ELT & Literary Studies Books

Book SynopsisWhen an essay is due and dreaded exams loom, this book 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 SynopsisHer afterword serves as a decisive intervention in the ongoing discussions in and about the field.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: The Wound and the Voice1. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma and the Possibility of History (Freud, Moses and Monotheism)2. Literature and the Enactment of Memory (Duras, Resnais, Hiroshima mon amour)3. Traumatic Departures: Survival and History in Freud (Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Moses and Monotheism) 4. The Falling Body and the Impact of Reference (de Man, Kant, Kleist) 5. Traumatic Awakenings (Freud, Lacan, and the Ethics of Memory)Afterword: Addressing Life: The Literary Voice in the Theory of Trauma NotesIndex

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2020 Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, France''s best foreign book of the year.Astounding' Sebastian BarryA masterpiece' Ayad AkhtarThis little book is ruminative, humane, and gorgeously precise'Jonathan LethemIn this genre-defying book, best-selling memoirist and critic Daniel Mendelsohn explores the mysterious links between the randomness of the lives we lead and the artfulness of the stories we tell.Combining memoir, biography, history, and literary criticism, Three Rings weaves together the stories of three exiled writers who turned to the classics of the past to create masterpieces of their own-works that pondered the nature of narrative itself.Erich Auerbach, the Jewish philologist who fled Hitler''s Germany and wrote his classic study of Western literature, Mimesis, in Istanbul.Francois Fenelon, the seventeenth-century French archbishop whose ingenious sequel to the Odyssey,The Adventures of Telemachus a veiled critique of the Sun King and the best-selling book in Trade Review‘Exquisite … Ornate and oneiric, the results are well worth circling and circling back to’New York Times Book Review ‘As always, the author's voice blends authority with considerable warmth and charm, luring readers into his complex intellectual enthusiasms … Three Rings, a short but profoundly moving work, clings with tenacity to a belief in the regenerative power of literature’Wall Street Journal ‘Spectacular … The reader feels the flow of a strong narrative, trusts the author’s seafaring skills and embarks on a brilliant journey … Three Rings is a glorious celebration of multiplicity, diversity, journeys, transformations and our common humanity’Times Literary Supplement ‘Contained in the interwoven circles of this slim, labyrinthine book is a vision that encompasses the world. Part dirge, part memoir, part exegesis, all rhapsody Mendelsohn's anatomy of literature's subtlest pleasures is itself that subtlest of literary pleasures: a masterpiece’Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Homeland Elegies ‘An astounding Borgesian document of clarity and brilliance. A book about telling stories that wanders down the seeming two roads of the Hebrew tradition and the classical, which, like Proust's two ways, might turn out to be one way after all. Three Rings has the keeled force of a long poem’Sebastian Barry ‘Classicist, historian, memoirist, cultural critic, with consummate skill and the sharp, sympathetic eye of the poet, Daniel Mendelsohn brilliantly combines these roles. Three Rings is a masterly exegesis and demonstration of digression as a high art’Joyce Carol Oates ‘Daniel Mendelsohn's Three Rings is erudition, essayism, and memoir … This little book is ruminative, humane, and gorgeously precise’Jonathan Lethem

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Book SynopsisSir Stanley Wells is one of the world''s greatest authorities on William Shakespeare. Here he brings a lifetime of learning and reflection to bear on some of the most tantalising questions about the poet and dramatist that there are. How did he think, feel, and work? What were his relationships like? What did he believe about death? What made him laugh? This freshly thought and immensely engaging study wrestles with fundamental debates concerning Shakespeare''s personality and life. The mysteries of how Shakespeare lived, whom and how he loved, how he worked, how he produced some of the greatest and most abidingly popular works in the history of world literature and drama, have fascinated readers for centuries. This concise, crystalline book conjures illuminating insights to reveal Shakespeare as he was. Wells brings the writer and dramatist alive, in all his fascinating humanity, for readers of today.Trade Review'It is, I think, incontestable to claim that no single person in history has done more for the study and appreciation of Shakespeare than Stanley Wells. This book asks four beguilingly simple questions which result in deeply fascinating and exciting journeys into Shakespeare's mind and practice. As you read, you are very likely to exclaim, as I did, 'Why the hell didn't my English teacher talk like this? Actors, directors, producers, lecturers, teachers, students, and all who want to know and understand more will hug this book to them.' Stephen Fry'If this book wasn't short I wouldn't trust it. There is very little to go on in trying to find Shakespeare the man, and Stanley Wells doesn't pad anything out with wishful speculation. Having studied his works for longer than any man alive he is almost uniquely placed to do this detective work. In his tenth decade Wells has lost none of his curiosity or his eagerness to share his intimate knowledge.' Harriet Walter'Stanley Wells illuminates and entertains – brilliant!' Kenneth Branagh'A truly excellent book – I enjoyed every page. I am sure it will be read with appreciation by all who care for Shakespeare, or are curious about the inner turmoil of his life.' Claire Tomalin'This illuminating compilation … helps separate the man from the myth.' Publishers Weekly'Wells is our pre-eminent Shakespearean, and here he reflects magisterially on the topic that has absorbed his life for seven decades … [His] book offers a readable, pacy and personal introduction to Shakespeare's works, and to Wells's own important role, part-Prospero, part-Puck, in their popularisation. And if you're still wondering: what Shakespeare was really like remains, happily, a mystery.' The Telegraph'Wells roots his picture of the playwright and poet in evidence and logic, and he's too erudite to be anything but modest in his conjectures - which is much the appeal of this book.' Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater'Stanley Wells, the nonagenarian dean of Shakespeare scholars, condenses decades of living with Shakespeare into What Was Shakespeare Really Like? … Commonsensical, easy-going, Mr. Wells wants to encounter Shakespeare as a personality.' The Wall Street Journal'Just as any production of a Shakespeare play reveals as much about its interpreters as its playwright, so Wells paints a portrait of himself alongside his subject. That the reader will still likely be glad of it is testament to the author's unwavering enthusiasm and insight.' Rory Kinnear, The Guardian'…secret, passionate urgings and scoldings were the seeds of [Shakespeare's] creativity. Professor Wells deserves a round of applause for bringing them into the light.' John Walsh, The Mail on SundayTable of ContentsForeword Stephen Fry; 1. What Manner of Man Was He?; 2. How Did Shakespeare Write a Play?; 3. What Do the Sonnets Tell Us about Their Author?; 4. What Made Shakespeare Laugh?; Epilogue: Eight Decades with Shakespeare.

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Book SynopsisThe untold story of how the First World War shaped the lives, faith, and writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Giving an unabashedly Christian vision of hope in a world tortured by doubt and disillusionment, the two writers created works that changed the course of literature and shaped the faith of millions---now in paperback.

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Book SynopsisAfter reading The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland, you'll never see the original in quite the same light as before. Unique drawings created for this book.

