ELT & Literary Studies Books

Book SynopsisA glorious treasury of literary curiosities for every night of the year. Bedside Companion for Book Lovers contains an eclectic mix of fact and fiction, letters, diaries, essays and dedications, all suffused with the joys of books and reading. The perfect gift for the bibliophile in your life, it contains snippets from some of the greatest writers and book collectors from throughout history, including: Charles Dickens on the smell of books Maya Angelou on the pleasures of reading aloud Virginia Woolf on finding space for writing Nick Hornby on reading for pure enjoyment and much more. Along the way, you’ll find advice on how to look after your most precious volumes, what to do when books start taking over your home, and where to find the most atmospheric libraries and bookshops around the world. Keep this beautifully illustrated book by your bedside and wander into a magical world of books every night of the year.Trade Review‘This would be a much-loved and treasured gift for bookworms! From fact and fiction, to letters and diaries, be greeted by the beauty of the written word’ Love Reading ‘The perfect gift for any book lover, with a mix of letters and diaries, both fact and fiction’ Prima ‘This is the perfect book for any bookworm… a real classic in the making’ Miranda Mills YouTubeTable of ContentsJanuary: An Illimitable Choice 10February: Frivolous and Idle Books 46March: A Stroke of the Pen 78April: Something Sensational to Read 112May: Encouraging Early Bookishness 146June: The Poet and the Dreamer 182July: I Always Took a Book 216August: Bibliomania, or Book-madness 252September: In an Elbow-chair at Ease 288October: The Art of Bookbinding 324November: An Abundant Library 358December: The Craft of Genius 394Index: 430Acknowledgements 444

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Book SynopsisThough as yet little known in English-speaking countries, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is the finest German poet of this century and one of the greatest lyrical writers in the history of Western literature. A major figure in the modernist movement, with some affinities to Yeats, Rilke had a profound influence on other 20th century poets such as Pasternak and Akhmatova. He is a master of vivid and breathtakingly original imagery in which difficult ideas are made directly apprehensible to the reader and new worlds of experience are opened up. This selection includes poems from all stages of his career, beginning with the delicate works of his early years, through the extraordinary poems he wrote in French (which he used like a first language) and concluding with his mature masterpieces: the SONNETS TO ORPHEUS and the DUINO ELEGIES. Also included are Rilke's prose LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET in which he counsels a younger colleague and expounds his own literary ideal. This is by far the most comprehensive selection from this poet in English and forms an ideal introduction to this work.

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Book SynopsisAn eloquent call to draw on the lessons of the past to address current threats to international orderTrade Review“A brilliant new book.”—Philip Bobbitt, Wall Street Journal "In this spare, almost mathematical primer, Hal Brands and Charles Edel deliver a rebuke to complacency and a defense of constructive pessimism in the service of America’s engagement with the world."—Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Return of Marco Polo’s World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-first Century"Hal Brands and Charles Edel have written a crucial reminder that being so safe for so long has dulled our imagination of how dangerous and destructive the alternatives are to the ‘flawed masterpiece’ of post-World War II order the U.S. created. Read this to relish two fine minds expertly marshaling 5,000 years of western culture to motivate our communal resolve to preserve the liberal international order. What an education!"—Kori Schake, author of Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony"Brands and Edel show that the tragedy of international relations is not, as some would argue, that nations are doomed to war—but rather that war comes when leaders and the public fail to learn from the past how to preserve the peace. This is a compelling account of the dangers of “historical amnesia” at time when many question the need for sustained U.S. global leadership. The Lessons of Tragedy does more than warn of the dangers; it draws on the demonstrable achievements of past U.S. statecraft to chart a more hopeful course for the future."—James B. Steinberg, Professor at Syracuse University and former Deputy Secretary of State“This powerful book by two of America's most brilliant historians and theorists of grand strategy writing at the top of their game provides a timely reminder that the history of international relations has been replete with catastrophes and costly disasters."—Eric Edelman, former Ambassador to Turkey, Finland and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy 2005-2009“This compact, engaging, and evocative volume packs a sharp, lasting punch. Brands and Edel argue persuasively for a return to the “tragic sensibility” that spurred the creation of all previous international orders. Reading The Lessons of Tragedy would benefit politicians, national security professionals, and civilians alike—in the same way that the great theatrical tragedies benefited ancient Greek society. I cannot recommend it highly enough.”—Robert Work, 32nd United States Deputy Secretary of Defense

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Book SynopsisKahlil Gibran’s bestselling poetic masterpiece, The Prophet, originally published in 1923, continues to inspire millions worldwide with its timeless words of love and mystical longing. Yet Gibran’s genius went much further than this, to produce over twenty literary works, in both English and Arabic, as well as over 500 works of art, all characterized by an otherworldly beauty. Going beyond the many myths that surround Gibran, this incisive biography charts his colourful life, his dramatic love affairs, and his artistic achievements, to present a fascinating and unique portrait of this remarkable man.Trade Review"If you enjoy Gibran’s style, you will relish that of Bushrui and Jenkins." * The Daily Telegraph *"Breaks new ground" * The New York Times *Table of ContentsBeginnings (1883-1895); the new world (1895-1898); returning to the roots (1898-1902); overcoming tragedy (1902-1908); the city of light (1908-1910); the poet-painter in search (1910-1914); the madman (1914-1920); a literary movement is born (1920); a strange little book (1921-1923); the master poet (1923-1928); the return of the wanderer (1929-1931).

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2020 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate TheatreI looked at her, wanting her to laugh. Wanting her to share in the joke. But she didn't. She just stared. I knew then, in that moment that she had taken it literally...Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Richard Gadd has a chilling story to tell about obsession, delusion and the terrifying ramifications of a fleeting mistake.This powerful and engaging monologue play portrays a man brought to the edge by the actions of a chance encounter which takes a toll on all aspects of his life. In doing so it asks important questions about victims, the justice system and how one decision has the ability to change your life.Trade ReviewFrankly magnificent * Fest *A true one off * Daily Telegraph *A mercurial talent * Independent *

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Book SynopsisThis extensive selection of Tanikawa Shuntaro's poetry reflects the full depth and breadth of his work, from his appearance as a fresh new voice to the mastery of his later poetry. It traces his artistic development and his shift in focus from man's cosmic destiny to the pathos of everyday life and a more internalized struggle with the nature of human expression. Lovers of poetry will find the experience exhilarating. The only such collection in English, this volume will prove indispensable to students and scholars of Japanese literature, as it opens a valuable new perspective on postware Japanese literature. The Introduction clarifies the social and artistic background of Tanikawa's extraordinary work and career, illuminating major themes as his poetry evolves over time.

