Biography: writers Books

Book SynopsisBram Stoker, despite having a name nearly as famous as Count Dracula, has remained an enigma. David J. Skal, in a psychological and cultural portrait, exhumes the inner world and strange genius of the writer who conjured an undying cultural icon. Stoker was inexplicably paralysed as a boy and his story unfolds against a backdrop of Victorian medical mysteries and horrors: fever, opium abuse, bloodletting, quack cures and the obsession with “bad blood” that inform every page of Dracula. Stoker’s ambiguous sexuality is explored through his acquaintance with Oscar Wilde, who emerges as Stoker’s repressed shadow self—a doppelgänger worthy of a Gothic novel. The psychosexual dimensions of Stoker’s correspondence with Walt Whitman, his punishing work ethic and his adoration of the actor Henry Irving are examined in scholarly detail.Trade Review"He [David Skal] is surely successful in his efforts to revivify his subject and to reveal that even those shadows we think we know may contain obscurities that move of their own volition and which, tantalizingly, remain just out of sight." -- The Times Literary Supplement"...Skal's knowledge of the byways of literary and theatrical history is prodigious." -- The Sunday Times"...Skal’s 'untold story' is an exercise in literary sleuthing, reading back from the fiction to uncover the motives of its making." -- Literary Review"... consistently entertaining, sumptuously illustrated ramble through Stokerism." -- John Sutherland - The Spectator"Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. Most people don’t know much more about him than that, so this hefty biography is to be welcomed... [it] makes many fascinating connections." -- The Irish Times"... highly digestible feast." -- SFX"David Skal’s enormous, and enormously enjoyable, new biography of Stoker... is a vast and generously discursive work that has interesting and important things to say about almost every aspect of Stoker’s life and work..." -- The Wildean

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe first English translation of an important and evocative interview-turned-book project in Marguerite Duras'' illustrious oeuvre"I could talk for hours about this house, this garden. I know it all, I know where every old door is, everything, the walls of the pond, all the plants, the location of every plant, even the wild plants I know the place of, everything." So begins Marguerite Duras' rhapsody on the spaces she has inhabited throughout her life. The Places of Marguerite Duras was filmed and aired as a two-part television documentary in 1976. Her reminiscences are structured around her memories of specific locations: her house in Neauphle-le-Château; her childhood home in French Indochina, which inspired her acclaimed novel The Sea Wall; the Hôtel des Roches Noires in Trouville, where she wrote The Ravishing of Lol Stein; and the vast seascapes of Indochina, Bengal and Normandy, whose powerful tides compelled her art and life.The transcript of the documentary was published in French two years after the documentary aired, and is now published in English for the first time, just shy of 50 years since the film's creation. True to the original French edition, Duras' reflections are accompanied by photographs and film stills. The complete English translation by Alison Strayer includes a new essay by writer and director Durga Chew-Bose.Marguerite Duras (191496) was a filmmaker and author, and a leading figure in French postwar cinema. Her novel L'Amant won the Prix Goncourt in 1984. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film Hiroshima mon amour (1959).

Read more less

Book Synopsis“Farley and Claire is a love story, a biography, a Tale of Two Farleys, or perhaps three: the public one, the private one, and the secret one.”—Margaret AtwoodThe tumultuous, enduring love story between iconic writer Farley Mowat and his wife Claire, including excerpts from their passionate letters, published here for the first time.When Farley Mowat met Claire Wheeler in August 1960, the attraction was immediate, and within days they were lovers, despite the fact that Farley was already married. Their affair—partly aided and abetted by publisher Jack McClelland—included an extended correspondence until several years later, when Farley finally obtained a Mexican divorce and the two were married in Texas. They were together until Farley’s death 54 years later.Claire, a brilliant diarist, has given author Michael Harris complete access to her journals and letters, as well as Farley’s letters, and Harris has conducted extensive interviews with her and original research. The result is a literary love story for the ages, complete with photos of the couple who defied conventions of their time to be together.Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.Trade Review"[R]ecounts the passionate love affair between Farley Mowat, a Canadian naturalist and popular environmental author, and Claire Wheeler, his second wife... A revealing look inside a literary love affair."—Publishers Weekly"Great love stories involve intense passion and a monumental impediment to its fulfilment. Farley and Claire is one such tumultuous, whirlpool of a love story that makes us long to be lovestruck again, and beloved."—Susan Musgrave, author of Exculpatory Lilies"Farley and Claire is a gripping and surprisingly suspenseful story of two writers in love that takes us on a ribald, rollicking journey full of books, boats, voyages, friendships, and feuds."—Stephen Mayer, journalist and author of Salvage"Michael Harris, ace investigative journalist, uses his skills to lay bare secrets of the human heart, and he triumphs. He’s got the documents—fiery, frank, lusty letters between emerging icon Farley Mowat and the young Claire Wheeler—as their creative souls merge and clash."—David Beers, Founding Editor, The Tyee"Michael Harris's beautifully written and richly detailed Farley and Claire: A Love Story is both laugh-out-loud entertaining and heartbreaking. Told with so much colour, grace, and style, this great love story between Canadian author Farley Mowat and Claire Wheeler is a page-turner and a beautiful book."—Kate Malloy, Editor, The Hill Times"Delving through 54 years of love letters between the irascible Farley Mowat and the lovely Claire Wheeler, Harris traces the arc of a Canadian marriage like no other, yet somehow like every other marriage: a country of dark forests, graceful clearings, and deep waters that sustain our thirst for love. Readers will find this stark romance between two very different soul-friends the right sort of tonic for these hateful times."—Andrew Nikiforuk, author of Empire of the Beetle and The Energy of Slaves"Farley Mowat was Canada's greatest iconoclastic environmental icon—fearless, uncompromising, and mischievous. Michael Harris reveals another Farley—angst-ridden and focused on Claire, the love of his life, enmeshed in the strictures and values of a time now gone. I wept, laughed, and commiserated as I followed this amazing love story with a happy ending."—David Suzuki"Farley and Claire is a love story as intimate and enduring as the love it portrays."—Wayne Grady, author of Pandexicon and The Good Father"I proudly published the remarkable Farley, and knew Claire for many years, but now find that their greatest work—about their love—was hidden and is now revealed here so unforgettably by Michael Harris."—Douglas Gibson, former President and Publisher of McClelland & Stewart and author of Across Canada by Story