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Book SynopsisThis updated edition is ideal to support students when studying and revising for the new A level English Literature exams.Table of Contents Part 1: Introducing A Streetcar Named Desire Part 2: Studying A Streetcar Named Desire Part 3: Characters and Themes Part 4: Genre, Structure and Language Part 5: Contexts and Interpretations Part 6: Progress Booster Part 7: Further Study and Answers

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Book SynopsisSince the book's first publication in 1988, Alain Badiou's Being and Event has established itself of one of the most important and controversial works in contemporary philosophy and its author as one of the most influential thinkers of our time. Being and Event is a comprehensive statement of Badiou's philosophical project and sees him recast the European philosophical tradition from Plato onwards, via a series of analyses of such key figures as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hegel, Rousseau, and Lacan. He thus develops the basis for a history of philosophy rivalling those of Heidegger and Deleuze in its depth.Now publishing in the Bloomsbury Revelations series to mark 25 years since the book's first publication in French, Being and Event is an essential read for anyone interested in contemporary thought.Trade Review"Badiou's approach is unique, rigorous, and interesting..." - Jill Stauffer, Theory & Event"[Badiou] develops, in the central passages of the book, his central notions of situations and events, and devotes many, often arresting pages to elucidating the mechanism by which the latter productively disrupt the former. The structure of experience is not merely open to change, pregnant with contingent revolution. This is a nice model and Badiou deploys it across a broad front." - Hugh Lawson-Tancred for The Liberal"A variety of scholars, including philosophers, mathematicians, and intellectual historians, would do well to examine this volume and seek in it threads that warrant continued examination in an era of nanotechnology and political terrorism."- Francisca Goldsmith, Library Journal, April 1, 2006 * Library Journal *"Two things are new in this much-anticipated translationof Badiou: the language and the preface. Both are instructive. TranslatorOliver Feltham stayed 'as close as possible to Badiou's syntax' but 'at theprice of losing fluidity.' Thankfully, Badiou addresses such dissonance and hislarger philosophical goals in an indispensable new preface—without which the 37weighty meditations might be lost to the layperson. Recommended..." - Publishers Weekly * Publishers Weekly *Table of ContentsNew Author's Preface Translator's Preface Introduction Book I Being: Multiple and Void. Plato/Cantor 1. The One and the Multiple: a priori conditions of any possible ontology 2. Plato 3. Theory of the Pure Multiple: paradoxes and critical decision Technical Note: the conventions of writing 4. The Void: Proper name of being 5. The Mark Æ 6. Aristotle Book II Being: Excess, State of the Situation, One/Multiple, Whole/Parts, or Î/Ì? 7. The Point of Excess 8. The State, or Metastructure, and the Typology of Being (normality, singularity, excrescence) 9. The State of the Historico-social Situation 10. Spinoza Book III Being: Nature and Infinity. Heidegger/Galileo 11. Nature: Poem or matheme? 12. The Ontological schema of Natural Multiples and the Non-existence of Nature 13. Infinity: the other, the rule and the Other 14. The Ontological Decision: 'There is some infinity in natural multiples' 15. Hegel Book IV The Event: History and Ultra-one 16. Evental Sites and Historical Situations 17. The Matheme of the Event 18. Being's Prohibition of the Event 19. MallarméBook V The Event: Intervention and Fidelity. Pascal/Choice; Hölderlin/Deduction 20. The Intervention: Illegal choice of a name for the event, logic of the two, temporal foundation 21. Pascal 22. The Form-multiple of Intervention: is there a being of choice? 23. Fidelity, Connection 24. Deduction as operator of ontological fidelity 25. HölderlinBook VI Quantity and Knowledge. The discernable (or constructible): Leibniz/Gödel 26. The concept of quantity and the impasse of ontology 27. Ontological destiny of orientation within thought 28. Constructivist thought and the knowledge of being 29. The folding of being and the sovereignty of language 30. LeibnizBook VII The Generic: indiscernible and truth. The event - P.J.Cohen 31. The Thought of the Generic and Being in Truth 32. Rousseau 33. The Matheme of the Indiscernible: P.J.Cohen's strategy 34. The existence of the indiscernible: the power of the namesBook VIII Forcing: Truth and the Subject. Beyond Lacan 35. Theory of the subject 36. Forcing: from the indiscernible to the undecidable 37. Descartes / LacanAnnexes Appendixes Notes Dictionary

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Book SynopsisThis Arden edition of Hamlet, arguably Shakespeare''s greatest tragedy, presents an authoritative, modernized text based on the Second Quarto text with a new introductory essay covering key productions and criticism in the decade since its first publication. A timely up-date in the 400th anniversary year of Shakespeare''s death which will ensure the Arden edition continues to offer students a comprehensive and current critical account of the play, alongside the most reliable and fully-annotated text available.Trade Review[Thompson and Taylor] give us a text quite different from the edited versions that shaped debate for much of the past 400 years ... There is intellectual consistency to [their] position. * Times Literary Supplement *The editors’ 168 pages of introduction and 103 pages worth of appendices provide an unprecedented level of contextualization on matters cultural, textual, and theatrical. * Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *The scholarship … remains at the high standard expected from the Arden Series … Probably one of the most ambitious scholarly editions of the play to be published in the past century or so, if only for its attempt to present the textual complexities of the relationships between quartos and folio by printing all three early authoritative versions. * Sixteenth Century Journal *Table of ContentsIntroduction to the Revised Edition Introduction Hamlet Appendices Index

