Biography: writers Books
Liverpool University Press A Life Lived Quickly: Tennyson's Friend Arthur
Book SynopsisArthur Hallam's early death was the subject of Tennyson's celebrated poem In Memoriam. As a result of its popularity, Hallam became a legendary figure, very much accepted on Tennyson's terms as being almost divinely gifted and of immense promise. While this representation of Hallam has remained generally accepted, A Life Lived Quickly' seeks both to supplement and challenge it, offering a more detailed and objective portrait of the man. That Hallam has a difficult relationship with his father (himself a famous literary figure), suffered a mental breakdown during his first year at Cambridge, and pursued an extremely fraught love affair with Tennyson's sister in the face of opposition from both families, are important but largely unknown aspects of his life. The author also repudiates the often-made suggestion that Hallam and Tennyson may have had a homosexual relationship. As well as examining Hallam's published writings, the book makes liberal use of his letters, of which a collected edition has been in existence since 1981, and includes treatments of hitherto unpublished poems and more recently discovered letters. Apart from presenting Arthur Hallam as a complex and interesting character in his own right, the book offers insight into the literary culture of early nineteenth-century England. In devoting attention to Hallam's time at Eton and Cambridge, the book also deals in detail with the experience of being educated in those unreformed institutions.Table of ContentsNaturally Disputatious: Father & Son, 1811-1822; An Unreformed Education: Eton College, 1822-1827; A Farewell to the South: Italy, 1827-1828; 'Cambridge I hate intensely': Trinity College, 1828-1829; Living Awfully Fast: The Apostles & Somersby, 1830-1831; A Young Man of Letters, 1831-1833: The Last of Cambridge Mainly in London; A Creature of Great Promise: Death & Transfiguration; Notes, Bibliography & Index.
£55.00
Liverpool University Press Poisoned Lives: The Regency Poet Letitia
Book SynopsisThis is a double biography of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, best-selling Regency poet known to her contemporaries as 'the female Byron', and her husband George Maclean, British administrator on the Gold Coast, known as the Father of Modern Ghana. L.E.L.'s reading public adored her writing and poetry and made her the best-selling female author of her time. As an early media celebrity her life was the subject of society gossip, so her sudden death in Africa shocked the nation (a 'melancholy catastrophe' ran one headline) and led to rumours of suicide or murder. Her husband's name was henceforth blackened by London society, which unwittingly superimposed the plots of L.E.L.'s fictions upon the circumstances of her death. Despite the fact that Maclean cleared 200 miles of Western African coast of British slave trading, made peace with the warlike Asante, instituted a judicial system still in use in many African democracies, and encouraged successful and fair trading, the scandal unjustly ruined his career. According to the inquest L.E.L.''s death was caused by her improper use of a prescribed medicine, but the rumour mongers discounted the difficult circumstances of life on the Gold Coast in the mid 1800s, and hinted that "Mrs Maclean, only recently married, owed her death to the revengeful passions of the natives, who poisoned the wife in order to have vengeance on the husband". Among those who enjoyed her work or recognised her influence were Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti and her brother, Dante Gabriel. It might be said that, to reflect fully the aesthetics of early nineteenth-century poetry, one has to consider, together, the works of William Wordsworth, Felicia Hemans, and Letitia Elizabeth Landon.Trade Review"It is not only the most important publication on L.E.L. since Cynthia Lawford's news, but also a tour de force on the cultural turmoils of Great Britain...A storehouse of valuable research and superbly coordinated information, Poisoned Lives is also a lively, literate, engaging story, rendered with the craft and flair of an artful novelist." - Susan J. Wolfson, Princeton University, The Wordsworth Circle, Volume XLII, Number 4, Autumn 2011Table of ContentsPrologue; The End; Letty: Childhood; George: Childhood; Letitia: Starting Out; George: Starting Out; Letitia: Making a Name; George: Making a Name; Letitia: Changing Tack; George: Changing Tack; Letitia: Coming Together; George: Coming Together; Together; Death at the Castle; The Inquest; The Affair of the Dos Amigos; The Commission of Inquiry; Bibliography; Index.
£43.25
Liverpool University Press Oscar Wilde -- The Great Drama of His Life: How
Book SynopsisIn the 1890s Oscar Wilde enjoyed one of the most high-profile reputations in Britain; yet, virtually overnight, he was plunged into disgrace and ruin. What were the reasons for this extraordinary reversal of fortune? Ashley Robins explores Wilde's motivation in prosecuting the Marquess of Queensberry, and elaborates on the precarious legal situation that effectively quashed any prospect of a withdrawal from the lawsuit without dire consequences. He examines the medical and psychiatric aspects of Wilde's two-year imprisonment and reveals -- for the first time and based on the original Home Office records -- the machinations among prison officials and doctors to cover up Wilde's state of health. Wilde's medical history is presented with an expert evaluation of his terminal illness, including a resolution of the syphilis controversy. Robins details Wilde's tangled matrimonial affairs during his imprisonment and goes on to disclose the manoeuvres adopted by friends to secure his early release, citing hitherto unpublished letters to show that bribery of prison personnel was seriously contemplated. The issue of homosexuality is discussed not only in relation to Oscar Wilde but from the broader historical, legal and biological perspective. The author portrays Wilde's character and behaviour through the images he projected onto society, by the strong but mixed public reaction to him, and by the quality of his interpersonal relationships with his wife, family and close friends. Finally, Wilde's personality is assessed using internationally accepted diagnostic criteria; and, in an unusual and innovative experiment, a group of Wildean scholars completed a psychological questionnaire as if they were doing so for Oscar Wilde himself. Drawing on these findings and on his own extensive psychiatric experience, Ashley Robins concludes that Wilde had a disorder of personality that culminated in the final and tragic phase of his life.