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn unlikely literary friendship from the past sheds light on the radicalization of public debate around identity, race, and censorship.In 1961, James Baldwin spent several months in William Styron’s guest house. They wrote during the day, then spent long evenings confiding in each other and talking about race and identity in America. During one of those memorable evenings, Baldwin is said to have convinced Styron to write, in the first person, the story of the 1831 slave rebellion led by Nat Turner near Styron’s own Southern birthplace. Styron followed his friend’s advice, and The Confessions of Nat Turner was published to critical acclaim, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1968—also creating outrage in part of the African American community.More than sixty years later, the debates and controversy around cultural appropriation, identity, and the rights and responsibilities of the writer still resonate. In Baldwin, Styron, and Me, Mélikah Abdelmoumen considers Baldwin and Styron’s surprising yet vital friendship from her standpoint as a racialized woman, born in Canada to a Tunisian father and Québécois mother, and torn by the often unidimensional versions of her own identity put forth by today’s politics, media, and society. Considering questions of identity, race, equity, and censorship, and, especially, the means by which public debate around these topics is increasingly radicalized, Abdelmoumen works to create a space where the answers are found by first learning how to listen—even in disagreement.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Brisk, lively and wonderfully entertaining' John Banville'Excellent ... read this book' Literary Review'The best single-volume life of the author available' Irish TimesThe much mythologised author of Decline and Fall, A Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited was hailed by Graham Greene as 'the greatest novelist of my generation', yet reckoned by Hilaire Belloc to have been possessed by the devil. Evelyn Waugh's literary reputation has continued to rise since Greene's assessment in 1966. Fifty years after his death, Philip Eade draws on extensive unpublished sources to paint a fresh and compelling portrait of this endlessly fascinating man, telling the full story of his dramatic, colourful and frequently bizarre life.Trade ReviewIf you like your Waugh fast, furious and funny, there is much to enjoy in Philip Eade's sparkling Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited ... Waugh's letters are a joy to read, and Eade's coup is his access to a hitherto unpublished cache of them -- Paula Byrne * THE TIMES *Eade isn't a standard literary biographer; he is, by instinct and preference, an entertainer ... He is an assiduous researcher with a considerable narrative gift. He also, crucially, likes his subject. Waugh never much cared what anyone thought of him, but Eade does, and time and again he finds justification for what previous biographers have considered questionable behaviour. He also has a nice, wry turn of phrase ... this is an exemplary piece of work -- Marcus Berkmann * DAILY MAIL Book of the Week *Brisk and entertaining ... intelligent and illuminating ... the best single-volume life of the author available. To read A Life Revisited is to experience a reckoning with a man whose life, like his work, is both a solace and a stimulus -- Matthew Adams * IRISH TIMES *Essential ... Eade's pacey new biography delivers the raw material of Waugh's life ... treat the Waugh aficionado in your life * SUNDAY TIMES Books of the Year *For even more laughs, Philip Eade's Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited demonstrates that Waugh's life, already done by divers hands, really is worth another visit -- John Banville * GUARDIAN Best Books of 2016 *Anyone with the slightest interest in Evelyn Waugh - and who has not been intrigued by his steady return to favour? - should buy, and keep, Philip Eade's Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited. Why? Because it is packed with brand new, fascinating information about Waugh, his family, his friends and lovers. As well, it 'rebalances' a number of entrenched, skewed perceptions of man and soldier. And it is irresistibly readable -- Donat Gallagher, editor of THE ESSAYS, ARTICLES AND REVIEWS OF EVELYN WAUGH[I]t is the force of Waugh's energy - creative, sexual and social - that crackles through the pages of Philip Eade's meticulous and wildly entertaining biography ... Eade supplies an astonishing wealth of detail ... and is sympathetic to Waugh's many failings without being sycophantic -- Martin Townsend * DAILY EXPRESS *Eade's new biography draws on unpublished letters, diaries and memoirs to explore the eccentric larger-than-life story of one of the most acclaimed novelists of the 20th century. Will send readers back to the novels in droves * FINANCIAL TIMES Books of the Year *Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited represents a sort of tipping point: Eade's even-handedness gently but firmly nudges Waugh's work centre stage again ... Eade is excellent on tracing the sources of Waugh's delights and horrors, from his life to his work and back again: the failures, the successes, the disappointments, the endless grist to the authorial mill -- Ian Sansom * LITERARY REVIEW *Philip Eade makes the case that now is the time to revisit Waugh and see if some of the old charges of cynicism, snobbery and emotional cruelty really hold true. The result is a bright, breezy and sympathetic portrait that stops just the right side of sentimental -- Kathryn Hughes * MAIL ON SUNDAY *A gloriously entertaining indulgence. There isn't a single dull page in the whole book, and it could easily be twice as long without overstaying its welcome -- Eilis O'Hanlon * IRISH INDEPENDENT *Philip Eade has written a brisk, lively, and wonderfully entertaining account of the life of a strange, tormented, unique creature. Through page after page one finds oneself laughing aloud yet again at stories that have been told and retold many times. While previous biographers have been respectful (Martin Stannard) or compassionate (Selina Hastings), Eade seems genuinely to like his subject, and takes Waugh largely as he presented himself to the world. In his preface he writes that his intention is not to offer us a reassessment of Waugh the writer, but 'to paint a fresh portrait of the man by revisiting key episodes throughout his life and focusing on his most meaningful relationships. In this admirably modest aim he has happily succeeded -- John Banville * NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS *A splendid treat. Eade's exploration of the most significant episodes in the life of this fearless, deeply melancholic comedian is a most worthwhile addition to the bowing shelf of Waughiana -- Christopher Hirst * iNEWS *Peppered with humour ... Eade's fine biography does a very good job of pinning down the particular puckish charisma that made Waugh so popular -- Violet Hudson * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *The chief delight of this biography is the way it foregrounds Waugh's own voice ... Above all, Eade sends readers back to the books. You'll want to have at least the short stories, Brideshead, A Handful of Dust and the Sword of Honour trilogy to hand after reading this ... Eade shows just how hard-won his effortless brilliance really was -- Suzi Feay * FINANCIAL TIMES *Vastly entertaining ... a Perrier-Jouët book, frothy and fun -- Laura Freeman * STANDPOINT *Fifty years after Evelyn Waugh's death from a heart attack, aged 62, Philip Eade's challenging biography draws on 80 previously unpublished love letters, written by Waugh to the beautiful Teresa 'Baby' Jungman, one of the wildest of the Bright Young Things with whom he was obsessed in the 1930s. It reveals a softer side to his personality, different from the brilliant, acerbic wit that previous biographers have focused on ... A fascinating read -- Rebecca Wallersteiner * THE LADY *Eade's biography is crisp, diligent and sympathetic; his fresh material adds texture to this oft-told story -- James Fergusson * COUNTRY LIFE Book of the Week *Eade's thoughtful and thorough re-examination will not affect Waugh's status as a novelist, but it may well raise his reputation as a man * NEW STATESMAN *This biography, drawing on 80 previously unpublished love letters written by Waugh to Bright Young Thing Teresa 'Baby' Jungman, reveals a softer side to the author of Brideshead Revisited and explores the impact of his complex love life on his novels * THE LADY Christmas Book Guide *For all the value of the newly available sources and the good use to which Mr. Eade has put them, in the end it is his biographical skills and crisp way with words and phrase that make this such a valuable tool for understanding the perplexing figure of Evelyn Waugh -- Martin Rubin * WASHINGTON TIMES *Spurred by the milestone of fifty years since Waugh's death, encouraged by the subject's grandson, Alexander Waugh, and some new material, Eade has launched into this confounding, crowded, complicated life with brio ... [S]ympathetic, well-researched ... Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited will whet the appetite of any Wavian -- Mark McGinness * SYDNEY MORNING HERALD *