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Book SynopsisSince the publication of The Wretched of the Earth in 1961, Fanon's work has been deeply significant for generations of intellectuals and activists from the 60s to the present day.Alienation and Freedom collects together unpublished works comprising around half of his entire output which were previously inaccessible or thought to be lost. This book introduces audiences to a new Fanon, a more personal Fanon and one whose literary and psychiatric works, in particular, take centre stage. These writings provide new depth and complexity to our understanding of Fanon's entire oeuvre revealing more of his powerful thinking about identity, race and activism which remain remarkably prescient. Shedding new light on the work of a major 20th-century philosopher, this disruptive and moving work will shape how we look at the world.Trade ReviewThis is history happening in real time and at ground level ... An important book. The editors have performed a great service to present and future generations of ‘Fanonistes’ by assembling these texts with forensic care. * Literary Review *We must thank Jean Khalfa and Robert Young for this precious compendium. It overflows with possibility and will do more than merely transform scholarly understanding of Fanon’s work and life. Here, at last, is the means to surpass the caricatures and undo all the bad faith that has passed for too long as both criticism and exposition of his revolutionary humanist ethics, his epistemology and his politics. A new era of Fanon studies begins now. -- Paul Gilroy, Professor of American and English Literature at King's College London, UK, author of 'There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack'The demand has been there for years: More, Fanon, give us more! Well, here it is. This collection of formerly unpublished writings has both beauty and breadth. Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young’s erudite, lucid analyses and commentaries contextualizing the selections, and other gems, including correspondence on publishing his works and a catalog of Fanon’s library. There is much here not only for scholars but anyone interested in learning more about and from this great revolutionary thinker and fighter for the causes of dignity and freedom. -- Lewis R. Gordon, author of 'What Fanon Said: A Philosophical Introduction to His Life and Thought'The publication of Alienation and Freedom is one of the most significant intellectual achievements in the last half century. The volume reaffirms Frantz Fanon’s status as a leading twentieth-century philosopher, psychiatrist, decolonial theorist, and revolutionary. It also reveals a lesser-known Fanon, a Fanon whose previously unpublished works of poeticism and historicism concern themselves with the myriad ways in which we may discern and express the meaning of freedom. The book is brilliant and the editing of Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young superb. -- Neil Roberts, author of 'Freedom as Marronage' and President of the Caribbean Philosophical AssociationThe first intimate look at Frantz Fanon’s brilliance and wide-ranging interests, this volume gives us the full range of his gifts as a playwright, an innovative psychiatrist fully aware of the importance of his theories, and a committed political philosopher. The last section (on his library) lets us share the full intensity of his whole intellectual trajectory—one that influenced the course of decolonial thinking on all continents. Editors Jean Khalfa’s and Robert Young’s painstaking work is a publishing event and an indispensable resource for anyone interested in understanding alienation and the search for social justice. -- Françoise Lionnet, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Comparative Literature, and African and African American Studies, Harvard University, USAIn Alienation and Freedom, Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young, two of the world’s leading scholars of contemporary thought and postcolonial studies, transport us on an off-road adventure, challenging us at every turn to navigate the treacherous terrain of colonialism, global black consciousness, identity, philosophy, psychiatry, and race, hallmarks of the pioneering writings of Frantz Fanon. Including many previously unavailable or inaccessible essays, this book further confirms Fanon’s status as a major global thinker whose insights, the lasting resonance of which, remain of crucial importance to 21st century society. -- Dominic Thomas, Letessier Professor of French, University of California, Los Angeles, USAThis text compels us towards a more complete understanding of the thinking of Frantz Fanon. This is an impressive array of materials, many unpublished before, which will be absolutely essential to a new generation of scholars and general readers of Fanon. -- Carole Boyce Davies, Professor of Africana Studies and English, Cornell University, USAHere are collected two plays never published before, written when he was a medical student; scientific papers reminded us of his career as a psychiatrist; newly discovered pieces he wrote, often anonymously in El Moudjahid, the organ of the National Liberation Front that led Algeria to independence. But this volume is certainly not a collection of disparate additional pieces from an author whose oeuvre is already complete. On the contrary this book by Frantz Fanon forms a unity: like the rest of the works by the author of the Wretched of the Earth it tells in a unique way the story of the emancipation of the human being from everything that alienates her, everything that separates her from her humanity. Thus it sheds a new light on Frantz Fanon. -- Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University, USATable of ContentsGeneral Introduction, by Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young Part One: Theatre Fanon, Revolutionary Playwright, by Robert J.C. Young Parallel Hands The Drowning Eye Part Two: Psychiatric writings Fanon: A Revolutionary Psychiatrist, by Jean Khalfa Mental alterations, character modifications, psychic disorders and intellectual deficit in spinocerebellar heredo-degeneration: on a case of Friedreich’s ataxia with delusions of possession Letter to Maurice Despinoy Trait d’union On some cases treated with the Bini method Indications of Bini therapy in the framework of institutional therapies On an attempt at readaptation of a patient with morpheic epilepsy and series character disorders Note on techniques of sleeping therapy with conditioning and electroencephalographic monitoring Notre Journal, introduction by Amina Azza Bekkat Letter to Maurice Despinoy Social therapy in a ward of Muslim men: methodological difficulties Daily life in the douars Introduction to sexuality disorders among North-African men Current aspects of mental assistance in Algeria Ethnopsychiatric considerations Confessional behaviour in North Africa (1) Confessional behaviour in North Africa (2) Letter to Maurice Despinoy Attitude of Maghrebin Muslims towards madness The TAT with Muslim women, sociology of perception and imagination Letter to the resident minister The phenomenon of agitation in the psychiatric setting: general considerations, psychopathological meaning Biological study of the action of lithium citrate in manic fits On a case of torsion spasm First attempts with injectable meprobamate in hypochondriac states Day hospitalization in psychiatry: value and limits Day hospitalization in psychiatry: value and limits. Second part: doctrinal considerations Psychiatry in its meeting with society Part Three: Political writings Introduction, by Jean Khalfa The Demoralized Foreign Legion Algeria’s Independence: an everyday reality National Independence: the only possible outcome Algeria and the French Crisis The Algerian conflict and African anticolonialism A democratic revolution One more time: the reason for the prerequisite Algerian revolutionary consciousness Strategies of an Army with its Back to the Wall The survivors of no man’s land The testament of a ‘man of the left’ The rationale of ultracolonialism The Western World and the Fascist Experience in France Gaullist Illusions The Cross of a People The Anti-Imperialist Movement’s Rise and the Retards of Pacification The United Combat of African Countries Richard Wright’s White man, listen! At Conakry, He Declares: ‘World Peace passes via National Independence’ Africa Accuses the West The Stooges of Imperialism Letter to Ali Shariati, presentation by Sara Shariati Part Four: Publishing Fanon (France and Italy, 1959-1971) Introduction, by Jean Khalfa Correspondence between François Maspero and Frantz Fanon The Italian Fanon: unearthing a hidden editorial history, by Neelam Srivastava Part Five: Frantz Fanon’s library List established, presented and commented upon by Jean Khalfa Key dates Index

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Book SynopsisOur brand-new York Notes for GCSE Workbooks offer a wide range of write-in tasks and exercises to boost your students’ knowledge of the text and help them practise for the new GCSE (9-1) English Literature exams.Table of Contents Part 1: Getting Started Part 2: Plot and Action Part 3: Characters Part 4: Key Contexts and Themes Part 5: Form, Structure and Language Part 6: Progress Booster

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Book SynopsisThe new edition of this highly popular guide, How to Read World Literature, addresses the unique challenges and joys faced when approaching the literature of other cultures and eras. Fully revised to address important developments in World Literature, and generously expanded with new material, this second edition covers a wide variety of genres from lyric and epic poetry to drama and prose fiction and discusses how each form has been used in different eras and cultures. An ideal introduction for those new to the study of World Literature, as well as beginners to ancient and foreign literature, this book offers a variety of modes of entry to reading these texts. The author, a leading authority in the field, draws on years of teaching experience to provide readers with ways of thinking creatively and systematically about key issues, such as reading across time and cultures, reading works in translation, emerging global perspectives, postcolonialism, orality and literacy, and Table of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition ix Introduction 1 1 What Is “Literature”? 9 2 Reading across Time 31 3 Reading across Cultures 57 4 Reading in Translation 83 5 Brave New Worlds 107 6 Writing Empire 135 7 Global Writing 157 Epilogue: Going Farther 181 Bibliography 187 Index 197