£100.00
Liverpool University Press Oscar Wilde -- The Great Drama of His Life: How
Book SynopsisIn the 1890s Oscar Wilde enjoyed one of the most high-profile reputations in Britain; yet, virtually overnight, he was plunged into disgrace and ruin. What were the reasons for this extraordinary reversal of fortune? Ashley Robins explores Wilde's motivation in prosecuting the Marquess of Queensberry, and elaborates on the precarious legal situation that effectively quashed any prospect of a withdrawal from the lawsuit without dire consequences. He examines the medical and psychiatric aspects of Wilde's two-year imprisonment and reveals -- for the first time and based on the original Home Office records -- the machinations among prison officials and doctors to cover up Wilde's state of health. Wilde's medical history is presented with an expert evaluation of his terminal illness, including a resolution of the syphilis controversy. Robins details Wilde's tangled matrimonial affairs during his imprisonment and goes on to disclose the manoeuvres adopted by friends to secure his early release, citing hitherto unpublished letters to show that bribery of prison personnel was seriously contemplated. The issue of homosexuality is discussed not only in relation to Oscar Wilde but from the broader historical, legal and biological perspective. The author portrays Wilde's character and behaviour through the images he projected onto society, by the strong but mixed public reaction to him, and by the quality of his interpersonal relationships with his wife, family and close friends. Finally, Wilde's personality is assessed using internationally accepted diagnostic criteria; and, in an unusual and innovative experiment, a group of Wildean scholars completed a psychological questionnaire as if they were doing so for Oscar Wilde himself. Drawing on these findings and on his own extensive psychiatric experience, Ashley Robins concludes that Wilde had a disorder of personality that culminated in the final and tragic phase of his life.
£29.66
Liverpool University Press Banker Poet: The Rise and Fall of Samuel Rogers,
Book SynopsisSamuel Rogers was arguably the most widely read poet of the early nineteenth century. He was also a prominent figure in the literary and cultural life of London and owned one of the largest private art collections of his day. He was well known to at least three generations of celebrated figures, ranging from John Wilkes and Dr. Burney, through Wordsworth, Scott and Byron, to Tennyson, Dickens and Ruskin. He was also associated with other prominent national figures such as Charles James Fox, Joseph Priestley, Lord Holland, and the Duke of Wellington. Known throughout his life (not always sympathetically) as the Banker Poet', he came from a radical, Dissenting background. He was supportive of the French Revolution and politically active in the 1790s when to be so involved personal danger (he attended the treason trials of Tom Paine and Horne Tooke). Nevertheless he considered his true vocation to be poetry and achieved considerable success and fame when The Pleasures of Memory was published in 1792. Ten years later he retired' to a civilised home in St. James's Place where his breakfast and dinner parties were legendary. His art collection attracted visitors from all over the world, and his poem Italy, composed after an extended tour there in 1815, was widely read. Martin Blocksidge considers the nature of Rogers' poetry and the reputation it acquired, and examines its cultural context; likewise Rogers' connoisseurship of paintings. Rogers was famous, but controversial, provoking some distaste and consequent satirical treatment, most notably from his erstwhile friend, Byron. Biographical and interdisciplinary, this narrative is relevant not only to literary historians but to those interested in the history of Dissenting and radical groups, picturesque travel, art history and the cultural history of London.
£999.99
Liverpool University Press The Poetic and Real Worlds of César Vallejo
Book SynopsisThe world-renowned Peruvian poet César Vallejo (1892-1938) was also a journalist, essayist, novelist and would-be dramatist. The study of his life and work has encountered problems since the 1950s, stemming from the fact that half of his writing was published posthumously under editorship of doubtful accuracy. The matter is further complicated in that his non-poetic work has been neglected in favour of his verse. A Struggle between Art and Politics reviews the evidence -- literary and historical -- now reliably to hand, and assesses the often conflicting body of opinion his work has generated. Three essential questions are pertinent: Where should Vallejo be placed in the canon of twentieth-century modernism? What effect did his mid-life conversion to Communism have on his writing? How should his prose fiction, journalism and essays be assessed in relation to his poetry? There are few writers whose literary output follows the twists and turns of their lives more closely than César Vallejo's. This new, comparative study maps his career onto the cultural, social, political and historical backdrop to his life in Peru, France, Spain and Russia, and analyses his writings in the light of his life circumstances. Vallejo's journey from Peru, the cultural "periphery", to the "centre" of inter-war Paris, his experience of European capitalism during the Depression, and the confrontation of Communism and Fascism, ultimately played out in the Spanish Civil War, forced him to wage a personal struggle to reconcile art with life and politics. This challenge is fought out in different ways in his various writings, but nowhere more movingly, passionately and humanely than in his posthumous poetry.Trade Review"Bob Brittons book brings Cesar Vallejo fascinatingly to life-illuminating both the key moments and the more intimate details. Britton interweaves the life and the creative drive of this extraordinary poet with such fresh insights that you return to Vallejos work with a renewed thirst." -- Adam Feinstein, Biographer & Translator of Pablo Neruda"Complete with its own excellent translations of all material quoted from Vallejo (an achievement which deserves recognition in its own right: his translation of Trilce I is better than most), plus a judicious, non-partisan survey of scholarship on Vallejo, the book will stand as a fine, accessible guide to one of the twentieth centurys great poets." -- Adam Sharman, University of Nottingham
