ELT & Literary Studies Books

Book SynopsisIn Boyhood, J. M. Coetzee revisits the South Africa of half a century ago, to write about his childhood and interior life. Boyhood''s young narrator grew up in a small country town. With a father he imitated but could not respect, and a mother he both adored and resented, he picked his way through a world that refused to explain its rules, but whose rules he knew he must obey. Steering between these contradictions, Boyhood evokes the tensions, delights and terrors of childhood with startling, haunting immediacy. Coetzee examines his young self with the dispassionate curiosity of an explorer rediscovering his own early footprints, and the account of his progress is bright, hard and simply compelling.Trade ReviewThis life is described with such skill, such exactitude and such relentlessness that I found myself gasping for air... Coetzee has achieved something universal in his work...a fine book, probably the best description of a childhood I have ever read * The Times *As funny, cruel and terrifying as life itself. It is also intense and elegant, clearly the product of the complex, subtle imagination which shapes Coetzee's outstanding fiction... As austerely beautiful as would be expected of Coetzee the artist...its aloof, edgy grace and seething passion ensure the narrative is both truthful and mysterious * Irish Times *Boyhood is a deeply-felt and utterly compelling account of a South African childhood: the narrative style is as spare and lean as the Karoo flatlands which form its backdrop * Daily Telegraph *The economy with which Coetzee makes sense of his past is evidence, once again, of his outstanding talent * Independent on Sunday *An uncannily accurate picture of the way things were in South Africa * Literary Review *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIf you can speak and read English, you can write poetry.The trick is knowing where to start. Stephen Fry, who has long written poems, and indeed has written long poems, for his own private pleasure, invites you to discover the incomparable delights of metre, rhyme and verse forms.Whether you want to write a Petrarchan sonnet for your lover''s birthday, an epithalamion for your sister''s wedding or a villanelle excoriating the government''s housing policy, The Ode Less Travelled will give you the tools and the confidence to do so. Brimful of enjoyable exercises, witty insights and simple step-by-step advice, The Ode Less Travelled guides the reader towards mastery and confidence in the Mother of the Arts.Trade ReviewFry's extraordinary book is an idiots' guide to the writing of poetry, a primer, a tutorial with funny turns, an earnest textbook... You can't but marvel at Fry's easy familiarity with the rictameter and the rondeau redoublé and applaud the energy of his evangelistic zeal * Independent on Sunday *With his usual wit and occasional obscenity, he takes us through an array of metrical forms and poetic structures, talking to us like a cajoling hearty teacher * Sunday Telegraph *Intelligent and informative, a worthy enterprise well executed * Observer *A smart, sane and entertaining return to basics * Daily Telegraph *Funny and instructive * Spectator *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAmid the corruption and power struggles of the collapse of the Roman Republic, Cicero (106-43BC) produced some of the most stirring and eloquent speeches in history. A statesman and lawyer, he was one of the only outsiders to penetrate the aristocratic circles that controlled the Roman state, and became renowned for his speaking to the Assembly, Senate and courtrooms. Whether fighting corruption, quashing the Catiline conspiracy, defending the poet Archias or railing against Mark Antony in the Philippics - the magnificent arguments in defence of liberty which led to his banishment and death - Cicero''s speeches are oratory masterpieces, vividly evocative of the cut and thrust of Roman political life.Table of ContentsIntroduction1 On the Command of Cnaeus Pompeius (In Support of the Manilian Law)2 Against Lucius Sergius Catilina (i-iv)3 In Defence of the poet Aulus Licinius Archias4 In Defence of Marcus Caelius Rufus5 In Defence of Titus Annius Milo6 In Support of Marcus Claudius Marcellus7 The First Philippic against Marcus AntoniusAppendixesA). Key to Technical TermsB). Further ReadingC). MapsIndex of Personal Names