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Book SynopsisThis remarkable and monumental book at last provides a comprehensive answer to the age-old riddle of whether there are only a small number of ''basic stories'' in the world. Using a wealth of examples, from ancient myths and folk tales via the plays and novels of great literature to the popular movies and TV soap operas of today, it shows that there are seven archetypal themes which recur throughout every kind of storytelling.But this is only the prelude to an investigation into how and why we are ''programmed'' to imagine stories in these ways, and how they relate to the inmost patterns of human psychology. Drawing on a vast array of examples, from Proust to detective stories, from the Marquis de Sade to E.T., Christopher Booker then leads us through the extraordinary changes in the nature of storytelling over the past 200 years, and why so many stories have ''lost the plot'' by losing touch with their underlying archetypal purpose.Booker analyses why evolution hasTrade Review....remarkable parallels between the structure of the modern film Jaws and that of the Old English Beowulf. * Writing Magazine *If you have any interest in fiction and the way it works, you will enjoy this exploration of the seven basic plots and how they have been adapted and developed across the centuries. * Writing Magazine *This magisterial volume really does offer readers a genuinely fresh and exciting perspective on virtually every tale ever told. -- BookmarkFantastically entertaining -- The TimesThis book...has mind-expanding properties. Not only for anyone interested in literature, but also for those fascinated by wider questions of how human beings organise their societies and explain the outside world to their inmost selves, it is fascinating. -- Katherine Sale * FT *Christopher Booker's mammoth account of plot types, archetypes, their role in literary history and where Western culture has gone horribly wrong. * Times Literary Supplement *His prose is a model of clarity, and his lively enthusiasm for fictions of every description is infectious...The Seven Basic Plots is...one of the most diverting works on storytelling I've ever encountered. -- Dennis Dutton * The Washington Post *This is the most extraordinary, exhilarating book. It always seemed to me that 'the story' was God's way of giving meaning to crude creation. Booker now interprets the mind of God, and analyses not just the novel - which will never to me be quite the same again - but puts the narrative of contemporary human affairs into a new perspective. If it took its author a lifetime to write, one can only feel gratitude that he did it. -- Fay WeldonAn enormous piece of work...nothing less than the story of all stories. And an extraordinary tale it is ... Booker ranges over vast tracts of literature, drawing together the plots of everything from Beowulf to Bond, from Sophocles to soap opera, from Homer to Homer Simpson, to show the underlying parallels in stories from what appear to be the most disparate sources. If stories are about "what happens next", this book sets out to show that the answer is always "the same things", then to explain why. I found it absolutely fascinating. -- Ian Hislop * Private Eye *This is literally an incomparable book, because there is nothing to compare it with. It goes to the heart of man's cultural evolution through the stories we have told since storytelling began. It illuminates our nature, our beliefs and our collective emotions by shining a bright light on them from a completely new angle. Original, profound, fascinating - and on top of it all, a really good read. -- Sir Antony Jay, co-author of Yes, MinisterI have been quite bowled over by Christopher Booker's new book. It is so well planned with an excellent beginning and the contrasts and comparisons throughout are highly entertaining as well as informative and most original - and always extremely readable. -- John BayleyBooker's knowledge and understanding of imaginative literature is unrivalled, his essays on the great authors both illuminating and stimulating. This is a truly important book, an accolade often bestowed and rarely deserved in our modern age. -- Dame Beryl Bainbridge...some splendid links between story and reality...enjoyably provocative -- Gordon Parsons * The Morning Star *It's hard not to admire the commitment of any writer whose book has taken 34 years to evolve. And there can be no doubting that Christopher Booker's 700-page, exhaustive examination of "Why we tell stories" - the book's subtitle - is a labour of love. -- Gordon Parsons * The Morning Star *one of the most brilliant books of recent years -- Bel Mooney * The Times *Table of ContentsIntroduction and historical notes PART ONE: THE SEVEN GATEWAYS TO THE UNDERWORLD 1 Overcoming the Monster 2 The Monster (II) and the Thrilling Escape from Death 3 Rages to Riches 4 The Quest 5 Voyage and Return 6 Comedy 7 Comedy (II): The Plot Disguised 8 Tragedy (I): The Five Stages 9 Tragedy (II): The Divided Self 10 Tragedy (III): The Hero as Monster 11 Rebirth 12 The Dark Power: From Shadow into Light Epilogue to Part One: The Rule of Three (the role played in stories by numbers) PART TWO: THE COMPLETE HAPPY ENDING Prologue to Part Two 13 The Dark Figures 14 Seeing Whole: The Feminine and Masculine Values 15 The Perfect Balance 16 The Unrealised Value 17 The Archetypal Family Drama (Continued) 18 The Light Figures 19 Reaching the Goal 20 The Fatal Flaw PART THREE: MISSING THE MARK 21 The Ego Takes Over (I): Enter the Dark Inversion 22 The Ego Takes Over (II): The Dark and Sentimental Versions 23 The Ego Takes Over (III): Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy 24 The Ego Takes Over (IV): Tragedy and Rebirth 25 Losing the Plot: Thomas Hardy - A Case History 26 Going Nowhere: The Passive Ego. The Twentieth-Century Dead End - From Chekhov to Close Encounters 27 Why Sex and Violence? The Active Ego. The Twentieth-Century Obsession: From de Sade to The Terminator 28 Rebellion Against 'The One': From Job to Nineteen Eighty-Four 29 The Mystery 30 The Riddle of the Sphinx: Oedipus and Hamlet PART FOUR: WHY WE TELL STORIES 31 Telling Us Who We Are: Ego versus Instinct 32 Into the Real World: The Ruling Consciousness 33 Of Gods and Men: Reconnecting with 'The One' 34 The Age of Loki: The Dismantling of the Self Epilogue: The Light and the Shadows on the Wall Author's Personal Note Glossary of Terms Bibliography Index of Stories Cited General Index

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Book SynopsisLivy (Titus Livius, 64 or 59 BC–AD 12 or 17), the great Roman historian, presents a vivid narrative of Rome’s rise from the traditional foundation of the city in 753 or 751 BC to 9 BC and illustrates the collective and individual virtues necessary to maintain such greatness. The third decad (21–30) chronicles the Second Punic War of 220–205 BC.Trade ReviewA dramatic narrative of battles, treaties, negotiations, bribes, prisoners captured and other brisk accounts…All public and university libraries should have this collection of Livy’s history to allow students, researchers, and curious members of the public to skim or devour it upon demand. * Pennsylvania Literary Journal *

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Book SynopsisAppian (ca. AD 95–161) is a principal source for the history of the Roman Republic. His theme is the process by which Rome achieved her contemporary prosperity, and his method is to trace in individual books the story of each nation’s wars with Rome up through her own civil wars. This Loeb edition replaces the original by Horace White (1912–13).Trade ReviewA superb, nuanced translation…It is not simply that McGing updates the translation to reflect contemporary idiom; he also breathes new life into Appian’s prose on almost every page…This exceptionally well executed Loeb is a welcome resource that will be deeply appreciated by all those interested in Appian and his remarkable Roman History as well as expand his appeal to a new generation of readers. -- Alain M. Gowing * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *I have not read any fictions that have more dramatic tension, philosophy, or narrative curiosities than this history of Appian’s. * Pennsylvania Literary Journal *

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Book SynopsisHomer's great epic, The Odyssey, is perhaps Western literature's first adventure story, and certainly remains one of its finest. It describes King Odysseus of Ithaca's epic, ten-year quest to return home after the Trojan War. He encounters giants, sorceresses, sea-monsters and sirens, while his wife Penelope is forced to resist the suitors who besiege her on Ithaca. Both an enchanting fairy tale and a gripping drama, The Odyssey is immensely influential, not least for its rich complexity and the magnetism of its hero. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition uses a translation by T. E. Lawrence, now remembered as 'Lawrence of Arabia' and the author of Seven Pillars of Wisdom. First published in 1932, his translation took four years to complete and has been continuously in print ever since. It is recognized as the first translation to be both faithful to the original text and written in accessible language. This edition also features an afterword by Ben Shaw.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover.

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Book SynopsisIn her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and tricks of the masters to discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humour and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart - to take pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; to look to John le Carre for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue and to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail; to be inspired by Emily Bronte's structural nuance and Charles Dickens's deceptively simple narrative techniques. Most importantly, Prose cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which all literature is crafted, and reminds us that good writing comes out of good reading.Trade Review"For everyone studying English literature this book should be required reading; it is a wonderful explanation of how writers build their books from the words upwards." -- Daisy Goodwin The Sunday Times "a clarion call for aspiring writers to do that most simple, time-consuming but enjoyable thing: their homework ...Prose's forthright, waspish and often very funny book is a plea to all writers for vigour and clarity, one which encourages them to tend to the details of technique, and the mastery of language, as closely as they tend to their own ambition." -- Louise Doughty The Observer 'astute and enthusiastic commentary for writers and readers' Times Literary Supplement 'a volume that shows how to judge a book not by its cover, or even by its subject matter, but by the quality of its writing' Culture, The Sunday Times 'an essential book for any writer...who purports to take his or herself remotely seriously' The New Review, Observer 'Delightful and edifying...a fabulous book I intend to keep permanently to hand' Bookseller 'informative and inspiring' Good Book Guide