£100.00
Liverpool University Press The Poetic and Real Worlds of César Vallejo
Book SynopsisThe world-renowned Peruvian poet César Vallejo (1892-1938) was also a journalist, essayist, novelist and would-be dramatist. The study of his life and work has encountered problems since the 1950s, stemming from the fact that half of his writing was published posthumously under editorship of doubtful accuracy. The matter is further complicated in that his non-poetic work has been neglected in favour of his verse. A Struggle between Art and Politics reviews the evidence -- literary and historical -- now reliably to hand, and assesses the often conflicting body of opinion his work has generated. Three essential questions are pertinent: Where should Vallejo be placed in the canon of twentieth-century modernism? What effect did his mid-life conversion to Communism have on his writing? How should his prose fiction, journalism and essays be assessed in relation to his poetry? There are few writers whose literary output follows the twists and turns of their lives more closely than César Vallejo's. This new, comparative study maps his career onto the cultural, social, political and historical backdrop to his life in Peru, France, Spain and Russia, and analyses his writings in the light of his life circumstances. Vallejo's journey from Peru, the cultural "periphery", to the "centre" of inter-war Paris, his experience of European capitalism during the Depression, and the confrontation of Communism and Fascism, ultimately played out in the Spanish Civil War, forced him to wage a personal struggle to reconcile art with life and politics. This challenge is fought out in different ways in his various writings, but nowhere more movingly, passionately and humanely than in his posthumous poetry.Trade Review"Bob Brittons book brings Cesar Vallejo fascinatingly to life-illuminating both the key moments and the more intimate details. Britton interweaves the life and the creative drive of this extraordinary poet with such fresh insights that you return to Vallejos work with a renewed thirst." -- Adam Feinstein, Biographer & Translator of Pablo Neruda"Complete with its own excellent translations of all material quoted from Vallejo (an achievement which deserves recognition in its own right: his translation of Trilce I is better than most), plus a judicious, non-partisan survey of scholarship on Vallejo, the book will stand as a fine, accessible guide to one of the twentieth centurys great poets." -- Adam Sharman, University of Nottingham
£32.50
Liverpool University Press Nautical Story Writer: The Life and Works of
Book SynopsisThe fictional nautical story was extremely popular in the period stretching from the mid 1820s to about 1850. The best known writer in this field was undoubtedly Frederick Marryat, but the stories of Matthew Henry Barker (1790-1846), 'The Old Sailor,' rivalled those of his contemporary in popularity. Both authors are in the first rank of writers of nautical fiction, but it is generally acknowledged that Barker's descriptions of the man-of-wars man, the forecastle Jack Tar, are without equal. Although several biographies of Marryat have been published, very little relating to Barker's life and works is readily available. A Nautical Story Writer sets out the life and works of Barker, a journalist, novelist and Whig. Part One provides a detailed biography of his life, sea service, adventures and engagement with friends and politicians. Part Two details his published works, alerting to material erroneously credited to the author. Paul Marshall's book is based, in part, on information collected from institutions in the UK and USA. An additional primary source has been a substantial archive of material related to the Barker family, which consists of correspondence between Barker and his friends and business associates (e.g. William Jerdan, Frederic Shoberl, Effingham Wilson, Edward Duncan), along with a variety of family documents. Although Barker is an author from the classic period, his written observations will be of interest to readers of the Horatio Hornblower novels of C. S. Forester, and the Aubrey-Maturin series of Patrick O'Brian. The extensive bibliographic information provided makes this work an essential acquisition for university libraries and antiquarian booksellers.
£42.75
Liverpool University Press A. E. Housman: A Single Life
Book SynopsisA.E. Housman's poetry (especially A Shropshire Lad) remains well-known, widely read and often quoted. However, Housman did not view himself as a professional poet, always making quite clear that his 'proper job' was as a Professor of Latin. Housman's fame as a poet has often obscured the fact that he was the leading British classical scholar of his generation, and a Cambridge Professor. It has also sometimes been suggested that Housman's two areas of activity are the sign of a flawed or 'divided' personality. A.E. Housman: A Single Life argues that there is no fundamental tension between Housman the poet and Housman the scholar, and his career is presented very much as that of a working academic who also wrote poetry. The book gives a full account of what Housman described as 'the great and real troubles of my early manhood', and in particular his unrequited and life-long love for his undergraduate friend Moses Jackson. It resists the temptation to classify Housman too exclusively as a melancholic, and is sceptical about Housman's reputed rudeness and misanthropy, pointing out that, though Housman was famously aloof in manner, he was notably loyal and generous, courteous in his daily dealings and generally liked by those who knew him. He also possessed a highly developed sense of the absurd and a ready and often disconcerting wit, features which characterised not only his letters and miscellaneous writings, but also, famously, much of his scholarly work.