Read more less

Book SynopsisTahar Ben Jelloun was born in 1944 in Fez, Morocco, and emigrated to France in 1961. He is one of North Africa's foremost novelists. Tahar Ben Jelloun's novels include The Sacred Night which received the Prix Goncourt in 1987 and Corruption.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Place in the Country is a window into the brilliant mind of W. G. Sebald''The greatest writer of our time'' Peter CareyWhen W. G. Sebald travelled to Manchester in 1966, he packed in his bags certain literary favourites which would remain central to him throughout the rest of his life and during the years when he was settled in England. In A Place in the Country, he reflects on six of the figures who shaped him as a person and as a writer, from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Jan Peter Tripp. Fusing biography and essay, and finding, as ever, inspiration in place - as when he journeys to the Ile St. Pierre, the tiny, lonely Swiss island where Jean-Jacques Rousseau found solace and inspiration - Sebald lovingly brings his subjects to life in his distinctive, inimitable voice.''A fascinating volume that confirms Sebald as one of Europe''s most mysterious and best-loved literary imaginations'' Evening Standard''SebalTrade ReviewA fascinating volume that confirms Sebald as one of Europe's most mysterious and best-loved literary imaginations * Evening Standard *Sebald was in possession of the uncanny ability to make his own intellectual obsessions, immediately, compulsively his reader's * Observer *Shows a writer at his most inquisitive, gazing deeply under the surface of things * Financial Times *Irresistible . . . an intimate anatomy of the pathos, absurdity and perverse splendour of trying to find patterns in the chaos of the world * Independent *Erudite, truthful, moving * The Times *A beautiful book . . . about the crazy quest for meaning, and how we persist with it despite the shadows that slide towards us -- Joanna Kavenna * Spectator *

Read more less

Book SynopsisEasy to use in the classroom or as a tool for revision, Oxford Literature Companions provide student-friendly analysis of a range of popular A Level set texts. Each book offers a lively, engaging approach to the text, covering characterisation and role, genre, context, language, themes, structure, performance and critical views, whilst also providing a range of varied and in-depth activities to deepen understanding and encourage close work with the text. Each book also includes a comprehensive Skills and Practice section, which provides detailed advice on assessment and a bank of exam-style questions and annotated sample student answers. This guide covers The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster and is suitable for the most recent AS/A level specifications.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWilliam Blake's strikingly original poetic world of myth and mysticism continues to fascinate. This selection represents the full range of his accomplishments, from his haunting lyrics to his political works.Trade ReviewNew and innovative ... a brilliant chronological timeline ... by combining historical research with literary scholarship, Shrimpton creates a version of Blake's poems which is significantly different to all others ... a fresh view which allows readers to see the development of Blake's thoughts and poems. * Journal of the Blake Society *Table of ContentsAbbreviations Introduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography A Chronology of William Blake LYRICS FROM POETICAL SKETCHES MANUSCRIPT POEMS FROM FLAXMAN'S COPY OF POETICAL SKETCHES SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE SHEWING THE TWO CONTRARY STATES OF THE HUMAN SOUL POEMS ADDED TO LATER COPIES OF SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE LYRICS FROM THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL LYRICS FROM THE NOTEBOOK BALLADS NARRATIVE POEMS DESCRIPTIVE AND DISCURSIVE POETRY COMIC AND SATIRICAL POETRY VERSE EPISTLES and DEDICATIONS BRIEF EPIC DIFFUSE EPIC Explanatory Notes Index of Titles and First Lines

Read more less

Book SynopsisThomas Carlyle's history of the French Revolution, originally published in 1837, opens with the death of Louis XV in 1774 and ends in 1795 when Bonaparte quelled the insurrection of the Vendemiaire. It is a work of great narrative and descriptive power that was itself meant to be revolutionary.Trade ReviewThis edition makes the work decipherable in ways it otherwise isn't. * Barton Swaim, Wall Street Journal *Excellent edition * Years Work in English Studies, 2021 *Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text A Chronology of Thomas Carlyle Contents, iThe French Revolutionr THE FRENCH REVOLUTION Explanatory Notes Annotated Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisGerman writers, from Luther and Goethe to Heine, Brecht, and Günter Grass, have had a profound influence on the modern world. This Very Short Introduction presents an engrossing tour of the course of German literature from the late Middle Ages to the present, focussing especially on the last 250 years. Emphasizing the economic and religious context of many masterpieces of German literature, it highlights how they can be interpreted as responses to social and political changes within an often violent and tragic history. The result is a new and clear perspective which illuminates the power of German literature and the German intellectual tradition, and its impact on the wider cultural world. 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 readable.Trade ReviewBoyle has a sure touch and an obvious authority...this is a balanced and lively introduction to German literature. * Ben Hutchinson, TLS *highly impressive... Professor Boyle concentrates on creating a lucid, wide-ranging historical background against which each of the five periods is brought to life, with a challenging choice of examples * Forum for Modern Language Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Bourgeois and the Official: A Historical Overview ; 2. The Laying of the Foundations (to 1781) ; 3. The Age of Idealism (1781-1832) ; 4. The Age of Materialism (1832 to 1914) ; 5. Traumas and Memories (1914-) ; Further Reading & References ; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Lives of the Poets is one of the greatest works of English criticism, but also one of the most diverting. This is the only one-volume paperback edition to make available Johnson's most substantial Lives in unabridged form. Texts are drawn from Roger Lonsdale's authoritative complete edition, and introduced by John Mullan.Trade ReviewIt's fascinating...a mightily entertaining survey of literature and literati. * Sunday Telegraph *The 'Lives of the Poets', combining mournfully droll biography with brilliant literary criticism, is as enjoyable as anything he wrote. * John Mullan, Saturday Guardian *Table of ContentsCowley ; Milton ; Rochester ; Dryden ; Congreve ; Gay ; Savage ; Swift ; Pope ; Gray