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionLonglisted for the Orwell Prize for Political WritingThe Ministry of Truth charts the life of George Orwell's 1984, one of the most influential books of the twentieth century and a work that is ever more relevant in this tumultuous era of 'fake news' and 'alternative facts'. 'Fascinating . . . If you have even the slightest interest in Orwell or in the development of our culture, you should not miss this engrossing, enlightening book.' - John Carey, The Sunday TimesGeorge Orwell's 1984 has become a defining narrative of the modern world. Its cultural influence can be observed in some of the most notable creations of the past seventy years, from Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale to the reality TV landmark Big Brother, while ideas such as 'thought police', 'doublethink', and 'Newspeak' are ingrained in our language.In the first book to fully examine the origin and legacy of Orwell's final masterpiece, Dorian Lynskey investigates the influences that came together in the writing of 1984 from Orwell's experiences in the Spanish Civil War and in wartime London to his fascination with utopian and dystopian fiction. Lynskey explores the phenomenon the novel became when it was first published in 1949 and the changing ways in which it has been read over the decades since, revealing how history can inform fiction and how fiction can influence history.'Everything you wanted to know about 1984 but were too busy misusing the word "Orwellian" to ask.' - Caitlin MoranTrade ReviewFascinating . . . Freshly and powerfully argued . . . If you have even the slightest interest in Orwell or in the development of our culture, you should not miss this engrossing, enlightening book. -- John Carey, The Sunday TimesThe Ministry of Truth is the best book I have read in a long time. Fizzing with ideas yet superbly readable . . . [this] is both a warning and an exhortation for us all to be stubborn as Orwell was with facts, and like Winston Smith to cling to the belief that 2+2=4. -- C. J. SansomEverything you wanted to know about 1984 but were too busy misusing the word -Orwellian- to ask. -- Caitlin Moran

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Book SynopsisThe comedies of Plautus, who brilliantly adapted Greek plays for Roman audiences ca. 205–184 BC, are the earliest Latin works to survive complete and cornerstones of the European theatrical tradition from Shakespeare and Molière to modern times. Twenty-one of his plays are extant.

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Book SynopsisLa Marr Jurelle Bruce ponders the presence of “madness” in black literature, music, and performance since the early twentieth century, showing how artist ranging from Kendrick Lamar and Lauryn Hill to Nina Simone and Dave Chappelle activate madness as content, form, aesthetic, strategy, philosophy, and energy in an enduring black radical tradition.Trade Review“This lyrical and profound tour de force explores the intersection of race and derailment, or ‘madness as methodology.’ We know that the traumatic discordance of slavery's enduring legacy manifests as both private sorrow and public health emergency. Yet that unyielding stress is sometimes also the forge of a radical black creativity vividly exceeding the shapeshifting states of un-Reason into which raced and nonnormative bodies are too relentlessly imagined and compressed. La Marr Jurelle Bruce has given a gift in this powerful recontextualization of black creative ‘madness’ as liberatory demand for expressive life—to wit, an aesthetic practice by which, ultimately, ‘what is stolen is returned, and what is unwritten is at last inscribed.’” -- Patricia J. Williams, columnist for "Diary of a Mad Law Professor" in The Nation"The sheer range of academic discourses that Bruce engages—from disability studies and psychoanalysis to affect theory and black studies—is impressive enough. What Bruce does within their intersections, however, is create a kind of poetics of black madness—a way of looking that is itself a way a making; or maybe it’s the converse—a way of making that is itself a way of looking. . . I can’t predict the future, but it’s so obvious to me that scholars will long be grateful for Bruce’s expansive imagination and the careful attention paid to radical black creativity in this wildly astute and socially and emotionally conscious work." -- Dawn Lundy Martin * 4Columns *"Bruce’s deft and thoughtful touch invites readers to dream loudly among a compendium of radical Black artists that few others would think about collectively. With subjects that range from early-twentieth-century jazz cornet player Buddy Bolden to contemporary rapper and composer Lauryn Hill (and many in between), Bruce’s archive reflects the mindful mayhem at the center of his methodology. . . . Bruce’s work closes with [this] imperative direction: 'Now let go.' But letting go of a book that feels both so present and so prescient may prove impossible." -- Omari Weekes * Bookforum *"In La Marr Jurelle Bruce’s How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind, we find ourselves in a dance with the mad. . . . [The] book is an analysis of praxis, a snap, a click, a break, an opening, a closing, the middle, the beyond, the here, the now, the then, and the there." -- Michael Cordov * E3W Review of Books *"A paradigm-shaping book for future scholarship around mental difference. Bruce’s book not only helps announce the emergence of [mad studies] but significantly advances the analytic, cultural, historical, and theoretical sophistication of mad scholarship...As a result, How to Go Mad is a must-read for those of us engaged in the intersectional politics and scholarship of difference." -- Bradley E. Lewis * Journal of Medical Humanities *"Bruce articulates understandings of madness that encompass the lived experiences of Black, queer, and disabled people, putting forth a 'mad methodology' that capsizes dominant notions of social, political, economic normalcy, and ethics, and invites, for me, a new possibility of Afrofuturistic imagining. . . . [A] dynamic critical analysis of madcrazyBlackness that spans genre, medium, and epoch." -- Victoria R. Collins * Electric Literature *"This melodic volume explores relationships between the surreal, impossible conditions (and conditions of impossibility) experienced by Black people and our radical, imaginative 'mad Black creativity.' Showing us 'lessons [we can] learn from those who make homeland in wasteland' as blueprints for freedom dreaming, Bruce picks apart the self-obscuring cultural and political forces that shape understandings of madness to disempower, disenfranchise, and control Black life and Being...It is ratchet. It is unruly. It is gorgeous." -- Kia Darling-Hammond * Nonprofit Quarterly *"With a Walt Whitman-style expansiveness, Bruce wraps his arms around a multitude of creative genres and Black artists and then pulls us into his project of 'radical compassion' with mad subjects. Bruce’s writing is both critical and compelling, analytical and yet intimate. . . . How to Go Mad without Losing Your Mind invites readers to sit with madness for a while, to explore its radical liberatory potential, and to become mad methodologists with radical compassion. Hold tight. Let go. And let this book take you there.” -- Elizabeth Donaldson * Disability Studies Quarterly *"How to Go Mad is a love story, a potent reflection on a few of the many Black creative minds who have innovated art forms and fashioned the trajectory of history, while having their 'sanity' called into question by normative, white, anti-Black, anti-Mad audiences and institutions." -- Liz Miller * Lateral *“How to Go Mad will undoubtedly influence conversations in black studies, science and technology studies, disability studies, and other fields. It is a lyrical, nuanced model of how radical care produces new approaches beyond the rehearsal of pathology.” -- Jacob Hood * Catalyst *"If we imagine Black studies to be a space of creativity where Black scholars break from disciplinary strictures and form, then this text is an exemplary practice...The writing is evocative and accessible for any of us who have felt searing rage and those whose waking hours are haunted by madness." -- Hugo ka Canham * The Black Scholar *"One cannot read this work without also assembling its madness with the mad blue notes of Buddy Bolden, the crazy blues of Bessie Smith, the 'good at' madness of Ntozake Shange’s Hyacinthe, the maddening black genius of Ms. Lauryn Hill, the unruly madness of Kanye West, or the 'mad real world' of Dave Chappelle. Bruce is not simply using these creative artists as case studies of madness dipped in black, but is presenting a terrain where the expanse of madness and blackness can only be read together—in this push and push, the fracture of Reason is revealed." -- Dana Francisco Miranda * Blog of the APA *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix 1. Mad Is a Place 1 2. "He Blew His Brains Out through the Trumpet": Buddy Bolden and the Impossible Sound of Madness 36 Interlude. "No Wiggles in the Dark of Her Soul": Black Madness, Metaphor, and "Murder!" 71 3. The Blood-Stained Bed 79 4. A Portrait of the Artist as a Mad Black Woman 110 5. "The People inside My Head, Too": Ms. Lauryn Hill Sings Truth to Power in the Key of Madness 139 6. The Joker's Wild but That Nigga's Crazy: Dave Chappelle Laughs until It Hurts 172 7. Songs in Madtime: Black Music, Madness, and Metaphysical Syncopation 201 Afterword. The Nutty Professor (A Confession) 231 Notes 239 Bibliography 303 Index 333