£32.50
James Currey Christopher Okigbo 1930-67: Thirsting for
Book SynopsisThe first full-length biography of Christopher Okigbo, the most anthologized modern African poet, giving an extended narrative and rounded account of his life and times. Christopher Okigbo, once described as 'Africa's most lyrical poet of the twentieth century' was killed in September 1967, fighting for the independence of Biafra. The Sunday Times described his death as 'the single most important tragedy of the Nigerian civil war'. The manner in which Okigbo died typified the passionate, tortured and dramatic quality of his life. Widely considered along with Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe as part of modern Nigeria'sgreatest literary triumvirate, Okigbo's death promoted him to cult status among subsequent generations of African writers. This is the first full biography of the Nigerian poet. It places Okigbo within the turmoil of his generation and illustrates the aspects of his life that gave rise to such an intense poetry. How did his experience in the prestigious, English-type boarding school, Umuahia, where he was known more as a sportsman than a scholar, influence his life and later choices? Why was he sacked from the colonial service, and how did that lead him towards a search for private recovery, and ultimately towards poetry? What led him to take up arms? In other words, how didhis eclectic pursuits as high school teacher, university librarian, publisher, gun-runner and guerrilla fuel his poetic drive? OBI NWAKANMA, journalist and poet, is Associate Professor of English, University of CentralFlorida Nigeria: HEBN (PB)Trade Review[This] chronicling of the forces that helped to shape Christopher Okigbo's life, his sensibility, and poetry is commendable. Hopefully, the biography will help to expand interest (both locally and internationally) in Okigbo and his work. * JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY *An impressive work. The author comments that we so far have few biographies of African writers; and I doubt if there has been another of this thoroughness and care. [...] An exemplary work of scholarship, written with deep affection and without illusion. * AFRICAN LITERATURE TODAY 29 *Benefiting greatly from interviews of people who intimately knew Okigbo, Nwakanma's book is a compelling read. . Nwakanma succeeds in contextualizing Okigbo's poetry and resurrecting the man to claim his rightful place as a modern (not just African) poet. Okigbo, it seems, is still thirsting for sunlight. * AFRICAN STUDIES QUARTERLY *Nwakanma's authoritative biography of Christopher Okigbo makes an important contribution to our knowledge and understanding of Nigerian creative writing from 1960 onwards, but is also a fitting tribute to the man. There is no comparable critical or biographical study of Okigbo. [...] It is hugely well-informed and is an indispensable reference not only to the work of a fine poet [...] but also to the sometimes dangerous times in which he lived. * LUCAS BULLETIN *One need go no further than this volume to learn what there is to know about Okigbo and his tragically shortened life and literary career. Those interested in supporting an international curriculum, whether or not they are directly involved with African literature, will want this volume. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *Puts Okigbo in the context of African writing and politics, giving detailed descriptions of his personal and public life. * DAILY NATION (Nairobi) *A powerful narrative of a brilliant, mischievous, wandering soul trying to find himself, and eventually doing so through the creative act of writing poetry. [...] But this book, for all, or maybe because of his craziness, shows why he is placed securely among the greats. * BUSINESS DAY LAGOS *Table of ContentsPreface Chronology A river goddess, his mother's death & a headmaster father: Ojoto 1930-45 Sportsman, actor & 'effortless genius': Umuahia 1945-50 Cricket, classics, politics & urbane dissipation: Ibadan 1950-56 Colonial civil servant, covert businessman & bankrupt: Lagos 1956-58 Poetry gives purpose to his voice: Fiditi 1958-60 A librarian ravenous for literature & women: Nsukka 1960-62 Gentleman, poet & publisher: Cambridge House, Ibadan 1962-66 Aftermath of a coup, running arms & advancing to death: Biafra 1966-67 Epilogue
£76.00
Bodleian Library Evelyn Waugh's Oxford
Book SynopsisOxford held a special place in Evelyn Waugh’s imagination. So formative were his Oxford years that the city never left him, appearing again and again in his novels in various forms. This book explores in rich visual detail the abiding importance of Oxford as both location and experience in his literary and visual works. Drawing on specially commissioned illustrations and previously unpublished photographic material, it provides a critically robust assessment of Waugh’s engagement with Oxford over the course of his literary career. Following a brief overview of Waugh’s life and work, subsequent chapters look at the prose and graphic art Waugh produced as an undergraduate together with Oxford’s portrayal in Brideshead Revisited and A Little Learning as well as broader conceptual concerns of religion, sexuality and idealised time. A specially commissioned, hand-drawn trail around Evelyn Waugh’s Oxford guides the reader around the city Waugh knew and loved through locations such as the Botanic Garden, the Oxford Union and The Chequers. A unique literary biography, this book brings to life Waugh’s Oxford, exploring the lasting impression it made on one of the most accomplished literary craftsmen of the twentieth century.Trade Review'A decent guide for those longing to fall in love with the Brideshead dream for the first time.' - The Times 'A fascinating exploration of the effect which man and city had on each other.' - The Tablet 'An enjoyable and informative introduction to the Oxford of AP's years … highly recommended.' - Anthony Powell Society Newsletter 'Handsomely produced volume … Superlatively well illustrated … its overall effect is to emphasise Waugh's talent as a comic draughtsman.' - The Oldie 'This succinct and highly perceptive book …, although not part of the Oxford Complete Works, can be regarded as a useful companion volume to it, or can simply be enjoyed on its own.' - British Art Journal