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review... the novel is undeniably significant in the history of crime fiction. * Lucy Worsley, Huffington Post Books *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''He was a man of fairly firm fibre, but there was something in this sudden, uncontrollable shriek of horror which chilled his blood and pringled in his skin. Coming in such a place and at such an hour, it brought a thousand fantastic possibilities into his head...''The Victorian fin de siècle: the era of Decadence, The Yellow Book, the New Woman, the scandalous Oscar Wilde, the Empire on which the sun never set. This heady brew was caught nowhere better than in the revival of the Gothic tale in the late Victorian age, where the undead walked and evil curses, foul murder, doomed inheritance and sexual menace played on the stretched nerves of the new mass readerships. This anthology collects together some of the most famous examples of the Gothic tale in the 1890s, with stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Vernon Lee, Henry James and Arthur Machen, as well as some lesser known yet superbly chilling tales from the era. The introduction explores the many reasons for the Gothic revival, and how it spoke to the anxieties of the moment. 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 ReviewThe characters in Roger Luckhurst's excellent selection are variously assailed by mummies, bewitched by revived pagan goddesses, and doomed to inexorable decline by the misdeeds of their ancestors. * Times Literary Supplement *An excellent collection, especially for a relative newcomer to the genre since it includes some of the very best, but the introduction and notes make it a great choice too for people who may already know some of the stories but would like to know more about their context. Highly recommended. * Leah Galbraith, FictionFan *Table of ContentsDIONEA; LORD ARTHUR SAVILE'S CRIME; SIR EDMUND ORME; MAGIC LANTERN; THE SPECTRAL HAND; THE MARK OF THE BEAST; THE DAK BUNGALOW AT DAKOR; LOT 249; THE CASE OF LADY SANNOX; THE PALLINGHURST BAROW; THE GREAT GOD PAN; VAILA

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis volume offers John Webster''s two great Jacobean tragedies, The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, together with his brilliant tragicomedy, The Devil''s Law-Case, and the comedy written with William Rowley, A Cure for a Cuckold. Webster is a radically and creatively experimental dramatist. His tragedies deploy shifting dramatic perspectives which counteract and challenge conventional moral judgements, while the predominantly gentler tone of his comedies and tragicomedies responds inventively to contemporary changes in dramatic taste and fashion. All four plays display the provocative intelligence of a profoundly original playwright. Under the General Editorship of Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is detailed annotation, a glossary, and a critical introduction which traces Webster''s artistic development, defends him against charges of over-indulgence in violence, and explores his sophisticated staging and scenic forms. 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.Table of ContentsThe White Devil ; The Duchess of Malfi ; The Devil's Law-Case ; A Cure for a Cuckhold