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Book SynopsisTable of Contents Part 1: Introducing Jane Eyre Part 2: Studying Jane Eyre Part 3: Characters and Themes Part 4: Structure, Form and Language Part 5: Contexts and Critical Debates Part 6: Grade Booster Essential Study Tools

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Book SynopsisPostcolonialism explores the political, social, and cultural effects of decolonization, continuing the anti-colonial deconstruction of western dominance. This Very Short Introduction discusses both the history and key debates of postcolonialism, and considers its importance as a means of changing the way we think about the world.Robert J. C. Young examines the key strategies that postcolonial thought has developed to engage with the impact of sometimes centuries of western political and cultural domination. Situating the discussion in a wide cultural and geographical context, he draws on examples such as the status of indigenous peoples, of those dispossessed from their land, Algerian rai music, and global social and ecological movements. In this new edition he also includes updated material on race, slavery, and postcolonial gender politics. Above all, Young argues that postcolonialism offers a political philosophy of activism that contests the current situation of global inequality, which in a new way continues the anti-colonial struggles of the past and enables us to decolonize our own lives in the present.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readableTable of Contents1: Subaltern knowledge 2: History and power, from below and above 3: Space and land 4: Hybridity 5: Postcolonial feminism 6: Globalization from a postcolonial perspective 7: Translation

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Book Synopsis A Sunday Times Book of the Year'This magnificent, highly readable double biography...brings these two driven, complicated women vividly to life' The Financial Times'A gripping saga of a double-biography' Daily Mail'A masterful portrait' The Times'Vastly enjoyable' Literary Review'Deeply absorbing and meticulously researched' The Oldie In 1815, the clever, courted and cherished Annabella Milbanke married the notorious and brilliant Lord Byron. Just one year later, she fled, taking with her their baby daughter, the future Ada Lovelace. Byron himself escaped into exile and died as a revolutionary hero in 1824, aged 36. The one thing he had asked his wife to do was to make sure that their daughter never became a poet. Ada didn't. Brought up by aTrade Review‘A masterful portrait…Miranda Seymour is a marvellous storyteller…it is composed to a considerable extent of scandal, gossip and bad blood, Seymour’s book is hugely entertaining as well as formidably researched, and should not be missed’ -- John Carey * The Sunday Times *‘It was…her brilliance as a scientific and mathematical pioneer that defined Ada…Struggling against her mother’s domineering influence and the sexism of 19th Century England…she also found herself in competition for Annabella’s attention with Medora, Augusta’s daughter and rumoured Byronic bastard.’ -- Alexander Larman * The Times *‘Vastly enjoyable…it is one of the many pleasures of this book that Seymour makes the reader warm to their inconsistencies, to all the inexplicable oppositions of character and action that make them so familiar and human…Brilliant, ebullient, eccentric, vivacious, egocentric and oddly dressed, Ada had her mother’s discipline and her father’s volatility.’ -- Lucy Lethbridge * Literary Review *'As Miranda Seymour writes in this gripping saga of a double-biography…the pretty 20-year-old Annabella Milbanke… [who] fell head over heels in love with mad, bad and dangerous Lord Byron…a serial womaniser who referred to sexual encounters as "hot luncheons"…"her heart was obstinately set upon the reformation of a rake".' -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail, Book of the Week *'Miranda Seymour is…subtle, astute and experienced an historian…and her zestful prose keeps the reader engaged throughout…in this deeply absorbing and meticulously researched biography of Byron’s wife and daughter.' -- Rupert Christiansen * The Oldie *'It’s more than 160 years since the death of the computer pioneer Ada Lovelace…credited with everything from the invention of the CD to the foundation of Silicon Valley. Miranda Seymour agrees that it is not Ada Lovelace’s skills as a mathematician that matter, but rather her visionary words, 100 years before the birth of electronic computers, about "a new, a vast and a powerful language". In her ambitious...dual biography of Ada and her mother Lady Byron, the power of Lovelace’s imagination and her belief in a "poetry of mathematics" is seen as a direct inheritance from Ada’s father Lord Byron.' -- Mark Bostridge * The Spectator *'There are difficult men, and then there is Lord Byron…the aim of Miranda Seymour’s new book is to put Byron’s wife, Annabella Milbanke, and their increasingly famous daughter, Ada Lovelace, centre stage… Not only were his wife and child still dealing with the rumours of cruelty, incest and sodomy – a then illegal activity which, Seymour…a wonderful writer… speculates, his young wife may have enjoyed – long after his death in 1824; they remained, in emotionally complex ways, in his thrall all their lives.' -- Rachel Cooke * The Observer, Book of the Day *'On BBC4 she was celebrated as "Calculating Ada, the Countess of Computing"…writing about Babbage’s Analytical Engine, whose potential she was the only one to realise…in her extraordinarily prophetic "Notes"…As for Ada’s mother… Annabella Milbanke was married only a year before she left Byron, and he left the country…Miranda Seymour puts everything straight in this magnificent, highly readable double biography, which brings these two driven, complicated women vividly to life…In Seymour’s hands, Annabella’s pioneering work…at last assumes the status it deserves. Her humanity shines through…Ada’s own short life was colourful, chaotic and bedevilled by illness…This is a very fine book. Written with warmth, panache and conviction, its formidable research is lightly worn.' -- Sue Gaisford * The Financial Times *‘The story of this unhappy trio has been told before, but seldom with as much brio as it is here. Miranda Seymour’s particular aim is to rescue Annabella from over a century’s worth of bad press… Only now, in Seymour’s careful hands, is she finally allowed to emerge as a figure who was neither saint nor sinner but somewhere in between.’ -- Kathryn Hughes * The Guardian *‘A seasoned biographer, [Miranda Seymour] brings her considerable powers to the lives of the human jetsam…left to sink or swim in Byron’s wake.' * Weekend Australian *‘A nuanced account, attuned to contemporary preoccupations...Goethe thought the spectacle of the Byrons’ marriage "so poetical that if Lord Byron had invented it, he would hardly have had a more fortunate subject for his genius." Seymour’s account...shows that it has lost none of its power to enthrall.’ * Daily Telegraph *‘Deft and compelling… The late Georgians invented the cult of celebrity and Byron was its first and finest creation. His wife and daughter could not escape fame, they could hope only to avoid notoriety. Annabella’s attempts to preserve her reputation and other people’s attempts to salvage Byron’s have left a pall of smoke from burning letters and diaries, further obscuring the facts that remain. Seymour carries off a delicate balancing act, combining the historian’s proper caution with acute judgements and a dashing narrative pace.’ -- Rosemary Hill * London Review of Books *‘Seymour manages to offer a supremely even-handed and well-evidenced account of the relationship without losing any of the juicier details (Byron’s affair and possible daughter with his half-sister; his predilection for sodomy; his seeming derangement in the face of wedlock)…one of the many strengths of Seymour’s study is its illustration of these accomplished women’s lives apart from the man who deserted them. Seymour is a master of character, and here she gives us two ferociously intelligent women who were deeply ambivalent about motherhood and their place in the male-dominated fields they inhabited.’ -- Corin Throsby * TLS *‘Meticulously researched…A skilled and experienced biographer, Seymour weaves her way through cobwebby curtains of rumor and gossip…The combination of pure mathematics and agonized personal passions gives Seymour’s book an arresting power’ -- Jenny Uglow * New York Review of Books *‘Miranda Seymour joins the dots with a wonderful account of the life of Ada’s mother, Annabella Milbanke, a society heiress and education reformer who outlived both husband and daughter. This double biography…is a scholarly treatment of sensational material, and it’s often as gripping as a soap opera’ * Sunday Times Books of the Year *‘A skilful account of Lord Byron’s disastrous marriage to the heiress Annabella Milbanke…and then on their daughter, Ada, Countess of Lovelace, computing pioneer, who descended into drugs and debt’ * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisFor twenty-six years after his first mention of the character, J.M. Barrie worked on the story of Peter Pan as he appeared through different incarnations: the three-act play Peter Pan, or the Boy who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1904), the illustrated novella Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), the Epilogue to the play “An After Thought” (1908), the full-length novel Peter and Wendy (1911), two short stories, and finally a longer version of the original play. This edition of Peter Pan includes not only the novel and revised play as they were first published, but also an earlier novella and the previously unpublished original play.Appendices include materials from Barrie’s personal writings and contemporary reviews and illustrations.Trade Review“A unique achievement—the bringing together of Barrie’s various and scattered Peter Pan texts within a single volume. As such it is an absolute gift to Peter Pan devotees, containing as it does much material that is otherwise unavailable to the general reader. An added bonus is the inclusion of numerous contemporary reviews for both the play of 1904 and the later novelization of 1911.” — Andrew Birkin, author of J.M. Barrie and The Lost Boys“This edition of Peter Pan is an exemplary work of scholarship, giving us not only the 1911 edition of the full novelization of this much edited and reproduced story, but also the 1904 slim pantomime version never before published, “An Afterthought” (1908), and the 1906 novella Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. The reader has in this edition a thorough exposure to this complicated text. Alton has chosen the Appendices carefully and wisely. Her Introduction meticulously covers the complicated history of the writing, editing, performing, and publishing of this famous story. And she provides us with a review of the major critical responses to the story. This edition of Peter Pan is simply the best we have.” — Roderick McGillis, The University of CalgaryTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionJ.M. Barrie: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextPrimary Text:Peter and WendyFormative Texts:Peter Pan, or the Boy who Wouldn’t Grow Up“An After-Thought”Peter Pan in Kensington GardensAppendix A: Contemporary Reviews (Plays) Peter Pan, or the Boy who Wouldn’t Grow Up The New York Times (28 December 1904) The Times (28 December 1904) The Saturday Review (7 January 1905) The New York Times (12 November 1905) The New York Times (10 June 1906) “An After-Thought” The New York Times (15 March 1908) Appendix B: Contemporary Reviews (Books) Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens The New York Times (4 December 1910) The New York Times (4 December 1910) Peter and Wendy The New York Times (22 October 1911) The Literary Digest (19 November 1911) Appendix C: Peter Pan Material Barrie’s Manuscript Page of “Fairy” (1903) “Davy Jones’ Locker” (1904) Frank Gillette’s Costume Designs for 1905 London Production of Peter Pan, or the Boy who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1905) Maude Adams from the 1905 New York Production of Peter Pan, or the Boy who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1905) Pauline Chase from the 1907 Playbill Touring Production Poster of Peter Pan, or the Boy whoWouldn’t Grow Up (1907) Appendix D: Related Texts by J.M. Barrie Preface to The Coral Island (1913) “Captain Hook at Eton” (1927) “To the Five” (1928) Appendix E: Images and Illustrations “The Child’s Map of Kensington Gardens.” Illustration by Henry Justice Ford from The Little White Bird (1902) “Peter Pan’s Map of Kensington Gardens.” Illustration by Arthur Rackham from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906) J.M. Barrie’s Key to Kensington Gardens (1903) “We Feel Dancey.” Illustration by Arthur Rackham from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906) “Title Page.” Illustration by Francis Donkin Bedford from first edition of Peter and Wendy (1911) “Peter Flew In.” Illustration by Francis Donkin Bedford from first edition of Peter and Wendy (1911) “Peter Pan Playing Pipes” and “Wendy on Rock.” Illustrations by Mabel Lucie Attwell from Peter Pan and Wendy (1921) Diarmuid Byron-O’Connor’s Sculpture of Peter Pan at GOSH (2000) Bibliography and Works Cited