£19.00
Boydell & Brewer Ltd César Vallejo: A Critical Bibliography of
Book SynopsisDo you know when César Vallejo was born? Was he a communist or a lapsed Catholic, or both? Do you know what he died of? Did you know that a new collection of hand-written manuscripts has been recently discovered in Montevideo? You may not know the answer to all these questions (some of them may be unanswerable) but this book will help you to identify and compare the competing answers. It describes and evaluates the manuscripts, editions, books, collections of essays, articles, translations, and doctoral theses written about Vallejo by a wealth of scholars since Vallejo's death on Good Friday 1938.Trade ReviewThe first English-language guide to Vallejo scholarship... Hart's interest and expertise in the subject are clear here... a helpful, well-organised text that is enjoyable and easy to use. CHOICE Will be a great aid to anyone with an interest in Vallejo.... Highly recommended. BULLETIN OF SPANISH STUDIES Es una obra de referencia imprescindible para cualquier investigador de la obra vallejana. * IBEROAMERICANA *
£63.00
Boydell & Brewer Ltd César Vallejo: A Literary Biography
Book SynopsisThis is the first biography of Latin America's most important poet. the Peruvian César Vallejo. It traces the important events of his life and evaluates his poetry, fiction, theatre, political essays and journalism. This is the first biography of Latin America's most important poet, the Peruvian César Vallejo, who was born in an Andean village, Santiago de Chuco, on 16 March 1892 and died in Paris on 15 April 1938. It traces the important events of his life - becoming a poet in Peru, falling in love with Mirtho in Trujillo, writing Trilce which would transform for ever the avant-garde in the Spanish-speaking world, fleeing to Paris in the summer of 1923 afterbeing accused of burning down Carlos Santa María's house in Santiago de Chuco, falling in love with Georgette Philippart and then with communism, writing his Poemas humanos (Human Poems) and then, shortly before hisdeath, writing his moving poems inspired by the Spanish Civil War, España, aparta de mí este cáliz (Spain, Take this Chalice from Me). This book also provides an objective evaluation of Vallejo's poetry, fiction, theatre, political essays and journalism. Stephen M. Hart is Professor of Latin American Film, Literature and Culture, School of European Languages, Culture and Society, University College London.Table of ContentsPrologue Korriscosso's Birth (1892-1917) The Fires of Love (1917-1923) The City of Light (1923-1928) The Soul's Practical Dream (1928-1932) A Death Foretold (1932-1938) Epilogue Bibliography
£80.75
Reaktion Books William S. Burroughs
Book SynopsisAlong with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) is an iconic figure of the Beat generation. In this revealing study Phil Baker traces this cult writer's life - from the New York underworld of the 1940s to Mexico and the South American jungle, Tangier and the writing of Naked Lunch, Paris and the Beat Hotel, 1960s London, and small-town Kansas - in order to investigate his work as an autobiographical explorer of altered consciousness and inner space, reporting back from the frontiers of his experience. After accidentally shooting his wife in 1951, Burroughs felt it was his destiny to struggle with the 'Ugly Spirit' that had possessed him. His early absorption in psychoanalysis gave way to Scientology and demonology, and he came to believe in an increasingly magical universe, sending curses and operating a 'wishing machine'. His paranoid vision and his lifelong preoccupation with freedom and its opposites - all forms of addiction and control - finally evolved into a concern with ecology and an all-out ethical conflict between good people who live and let live, or 'Johnsons', and those who impose themselves on others, wrecking the planet in the process. Drawing on newly available material, and rooted in Burroughs's vulnerable emotional life and seminal friendships, this insightful book provides a lucid and powerful account of his career and significance.Table of Contents1 St Louis Blues 2 The Hidden Antagonist 3 New York, New York 4 Go South, Young Man 5 A Slip of the Gun 6 Tangier and the Naked Lunch 7 Paris: Cut-ups at the Beat Hotel 8 Burroughs 1960-65: Undesirable Alien 9 Swinging London, 1966-73 10 Holding the Bunker 11 Kansas 1981-97: Adios Muchachos References Bibliography Acknowledgements
£16.95
Reaktion Books Ezra Pound by Marsh Alec Author ON Sep012011
Book SynopsisEzra Pound informs the reader about the life and work of Ezra Pound, the most controversial poet of the 20th century. Marsh gives insight into Pound's great achievements in poetry, his promotion of and generosity to a wide range of modernist figures and his descent into obscurity.