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisDesigned to meet the requirements for students at IGCSE and A level, this accessible educational edition offers the complete text of Spies with a comprehensive study guide. Highlights of Andrew Bruff''s guide include:- detailed analyses of character, setting and theme;- close examination of the novel''s plot, structure and narrative techniques;- key quotations and activities both for the student working alone and in the classroom.In the quiet cul-de-sac where Keith and Stephen live the only immediate signs of the Second World War are the blackout at night and a single random bomb site. But the two boys start to suspect all is not as it seems when one day Keith announces a disconcerting discovery: the Germans have infiltrated his own family. And when the secret underground world they have dreamed up emerges from the shadows they find themselves engulfed in mysteries far deeper and more painful than they had bargained for.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTake Note for Exam Success! York Notes offer an exciting approach to English literature. This market leading series fully reflects student needs. They are packed with summaries, commentaries, exam advice, margin and textual features to offer a wider context to the text and encourage a critical analysis. York Notes, The Ultimate Literature Guides.Table of Contents - Intro – How to Study a Play, Novel, - Author Profile – Historical timeline, context with dates, author life, works , historical events.- Map/family tree/character tree- Summaries (numbered summaries for every scene)- Commentary – covering themes, characters, language analysis, style- exam questions end of each section- Answers to Checkpoints and exam questions- Exam questions with annotated model answers (D grade – B grade)- Coursework assignments/resources/top marks/advice- Key Quotations – how to use them.- Glossary/Literary terms- Timeline of events

Read more less

Book SynopsisPublished to mark the 400th anniversary of the book's original publication, this facsimile edition faithfully reproduces one of the finest copies held in the British Library collections.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAct 1Act 2Act 3Act 4Act 5

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis study of forensic crime fiction from the US and the UK examines the prominent roles that women play in many of these novels, arguing that there are historical continuities with earlier forms of contact with the dead body. Refuting claims that the female forensic examiner exhibits traits of typically masculine behaviour, it suggests that the female gaze humanises the victims of crime and alters their representations. Utilising the views of a world-famous forensic scientist interviewed for this Element, this study also explores the role and treatment of science in forensic crime fiction, shedding light on an area of the genre. Finally, there is a consideration of killers in forensic crime novels, proposing that the relationship between killer and investigator is different from that of the classic crime novel. There are also two Appendices containing interviews with Professor Niamh Nic Daeid and with Val McDermid.