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Book SynopsisProlific even by eighteenth-century standards, Eliza Haywood was the author of more than eighty titles, including short fiction, novels, periodicals, plays, poetry, and a political pamphlet for which she was briefly jailed. From her early successes (most notably Love in Excess) to later novels such as Betsy Thoughtless (her best known work) she remained widely read, yet sneered at as a 'stupid, infamous, scribbling woman' by the likes of Swift and Pope.Betsy Thoughtless is the story of the slow metamorphosis of the heroine from thoughtless coquette to thoughtful wife. Ironically, the most decisive moment in this development may be when Betsy decides to leave her emotionally abusive and financially punishing husband; it is only after experiencing independence that she returns to her marriage and to what becomes her husbands deathbed. Betsy Thoughtless may be the first real novel of female development in English. In this edition the text is accompanied by appendices, including writings from the period that shed light on Haywood's life and work, and on her relationship with contemporaries such as Henry Fielding.Trade ReviewBoth scholarly and readable, Christine Blouch's edition of Eliza Haywood's The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless is a welcome addition to the expanding library of neglected and undervalued women novelists of the early eighteenth century that will contribute to the current re-assessment of Haywood's work." - John Richetti, University of Pennsylvania"Eliza Haywood transforms the familiar tale of the reformed coquette. A comic investigation of city morals and manners develops into a dark critique of women's vulnerability in bourgeois marriage. Christine Blouch's informative edition clarifies the contexts of Haywood's textual, political and personal relations." - Ros Ballaster, Mansfield College, Oxford University"Simply the best edition to date of Haywood's fiction. The text and apparatus are equally impressive." - Alexander Pettit, University of North TexasTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionA Note on the TextWorks of Eliza HaywoodThe History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless Appendix A: Haywood’s First BiographerAppendix B: Review of Betsy ThoughtlessMonthly Review (1751)Haywood’s response (from The History of Jenny and Jemmy Jessamy)Appendix C: Betsy Thoughtless on TrialProceedings at the Court of Censorial Enquiry, Etc. (1752)Appendix D: Reading Haywood in her own centuryClara Reeve, The Progress of Romance (1785)Appendix E: A Stage Adaptation of Betsy ThoughtlessRobert Hitchcock, The Coquette; or, The Mistakes of the Heart (1777) Select Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWhen an essay is due and dreaded exams loom, this title offers students what they need to succeed. It provides chapter-by-chapter analysis, explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols, a review quiz and essay topics. It is suitable for late-night studying and paper writing.

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Book SynopsisA collection of writing by Stephen Greenblatt - one of the most influential practitioners of new historicism. It features important writings by Greenblatt on culture, Renaissance studies, and Shakespeare.Trade Review“As a founder of the ‘new historicism’, Stephen Greenblatt has done more than establish a critical school; he has invented a habit of mind for literary criticism, which is indispensable to the temperament of our times, and crucial to the culture of the past. This admirable anthology represents the subtle play of pleasure and instruction, embodied in writings that move effortlessly between wonder and wisdom.” Homi K. Bhabha, Harvard University “What a tribute to a long and distinguished career.”"For three decades Stephen Greenblatt has been the most articulate, thoughtful, and daring voice in early modern studies. The breadth of his reading is vast, the connections he makes are unexpected and often revelatory, and his writing is, quite simply, brilliant. Most of all, his willingness to take chances has made him an exciting and uniquely provocative critic. It is wonderful to have these classic essays in a single collection; and especially to have the most ephemeral of the pieces, the exquisite meditations on his visits to China and Laos, easily available. This is a beautifully conceived, indispensable volume." Stephen Orgel, Stanford UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgments. Introduction: Greenblatt and New Historicism. Part One: Culture and New Historicism. 1 Culture. 2 Towards a Poetics of Culture. 3 The Touch of the Real. Part Two: Renaissance Studies. 4 The Wound in the Wall. 5 Marvelous Possessions. Part Three: Shakespeare Studies. 6 Invisible Bullets. 7 The Improvisation of Power. 8 Shakespeare and the Exorcists. 9 Martial Law in the Land of Cocaigne. Part Four: Occasional Pieces. 10 Prologue to Hamlet in Purgatory. 11 China: Visiting Rites. 12 China: Visiting Rites (II). 13 Laos is Open. 14 Story-Telling. Stephen Greenblatt: A Bibliography (1965-2003), compiled by Gustavo P. Secchi. Index