£14.18
Rydon Publishing Shakespeare
Book SynopsisAmazing & Extraordinary Facts: Shakespeare is a fascinating collection of surprising revelations, quirky characters and other fascinating pieces of trivia from the world of the great English bard. From the stories behind his well-known plays and poems, through the actors and theatres that have entertained his works, to his legacy in popular culture and beyond, an intriguing and unusual history of his life and times is revealed. Drawing back the curtains on this iconic English character, there is something here for every enthusiast to relish. This authoritative and absorbing book is published to coincide with the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s death on 23rd April 2016.Table of Contents1 Introduction 8 2 'Lost years' 12 3 'Upstart crow' 14 4 Becoming the bard 15 5 One last blow 18 6 'Our revels now are ended' 20 7 An unerring eye 22 8 'Farewell to Folly' 24 9 Star of poets 25 10 All the Globe's a stage 26 11 A full house 30 12 American visionary 31 13 Different spectacles 34 14 Makeup concoctions 35 15 Set in stone 37 16 Hand wringing 39 17 Portrait of the bard 40 18 Sought-after item 43 19 Stellar legacy 46 20 Written when? 48 21 Origins of Falstaff 50 22 Bard of bird fanciers 52 23 'Pound of flesh' 54 24 Charge of sexism 57 25 'Lost' plays 59 26 Picture of hysteria 62 27 Shrine to the bard 64 28 Stage dynasty 68 29 First-hand account 70 30 Hell-raiser 72 31 Public scandal 73 32 Disastrous spectacles 76 33 Masonic cabal 78 34 Opposing factions 80 35 The Baconians 81 36 Rivers of blood 84 37 In and out of favour 86 38 Sustained observation 88 39 Advance warning 89 40 The Oxfordians 91 41 Poetic styles 94 42 The Marlovians 95 43 'Noted weed' 99 44 Beloved by Russia 102 45 'Vulgar and barbarous' 105 46 Toe-curling homage 106 47 The silver screen 109 48 At each other's throats 112 49 Subtle shifts 113 50 Five beats to a bar 115 51 Heralding a Golden Age 119 52 'Loathsome as a toad' 122 53 Something borrowed 125 54 Shakespeare Trek 126 55 Inspiring songwriters 127 56 Inspiring wordsmiths 130 57 Playwright for all ages 132 58 Index 136
£8.99
Rydon Publishing Jane Austen
Book SynopsisJane Austen is one of the most extensively read writers in English literature, renowned around the world for her much-loved romantic novels. Little is often known about this brilliant author, yet in this absorbing collection of stories and trivia readers will find answers to the amazing and extraordinary aspects of Austen’s life, work and legacy. From her development as a world-class author from unassuming origins and the secrets of her own life and loves, through insights into her novels and their characters along with the changing reception to them over the years, to intriguing stories behind the screen and stage adaptations of her works and her continued legacy, there is something for every enthusiast to relish. This authoritative and absorbing book is published to coincide with the 200th Anniversary of Austen’s death in 2017.Table of Contents1 Class act 10 2 'Bad reckoners' 12 3 112-year association 13 4 Happy home 15 5 Three grand houses 17 6 Second Farmer George 18 7 The Loiterer 20 8 Chosen as heir 22 9 Juvenile parody 25 10 Jane and Cassandra 27 11 Good friends 29 12 Leading lady 31 13 Death in the Caribbean 34 14 The Tom Lefroy affair 36 15 Novel beginnings 37 16 Wishful thinking? 39 17 Gold chains and topaz crosses 41 18 Strange scandal 43 19 'It's all settled!' 44 20 Affairs of the heart 47 21 Lure of Lyme 48 22 Sudden death 50 23 To the rescue 51 23 Opulent magnificence 53 24 Seaside interlude 55 25 Centre of creativity 57 26 Solitary sketch 59 27 First publication 59 28 'My own darling child' 63 29 Authorship revealed 65 30 Comic spirit 66 31 Universal truths 68 32 Mixed reactions 70 33 Delightful pilgrimage 72 34 'A rogue... but a civil one' 73 35 Scott's adulatory review 75 36 By royal permission 77 37 The duties of aunts 79 38 Cinderella revisited 82 39 In her sister's arms 84 40 Gothic parody 86 41 Literary genius ignored 88 42 Novel fragment 90 43 Early critics 91 44 'Highest esteem' 93 45 Facts of life 95 46 'Swell show' 96 47 Editor's hand 98 48 Cult status 100 49 White gowns and bonnets 101 50 Desert Island books 103 51 Darcymania 106 52 Zombie mash-up 107 53 Gripping continuation 108 54 Sparking a Twitterstorm 110 55 Social implications 112 56 Manly men 114 57 Spotlight on Cincinnati 116 58 Literary legacy 118 59 Screen legacy 120
£8.99
Watkins Media Limited The Sea View Has Me Again: Uwe Johnson in
Book SynopsisThe story of Uwe Johnson, one of Germany's greatest and most-influential post-war writers, and how he came to live and work in Sheerness, Kent in the 1970s. In 1974, a strange man called "Charles" arrived in the small town of Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. He could often be found sitting at the bar in the Napier Tavern, drinking beer and smoking Gaulloises while flicking through the Kent Evening Post. But who was this unlikely newcomer? This "Charles" was in actual fact Uwe Johnson, one of the greatest and most-influential East-German writers of the post-war period. But what quirk of Cold War history had caused him to end up in Sheerness, when his contemporaries had instead fled the DDR to Rome, New York or West Berlin? Drawn from Johnson's letters to his friends Max Frisch, Hannah Arendt, Christa Wolf, and others, as well as contemporary accounts and archival materials, this intriguing mix of literary and cultural history and memoir uncovers the last ten years of Johnson's life as it was in Sheerness, set against the backdrop of the social and cultural upheaval of the late 1970s.Trade Review"A monumental sifting and arranging of local particulars, stitched against the savage farce of a great European novelist’s elective exile... Patrick Wright has picked over the landfill of a very specific Estuary culture to devastating effect.""A double 'biography' of the great but always tempestuous German writer Uwe Johnson and his ultimate home, the gritty and disreputable Isle of Sheppey. 'Biography' is in quotes because Wright is a saboteur of genres and his books encompass multiple worlds. I stand in awe of what he has accomplished here.""A masterful modernist history, and Patrick Wright’s most important book, bringing Europe to England by showing it has always been here, at a moment when too many want to believe something else.""An extraordinary, haunting book... a phenomenal achievement.""An astonishing chronicle of the great German author Uwe Johnson, who moved to Sheerness, Kent, in the 70s.”“To repeat: this tidal book, reaching into everything and then withdrawing to show what is left behind, is a triumph.""A model portrait of person and place, a kind of cultural and literary geography that never fails to fascinate."“A huge achievement: a comprehensive portrait of a place and a person, and the best book about Brexit that’s yet been written."“Wright is not a biographer or a journalist but a sort of spirit-ethnographer, patient and attentive to change and complexity.”"A glorious rabbit hole of a book ... a longue durée portrait, from the 17th century to Thatcher, of a single location on the edges of British national life."“Wright plays both the anatomist and the elegist for the blighted modernity of seemingly forsaken spots such as Sheppey … a fragmentary panorama of traumatic, half-remembered history, personal and national.”“Thorough, discerning, compassionate.”"The most involving and originally-conceived social history of modern England to have appeared in decades." "A hymn to estuarial peculiarity and a lament for an awkward man determined never to find his place." "I was entirely captivated by this microscopic, discursive study of Uwe Johnson... a great book about the relationship between Britain and the rest of Europe, and not a page too long."