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Book SynopsisAntigone, Interrupted explores the intertwined history of law, politics, gender and humanism through a new reading of Sophocles' classical tragedy. Studying the play in its fifth-century and modern contexts, Bonnie Honig argues for an Antigone committed not just to dissidence but to a positive politics of counter-sovereignty and solidarity.Trade Review'Honig's sweeping consideration of how the 'Antigone' is read and misread offers us a new way to approach the pauses, the ellipses, and the frank interruptions that punctuate this classic text. We have all struggled so hard to make the words mean in this or that way that we have perhaps forgotten the more dramatic features of the text in which relationships rupture, words trail off, and events still language. This book offers a trenchant analysis of sovereignty, belonging, and freedom through a perspective at once dramatic, literary, and political. Honig's sustained engagement with contemporary criticism shows how important the figure and text of Antigone is for any effort to think about the risks and the necessity of contestatory democratic culture.' Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley'Bonnie Honig provides a stunning, capacious and intensely 'political' reanimation of the 'Antigone'.' Simon Critchley, The New School for Social Research'Many books pride themselves on being 'provocative' - but this is the real thing! Engaged and engaging, sophisticated and polemical, Antigone, Interrupted interrupts the critical mainstream with real political urgency and edge.' Simon Goldhill, King's College, Cambridge'Bonnie Honig's Antigone, Interrupted shows how central Sophocles' play is to recent and current philosophical, political, cultural, psychoanalytical and gender theory debates in Europe and the USA. The book is not primarily an analysis of these debates (though one learns a great deal about them along the way), but an attempt to make a striking intervention in them.' Craig Hannaway, Bryn Mawr Classical Review'When a leading theorist of agonistic democracy writes a book on Antigone, it seems fitting to acknowledge the accomplishment by contesting its core claims. Bonnie Honig's Antigone, Interrupted, offers much to praise and is certainly a book worth reading, contesting, and interrupting for all interested in contemporary political theory. It demonstrates the ongoing significance and contestability of Antigone, for democratic theory, feminist theory, and political thought more generally.' Paul E. Kirkland, Review of Politics'Antigone, Interrupted is a significant book. Like all of Honig's work, it is theoretically sophisticated, erudite, and engaging, furnishing both a trenchant critique of prior interpretations of Antigone and an original, provocative, and highly political revisioning of the play. In so doing, it asks significant questions not only about the political consequences and risks of privileging mortality and vulnerability as ontological facts of the human condition but also about the terms of democratic political engagement. It deserves to be widely read.' Moya Lloyd, Perspectives on Politics'Honig's book [offers] a very useful critical map of current thinking while providing a reappraisal - and 'interruption' - of all Antigones that have gone before.' Morning Star'One of the great virtues of Antigone, Interrupted (and there are many) is its systematic disruption of these, now conventional, conceptions or receptions of Antigone as an isolated, heroic figure of mourning and resistance. … Honig's readings of the text … are inventive, unexpected and, in some parts, nothing short of inspired.' Paul Muldoon, History of Political ThoughtTable of ContentsPreface; Introduction; Part I. Interruption: Introduction to Part I: 1. Tragedy, maternalism, ethics: toward an agonistic humanism; 2. 'Antigone versus Oedipus', I: feminist theory and the turn to Antigone; 3. 'Antigone versus Oedipus', II: the directors' agon in Germany in Autumn; Part II. Conspiracy: Introduction to Part II: 4. Mourning, membership, and the politics of exception: plotting Creon's conspiracy with democracy; 5. From lamentation to logos: Antigone's conspiracy with language; 6. Sacrifice, sorority, integrity: Antigone's conspiracy with Ismene; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisLucan, grandson of Seneca the Rhetorician, and nephew of Seneca the Philosopher, was a remarkable and precocious product of the stimulating literary climate promoted by Nero. His epic poem on the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, unfinished at the time of his death, stands beside the poems of Virgil and Ovid in the first rank of Latin epic. The work is a powerful condemnation of civil war, and Lucan emphasizes the stark, dark horror of the catastrophes which the Roman state inflicted upon itself. This new translation in free verse conveys the full force of Lucan''s writing and his grimly realistic view of the subject. The Introduction sets the scene for the reader unfamiliar with Lucan, and explores his relationship with earlier writers of Latin epic, and his interest in the sensational.Trade Review'This has brief notes, but a good detailed introduction, excellent on, e.g. exemplarity ... and descriptions of death ... very good.' Greece & Rome, April 1993'B.'s able introduction and over one hundred pages of notes will make her work specially useful in courses covering post-Augustan literature or epic. B. covers a lot of ground admirably . Very welcome are B.'s pages ... on Lucan's learning ... B. shows her usual poise in describing the poem itself.' Roland Mayer, King's College, London, The Classical Review

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewStalley...has...subjected the actual translation to `some fairly drastic revision'...the result is much greater clarity when it comes to both the Greek text and to exegesis of that text. The end-product is a most distinguished contribution to a collection whose prices seem to defy an economic return but I'm not complaining. * Greece and Rome Reviews 42 *Barker's translation has been given new life. * Polis *

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Book SynopsisDorian Gray gives his soul for eternal youth. While his portrait changes hideously, reflecting his crimes and corruption, he remains outwardly flawless. This new edition uses the 1891 expanded text and shows how Wilde transformed his many sources.Trade ReviewIt seemed to be an impossible task to outdo the former edition of 'Dorian Gray' in the World's Classics series, but Bristow has achieved his goal. The quality of the explanatory notes is, simply, superb, and the introduction is succint but informative,

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Book SynopsisOne of the most significant literary works of the twentieth century, and one of the most innovative. Young Irish Catholic, Stephen Dedalus, rejects religion and national ties to develop unfettered as an artist. Stronly autobiographical, the novel is one of the founding texts of Modernism and the precursor of Ulysses.Trade Reviewhandsome new editions . . . . eminently readable with good, clear typefaces and text unencumbered by note numbersTable of ContentsIntroduction ; Bibliography ; Chronology ; Publication history/Note on the text ; Explanatory notes

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Book SynopsisGreat Expectations includes some of Dickens's most memorable characters - Magwitch, Miss Havisham, Estella - encountered by young Pip as he grows into adulthood. This edition features a wide-ranging introduction, Dickens's working notes, the original ...

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Book SynopsisIn this dialogue Plato shows the pretensions of the leading sophist, Protagoras, challenged by the critical arguments of Socrates. The dialogue broadens out to consider the nature of the good life and the role of intellect and pleasure.