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Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Tree explores the forms, uses, and alliances of this living object's entanglement with humanity, from antiquity to the present. Trees tower over us and yet fade into background. Their lifespan outstrips ours, and yet their wisdom remains inscrutable, treasured up in the heartwood. They serve us in many ways—as keel, lodgepole, and execution site—and yet to become human, we had to come down from their limbs. In this book Matthew Battles follows the tree's branches across art, poetry, and landscape, marking the edges of imagination with wildness and shadow. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewWhat astonishingly good writing! What a joy of a book. What a mind, this Matthew Battles. As he writes about trees, Battles could as well be describing his own wild mind: 'uncanny, possessed of depths and mystery, and feral in ways beyond my ken, . . . overspilling with dark abundance, . . . richly disruptive to one’s daily commute.' * Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Great Tide Rising: Toward Clarity and Moral Courage in a Time of Planetary Change (2016) and Piano Tide: A Novel (2016) *Battles … shows how trees--and perhaps more importantly our relationships with trees--are incredibly complicated. Even dappling--that wonderful light that comes through a tree’s leaves--is not as simple as it seems … He makes clear that trees and their data have important stories to tell. That is if we let them. * PopMatters *Table of ContentsPart One: Feral Trees The Tree of Heaven In a Dappled World A branching Heuristic Part Two: Garden and Forest In the Tree Museum From Ailanthus to Apple The Charter of the Forests Part Three: A Dark Abundance The Tree and/in History With and Without Us Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe first-ever volume of the photographs of German writer W.G. Sebald, exquisitely designed to shed new light on his creative process, as it chronicles the images and encounters that shaped his writing life. Shadows of Reality presents a unique, fully illustrated catalogue of W.G. Sebald's photographs- an extraordinary combination of film negatives, prints, and slides from the University of East Anglia's photographic collection, the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach, and the Sebald Estate. Complementing the exhibition Lines of Sight- W.G. Sebald's East Anglia and edited by literary scholar Clive Scott and photography curator Nick Warr, this wonderfully comprehensive book covers the multiple photographic facets of Sebald's published work and includes a substantial amount of material that has not been made public before. Introduced by Nick Warr, who offers an intriguing overview of the author's critical relationship to photography, Shadows of Reality also includes an illuminating interview with Michael Brandon-Jones, the photographer who collaborated with Sebald on all of his publications. The book features a collection of extracts-principally on photography-from interviews with Sebald himself, bequeathed to the archive of recordings held at the University of East Anglia by his close friend Gordon Turner, who also provides a memoir. Accompanying these are inspired essays by Clive Scott and Angela Breidbach on Sebald's writing-with-photographs and the complex and mercurial interactions of those photographs with narrative design. A deeply important collection for anyone interested in Sebald's creative processes or the ways in which photography might serve fiction, Shadows of Reality is an inexhaustible treasure trove of new discoveries and revelations about the cherished international author.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of FiveBooks' Best Philosophy Books of 2019""Aphorisms come at us in so many forms and from so many periods that one might think an academic study of aphorisms would aim to give them a family tree . . . . But Andrew Hui’s new study, A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter, does something oddly and interestingly different . . . . Once the reader accepts [his] more expansive and sombre definition of the aphorism, much of interest follows."---Adam Gopnik, New Yorker"In A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter, Andrew Hui makes a lot out of a little . . . . If you have a hankering for infinity, eternity, or inexhaustibility, this is a book for you."---Willis Goth Regier, World Literature Today"Lovers of aphorisms will derive huge pleasure from this elegant and informative book." * Paradigm Explorer *"This ambitious book explores some 2500 years of literature in under 250 pages to establish a theory of the aphorism. . . . Just as aphorisms rest on authority, not argument, so too Hui sidelines the systematic in favor of more aphoristic pursuits: to observe, pronounce, and artfully describe."---Stephen Kidd, Bryn Mawr Classical Review"In my view, this book is groundbreaking. There’s an assumption in the way philosophy is often taught—in the West at least—that aphorisms are a quirky, awkward bit of philosophy that we’ll admit is there but we won’t focus on. I think it’s time other philosophers started thinking seriously about how aphorisms work. . . . It’s a really interesting and entertaining book."---Nigel Warburton, Five Books"For anyone concerned with the humanities and their future within and without the academy [A Theory of the Aphorism] should prove compelling."---Lachlan Mackinnon, Times Literary Supplement"In my view, this book is groundbreaking. There should be a lot of other books about aphorisms because it’s such a rich area."---Nigel Warburton, FiveBooks"Like aphorism itself, Hui’s book is not bogged down with systematic argumentation, but rather proceeds in short sections that often end aphoristically. . . . Just as aphorisms rest on authority, not argument, so too Hui sidelines the systematic in favor of more aphoristic pursuits: to observe, pronounce, and artfully describe."---Stephen Kidd, Bryn Mawr Classical Review"This book offers an engaging look at the aphorism, the shortest and perhaps most dismissed of literary forms. . . . A splendid, thought-provoking book." * Choice *"A book through which Hui proposes a new reading of the aphorism and its history up to the present time, including social media platforms such as Twitter."---Petru Moldovan, Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies

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Book SynopsisBook VII of Lucan''s De Bello Ciuili recounts the decisive victory of Julius Caesar over Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BCE. Uniquely within Lucan''s epic, the entire book is devoted to one event, as the narrator struggles to convey the full horror and significance of Romans fighting against Romans and of the republican defeat. Book VII shows both De Bello Ciuili and its impassioned, partisan narrator at their idiosyncratic best. Lucan''s account of Pharsalus well illustrates his poem''s macabre aesthetic, his commitment to paradox and hyperbole, and his highly rhetorical presentation of events. This is the first English commentary on this important book for more than half a century. It provides extensive help with Lucan''s Latin, and seeks to orientate students and scholars to the most important issues, themes and aspects of this brilliant poem.Table of Contents1. Book VII; 2. Battle; 3. The gods and religion; 4. Stoicism and epicureanism; 5. Pompey and Caesar; 6. Sources, models, intertexts; 7. Viewing, seeing, spectatorship; 8. States of mind: madness, hope, fear, anger, joy; 9. Paradox and hyperbole; 10. Apostrophe; 11. Sententiae; 12. Diction, word order, metre; 13. Transmission and text; 14. Manuscripts cited; M. Annaei Lvcani De Bello Civili Liber Septivs; Commentary.

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Book SynopsisLarkin''s final collection of poems shows, as does all his best work, his ability to adapt contemporary speech rhythms and everyday vocabulary to subtle metrical patterns and poetic forms. Many of the poems in the collection, which includes some of his best-known pieces (''The Old Fools'', ''This Be the Verse'', ''The Explosion'', and the title poem) show the preoccupation with death and transience that is so typical of the poet.This beautifully designed edition forms part of a series of ten titles celebrating Faber''s publishing over the decades.

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Book SynopsisWho is this Gatsby anyhow?" Answering that question, voiced by one of the book's characters, is fundamental to teaching F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Although there is no simple answer, classroom analysis of this classic American novel can lead to a rich exploration of the colorful yet contradictory period Fitzgerald dubbed the Jazz Age. The novel also prompts considerations of novelistic technique, specifically point of view, characterization, and narrative structure.This volume aims to give instructors of The Great Gatsby multiple tools and strategies for teaching the novel and for introducing students to the culture of the 1920s. Part 1, "Materials," reviews the novel's composition history and the scholarly resources related to the novel. In part 2, "Approaches," contributors demonstrate a range of frameworks that usefully inform teaching, from the new historicism to feminist and gender studies to narrative theory. They also examine the novel's complex artistry, variety of motifs and symbol patterns, and cultural and social influences, such as the era's changing racial attitudes, the rise of a new suburban culture, and the dichotomy of East versus West in America.

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Book SynopsisAn excellent introdction and valuable companion to the reading of Joyce from one of the 20th century's greatest writers.