£23.75
MerwinAsia Wang Meng: A Life
Book Synopsis“Wang Meng is the only Chinese writer who really understands China,” according to noted sinologist Merle Goldman, as well as being the writer that many at home and abroad have considered as deserving of a Nobel Prize if any Chinese writer ever did. His memoir is a colorful record of life in an eventful era when one could get up in the morning a CCP official and go to bed an “enemy” of the people.Wang Meng knew the hardships of life from an early age. A brilliant student since childhood, Wang gave up the chance of college to join the Communist underground. Ultimately installed as a regular Communist Party cadre in charge of a district Party Youth League and bored with petty bureaucracy, Wang published a short story which rhapsodized the soul-searching of an earnest young “newcomer” on the scene—an instant bestseller. In spite of Chairman Mao's favorable comments on the story, Wang Meng became a “rightist”—i.e., categorized as the enemy.Banished to distant Xinjiang, Wang Meng mastered the Uighur language, learned farming skills, and was embraced by the Uighurs as one of their own. The attack on his short story “Hard Porridge,” a masterpiece of irony (first English translation published in the Paris Review), only served to highlight his genius and started off a serio-comic string of writings on “porridge” from every conceivable angle by a host Chinese writers, becoming the memorable event of the year.Wang Meng did not change his spots when he became Minister of Culture and a member of the Chinese People’s Consutative Conference. While making contributions to cultural exchanges on the international scene, Wang Meng kept his identity as first and foremost a writer.
£26.36
Cornell University Press Reading Wang Wenxing: Critical Essays
Book SynopsisThe first book-length study of Wang Wenxing in English offering biographic, cultural, textual, literary, and linguistic readings of his work. The essays cover topics such as Wang's writing principles, typology of characters, analysis of lexicon, employment of stream-of-consciousness, musicality, relationship to Modernist writers of the West, relationship to Lu Xun, and issues of translating Wang's works into Western languages. Original contributions by Wang Wenxing illuminates his own writing through a discussion of his way of reading, and a biographical essay by Ch'en Chu-yun, his wife, who shares with the reader moments in their private life and the writing habits of her husband. In addition, this manuscript appends outlines of Wang's novels and bibliographies that are valuable to both students and scholars in their studies of Wang Wenxing's writing in particular as well as to the understanding of Taiwanese and Chinese literatures in general.
£100.80
Cornell University Press Reading Wang Wenxing: Critical Essays
Book SynopsisThe first book-length study of Wang Wenxing in English offering biographic, cultural, textual, literary, and linguistic readings of his work. The essays cover topics such as Wang's writing principles, typology of characters, analysis of lexicon, employment of stream-of-consciousness, musicality, relationship to Modernist writers of the West, relationship to Lu Xun, and issues of translating Wang's works into Western languages. Original contributions by Wang Wenxing illuminates his own writing through a discussion of his way of reading, and a biographical essay by Ch'en Chu-yun, his wife, who shares with the reader moments in their private life and the writing habits of her husband. In addition, this manuscript appends outlines of Wang's novels and bibliographies that are valuable to both students and scholars in their studies of Wang Wenxing's writing in particular as well as to the understanding of Taiwanese and Chinese literatures in general.