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Book Synopsis''With fair-tressed Demeter, the sacred goddess, my song begins,With herself and her slim-ankled daughter, whom Aidoneus onceAbducted...''Most people are familiar, at least by repute, with the two great epics of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, but few are aware that other poems survive that were attributed to Homer in ancient times. The Homeric Hymns are now known to be the work of various poets working in the same tradition, probably during the seventh and sixth centuries BC. They honour the Greek gods, and recount some of the most attractive of the Greek myths. Four of them (Hymns 2-5) stand out by reason of their length and quality. The Hymn to Demeter tells what happened when Hades, lord of the dead, abducted Persephone, Demeter''s daughter. The Hymn to Apollo describes Apollo''s birth and the foundation of his Delphic oracle. In the Hymn to Hermes Apollo''s cattle are stolen by a felonious infant - Hermes, god of thieves. In the Hymn to Aphrodite the goddess of love herself becomes infatuated with a mortal man, the Trojan prince Ankhises. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewThis welcome new translation of the Homeric Hymns offers a skilled and nuanced verse rendering that is accompanied by intelligent and helpful notes. The introductory material is brief; the end-notes more thorough yet always concise; throughout there is frequent and up-to-date reference to important bibliography on the hymns. Readers should find the translation poetic and often striking, and they will also come away with a firm sense of modern scholarship on these short epic works. * Journal of Hellenic Studies *

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Book Synopsis''What is poetry, how many kinds of it are there, and what are their specific effects?''Aristotle''s Poetics is the most influential book on poetry ever written. A founding text of European aesthetics and literary criticism, from it stems much of our modern understanding of the creation and impact of imaginative writing, including poetry, drama, and fiction. For Aristotle, the art of representation conveys universal truths which we can appreciate more easily than the lessons of history or philosophy. In his short treatise Aristotle discusses the origins of poetry and its early development, the nature of tragedy and plot, and offers practical advice to playwrights. This new translation by Anthony Kenny is accompanied by associated material from Plato and a range of responses from more modern literary practitioners: Sir Philip Sidney, P. B. Shelley, and Dorothy L. Sayers. The book includes a wide-ranging introduction and notes, making this the most accessible and attractive modern editioTable of ContentsIntroduction ; Note on the Texts and Translation ; Select Bibliography ; Chronology of Aristotle ; Outline of the Poetics ; from Plato's Republic, Books II, III, and X ; Aristotle's Poetics ; from Sir Philip Sidney's Apology for Poetry ; from P. B. Shelley's Defence of Poetry ; from Dorothy L. Sayers's Aristotle on Detective Fiction ; Explanatory Notes ; Note on Metre ; Glossary of Key Terms ; Index

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Book SynopsisRachel Bromwich's magisterial edition of Trioedd Ynys Prydein has long won its place as a classic of Celtic studies. This revised edition shows the author's continued mastery of the subject, including a new preface by Morfydd Owen, and will be essential reading for Celticists and for those interested in early British history and literature and in Arthurian studies. Early Welsh literature shows a predilection for classifying names, facts and precepts into triple groups, or triads. The Triads of the Isle of Britain form a series of texts which commemorate the names of traditional heroes and heroines, and which would have served as a catalogue of the names of these heroic figures. The names are grouped under various imprecise but complimentary epithets, which are often paralleled in the esoteric language of the medieval bards, who would have used the triads as an index of past history and legend. This edition is based on a full collation of the most important manuscripts, the earliest of which go back to the thirteenth century. The Welsh text is accompanied by English translations of each triad and extensive notes, and the volume includes four appendices, which are also an important source of personal names. The Introduction to the volume discusses the significance of Trioedd Ynys Prydein in the history of Welsh literature, and examines the traditional basis of the triads.Table of ContentsPREFACE INTRODUCTION: I. MANUSCRIPTS AND VERSIONS II. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRIOEDD YNYS PRYDEIN Trioedd Ynys Prydein and Bardic Instruction Trioedd Ynys Prydein and the Chwedlau Trioedd y Meirch Antiquity and Provenance THE APPENDICES TRIOEDD YNYS PRYDEIN: TEXT, TRANSLATION AND NOTES APPENDIX I. Enweu Ynys Prydein: The Names of the Island of Britain APPENDIX II. Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd: The Descent of the Men of the North APPENDIX III. Tri Thlws ar Ddeg Ynys Prydein: The Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain APPENDIX IV. Pedwar Marchog ar Hugain Llys Arthur: The Twenty-four Knights of Arthur's Court NOTES TO PERSONAL NAMES ABBREVIATIONS SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX INDEX TO PLACES INDEX TO TRIOEDD Y MEIRCH GENERAL INDEX

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Book SynopsisOvid's Metamorphosesis a weaving-together of classical myths, extending in time from the creation of the world to the death of Julius Caesar. This volume provides the Latin text of the first five books of the poem and the most detailed commentary available in English of these books.

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Book SynopsisThe arrival of two newcomers in the quiet village of Mellstock arouses a bitter feud and leaves a convoluted love affair in its wake. While the Reverend Maybold creates a furore among the village''s musicians with his decision to abolish the church''s traditional ''string choir'' and replace it with a modern mechanical organ, the new schoolteacher, Fancy Day, causes an upheaval of a more romantic nature, winning the hearts of three very different men - a local farmer, a church musician and Maybold himself. Under the Greenwood Tree follows the ensuing maze of intrigue and passion with gentle humour and sympathy, deftly evoking the richness of village life, yet tinged with melancholy for a rural world that Hardy saw fast disappearing.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.Whatever comes,' she said, cannot alter one thing. If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside.'A Little Princess' tells the story of Sara Crewe, beloved daughter of the revered Captain Crewe. Sent to board at Miss Minchin''s Select Seminary for Young Ladies, Sara is devastated when her adored father dies. Suddenly penniless, Sara is banished to an attic room where she is starved, abused, and forced to work as a servant. How this exceptionally intelligent girl uses the only resources available to her, imagination and friendship, to overcome her situation and change her fortunes is at the centre of this enduring classic.First published in 1905, A Little Princess' is a heart-warming tale of hope, hardship and love set against a backdrop of Victorian England, and is one of the best-loved stories in all of children's literature.Trade Review‘Bright, beautiful and enchanting … ‘New York Times ‘A Little Princess exquisitely re-creates the ephemeral world of childhood, an enchanted kingdom where everything, even make-believe, seems possible …’ Washington Post

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.One thing is certain, - that there is a mustering among the masses, the world over; and there is a dis irae coming on, sooner or later.'Viewed by many as fuelling the abolitionist movement of the 1850s and laying the groundwork for the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe's sentimental and moral tale of slaves attempting to secure their freedom was one of the most popular books of the nineteenth century. Centred round the long-suffering Uncle Tom, a devout Christian slave who endures cruelty and abuse from his owners, Tom is often celebrated as the first black hero in American fiction who refuses to obey his white masters. With other strong protagonists such as Eliza, a courageous slave who flees to the North with her son when she learns that he is to be sold, Beecher Stowe highlighted the plight of southern slaves and the breaking up of black families. Not without its controversy, more recent criticism has sugge

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.There is no greater sorrow then to recall our times of joy in wretchedness.'Considered one of the greatest medieval poems written in the common vernacular of the time, Dante's Inferno begins on Good Friday in the year 1300. As he wanders through a dark forest, Dante loses his way and stumbles across the ghost of the poet Virgil. Virgil promises to lead him back to the top of the mountain, but to do so, they must pass through Hell, encountering all manner of shocking horrors, sins and evil torments along the way, evoking questions about God's justice, human behaviour and Christianity.