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Book SynopsisJohannes de Hauvilla’s satirical allegory Architrenius, completed in 1184, follows the quest for moral education of its eponymous protaganist, the “arch-weeper,” who confronts the vices of school, church, and court. This edition brings together the most authoritative Latin text with a new English translation of an important medieval poem.Trade ReviewIts stylistic ambitions, complex figurative language, and impressive knowledge of ancient literature and mythology made the Architrenius a classic in the Middle Ages and a canonical school text equal to the works of Bernardus Silvestris, Alan of Lille, and Walter of Châtillon. However, in a strange and, perhaps some would argue, justified, twist of fate (as did Petrarch, who disliked the poem intensely), scholarly interest in Johannes’s work has lagged far behind that afforded his more famous contemporaries…This elegant volume is clearly a labor of love: it provides students and scholars with an eminently useful translation of an often misunderstood and misjudged twelfth-century Latin epic…It is to be hoped that both edition and translation will change the fate of the Architrenius, bringing this distinctive, if unusual work to the attention of both Latin aficionados and the wider public. -- Greti Dinkova-Bruun * Speculum *

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Book SynopsisHow poetry can help us think about and live in the Anthropocene by reframing our intimate relationship with geological time The Anthropocene describes how humanity has radically intruded into deep time, the vast timescales that shape the Earth system and all life-forms that it supports. The challenge it poses—how to live in our present moment alongside deep pasts and futures—brings into sharp focus the importance of grasping the nature of our intimate relationship with geological time. In Anthropocene Poetics, David Farrier shows how contemporary poetry by Elizabeth Bishop, Seamus Heaney, Evelyn Reilly, and Christian Bök, among others, provides us with frameworks for thinking about this uncanny sense of time.Looking at a diverse array of lyric and avant-garde poetry from three interrelated perspectives—the Anthropocene and the “material turn” in environmental philosophy; the Plantationocene and the role of global capitalism in environmental crisis; and the emergence of multispecies ethics and extinction studies—Farrier rethinks the environmental humanities from a literary critical perspective. Anthropocene Poetics puts a concern with deep time at the center, defining a new poetics for thinking through humanity’s role as geological agents, the devastation caused by resource extraction, and the looming extinction crisis. Trade Review"The Anthropocene spells trouble: not only with respect to the global environmental changes, largely for the worse, to which it refers; but also in terms of the troublesome nature of the word itself. David Farrier’s brilliant elucidation of a multi-faceted ‘Anthropocene poetics’ delves into these troubles with great philosophical, scientific, social-ecological and aesthetic discernment. Whilst acknowledging the limited efficacy of poetry in response to the immense challenges of our perilous times, his carefully contextualized close readings of exemplary texts do indeed demonstrate how literature, and other art forms, can ‘help to frame the ground on which we stand as we consider which way to turn.’ This is, moreover, not only a work about poetry: it is also an exquisitely poetic work of scholarship."—Catherine Rigby, Bath Spa University, author of Dancing with Disaster "In Anthropocene Poetics, David Farrier ventures into a poetics of the Anthropocene and calls for the need to create ‘an Anthropocenic literary imagination.’ Exploring the Anthropocene conundrums and dysphorias with avant-garde and lyric poetry, Anthropocene Poetics will certainly change the way we perceive deep time as well as our understanding of the poem. Imagine a creative becoming enfolded by the new poetics of deep and thick time!"—Serpil Oppermann, Cappadocia University "The Anthropocene needs poetry. With its vorticular temporalities, swift shifts in scale, enmeshment of the human and the nonhuman, and constant challenges to the adequacy of language, this age of ecological crisis may never be better understood by any other technology—even as the Anthropocene changes what we understand a poem to do. David Farrier’s brilliant new book is a rapturous meditation on ecocriticism, time, the limits of human comprehension, and the power of the humanities in a turbulent era."—Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, author of Stone: An Ecology of the Inhuman"A beautiful textual exploration of Anthropocentric art, experiments, and other visual attempts to capture the vastness of time in terms humans can understand."—Philosophy in Review"Like a poem, Farrier creates an exquisite form within which ideas grow, point, echo, and develop to where the linear progression blossoms into a nonlinear realm of thought."—Humanimalia"Farrier advances poetry as a crucial tool for applying the generative imagination to the complex environmental crises of this unfolding era. Readers and scholars of contemporary ecopoetry will find Anthropocene Poetics both a useful guide to the work of challenging poetic experimentalists and an incisive treatise on poetry in our time."—ISLE"Anthropocene Poetics assembles a curious and thoughtful collection of poetic and artistic vignettes forcing us to reconsider what it means to be human in the Anthropocene."—Literary Research "It is worth asking what these nimble and informative tools can learn from poetry’s attentive intensity, just as it is worth carefully listening out." —H-Net Reviews Table of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Life Enfolded in Deep Time1. Intimacy: The Poetics of Thick Time2. Entangled: The Poetics of Sacrifice Zones3. Swerve: The Poetics of Kin MakingCoda: Knots in TimeIndex

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Book SynopsisAesthetic Life is a study of modern Japan, engaging the fields of art history, literature, and cultural studies, seeking to understand how the “beautiful woman” (bijin) emerged as a symbol of Japanese culture during the Meiji period (1868–1912).Trade ReviewPossibly the most conceptually innovative and ambitious book on Meiji aesthetics and art to have been published in English in recent years…Without doubt, a major scholarly contribution to the understanding of Meiji culture. It sets a high benchmark for all future studies on the subject of modern Japanese aesthetics…Lippit has reenergized the subject of beauty as an important topic that has far-reaching cultural, social, and even political implications. -- Noriko Murai * Monumenta Nipponica *Aesthetic Life is the result of extended and extensive scholarly research into the formation of the image of the bijin in modern Japanese art. -- Janice Brown * Pacific Affairs *

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Book SynopsisLatin Stories is an ideal first reader for students of Latin. It offers 100 self-contained passages of manageable length, chosen for their intrinsic interest and adapted from a wide range of ancient authors. Generous help is given, with a short introduction to each story and glossing of all proper names and non-GCSE vocabulary. The collection will also be attractive to older students beginning or returning to the language. Updated to match the 2016 OCR specification, this edition has been restructured to reflect the new examinations, which now have a single language paper. Section 1 provides 30 passages, starting with very short and simple stories and building up to the level of the current OCR GCSE. Section 2 provides 30 differentiated passages of increasing difficulty on historical and miscellaneous topics. Section 3 provides 20 shorter passages of uniform length on mythological topics, with comprehension questions, in the style of Section A of theTrade ReviewThis book is wonderful. I will be asking all my students to acquire a copy. * Rachel Plummer, Bosworth Independent College, UK *Table of ContentsPreface Abbreviations and Glossing Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Appendix: Sources of passages

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Combining meticulous scholarship and intellectual heft with an engaging, approachable style is one of the most difficult writing tasks there is, but Davidson makes it seem effortless, using the life, the letters and the novels of Austen as an entry point into her exploration of clothing, its modes of production, its aesthetics, and its social meaning.”—Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald“Dress in the Age of Jane Austen is an exemplary model of how to read historical dress—the objects themselves and their presentation in text and images—that was well worth the wait.”—Michele Majer, Costume“[The author] gives fascinating insights into Austen’s appearance and also her attitudes to fashion.”—Matthew Westwood, The Australian“What Davidson generously presents her reader with . . . is a systemic primer of Regency fashion, using Austen’s works and her context as a starting-off point and as the object that the analysis explicates.”—Denise Baxter, Journal of Modern History“Davidson treats historical garments as material objects open to interpretation, helping scholars and fans alike add to the traditional Austen archive by turning textile to text.”—Elyse Martin, Perspectives on History“In a remarkable new book, the textile historian Hilary Davidson uses Austen’s writing as a lens through which to explore the evolving fashions of the Regency period at every level of society. Glorious full-colour illustrations of costumes ranging from linen bodices to silk pantaloons are stitched together with contextual observations to create a comprehensive portrait of late-18th-century life.”—Town & Country UK“Dress in the Age of Jane Austen gives us a detailed and comprehensive analysis of Regency fashion and is to be much welcomed as a single volume survey. . . . The book is beautifully illustrated with thoughtfully chosen, and often unusual or unfamiliar images. . . . For dress historians this book sets a scholarly and inspiring example, which is bound to remain a standard work of reference for this period.”—Penelope Byrd, Journal of Dress HistoryCHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2020