Read more less

Book SynopsisCreative Writing: A Workbook with Readings provides a complete creative writing course: from ways to jump-start your writing and inspire your creativity, right through to presenting your work to agents and publishers.It covers the genres of fiction, poetry and life writing (including autobiography, biography and travel writing), combining discussions of technique with readings and exercises to guide you step by step towards becoming more adept at creative writing.The second edition has been updated and in large part newly written, with readings by a diverse group of contemporary authors displaying a variety of styles and approaches. Each chapter also features an array of inspiring writing exercises, enabling you to experiment with different methods and discover your strengths. Above all, Creative Writing: A Workbook with Readings will help you to develop your abilities while nurturing your individual voice as a writer.Trade Review‘A wonderful, invaluable resource, full of useful frameworks and ideas. Highly recommended.’ Irenosen Okojie FRSL MBE, Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature‘Offers pertinent, perceptive and plentiful advice for those first starting out or building their skills in creative writing. Enlivening chapter discussions rub shoulders with well-chosen readings to create dynamic conversations which it feels a pleasure to eavesdrop on.’ Andrew McMillan, Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University‘A refreshingly practical book that invites writers at whatever stage to dive in and out with exercises, encouragement, information, reading and guidance.’Yvonne Battle-Felton, fiction writer, Sheffield Hallam University‘Creative Writing is astonishing in its thoughtfulness: there's a calm, authoritative thoroughness about the way skills and topics are introduced, supported by readings, and paired with exercises. This would be a very useful workbook for instructors as well as new writers.’ Marshall Moore, Course Leader in Creative Writing at Falmouth University‘Offers practical, clear, and substantial advice for writing in a range of genres. As you will find from using this imaginative, generous and ingenious book, the journey will surprise and transform you.’ David Morley FRSL, Warwick Writing Programme at Warwick University, author of The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing‘This distils the basic elements of complicated artistic practice into inspiring guidelines that will enhance the work of both students and teachers of creative writing.’ Winsome Pinnock FRSL, Associate Professor Emerita at Kingston UniversityTable of ContentsContributorsIntroductionPart 1: The creative process1: Stimulating creativity and imagination2: Writing what you know3: Writing what you come to knowPart 2: Writing fiction4: Character5: Setting6: Point of view7: Showing and telling8: Structure and time9: The story and your readers10: Editing fictionPart 3: Writing poetry11: Introduction to poetry12: Voice and language 13: Poetic structure 14: Rhyme and metre 15: Revising poetry Part 4: Life writing16: Starting out 17: Finding a form 18: Using memory 19: Versions of a life 20: Life characters Part 5: Going public21: Going public 22: Presenting your work READINGSPart 1: The creative process1.1 from ‘Fires’1.2 from ‘A Real-life Education’ 2.1 ‘Death of a Naturalist’ 2.2 from ‘Netherley’ 2.3 from ‘Tomorrow is Too Far’ 2.4 ‘Memory: The True Key to Real Imagining’ 3.1‘The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team’ 3.2 from Backtalk: Women Writers Speak Out Part 2: Writing fiction4.1 from ‘A Sheltered Woman’ 5.1 from ‘The Edge of the Shoal’ 6.1 ‘First Journeyman’ 6.2 ‘Becky Finch’ 6.3 ‘Love Silk Food’ 7.1 ‘Going the Last Inch: Some Thoughts on Showing and Telling’ 7.2 ‘The Dream’ 7.3 ‘Moonlight’ 7.4 from ‘Freddy Barrandov Checks … in?’ 7.5 from ‘Byron Francis’ 7.6 ‘I Could See the Smallest Things’ 7.7 ‘Tomorrow is Too Far’ 8.1 from The Art of Writing Fiction 8.2 ‘Pigeons at Daybreak’ 9.1 ‘Bodies’ 9.2 ‘Tattoo’ 10.1 ‘Through a Tangle of Branches: Reworking the Poem’ 10.2 from ‘Putting Coyolxauhqui Together: A Creative Process’ 10.3 from ‘Redrafting and Editing’ 10.4 from Steering the Craft Part 4: Life writing16.1 from Long Time No See 16.2 from ‘Little Boxes’ 17.1 from The Haunting of Alma Fielding 17.2 ‘Red Riviera’ 17. 3 ‘Well done, No. 3777!’ 18.1 from Giving Up the Ghost: A Memoir 18.2 from Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging 18.3 from Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging 19.1 from The Diary of a Young Girl 19.2 ‘Darkness and Light’ 19.3 from Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer 19.4 from ‘Time Travel on the St. Lawrence River’ 20.1 from Bad Blood 20.2 from Bedsit Disco Queen: How I Grew Up and Tried to Be a Pop Star 20.3 from Foreigners: Three English Lives Part 5: Going public21.1 from Tips From a Publisher 21.2 ‘Considering Self-Publishing: A Guide’ 22.1 Synopsis for Dark Aemilia Glossary Acknowledgements Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA selection of the very best writing by A. A. Gill, 'by miles the most brilliant journalist of our age' (Lynn Barber).Trade ReviewI can't think of a writer whose style so exactly replicated their conversation as A. A. Gill. Reading his weekly dispatches was just like being with him in