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Book SynopsisFrom Collins Classics and the author of The Great Gatsby' a marriage unravels in this autobiographical tale.Sometimes it is harder to deprive oneself of a pain than of a pleasure.'Set on the French Riviera in the 1920s, American Dick Diver and his wife Nicole are the epitome of chic, living a glamorous lifestyle and entertaining friends at their villa. Young film star Rosemary Hoyt arrives in France and becomes entranced by the couple. It is not long before she is attracted to the enigmatic Dick, but he and his wife hold dark secrets and as their marriage becomes more fractured, Fitzgerald laments the failure of idealism and the carefully constructed trappings of high society in the Roaring Twenties.

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Book Synopsis''Shamelessly engaging, effortlessly scholarly, utterly refreshing''Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler''s Ark''A small treasure''New York Times ''This sweepingly confident overview is more entertainingly told than any previous account''Sunday TelegraphIreland played the central role in maintaining European culture when the dark ages settled on Europe in the fifth century: as Rome was sacked by Visigoths and its empire collapsed, Ireland became ''the isle of saints and scholars'' that enabled the classical and religious heritage to be saved.In his compelling and entertaining narrative, Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Irish monks and scrines copied the mauscripts of both pagan and Christian writers, including Homer and Aristotle, while libraries on the continent were lost forever. Bringing the past and its characters to life, Cahill captures the sensibility of the unsung Irish who relaunched civilisation.Trade ReviewHOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILISATION is a shamelessly engaging, effortlessly scholarly, utterly refreshing history of the origins of the Irish soul and its huge contribution to Western culture ... For its portrait of St Patrick alone, it will resonate in the memory. * Thomas Keneally *Lyrical, playful, penetrating and serious ... an entirely engaging, delectable voyage into the distant past, a small treasure * Richard Bernstein in the New York Times *This sweepingly confident overview is more entertainingly told than any previous account ... An elegant book * P.J. Kavanagh in the Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisProclus'' Elements of Theology is a concise summa of the Neoplatonic system in its fully developed form; and for the student of late Greek thought second in importance only to the Enneads of Plotinus. Professor Dodds has provided a critical text based on a personal examination of some forty manuscripts, together with an English translation and a philosophical and linguistic commentary. First published in 1933, this second edition includes an Appendix of Addenda et Corrigenda and is widely regarded and respected as the definitive edition of the text today.Trade Review'An essential text for Neoplatonism and an outstanding edition.' P. Walcot, Greece & Rome, April 1993

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Book SynopsisThis deluxe edition of the world''s most beloved, bestselling classic on Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology is stunningly illustrated with specially commissioned full-color plates and a beautiful gold-bordered pages. Since its original publication in 1942, Edith Hamilton''s Mythology has sold millions of copies throughout the world and established itself as a perennial bestseller. For nearly 80 years, readers have chosenMythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes above all other books to discover the enchanting world of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology -- from Odysseus''s adventure-filled journey to Odin''s effort to postpone the final day of doom. This deluxe, hardcover edition is illustrated throughout with specially commissioned, original artwork and beautifully illustrated lineages, making it a true collector''s item.

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Book Synopsis''the glory of wealth and physical beauty is fluid and fragile; but virtue is held brilliant and eternal''The Roman historian Sallust lived through troubled times. He deplored the moral and political decline of the Republic, and in his two monographs he set out to exemplify the reasons for the years of civil strife. Catiline''s Conspiracy is an account of the rebellion against the state led by the disaffected Catiline. For Sallust it was ''especially memorable because of the unprecedented nature of the crime and the danger it caused''. Rome''s fight against the king of Numidia in The Jugurthine War is a graphic depiction of power struggles in Rome and brutal battles in Africa that eventually resulted in the capture of Jugurtha. Sallust''s abrupt and distinctive style is the perfect vehicle for his moral urgency, bitter condemnation, and satirical cynicism. This new translation, which also includes Sallust''s fragmentary Histories, captures his effects in an accessible English idiom, and provides a comprehensive introduction to his work as history and literature. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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Book Synopsis*BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week* Benjamin Zephaniah, who has travelled the world for his art and his humanitarianism, now tells the one story that encompasses it all: the story of his life. In the early 1980s when punks and Rastas were on the streets protesting about unemployment, homelessness and the National Front, Benjamin’s poetry could be heard at demonstrations, outside police stations and on the dance floor. His mission was to take poetry everywhere, and to popularise it by reaching people who didn’t read books. His poetry was political, musical, radical and relevant.  By the early 1990s, Benjamin had performed on every continent in the world (a feat which he achieved in only one year) and he hasn’t stopped performing and touring since. Nelson Mandela, after hearing Benjamin’s tribute to him while he was in prison, requested an introduction to the poet that grew into a lifelong relationship, inspiring BTrade Review'The Life and Rhymes has a performative quality reminiscent of Zephaniah’s poetry – honest, unshowy and ultimately unthreatening. It matches the man.' * The Guardian *'Vivid, frank and to the point, yet bristling with compassion, this is a rousing romp through a life less ordinary and a timely reminder of art’s redemptive force.' * Mojo magazine *‘Compelling and inspiring’ * Scottish Poetry Library *'His singular career has spanned poetry, music and activism, with detours into acting and academia. And he’s really lived a life less ordinary – from teenage jailbird to celebrity role model, embraced by the British Establishment, even if he hasn’t always reciprocated. His scepticism about the necessity of his memoir, The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, is unfounded.' * The Scotsman *'His singular career has spanned poetry, music and activism, with detours into acting and academia. And he’s really lived a life less ordinary – from teenage jailbird to celebrity role model, embraced by the British Establishment, even if he hasn’t always reciprocated. His scepticism about the necessity of his memoir, The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, is unfounded.' * The Scotsman *‘This is a beautifully penned and highly entertaining account of an intriguing life, opening us up not just to Zephaniah's story but to a wide range of topics arising out of it...tackled with down-to-earth honesty and insight, not to mention an element of gentle humour and self-effacement.’ * Morning Star *'The people’s laureate' * Birmingham Mail *‘A celebration of a truly extraordinary life story which remarks upon the power of poetry and the importance of pushing boundaries with the arts.’ * Shropshire Star *'Retaining a humility and humour that belie his extraordinary rise from street gang to cultural touchstone…Zephaniah is one of the rare voices that manages to remain determinedly outside the Establishment (he famously turned down an OBE) yet is embraced by it...a riveting read worthy of a Netflix drama.' * iNews *'Filled with extraordinary moments, taking in his first poetry performance in a church aged 10, his time in borstal and prison, and his stint in a gang when he feared for his life and slept with a gun under his pillow. He was framed by the police for murder, turned his life around to the extent that he developed a friendship with Nelson Mandela – and his words helped usher in freedom in South Africa. But the book is also a searing social history of Britain and a salutary reminder that when it comes to the fight for racial equality, there is no end bell.' * Big Issue North *'Zephaniah pulls no punches when it comes to talking about the racism that has shaped his life or the mischief he got up to in response to it.' * The Spectator *

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Book SynopsisThe only English translation to include the complete work - a must-have for all students of early Norse literature.