Read more less

Book SynopsisBestselling author, pioneering photographer, mathematical don and writer of nonsense verse, Lewis Carroll remains a source of continuing fascination. Though many have sought to understand this complex man he remains for many an enigma. Now leading international authority, Edward Wakeling, offers his unique appraisal of the man born Charles Dodgson but whom the world knows best as Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. This new biography of Carroll presents a fresh appraisal based upon his social circle. Contrary to the claims of many previous authors, Carroll's circle was not child centred: his correspondence was enormous, numbering almost 100,000 items at the time of his death, and included royalty and many of the leading artists, illustrators, publishers, academics, musicians and composers of the Victorian era. Edward Wakeling draws upon his personal database of nearly 6,000 letters, mostly never before published, to fill the gaps left by earlier biographies and resolve some of the key myths that surround Lewis Carroll, such as his friendships with children and his drug-taking. Meticulously researched and based upon a lifetime's study of the man and his work, this important new work will be essential reading for scholars and admirers of one of the key authors of the Victorian age.Table of ContentsCONTENTS Foreword by Rhona Lewis, Christ Church, Oxford Preface Acknowledgements A Chronology of C. L. Dodgson’s Life 1. The Dodgson Family 2. Teachers and Oxford University Associates 3. Publishers and Printers 4. Illustrators 5. Mathematicians and Logicians 6. Photographers 7. Artists and Musicians 8. Actors and Dramatists 9. Friends and Children 10. Professionals 11. Royalty 12. Famous Acquaintances Epilogue: Full Circle Bibliography Short Titles Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisWilliam Butler Yeats (1865–1939) is considered to be one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. A writer of verse since his teenage years, it was the publishing of The Wanderings of Oisin (1889) that brought him his first favourable reviews and established a reputation that was to grow and grow. His early poems are distinguished by images from the legends of Celtic mythology and by a lyrical directness and a wish to communicate with the Irish people. His involvement in Irish nationalist politics, and his unrequited love for the revolutionary Maud Gonne, inspired the poetry of his middle years. His later work is bleaker, more elaborate in style and theory than his early work, and is heavily influenced by the symbolism of the occult. Largely responsible for founding Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, home of the Irish National Theatre Society established in 1901, Yeats wrote several fine plays that were performed there. He was made a senator of the Irish Free State in 1922 and received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. Author David Ross has written an engaging and accessible biography of W.B. Yeats. Given the huge range of Yeats’ interests – poetry, philosophy, history, mysticism and politics – and his eventful personal and public lives, Ross has deftly captured the spirit of the man and his work, relationships and beliefs.