person, which is why so many readers took his death late last year very personally. People - even people who had never met him - felt they'd lost their funniest, most outrageous chum. Opening a paper without an article by him is like going to your store cupboard and finding that there's no chilli or salt: everything is blander without him. Two collections which came out this year, Lines in the Sand and The Best of A A. Gill, showcase him at his finest. Adrian showed incredible courage, wit and generosity of heart during his final weeks. Once my husband, always my friend, he is irreplaceable, on and off the page -- Cressida Connolly * The Spectator Books of the Year *Everything by A. A. Gill was dictated down the phone to obliging assistants, who found him "charming and hilarious", according to Celia Hayley, editor of this posthumous collection of articles ... The fact the text was spoken aloud, performed for an audience, gives the prose its distinctive baroque theatrical flourish. Gill was like a fruity actor, preening and posturing in the limelight, or as he'd have put it, "yearning and longing, exclaiming and declaiming, biding and abiding". His brain was like a thesaurus, so Gill didn't so much construct sentences as compose lists ... The spirits always rose when you opened a paper with him in it, as his affectations and provocations were a tonic. How bland everyone else is in comparison ... Gill's peacockery is much missed, much needed. "That's rather good, isn't it?" he'd chortle to his copytaker, modesty never in his armoury. Indeed, much of it was -- Roger Lewis * The Times Book of the Week *Anyone who writes of a restaurant visit that "it was like eating in an underpass at the end of the world", certainly had something and The Best of A. A. Gill is the pick of the late writer's uniformly excellent journalism, ranging across food, television, travel and family * Choice *[Gill] is breathtakingly rude, sharply perceptive and brilliantly funny all at once. But it isn't all frothing invective. Gill's travel writing ... is gripping and moving in equal measure ... Gill's vivid reporting transports you right into the centre of wherever he is and will not let you go ... [A] must-read collection of brilliant writing -- Mernie Gilmore * DAILY EXPRESS *Few writers could compete with the late, great A. A. Gill. Lap up his wonderful wit, merciless excoriationsand lyrical musings in this collection of his very best journalism, covering everything from eatingturtle to Iraq, dyslexia and Good Morning Britain * Evening Standard *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisFamous Essex Authors, that you have never heard, that will in fact heard of. There are literally dozens of names that have been, sadly, forgotten over time. You may recognise some book titles, however (The French Lieutenant's Woman? One Hundred and One Dalmatians?). Some of the romance writers featured may not have famous names or even famous "titles" but they were so prolific and popular that they deserve to be foregrounded for their contribution to the world of books.Who knew, for instance, that a working class girl from Dagenham (Sheila Holland) would become so successful as a romantic novelist under her various pseudonyms that she went into tax exile on a mansion on the Isle of Man, or that a quiet introvert from Leigh-on-Sea was capable of writing raunchy novels about Arab sheikhs although she had never travelled beyond England (Violet Winspear). Then there is the impressive R.D.Wingfield, whose books about Detective Frost were a huge favourite of the author, revealed as being from Basildon, not far from her own home in Southend. Finding out why these people started writing, what motivated them, how they enjoyed success by using their lively imaginations, and how they sometimes struggled, has revealed a fascinating insight into the people of Essex. Even the 17th century aristocracy produced its memorable scribes with a Duchess from Colchester flaunting her exoticism and style with both the written and spoken word (Margaret Cavendish). Peppered throughout these pages are boxes featuring additional relevant trivia which should hopefully extend readers' knowledge of Essex authors and their works.Title includes a fold out map.Table of Contents13 Douglas Adams 15 Margery Allingham 19 Sabine Baring-Gould 22 Nina Bawden 24 Arnold Bennett 27 Samuel Bensusan 30 Ursula Bloom 34 Robert Buchanan 37 Margaret Cavendish 40 Joseph Conrad 43 Warwick Deeping 46 Daniel Defoe 50 Henry de Vere Stacpoole 52 John Fowles 56 Margaret Gatty 58 Elinor Glyn 62 Eleanor Graham 64 James Hilton 67 Joseph Hocking 70 Sheila Holland 74 Fergus Hume 77 Harriett Jay 80 Sarah Kane 82 The Kernahans 85 Denise Levertov 87 William Morris 90 Arthur Morrison 93 Ruth Pitter 96 Francis Quarles 98 Roland Quittenton 100 Ruth Rendell 104 Dorothy Sayers 107 Dodie Smith 110 Susan Smythies 112 Joseph Strutt 114 The Taylors of Ongar 117 H.G.Wells 121 James Wentworth Day 122 R.D.Wingfield 125 Violet Winspear 128 William Winstanley 130 Mary Wollstonecraft 132 Lady Emma Caroline Wood 134 Lady Mary Wroth 136 The Authors Who Did Not Quite Make the Essex list - mainly because of short stays 139 Poetic Licence - well known figures with more tenuous links to Essex 143 Essex Links to Classical Literature - references to Essex in some of the classics 146 More Literary Connections