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Book SynopsisProfessional English in Use Medicine is a brand new addition to the Professional English in Use series.

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Book SynopsisArtaud remains one of the significant and influential theorists of modern theatre.--Gerald Rabkin, Rutgers University

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Book Synopsis"I've struck it!" Mark Twain wrote in a 1904 letter to a friend. "And I will give it away - to you. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography." This title tells his story.Trade Review"Sometimes the autobiography seems Twain's letter to posterity. At other times, reading it feels like eavesdropping on a conversation he is having with himself... This first installment of Twain's autobiography brings us closer to all of him than we have ever come before." New York Review Of Books "This is a book to treasure for all friends of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn." Acadiana Lifestyle Magazine "Dip into the first enormous volume of Twain's autobiography that he had decreed should not appear until 100 years after his death. And Twain will begin to seem strange again, alluring and still astonishing, but less sure-footed, and at times both puzzled and puzzling in ways that still resonate with us, though not the ways we might expect." New York Times "This is a book for dipping, not plunging. Read, as Twain might put it, until interest pales, and then jump. It feels like a form of time travel." New York Times/The Opinion Pages "Twain generously provides the 21st century aficionado a marvelous read. His crystalline humor and expansive range are a continuous source of delight and awe... [He] has given us 'an astonishment' in his autobiography with his final, beautifully unorganized genius and intemperate thoughts. Pull up a chair and revel." Los Angeles Times Book Review "Mission accomplished, Mr. Clemens." -- Roger Boylan Boston Review "His "whole frank mind,' sharp and funny, is seared onto every page. A" Entertainment Weekly "Brimming with Twain's humor, ideas and opinions, this is a book for anyone interested in the writer's work and life." Curledup.com "Pure Twain at his typically discursive, rambling, and droll... The bard of Hannibal still has much to say." American Heritage "The bestseller chart is awash with memoirs -- but none offer the extreme reading of the Autobiography of Mark Twain." -- Debra Craine The Times "Twain's autobiography, finally available after a century, is a garrulous outpouring-and every word beguiles." Wall Street Journal "Promises a no-holds barred perspective on Twain's life, and will be rich with rambunctious, uncompromising opinions." Herald Scotland "Twain would approve!" Bookideas.com "Twain's writing here is electric, alternately moving and hilarious. He couldn't write a ho-hum sentence." Library Journal "A major achevement." Choice "Twian's 'Final Plan' has been released in a truly spectacular first volume of his posthumous 'Autobiography'." -- Vitali Vitaliev Engineering & Technology "With the uncensored Twain finally here, we're the furthest thing from indifferent." Time MagazineTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARK TWAIN An Early Attempt My Autobiography [Random Extracts from It] The Latest Attempt The Final (and Right) Plan Preface. As from the Grave The Florentine Dictations Autobiographical Dictations, January–March 1906 Appendix: Preliminary Manuscripts and Dictations Samuel L. Clemens: A Brief Chronology Family Biographies References Excerpt from Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2

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Book SynopsisA farcical look at political violence as it''s played out during the Troubles in Northern Ireland against the drab backdrop of a bare, rustic Irish cottage and unending boredom in an inhospitable environment in which a mutilated cat sets off a murderous cycle of revenge. Wee Thomas was a friendly cat. He would always say hello to you were you to see him sitting on a wall. (Pause.) He won''t be saying hello no more, God bless him. Not with that lump of a brain gone.Who knocked Wee Thomas over on the lonely road on the island of Inishmore, and was it an accident? Mad Padraig will want to know when he gets back from a stint of torture and chip shop bombing in Northern Ireland: he loves that cat more than life itself.Trade Review'Gleeful, gruesome play about political terrorism in rural Ireland, which won the Olivier Award for best comedy...Appallingly entertaining...Enlightening..."Lieutenant" is brazenly and unapologetically a farce. But it is also a severely moral play, translating into dizzy absurdism the self-perpetuating spirals of political violence that now occur throughout the world.' The New York Times 'A cautionary fairy tale for our toxic times. In its horror and hilarity, it works as an act of both revenge and repair, turning the tables on grief and goonery, and forcing the audience to think about the unthinkable.' The New Yorker

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Book SynopsisVolume VI of the nine-volume Loeb edition of Early Greek Philosophy includes the later Ionian and Athenian thinkers Anaxagoras, Archelaus, and Diogenes of Apollonia, along with chapters on early Greek medicine and the Derveni Papyrus.Trade ReviewIn brief, André Laks and Glenn Most give us a brilliant and beautiful reference work that can, at the same time, be easily enough read straight through. And spending a few months doing so gives the reader almost all that she needs (perhaps along with Loeb #258, Greek Elegiac Poetry) to reconstruct for herself the origins of the discipline of philosophy. I should want any graduate student or colleague in ancient philosophy or intellectual history to acquire and make their way through it. -- Christopher Moore * Classical Journal *The publication of the Loeb Classical Library’s nine-volume set, Early Greek Philosophy, gives us a new edition of the original texts, with fresh translations. It is a monumental achievement—the result of many years of dedicated work on the part of the two editors/translators André Laks and Glenn W. Most… We owe a profound debt of gratitude to the editors/translators for their thorough and impeccable scholarship, and to the publishers for their usual high standards of production. If you can afford them, don’t hesitate: you will be all the richer for having these volumes on your shelves. -- Jeremy Naydler * Minerva *André Laks and Glenn W. Most have made available to the world of scholarship in early Greek philosophy a resource of immense value. Every study of a thinker or of an issue within the thematic ambit of Early Greek Philosophy must henceforth start by canvassing and taking into account the appropriate selections in the Loeb set. -- Alexander P. D. Mourelatos * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *The publication of a Loeb Classical Library edition of the evidence for early Greek philosophy is a major event in classical scholarship…The editors and their assistants are to be commended for their exemplary execution of such a vast and difficult task. They have succeeded in producing what is far and away the best available edition of the texts of the early Greek philosophers with accompanying English translation…More than that, their edition effectively supersedes Hermann Diels and Walter Kranz’s Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, which has long held sway as the standard edition of the Presocratics, but it only does so because Laks and Most have respectfully taken Diels-Kranz as their model…Laks and Most have set such a high standard with this work that it is hard to imagine that we will see a better general collection on early Greek philosophy in our lifetimes…Laks and Most’s philological acumen, judiciousness as editors, and excellence as translators is evident on every page. -- John Palmer * Arion *

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Book SynopsisThis collection presents all the poems Auden wished to preserve, in the texts that received his final approval. It included the full contents of his previous collected editions along with all the later volumes of his shorter poems. Together, these works display the astonishing range of Auden's voice and the breadth of his concerns, his deep knowledge of the traditions he inherited, and his ability to recast those traditions in modern times.