Read more less

Book SynopsisForged during the Second World War, the close and abiding friendship of Robert Harling and Ian Fleming, one of the twentieth century's most iconic authors, would go on to define the lives and literature of both men significantly. Their paths first crossed in 1939, and Harling later became Fleming's deputy in the commando unit dubbed `Fleming's Secret Navy', which was tasked with obtaining equipment, codebooks and intelligence from the enemy. The war made fast friends of the two writers, and Fleming would go on to immortalise Harling in his hugely popular Bond novels Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me. Yet beneath the pair's charm, charisma and creativity was an altogether darker reality. Documenting in vivid detail his private exchanges with Fleming, Harling exposes the personality behind his protagonist - one tempered by debilitating bouts of depression and a deep-rooted distrust of women. This extraordinary memoir provides a fascinating and unprecedented insight into the mind of the creator of James Bond - from one of those who knew him best.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe authoritative biography of George Orwell, written with the cooperation of Orwell's widow.‘In its thoroughness, and its mastery of a considerable volume of material, this is the definitive biography of Orwell.’ Sunday Times‘It is hardly worth using up space to declare just how good it is. Different readers will come away from its seventeen pungent and packed chapters with diverse memories of its excellence.’ GuardianTrade ReviewBernard Crick’s book is a triumph of the first order. It is an absorbing, scrupulous, original record… -- Michael Foot * New Standard *It is hardly worth using up space to declare just how good it is. Different readers will come away from its seventeen pungent and packed chapters with diverse memories of its excellence. -- Peter Sedgwick * Guardian *No one interested in its great subject, or indeed the social, political and cultural fate of this country from 1903 to 1950 and beyond, will fail to enjoy most of it very much indeed. -- Michael Ratcliffe * The Times *He has built up a personality – seen, yes, resolutely from ‘outside’, but still close up – which other, more interpretative or internal, methods could not give so convincingly. -- Richard Hoggart * Listener *In its thoroughness, and its mastery of a considerable volume of material, this is the definitive biography of Orwell. -- Julian Symons * Sunday Times *Crick’s analytical mind, combined with his mastery of the historical background and context, make him the ideal guide… -- Arthur Koestler * Observer *One finishes the book thinking more highly of him, not less, as with so many contemporary biographies. The overall picture strikes me as being remarkably true. -- Anthony Powell * Daily Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. In this bedrock of biology books Darwin carved a new origin-story for all life: evolution rather than creation. In his new biography J. David Archibald describes and analyses Darwin’s prodigious body of work, as well as his equally productive home life – he lived with his wife and seven children in the hectic environs of Down House, south of London. There among his family and friends Darwin continued to experiment and write many more books on orchids, sex, emotions, and earthworms until his death in 1882, when he was honoured with burial at Westminster Abbey. This is a fresh, up-to-date account of the life and work of a most remarkable man.Trade ReviewDon’t let the slender stature of this book fool you. This is a powerful and authoritative guide to the complex and often misrepresented life and work of Charles Darwin. J. David Archibald has mastered the sources and takes his readers on an extraordinary journey. – John van Wyhe, historian of science, Director of Darwin Online

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is a new account of the late-fourteenth-century mystic and pilgrim Margery Kempe. Kempe, who had 14 children, travelled all over Europe and recorded a series of unusual events and religious visions in her work The Book of Margery Kempe, which is often called the first autobiography in the English language. Anthony Bale charts her life, and tells her story through the places, relationships, objects and experiences that influenced her. Extensive quotation from Kempe's Book, and generous illustration, gives fascinating insight into the life of a medieval woman. Margery Kempe is situated within the religious controversies of her time, and her religious visions and later years put in context. Lastly there is the story of the rediscovery, in the 1930s, of the unique manuscript of her autobiography.Trade Review"Margery Kempe of Lynn Norfolk took pains in the decades of her prime to have her life as mother, wife, and pilgrim recorded for posterity. With erudition and sympathy, Bale frames Margery-a doubting, aching, troubled, and fiercely independent woman-within the European cities that staged her life, and so makes her more familiar than any fifteenth-century woman has ever been." -- Miri Rubin, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History, Queen Mary University of London, author of "Cities of Strangers: Making Lives in Medieval Europe" "Margery Kempe: A Mixed Life is an evocative, vivid, and learned study of a complicated and intriguing text, The Book of Margery Kempe. Bale's captivating study blends rigorously researched biography with incisive analysis of the text. The book combines academic prowess with an almost poetic representation of people, events, and places, and brings to the fore the trials and triumphs of Kempe's negotiation of her mixed life." -- Laura Kalas, Senior Lecturer in Medieval Literature, Swansea University, author of "Margery Kempe's Spiritual Medicine: Suffering, Transformation and the Life-course"

