Mockingbird tells the story of a lawyer who represented an African American accused of rape. Moreover, Lee weaves the theme of honor throughout the book and explores human dignity through her debut novel. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Lee’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, which was the best selling book in 1939 and won the National Book Award.    As a 1939 American realist novel, The Grapes of Wrath follows a struggling family on their search for work, success, and safety during the Great Depression. Moreover, Steinbeck discusses social philosophy by weaving in themes such as family, betrayal, and change. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Steinbeck’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for JRR Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of one of the most well-known series in the world—Lord of the Rings Trilogy.   As an epic novel of the mid twentieth century, Tolkien used elements of Nordic folk, Christianity, and realism to create the Middle-earth world. Moreover, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was written in long-hand, revised, and then the whole work was rewritten backwards due to the first-time authors lack of funds and showing the author’s skill as a writer and scholar. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Tokien’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including  essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Beowulf, considered by some to be representative of the earliest stage in the development of oral poetry.   As one of the most well-known works of early Anglo-Saxon literature, Beowulf is one of the earliest records of standard Old English. Moreover, this epic is studied for its use of fusing pagan and Christian elements through the lens of a hero’s struggles. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Beowulf as a classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Beowulf

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, regarded by The New York Times as one of the 100 best English-language novels since 1923.   As a 1951 coming-of-age novel, The Catcher in the Rye tells of the crises of a youthful teenage protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Moreover, Salinger’s work is filled with rebellion and angst, which can be seen through themes such as the protection of innocence, death, and insincerity. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Salinger’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:   - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As   The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, arguably one of the most powerful Holocaust memoirs of the World War II era.
 
As an historic account of World War II, Anne Frank’s diary has provided a firsthand account of a life in hiding as a Jew in Nazi Germany. Moreover, the journal has kept alive the spirit of an exceptional young person whose thoughts have broadened the perspective of millions. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Frank’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
- Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.


Study Guide to The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Toni Morrison’s Beloved, a Pulitzer Prize winner and regarded as one of the greatest works of American Literature.   As a novel set after the American Civil War, Beloved acknowledges the millions of lives taken on the Atlantic slave trade and recognizes the hardships that faced freed slaves. Moreover, Morrison encompasses the supernatural, community, self and women-empowerment, and overall culture of both post-Civil War and post-Civil Rights America. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Morrison’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including  essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Beloved by Toni Morrison

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, which eponymously coined the term so frequently used today to describe the predicament of being trapped by contradictory rules.    As a novel of post-World War II America, Catch-22 is profound in its conception, complex in its artistry, and radical in its message. Moreover, in some colleges it is studied as the modern counterweight to Homer's Iliad. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Heller’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:  - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As  The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including  essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Alan Paton, whose wide knowledge of the Union of South Africa culture inspired much of his work. Titles in this study guide include Too Late the Phalarope, Cry, the Beloved Country, and A Troubled Land by Alan Paton.
  
 As a collection of mid-twentieth-century novels, Paton’s work offers incredibly realistic descriptions of existing cities and people in order to reflect societal effects on an individual's lives. Moreover, Paton uses literary devices such as symbolism to establish themes of love, understanding, and the land of South Africa in his literary works. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Paton’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Cry, The Beloved Country and Other Works by Alan Paton

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Albert Camus, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. Titles in this study guide include The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Rebel, The State of Siege, The Misunderstanding, The Just Assassins, Requiem for a Nun, The Possessed, The First Man, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, The Plague, Caligula, Summer, Betwixt and Between, Nuptials, Letters to a German Friend, and Summer.
  
 As a notable French Algerian writer of philosophical literature in the early 1940s, Camus’s essays, novels, and playwrights focused on his moralist political stance and brought absurdism to light in the era of twentieth-century philosophy. Moreover, Camus is said to have written “on every subject that demanded a position,” which can be seen in his diverse literary works on ethics, humanity, and politics. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Camus’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Stranger and Other Works by Albert Camus

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Aldous Huxley, James Tait Memorial Prize Winner for Fiction in 1939. Titles in this study guide include Brave New World, Point Counter Point, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan, and Eyeless in Gaza. 
 
As a gifted critic with an unprecedented intelligence, Huxley’s science fiction vividly expresses the power and corruption of technology and politics in contemporary society. Moreover, Huxley’s lifelong concentration on the impacts of science and technology on life can be seen through his use of dystopian imagery and symbolism. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Huxley’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:

- Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&As

The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to Brave New World and Other Works by Aldous Huxley

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Alexander Pope, considered to be one of the greatest English poets to date. Titles in this study guide include The Rape of the Lock, Windsor Forest, Memory of an Unfortunate Lady, Eloisa to Abelard, Three Hours After Marriage, Pastorals, Messiah, his translation of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, the Dunciad, An Essay on Man, Ode On St. Cecilia's Day, the Four Epistles, Essay On Criticism, The Dying Christian To His Soul, Elegy To The Memory Of An Unfortunate Lady, and The Universal Prayer.
 
 As the leading poet of the eighteenth-century, Pope’s poems show his mastery of the heroic couplet, especially in The Rape of the Lock. Moreover, Pope was admired in the Augustan age for satirical writing and how it grew him as a writer. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Pope’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to the Rape of the Lock and Other Works by Alexander Pope

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Alice Walker, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award in 1983. Titles in this study guide include The Color Purple, You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down, The Third Life of Grange, Revolutionary Petunias, Once, Meridian, and In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women, Good Night Willie Lee, and I'll See You in the Morning.
  
 As a world renowned author of African American literature, Walker established her reputation in poetry, short stories, essays, novels, and even children's stories. Moreover, she coined the term “womanist” to describe feminist women of color, first exemplified in The Color Purple. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Walker’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Color Purple and Other Works by Alice Walker

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Andre Gide, winner of the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Titles in this study guide include The Immoralist, The Notebooks of Andre Walter, Urien's Travels, Strait Is The Gate, The Counterfeiters, The Pastoral Symphony, Isabelle, Robert and Genevieve, The Vatican Swindle, Fruits of the Earth, Prometheus Misbound, Corydon, and excerpts from his personal journals.
  
 As a noteworthy French writer of the twentieth-century, Gide’s literature displays his diversity in writing as it extends from fiction to first person narratives. Moreover, Gide’s personal narratives were considered his most successful writings. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Gide’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains:
 
 - Introductions to the Author and the Work
 - Character Summaries
 - Plot Guides
 - Section and Chapter Overviews
 - Test Essay and Study Q&As
 
 The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

Study Guide to The Immoralist and Other Works by Andre Gide

Bright Notes Study Guide series provides comprehensive study guides offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep.  Each clear and complete guide includes author biographies,  character summaries, plot guides, section and chapter overviews, a test essay, and study questions and answers.

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