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Book SynopsisLish's latest work of exquisitely crafted fiction sees a narrator - variously Gordon, I, He - approaching the precipice of old age. White Plains is Lish at his sharpest, tackling his perennial subject - the memory of memory itself - with spellbinding mastery.Trade Review"These are stories for the neurotic state of our times, stories for insomnia, stories for those who wake in discontent. There will never be another like Gordon Lish." BERFROIS "Gordon Lish, famous for all the wrong reasons, has written some of the most important American fiction of the past ten or twelve years [...] hypnotic, ever circling, a desperate entity that belies the elegance of the prose that drives it." DON DELILLO "Lish is still our Joyce, our Beckett, our most true modernist. Buy! Read! Listen up!" KIRKUS REVIEWS "A writer of extraordinary vision, a tireless innovator." ELECTRIC LITERATURE "It's the voice, the force of the language that compels us to read Lish." BIBLIOKLEPT "The US's answer to Samuel Beckett and Thomas Bernhard." THE GUARDIAN "His enormous importance, as an editor and teacher, to the story of twentieth-century American fiction is now, finally, not in dispute. But I guess some more people will have to die before there can be a full reckoning with the power of [his] pieces." SAM LIPSYTE

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Book SynopsisLivy, the great Roman historian, presents a vivid narrative of Rome’s rise from the traditional foundation of the city in 753 or 751 BC to 9 BC and illustrates the collective and individual virtues necessary to maintain such greatness. The third decad (21–30) chronicles the Second Punic War of 220–205 BC.

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Book SynopsisThe twelfth-century Byzantine scholar, poet, and teacher John Tzetzes composed the verse commentary Allegories of the Odyssey to explain Odysseus’s journey and the pagan gods and marvels he encountered. This edition presents the first translation of the Allegories of the Odyssey into any language alongside the Greek text.Trade ReviewOpen[s] windows into the cultural and aesthetic milieu of twelfth-century Byzantium. -- James H. Morey * Medieval Review *

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Book SynopsisExam Board: AQALevel: GCSE Grade 9-1Subject: English LiteratureSuitable for the 2024 examsEverything you need to revise for your GCSE 9-1 set text in a snap guideEverything you need to score top marks on your GCSE Grade 9-1 English Literature exam is right at your fingertips! Revise Frankenstein by Mary Shelley in a snap with this new GCSE Grade 9-1 Snap Revision Text Guide from Collins. Refresh your knowledge of the plot, context, characters and themes and pick up top tips along the way to ace your AQA exam. Each topic is explained in an easy-to-read format so you can get straight to the point. Then, put your skills to the test with plenty of practice questions included in every section. The Snap Text Guides are packed with every quote and extract you need. We've even included examples of how to plan and write your essay responses! This Collins English Literature revision guide contains all the key information you need to practise and pass.

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Book SynopsisWhen Falstaff calls upon the sky to rain potatoes in The Merry Wives of Windsor, he is highlighting the late sixteenth-century belief that the exotic vegetable, recently introduced to England from the Americas, was an aphrodisiac. In Romeo and Juliet, Lady Capulet calls for quinces to make pies for the marriage feast of her daughter. This fruit was traditionally connected with weddings and fertility, as echoed by John Gerard in his herbal where he also explained that eating quinces would ‘bring forth wise children, and of good understanding’. Taking fifty quotations centring on flowers, herbs, fruit and vegetables, Margaret Willes gives these botanical references their social context to provide an intriguing and original focus on daily life in Tudor and Jacobean England, looking in particular at medicine, cookery, gardening and folklore traditions. Exquisitely illustrated with unique hand-painted engravings from the Bodleian Library’s copy of John Gerard’s herbal of 1597, this book marries the beauty of Shakespeare’s lines with charming contemporary renderings of the plants he described so vividly.Trade Review‘An engaging addition to Shakespeare studies … this book is a treasure, compact, readable and beautifully presented.’ * Irish Examiner *

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Book SynopsisAfter the fall of Troy, the intrepid Odysseus sets sail for Ithaca. En route, his ships are blown off course and Odysseus and his men must face a series of adventures before they can reach home. He has to beguile the enchantress Circe, defeat the six-headed sea monster Scylla, and resist the lure of the Siren''s song. And as he negotiates the favours bestowed on him by the goddess Athena and faces the wrath of god of the sea, Poseidon. Odysseus understands that he will have to rely on himself to overcome this ultimate test of endurance.The Odyssey is one of the most important epic poems of Greek mythology. It describes a rousing adventure and, in doing so, explores the various facets of the human condition. Features A brilliantly written classic from one of the world''s oldest and most enchanting story tellers - Homer It is a timeless classic about the sojourns of Odysseus, which teach him lessons of life besides offering a rousing adventure The Odyssey is one of the oldest and most important epic poems of Greek mythology which is a must for all literature enthusiasts and students alike

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Book Synopsis McDowall masterfully plants ideas that grow until they explode into extraordinary shapes. Filthy humour breaks down into a cracked algorithm of letters and loss a play that will gnaw away at you. It's sci-fi and theatre at its best. The StageBillions of miles from home, the lone research base on Pluto has lost contact with Earth. Unable to leave or send for help, the skeleton crew sit waiting.Waiting.Waiting long enough for time to start eating away at them.To lose all sense of it.To start seeing things in the dark outside.X premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2016. This new Modern Classics edition features an introduction by Dr Cristina Delgado-García.Trade ReviewAlistair McDowall is, I think, the most exciting playwright to emerge out of English theatre in the past five years...He makes me want to try harder. He makes me want to be better. * Simon Stephens, UK, Playwright *Alistair McDowall is one of the most highly regarded young playwrights writing today * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisSharp and funny. Gunderson taps into a buoyant spirit ... the touching ''barbaric yawp'' (Whitman''s phrase) of these two deeply engaging kids. The Washington PostHousebound by illness, Caroline hasn't been to school in months. Confined to her room, she has only social media for company. That is until classmate Anthony bursts in uninvited and armed with waffle fries, a scruffy copy of Walt Whitman's poetry and a school project due the next dayCaroline is unimpressed, but an unlikely friendship develops and a seemingly mundane piece of homework starts to reveal the pair's hopes and dreams - as well as a deep and mysterious bond that connects them even further.Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2014. This new Modern Classics edition features an introduction by Julie Felise Dubiner.Trade ReviewSharp and funny. Gunderson taps into a buoyant spirit...the touching 'barbaric yawp' (Whitman's phrase) of these two deeply engaging kids. * Washington Post *The show is suffused not with the bleakness that you might expect, but with a strong sense of potential and promise. * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisWhen the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality.Trade ReviewWhere this Oxford University Press edition hugely scores is with the ancillary content [..] these enable you to dig into the detail of the story's foundations, understand what Orwell was getting at and just what he was criticising. * Jonathan Cowie, SF2 Concatenation *Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography Chronology Animal Farm Explanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This essay collection assesses the stakes and real-world relevance of Nabokov’s writing, from his lectures and short stories to his major novels. It’s a great read if you’re a Nabokov fan, or if you’ve ever wondered, ‘Why did this guy write Lolita?'" * Literary Hub *"These clear and dazzlingly erudite essays offer a superb introduction to the writer’s life and work."---David Herman, Jewish Chronicle"Robert Alter’s new book Nabokov and the Real World presents a fascinating study of the works of Vladimir Nabokov. . . . Alter’s Nabokov and the Real World provides an engaging analysis of Nabokov’s robust body of work and artfully articulates how he weaves a tapestry of linguistic tools, literary devices, nuanced visual descriptions, and empirical classifications to create beautifully crafted stories that help us better to understand the complex spectrum of human existence."---Leonara Cravotta, American Spectator"Alter is one of America’s most distinguished persons of letters. His primary task in Nabokov and the Real World is to dismantle the widely-echoed theory of critics who accuse Nabokov of playing an elaborate literary game—a set of stylistic maneuvers, mannered, overwrought and arch. Alter counters that Nabokov. . .used language to awaken readers to the dense, many-layered, multi-connected reality of which we are part."---David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express"Nabokov and the Real World is a wonderful contribution and . . . [a] beautiful collection."---Erik Eklund, Nabokov Online Journal

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