Read more less

Book SynopsisA concise, cogent biography of influential modernist writer J.-K. Huysmans.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisStep back in time and explore the delights of a Victorian Christmas through the eyes of our most beloved authors

Read more less

Book SynopsisA luminous biography of one of the twentieth century's most influential historians

Read more less

Book SynopsisThough Julia Wedgwood is still remembered as a commentator on the work of her uncle, Charles Darwin, and for her brief but intense friendship with Browning, her contemporary standing as a writer (“the thoughtful woman par excellence”) has been obscured as has her role in the pioneering days of women’s higher education and the first campaigns for female suffrage. Based on her extensive correspondence and unusually wide-ranging work, this biography unites the private person and the public writer. It also looks at her many relationships with leading Victorian cultural figures including not only Darwin and Browning but George Eliot, Mrs Gaskell, Harriet Martineau, Frances Power Cobbe, F. D. Maurice, Richard Hutton, Arthur Munby and the young E. M. Forster. It considers the challenges facing a single, deaf Victorian woman in establishing her own independent, but unconventional, life.Trade Review‘This sparkling biography is as wide-ranging as its subject, a serious writer and niece of Charles Darwin who enjoyed friendships with luminaries from Elizabeth Gaskell (in whose home Wedgwood heard gossip about Charlotte Brontë), to Robert Browning, and – thanks to her long life – E. M. Forster. A fascinating life!’—Linda Hughes, Addie Levy Professor of Literature, Texas Christian University, USA‘Susan Brown’s deeply researched and penetrating study corrects a historical erasure and brings to full prominence the multifaceted influence of Julia Wedgwood on 19th and early 20th century literature and thought. Skilfully interweaving a wide array of correspondents, collaborators and intellectual companions, Brown’s biography traces the enthralling history of a brilliant but stubbornly self-contained mind and reveals Wedgwood’s substantial contributions to Victorian literature, philosophy, science and theology. Thoughtful, moving and beautifully written, Julia Wedgwood: The Victorian Female Intellectual explores the ways in which Wedgwood’s uncompromising pursuit of the life of the mind and principled retreat from intimacy attracted and repelled the leading writers and thinkers of her day.’—Jane Susan Stabler, Professor, School of English, The University of St Andrews, UK‘A compelling portrait of a remarkable, highly gifted Victorian woman and her contribution to nineteenth-century thought.’—Joanne Shattock, Emeritus Professor of Victorian Literature, University of Leicester, UK‘This is a beautifully written book about an important, yet neglected, Victorian intellectual that provides a new perspective on a number of central figures of the period. Julia Wedgwood was at the center of many of the important philosophical, social, religious, and literary movements of the era. A restless spirit, her broad intellectual interests and commitments brought her into contact with so many fascinating Victorians, including Browning (who interested her romantically), Darwin (who was her uncle), George Eliot, F. D. Maurice, R. H. Hutton, James Martineau, and many others. The author has a knack for analyzing Wedgwood’s relationships with these figures, probing both their intellectual ties and the personalities that could attract or repel. She also has an uncanny ability to examine, with a great deal of sensitivity, the dynamics of the family relationships within the Darwins and the Wedgwoods.’ — Bernard Lightman, Professor of Humanities, York University‘This engaging biography brings to light a remarkable and forceful figure who has long required attention. Sue Brown’s study – detailed, immaculately researched and eloquently written – reveals the full range of Julia Wedgwood’s achievements and intriguingly situates her at the centre of a wide network of nineteenth-century writers, scientists, reformers and intellectuals. It is certainly hard to imagine this biography being surpassed.’ — Simon Avery, Reader in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, Westminster UniversityBrown’s biography surveys Wedgwood’s influence and popularity as they developed across her lifetime and in the context of luminaries such as F. D. Maurice, Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary, and George Boole, and Richard Hutton as well as prominent debates on suffrage, women’s education, vivisection, and the role of science within religion. Brown traces the complex shifts in Wedgwood’s thinking about each of these through close readings of her private letters, her letters to monthly periodicals, and her essays for a range of upmarket monthlies — Mercedes Sheldon, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Volume 55, Number 3&4, Fall/Winter 2022, pp. 472-474 (Article).Table of ContentsList of Illustrations; Introduction: ‘The Formidable Snowie’; Part I The Education of Julia Wedgwood Chapter One A Brilliant Child; Chapter Two Mentors, Friends and Pioneers; Chapter Three Waiting; Chapter Four The Young Novelist; Part II Great Men and Female Friends Chapter Five The Promise of Darwinism; Chapter Six ‘The Era of My Life’; Chapter Seven A Woman’s World; Chapter Eight The Responsibilities of the Poet; Part III Becoming a Woman of Letters Chapter Nine Finding a Voice; Chapter Ten A Forgotten Feminist; Chapter Eleven Doubt and the Fallibility of Idols; Chapter Twelve Domestic Contentment; Chapter Thirteen Coming to Terms with Darwin and His Legacy; Part IV The ‘Thoughtful Woman Par Excellence’ Chapter Fourteen The Message of Julia Wedgwood; Chapter Fifteen ‘The Old Order Changeth’; Chapter Sixteen ‘A Satisfi ed Guest’; Acknowledgements; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Poet's Life is the definitive biography of one of the first and foremost poets in this golden generation, John Montague. Inspired by the examples of Yeats and Joyce, he consciously educated himself to play a central role in the self-understanding of his people.