to Essex - touches on playwrights, historians, and others connected to both writing and Essex 150 Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisScotland, like so many other nations, has produced poetry that is patriotic, that paints landscapes, people and situations, that speaks to personal matters, and those equally everyday matters pertaining to the mind and to the spirit. The Christian heritage of Scotland has long been played out in verse, through Celtic devotional works, Catholic works, Protestant works, and not forgetting satires on the Puritanism in Scotland's post-Reformation identity. Language and culture have been equally multifarious in the nation so that three major languages: Scots, English and Gaelic (examples of which are translated in this anthology) compete and co-exist in poetry. The fifteenth century poet, William Dunbar, joked that there was no music in hell except for the bagpipes, and there speaks something of the historic lowland attitude to the Gaidhealtachd (Gaelic speaking Scotland, principally the highlands). Hostility and eventual harmony is a marker of the Scottish highlands/lowlands divide as much as for that between Scotland and England. Historic tension is not to be dismissed but, certainly, the poetic palette of Scotland is one of multilingual richness, and shows an enduringly high quality whatever the cultural vicissitudes that play a part. The medieval Makars, most prominently Robert Henryson, William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas, are often taken to represent a golden age when poetry in Scots ran the full range of mood, mode and subject matter. If this has, perhaps, never been bettered, the sixteenth century lyrics and sonnets of Alexander Montgomerie, Alexander Scott and other poets around the court of James VI, and the eighteenth century vernacular 'revival' of Allan Ramsay, Alexander Ross, Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns represent at points equally brilliant periods; and the twentieth century 'modern renaissance' of Hugh MacDiarmid, Violet Jacob and William Souter proved that Scots remained a viable poetic currency, as a living poet such as Tom Leonard continues to demonstrate. Poetry in Gaelic too has its tradition of peaks where the flame seems to burn more visibly at certain times than others. Alexander Macdonald (Alasdair Mac Mhaghstir Alasdair), Rob Donn (Rob Donn MacAoidh) and Duncan MacIntyre (Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir) make the eighteenth century a high point in achievement, while Sorley Maclean, George Campbell Hay and Iain Crichton Smith do similarly for the twentieth century: the latter three, arguably, making Gaelic verse the most able variety in Scotland during the last sixty years. Historically as many successes are scored in Scottish poetry in English. James Thomson, author of The Seasons, joins James Macpherson translator/creator of the poetry of 'Ossian' in promulgating works that are seminally iconic and influential right across the artistic genres, painting and music as much as literature, in western culture. The romantic, patriotic poetic image of Scotland is sounded in English as much as in any other language, as the writing of Walter Scott or Lady Nairne attests. James (B.V.) Thomson, John Davidson, Edwin Muir, Norman MacCaig, W.S. Graham, Edwin Morgan, Liz Lochhead, Kathleen Jamie and Don Paterson are all deeply Scottish poets speaking through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the worldwide audience that exists for creative utterance that both emanates from but is never limited by the particularity of place. Scotland's story is one that is never certain, but, enduringly and importantly its poetry is.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis superb CGP Text Guide contains everything you need to write better A-Level and Undergraduate English essays on William Shakespeare's 'Othello', all presented in a helpful and entertaining way to make study and revision easier. There are clear notes on the characters, themes, language techniques and critical context, plus practice questions to make sure you understand the main points. There's also a section dedicated to writing about 'Othello' to help you improve your grades.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne of Shakespeare's later plays, best described as a tragi-comedy, the play falls into two distinct parts. In the first Leontes is thrown into a jealous rage by his suspicions of his wife Hermione and his best-friend, and imprisons her and orders that her new born daughter be left to perish. The second half is a pastoral comedy with the "lost" daughter Perdita having been rescued by shepherds and now in love with a young prince. The play ends with former lovers and friends reunited after the apparently miraculous resurrection of Hermione. John Pitcher's lively introduction and commentary explores the extraordinary merging of theatrical forms in the play and its success in performance. As the recent Sam Mendes production at the Old Vic shows, this is a play that can work a kind of magic in the theatre.Trade Review'a play where miracles do happen and redemption does eventually come, but at a terrible price' Lyn Gardner, Guardian, 22.9.09 'Like all of Shakespeare's later plays, this is a realistic fairy tale' John Peter, Sunday Times, 20.9.09