£19.99
South Dakota Historical Society Press Pioneer Girl: The Path Into Fiction
Book Synopsis
£33.96
Clemson University Digital Press Rupert Brooke in the First World War
Book Synopsis
£109.50
Clemson University Digital Press The T. S. Eliot Studies Annual: Volume 2
Book Synopsis
£109.50
Clemson University Digital Press Bram Stoker and the Late Victorian World
Book Synopsis
£109.50
Rutgers University Press My Language Is a Jealous Lover
Book SynopsisMany great writers have been fluent in multiple languages but have never been able to escape their mother tongue. Yet if a native language feels like home, an adopted language sometimes offers a hospitality one cannot find elsewhere. My Language Is a Jealous Lover explores the plights and successes of authors who lived and wrote in languages other than their mother tongue, from Samuel Beckett and Vladimir Nabokov to Ágota Kristóf and Joseph Brodsky. Author Adrián N. Bravi weaves their stories in with his own experiences as an Argentinian-Italian, thinking and writing in the language of his new life while recalling that of his childhood. Bravi bears witness to the frustrations, the soul-searching, the pain, and the joys of embracing another language. Trade Review“A wonderful semi-autobiographical book about thinking and writing in a second language, about embracing many languages without betraying one’s mother tongue. A thoughtful book about the languages in which global citizens think and write.” -- Graziella Parati * author of Migration Italy: The Art of Talking Back in a Destination Culture *"A masterful assemblage of intimate memories from the author and utterly persuasive arguments from fellow travelers, this book offers readers a multifaceted and nuanced portrait of what it means to live in and between languages. That it has now been admirably and creatively translated into a third language, beyond the author’s own Spanish and Italian, triangulates Bravi’s defense of linguistic relativity into an irrefutable work of realism." -- Jim Hicks * Executive Editor of Massachusetts Review *Table of ContentsTranslators’ Note Preface Introduction Childhood Displacements My Aunt’s Languages The Maternity of Language I The Language of Love The Hospitality of Language The Enemy Language The Possessiveness of Languages The Fluidity of Language Without Style The Scent of the Panther Prisoners of Our Own Language Two Short Stories: Landolfi and Kosztolányi Two Old Children Poetics of Chaos Exile Writing in Another Language False Friends Interference Every Foreigner Is in Their Own Way a Translator Some Cases of Self-Translation Identity and National Language The Language of Death Language as Property The Abandonment of Language The Difficulty of Abandoning One’s Own Language Language as a Line of Defense The Maternity of Language II Notes Bibliography Notes on Contributors
£47.60
Rutgers University Press Pandemonium Logs
Book Synopsis In 2015, Ben Miller andthe poet Anne Pierson Wiese moved from New York City to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to explore their midwestern roots and to focus on their writing careers. Working a day job in a hospital, Miller had a front-row seat to the COVID-19 pandemic as it moved from the coasts to the urban Midwest. Pandemonium Logs casts an unflinching eye on the state of the worker in the US health-care system during a global pandemic, giving voice to the doctors, nurses, support staff, patients, and families caught in the complex swirl of daily dilemmas and crucial choices. In unsparing yet sympathetic prose, Ben Miller creates an intimate portrait of the impact of COVID on the diverse people of South Dakota. Through a wide range of characters—from understandably confused patients to quietly competent nurses—he explores the human complexities of the crisis: adoctor based in Mumbai who treats critically ill patients in the Dakotas via a tenuous hodgep
£19.94
Memorial University Press Extraordinary Passages
Book Synopsis
£27.38
Diaphanes AG Literature Is a Voyage of Discovery - Tom Bishop
Book SynopsisTom Bishop has, for over sixty years, helped shape the literary, philosophical, cultural, artistic, and political conversation between Paris and New York. As professor and director of the Center for French Civilization and Culture at New York University, he made the Washington Square institution one of the great bridges between French innovation and a New York scene in full transformation. Bishop was close to Beckett, championed Robbe-Grillet in the United States, befriended Marguerite Duras and Hélène Cixous, and organized historic public encounters—such as the one between James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. He was also a scholar, a recognized specialist in the avant-garde, notably the Nouveau Roman and the Nouveau Théâtre. In 2012, Bishop invited Donatien Grau to give a talk at NYU. This invitation led to conversations—many of which are presented in this book—and a friendship. Literature Is a Voyage of Discovery gathers their dialogues, retracing Bishop’s career, his own history, his departure from Vienna, his studies, his meetings, his choices, his conception of literature and life, his relationship to the political and economic world, and the way he helped define the profession of “curator” as it is practiced today, offering a thought-provoking look into one of the leading minds of our time.
£12.00
University of Hawaii Press A Drunken Bee
£999.99
Hardpress Publishing Boswells Life of Samuel Johnson LLD 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£16.10
Hardpress Publishing The Poetical Works of William Cowper 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£16.10
Hardpress Publishing Memoirs of the Late Thomas Holcroft 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£15.95
Hardpress Publishing The Works of Samuel Johnson LlD the Rambler 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£18.00
Hardpress Publishing London Visions 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£12.30
Hardpress Publishing A Translation of Dantes Inferno 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£14.20
HardPress Publishing Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho an African ...
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£15.58
Hardpress Publishing Memoirs of the Late Thomas Holcroft 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£15.15
Hardpress Publishing The Diary of Samuel Pepys for the First Time Fully Transcribed from the Shorthand Manuscript in the Pepysian Library 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£14.20
Hardpress Publishing Oldtown Folks 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£16.10
Hardpress Publishing A Book About Myself 1
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£18.00
HardPress Publishing Memoir of the Life and Writings of William Tennant
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£15.39
HardPress Publishing The Public Life of W.F. Wallett the Queens Jester
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£13.96
Solis Press Oscar Wilde
£12.99
Jetstone History of a Revoluter
£33.24
Editorial Impedimenta Trabajos forzados
Book Synopsis
£19.33
Libros del Asteroide S.L.U. El pequeño guardia rojo
Book Synopsis
£21.03
Atico de Los Libros H de Halcon
Book Synopsis
£22.64