Read more less

Book SynopsisPart biography and part cultural history, this splendid book not only tells the captivating story of Jane Austen's life, but also her literary legacy. The slow growth of Austen's fame, the changing status of her work, and what it has stood for in English culture is a story of personal struggle and family dynamics as well as a history of critical practices and changing public tastes.Jane's Fame is essential reading for anyone interested in Austen's life, works and unshakable appeal.Trade ReviewA deft, elegant exploration of the cult of all thing Austen . . . a happy blend of critical insight and narrative bounce, making Jane's Fame a fine addition to the current trend for analysing posthumous lives. * * Guardian * *Harman is particularly good on how writing became the centre of [Jane's] life . . . this fascinating and sophisticated take on Jane Mania is a sparkling addition to the canon. -- Christopher Hudson * * Evening Standard * *An extraordinary book, crammed with scholarship and glittering with trivia . . . Harman's book offers so many delight . . . This is a fantastic compendium of absolutely everything relating to Austen, the tone calm and impartial despite severe provocation. * * Independent on Sunday * *A wonderful book . . . A shrewd but unstuffy critic, Harman's prose rings with good sense, affection and humour, and she articulates very well indeed what's good about Austen without descending into the camp either of drooling Janeites or literary-theoretical pseudery . . . [Jane's Fame] manages to be not only scholarly, but indecently entertaining. * * Daily Mail * *An exhilarating look at the rise of Divine Jane's worldwide influence. Harman charts its course with wit and style, as well as scholarly precision, making this a book that no Austen addict will want to resist. -- Mark Bostridge * * Literary Review * *Splendid . . . there is no doubt that Harman is the first to treat this fascinating subject in an accessible, lively manner unshackled by academic jargon. There is much to enjoy in this book . . . it's the quality of the insights and the interpretations that make this book such a good read. -- Paula Byrne * * Sunday Telegraph * *A witty examination of [Austen's] rise to world domination . . . Harman unpicks the cultural and sexual fantasies at the heart of Jane fandom with great skill . . . Jane's Fame is threaded through with 150 years of opinions [of Austen], but there is not a dull sentence among them. -- Frances Wilson * * Daily Telgraph * *A wonderfully informative read. -- Sarah O'Meara * * Edinburgh Evening News * *An intelligent addition to the Austen industry...Harman has taken a subject that in a previous generation would have been restricted to academia, and given it the treatment necessary to catch the attention of modern Austen fans...Jane's Fame is a valuable and illuminating addition to the ranks of Austen mania. -- Rosemary Goring * * Sunday Herald * *A brilliant addition to the Austen canon. -- Janina Pogorzelski * * The Lady Magazine * *In this excellent book Claire Harman traces the emergence of the cult of Jane - from the early readers who admired the unique, natural style of her writing. -- Sophie Missing * * Observer * *Wonderful . . . not only scholarly but indecently entertaining . . . her prose rings with good sense, affection and humour -- Sam Leith * * Daily Mail * *A highly readable analysis of Jane Austen's unique place in both literary and general culture. * * Good Book Guide * *