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Book SynopsisYork Notes Advanced offers a fresh and accessible approach to English Literature. This market-leading series has been completely updated to meet the needs of today's A-level and undergraduate students. Written by established literature experts, York Notes Advanced introduces students to more sophisticated analysis, a range of critical perspectives and wider contexts.Table of Contents Part 1: Introduction Part 2: The poems Part 3: Critical approachs Part 4: Critical history Part 5: Background Further Reading Literacy Terms

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Book SynopsisAuster''s tale of obsession from the author of contemporary classic The New York Trilogy: ''a literary voice for the ages'' (Guardian)The Book of Illusions, written with breath-taking urgency and precision, plunges the reader into a universe in which the comic and the tragic, the real and the imagined, and the violent and the tender dissolve into one another.One man''s obsession with the mysterious life of a silent film star takes him on a journey into a shadow-world of lies, illusions, and unexpected love. After losing his wife and young sons in a plane crash, Vermont professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in grief. Then, watching television one night, he stumbles upon a lost film by silent comedian Hector Mann, and remembers how to laugh . . .Mann was a comic genius, in trademark white suit and fluttering black moustache. But one morning in 1929 he walked out of his house and was never heard from again. Zimmer''s ob

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Book SynopsisThese lectures were delivered by Seamus Heaney while he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford University. In the first of them, Heaney discusses and celebrates poetry''s special ability to redress spiritual balance and to function as a counterweight to hostile and oppressive forces in the world. He proceeds to explore how this ''redress'' manifests itself in a diverse range of poems and poets, including Christopher Marlowe''s ''Hero and Leander'', ''The Midnight Court'' by the eighteenth-century Irish poet Brian Merriman, John Clare''s vernacular writing and Oscar Wilde''s ''The Ballad of Reading Gaol''. Several twentieth-century poets are also discussed - W. B. Yeats, Dylan Thomas, Elizabeth Bishop and others - and the whole book constitutes a vivid proof of the claim that ''poetry is strong enough to help''.

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Book SynopsisIn North Seamus Heaney found a myth which allowed him to articulate a vision of Ireland - its people, history and landscape. Here the Irish experience is refracted through images drawn from different parts of the Northern European experience, and the idea of the north allows the poet to contemplate the violence on his home ground in relation to memories of the Scandinavian and English invasions which have marked Irish history so indelibly.

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Book SynopsisProvides an analysis of Western culture during the Second World War that won the Pulitzer Prize and inspired a symphony by Leonard Bernstein as well as a ballet by Jerome Robbins.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2011 "[Auden's] most significant piece of work... [W]e have in W. H. Auden a master musician of rhythm and note, unable to be dull, in fact an enchanter, under the magic of indigenous gusto ... The Age of Anxiety assures us that fear and lust have, in faith and purity, a cure so potent we need never know panic or be defeated by Self."--Marianne Moore, New York Times "The Age of Anxiety (1947), perhaps the finest of them all, tests Auden's ideas within the experience of modernity."--Lachlan MacKinnon, Times Literary Supplement "[M]agnificent ... [and] enormously rich in allusion, sound, and intellectual power... For pessimism and naturalism and virtuosity, The Age of Anxiety makes one think of Shakespeare's Tempest."--Jacques Barzun, Harper's Magazine "[An]emotionally stunning work... [O]ne of the splendid poems of our language."--M. L. Rosenthal, New York Herald Tribune "Princeton University Press's new critical, annotated edition of The Age of Anxiety seeks to repair and renew contemporary readers' relationship with the poem. That it should triumphantly succeed in this task, however, has less to do with unraveling the poem's intricacies than with clearly showing how its many knots are tied. In an expansive preface and through rigorous textual notes, editor and Auden scholar Alan Jacobs outlines the circumstances of the poem's composition, traces the relations between psychology and religious belief as they play out in the text, and firmly situates the work in its historical moment... It can only be hoped that this handsome new edition brings The Age of Anxiety to a new 'pitiful handful'. Those lucky few will discover in its pages one of the last century's great, and greatly neglected, poems."--Geordie Williamson, Australian "This new edition contains an elegant, unostentatious commentary by Alan Jacobs, an American professor whose previous books include a cultural history of Original Sin."--Richard Davenport-Hines, The Spectator "Elegantly printed, [The Age of Anxiety] is graced by [Alan] Jacobs's essay-length introduction, which traces the poem's evolution from the time Auden moved from Europe to the US in 1939 to its publication both in Britain (1947) and the US (1948)."--Choice "This new edition of Auden's The Age of Anxiety under review here provides a timely occasion for the reconceptualization of the structures of the collective imagination in the era of global violence and viral media spectacle. Benefiting from Alan Jacob's revealing and comprehensive prefactory note, the volume invites concerted theoretical effort toward the configuration of a post-apocalyptic poetics."--Nigel Mcloughlin, ABC StudiesTable of ContentsPreface vii Introduction xi The Age of Anxiety 1 Appendix: Two Letters on Metrical Matters 109 Textual Notes 113

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Book SynopsisShows how William Blake arrived at a theory of knowledge that was also, for him, a theory of religion, of human life and of art, and how this rigorously defined system of ideas found expression in the complicated but consistent symbolism of his poetry.Trade Review"A magnificent, extraordinary book... Several great poets have written of Blake, but this book is the first to show the full magnitude of Blake's mind."--The SpectatorTable of ContentsPART ONE - THE ARGUMENT 1. The Case against Locke 3 2. The Rising God 30 3. Beyond Good and Evil 55 4. A Literalist of the Imagination 85 5. The Word Within the Word 108 PART TWO - THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYMBOLISM 6. Tradition and Experiment 147 7. The Theif of Fire 187 8. The Refiner in Fire 227 9. The Nightmare with Her Ninefold 269 PART THREE - THE FINAL SYNTHESIS 10. Comus agonists 313 11. The City of God 356 12. The Burden of the Valley of Vision 404 GENERAL NOTE: BLAKE'S MYSTICISM 431 NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 433 NOTES TO THE TEST 435 INDEX 451

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