Read more less

Book SynopsisMarking the centenary of Ireland’s – and possibly the world’s – most famous novel, this joyful introductory guide opens up Ulysses to a whole new readership, offering insight into the literary, historical and cultural elements at play in James Joyce’s masterwork. Both eloquent and erudite, this book is an initiation into the wonders of Joyce’s writing and of the world that inspired it, written by Daniel Mulhall, Ireland’s ambassador to the United States and an advocate for Irish literature around the world. One hundred years on from that novel’s first publication, Ulysses: A Reader’s Odyssey takes us on a journey through one of the twentieth century’s greatest works of fiction. Exploring the eighteen chapters of the novel and using the famous structuring principle of Homer’s Odyssey as our guide, Daniel Mulhall releases Ulysses from its reputation of impenetrability, and shows us the pleasure it can offer us as readers.Trade ReviewI can take heart from Dan Mulhall, Ireland’s ambassador to the US, whose Ulysses: A Reader’s Odyssey is just published. He takes a practical approach: if some bits of the book prove just too baffling, simply bin them and skip on a few pages. -- Jude Webber * Financial Times *Powerfully, [Mulhall] argues that Joyce and Ireland for him are indissociable and that he retains a burning relevance today. -- Anne Fogarty * The Irish Times *....an excellent guide through daunting terrain. -- Pat Carty * Hot Press *...releases the great masterpiece from its reputation of impentrability. An affectionate, accessible tribute. -- JP O'Malley * Sunday Independent *Ambassador Mulhall cleverly decodes all 18 episodes of the novel, providing personal and funny insights that contextualize and illuminate Joyce’s text, making you want to pick up "Ulysses" again. -- Ted Smyth * Irish Central *An informed, enjoyable guide, it homes in on Ulysses’ emotional core […] A convivial companion to help navigate Joyce’s masterpiece. -- Dermot Bolger * Irish Independent *Never has a visit to the attic proven so educational. -- Dermot Keyes * Waterford News and Star *This book is a delightful, chatty introduction to the wonderful world of James Joyce’s Ulysses -- Felix M. Larkin * The Irish Catholic *James Joyce’s magnus opus remains in need of chaperones. This is certainly one of the better ones available — highly readable, personable and well researched. -- Kevin Power * The Times (UK) *‘In this genial, largely first-person narrative, based on Mulhall’s experience of discussing Ulysses .. during his international postings, he argues that Joyce is a significant asset for the “soft power” of the Irish state.’ -- Emer Nolan * The Times Literary Supplement *Mulhall brings a historian’s eye to Joyce’s text, rather than that of a literary critic, and he writes about Ulysses with exuberance and evident enjoyment. -- David Blake Knox * Dublin Review of Books *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWith a biographer's eye for detail and a novelist's comprehension of the creative process, A. N. Wilson paints a masterful portrait of Dante Alighieri and unlocks one of the seminal works of literature for a new generation of readers.In Dante in Love, A. N. Wilson presents a glittering study of an artist and his world, arguing that without an understanding of medieval Florence, it is impossible to comprehend the meaning of Dante's great poem. He explains how the Italian States were at that time locked into violent feuds, mirrored in the ferocious competition between the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy. He explores Dante's preoccupations with classical mythology, numerology and the great Christian philosophers which inform every line of the Comedy. Dante in Love also lays bare the enigma of the man who never wrote about the mother of his children, yet immortalized the mysterious Beatrice, whom he barely knew.Trade ReviewThis is a book for all of us who enjoy poetry and want to think about sdome of the big questions such as the nature of love, the ide aa of redemption, and the possibility of a just society, but cannot tell our Guelphs from our Ghibellines or our Boniface from our Borgias... The narrative is exceptionally lucid and the detail is always vivid. This is biography done by a novelist at the height of his powers. Wilson moves seamlessly between Dante's life, his poems and the historical context... Wilson accomplishes his task with economy and balance... He has written a loving book that is worthy of the divine poet of love. -- Jonathan Bate, Sunday Telegraph Magazine

Read more less

Book SynopsisHaving left the university to write full-time at the end of volume two, Stead throws himself into his work. In novels like Sister Hollywood and My Name Was Judas, criticism in the London Review of Books and the Financial Times, poetry and memoir, Stead establishes his international reputation as novelist, poet and critic. It is also a period when Stead's fearless lucidity on matters literary and political embroil him in argument - from The Bone People to the meaning of the Treaty to the controversy over a London writer's flat. What was it like to be Allen Curnow's designated 'Critic across the Crescent'; or alternatively to be labelled 'the Tonya Harding of NZ Lit'? Covering Stead's travels from Los Angeles to Liguria, Croatia and Crete to Caracas and Colombia, as New Zealand poet laureate and Kohi swimmer, What You Made of It takes us deep inside the mind and experience of one of our major writers - and all in Stead's famously lucid 'story-telling' prose.Table of ContentsBy Way of Introduction x 1. Oxford and Consequences 1 2. France and French and the French 31 3. The Home Front 51 4. Identities 79 5. The Datson Story 107 6. Life and Death in Liguria 129 7. The Writer at Work - 1990s 155 8. Who Would You Trust? 179 9. The Pakeha Poet and the Tangata Whenua 195 10. The Curnow Factor - His Last Two Decades 219 11. Croatia, and 'Last Season's Man' 247 12. Hitler and So On 279 13. High Octane 309 14. The Dark Angel and the Black River 333 15. The Trick of Standing Upright Here - and There 365 16. Nunc Dimittis 385 Appendix: Absent Friends 404 Index 410

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the bicentenary year of the publication of Sir Walter Scott’s first novel Waverley, this is a timely republication of Buchan’s work The Man and the Book, originally published in 1925.Buchan’s treatment is sympathetic but perceptive, and at points critical. Whilst acknowledging Scott’s weaknesses, the book also touches upon the creative pulse of his great predecessor’s achievement. Interspersed with superb extracts exhibiting Scott’s narrative arts, as a short introduction to and sampling of Scott, John Buchan’s work has never been bettered. To this day, this book remains the ideal advocate and guide to the great Sir Walter Scott.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe first book in the new series, `Writers and their Contexts'', to be published by EER. Who is more open with posterity than Anthony Trollope? What other Victorian novelist of eminence exposed himself more frankly than the Chronicler of Barsetshire? Or did he...

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Barfield towers above us all... the wisest and best of my unofficial teachers.' - C.S. Lewis --- 'We are well supplied with interesting writers, but Owen Barfield is not content to be merely interesting. His ambition is to set us free from the prison we have made for ourselves by our ways of knowing, our limited and false habits of thought, our "common sense".' - Saul Bellow --- Owen Barfield - philosopher, author, poet and critic - was a founding member of the Inklings, the private Oxford society that included the leading literary figures C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams. C.S. Lewis, who was greatly affected by Barfield during their long friendship, wrote of their many heated debates: 'I think he changed me a good deal more than I him.' Simon Blaxland-de Lange's biography - the first on Owen Barfield to be published - was written with the active cooperation of Barfield himself who, before his death in 1997, gave numerous interviews to the author and shared a large quantity of his papers and manuscripts. The fruit of this collaboration is a book that penetrates deeply into the life and thought of one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. It studies the influences on Barfield by the Romantic poet Coleridge and the philosopher Rudolf Steiner (founder of anthroposophy), and elaborates on Barfield's profound personal connection with C.S. Lewis. The book also features a biographical sketch in his own words (based on personally conducted interviews), and describes Barfield's strong relationship with North America and his dual profession as a lawyer and writer. This updated edition features vital new material including Barfield's own 'Psychography' from 1948 and an illustrative plate section.Table of ContentsForeword by Dr Andrew Welburn - Preface to the Second Edition - Preface - Introduction - PART ONE: 1. Owen Barfield: A Biographical Sketch Based on His Own Words - PART TWO: Elucidation and Recognition: The Lecturer (1964-97) - 2. Owen Barfield and America - 3. Barfield and Coleridge - 4. The Vancouver Lectures: Evolution of Consciousness - 5. Positivism and its Residues - 6. The Effects of Idolatry - 7. The Force of Imaginative Thinking - 8. 'Sir, I thank God for you...' - PART THREE: The Forging of a Key: The Man of Letters (1919-64) - 9. Owen Barfield and C.S. Lewis - 10. Owen Barfield and Rudolf Steiner - 11. English People - 12. Language as a Key to the Past - 13. Poetry, Drama and Magic - 14. Vision for a Future Social and Cultural Order - 15. Bonds of Love and Friendship - Conclusion - Appendix: Psychography (by Owen Barfield) - Notes - Bibliography - Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisBrenda Chamberlain lived a life of artistic engagement with the world. She published a compelling body of literary work and held solo exhibitions in London and Wales, while her work was shown in over thirty group shows. Her brilliance was mirrored by the journey of her personal life, including marriage to fellow artist and Royal Academy student John Petts, the long relationship with the Frenchman Jean Van der Bijl, the life-long friendship with the German aristocrat Karl von Laer and her eventual journey to Hydra where she lived for many years before returning to Bangor, Wales. Jill Piercy draws upon extensive research gathered from public and private collections and from interviews with Chamberlain’s friends in Britain, Germany and Greece.

Read more less

Book SynopsisCelebrating the centenary of the birth of James Baldwin with this wide-ranging volume of short essays, reflections and poetry. This moving collection demonstrates the significant legacy of the writer and activist who spoke truth to power during the era of the fight for Black civil liberties in the US, and after.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1903, after a fire completely destroyed her family home in Norfolk, UK, the 27- year-old Constance helped her mother redesign their house and recreate the garden. It was an experience from which she never looked back, going on to become an internationally recognised garden expert and connoisseur. A rich woman herself, she was attracted to the most spectacular and extravagant gardens in the world. From Shalimar Bagh, Lahore, to Nishat Bagh, Srinagar, to La Granja near Madrid, Constance earned her reputation studying Mughal and Moorish gardens as well as those in Great Britain, France, Italy and northern Europe. Between 1910 and 1955 she wrote about them, painted and photographed them and lectured on them. She produced two successful illustrated books, and numerous articles for magazines, including Country Life, Vogue, The Burlington Magazine, Harpers Bazaar, and The Times. When she died in 1966, she left paintings, photographs, diaries, press cuttings and scrapbooks to her grandchildren. It is upon this fascinating and hitherto unseen archive of memorabilia that Constance Villiers Stuart: In Pursuit of Paradise is based.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisAllen Curnow (1911–2001) is widely recognised as one of the most distinguished poets writing in English in the second half of the twentieth century. From Valley of Decision (1933) to The Bells of Saint Babel's (2001) he defined and redefined how poetry might discover the possibilities of a world seen afresh. Through relationships with writers from Dylan Thomas to C. K. Stead he influenced the changing shape of modern poetry. And in criticism and anthologies like the Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse he helped identify the distinctive imaginative preoccupations that made New Zealand's writing and culture different from elsewhere. By the time of his death at the age of ninety, he had completed a body of work unique in this country and increasingly recognised internationally. This major biography introduces readers to Allen Curnow's life and work: from a childhood in a Christchurch vicarage, through theological training, journalism and university life, marriages and children, and on to an international career as a writer of poetry, plays, satire and criticism. The book lucidly identifies the shifting textures of Curnow's writing and unravels the intersections between life and words. The result of over a decade's research and writing, Simply by Sailing in a New Direction offers deep insight into the development of New Zealand literature and culture.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less