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Jew of Malta, written around 1590, can present a challenge for modern audiences. Hugely popular in its day, the play swings wildly and rapidly in genre, from pointed satire, to bloody revenge tragedy, to melodramatic intrigue, to dark farce and grotesque comedy. Although set in the Mediterranean island of Malta, the play evokes contemporary Elizabethan social tensions, especially the highly charged issue of London's much-resented community of resident merchant foreigners. Barabas, the enormously wealthy Jew of the play's title, appears initially victimized by Malta's Christian Governor, who quotes scripture to support the demand that Jews cede their wealth to pay Malta's tribute to the Turks. When he protests, Barabas is deprived of his wealth, his means of livelihood, and his house, which is converted to a nunnery. In response to this hypocritical extortion, Barabas launches a horrific (and sometimes hilarious) course of violence that goes well beyond revenge, using murderous tactics that include everything from deadly soup to poisoned flowers. The play's sometimes complex treatment of anti-Semitism and its relationship to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice remain matters of continuing scholarly reflection. This new edition is expertly edited with an accompanying introduction that addresses issues of performance, cultural and historical context, interpretation and the key themes explored by the play. Arden Early Modern Drama editions offer the best in contemporary scholarship, providing a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary and guiding the reader to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the play. This edition provides: A clear and authoritative text Detailed on-page commentary notes A comprehensive, illustrated introduction to the play’s historical, cultural and performance contexts A bibliography of references and further readingTrade ReviewA farce of terribly serious, even savage comic humour. * T.S Eliot *Table of ContentsIntroduction List of Illustrations The Jew of Malta Appendices Further Reading Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisEna Lamont Stewart (1912-2006) had a keen sense of the appalling poverty and deprivation suffered by the residents of Glasgow''s slum tenements in the first half of the twentieth century. A member of the radical group of young writers and artists gathered around Glasgow''s Unity Theatre in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, she is today most noted for her play Men Should Weep, set in the East End of Glasgow in the 1930s. John Hodgart''s Scotnote explores how the play deals with issues of poverty and sexual and social inequality. This study guide examines the roles of the individual characters and outlines the major themes in an approachable and accessible way, and also explores issues of set, dramatic technique and staging. This guide is suitable for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR, AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR A new, feminist translation of Beowulf by the author of the acclaimed novel The Mere Wife. Nearly twenty years after Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf — and fifty years after the translation that continues to torment students around the world — there is a radical new verse interpretation of the epic poem by Maria Dahvana Headley, which brings to light elements never before translated into English. A man seeks to prove himself as a hero. A monster seeks silence in his territory. A warrior seeks to avenge her murdered son. A dragon ends it all. These familiar components of the epic poem are seen with a novelist’s eye towards gender, genre, and history. Beowulf has always been a tale of entitlement and encroachment — of powerful men seeking to become more powerful and one woman seeking justice for her child — but this version brings new context to an old story. While crafting her contemporary adaptation, Headley unearthed significant shifts lost over centuries of translation.Trade Review‘Allied to a cunning ear for alliteration, this makes for a text of rollicking, restless verve. The masculine boasting, besting and butchering are duly in place, but Headley adds a sharp focus on the actions and motivations of the female characters ... Maria Dahvana Headley’s radical translation of Beowulf sets out to make you look again at the Norse epic … If you’ve ever struggled with the poem, this is the retelling for you, its ferocious clarity turning Beowulf into a Hollywood superhero.’ -- Rishi Dastidar * The Guardian *‘[The Mere Wife] includes some tantalising snippets of Beowulf as translated by Headley. Now we have the full version, and it is electrifying … It is brash and belligerent, lunatic and invigorating, with passages of sublime poetry punctuated by obscenities and social-media shorthand … With a Beowulf defiantly of and for this historical moment, Headley reclaims the poem for her audience as well as for herself.’ -- Ruth Franklin * The New Yorker *‘Bold … Electrifying.’ -- Ron Charles * The Washington Post *‘There is a glory and thrill to her verse, which brings the blood, fire and youthful energy of the original to the surface … a gift.’ -- Hetta Howes * TLS *‘Maria Dahvana Headley’s decision to make Beowulf a bro puts his macho bluster in a whole new light.’ -- Andrea Kannapell * The New York Times *‘Maria Dahvana Headley has made an enthralling, scalding, contemporary epic; she combines newly-wrought ancient kennings with US street slang and lights up the women in the poem with unusual sympathy.’ -- Marina Warner * New Statesman 'Books of the Year' *‘Her verse has a swaggering, street-smart bite.’ -- Alex Diggins * The Sunday Telegraph *‘An iconic work of early English literature comes in for up-to-the-minute treatment … Headley’s language and pacing keep perfect track with the events she describes … [giving] the 3,182-line text immediacy without surrendering a bit of its grand poetry. Some purists may object to the small liberties Headley has taken with the text, but her version is altogether brilliant.’ STARRED REVIEW * Kirkus Reviews *‘Beowulf is an ancient tale of men battling monsters, but Headley has made it wholly modern, with language as piercing and relevant as Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN. With scintillating inversions and her use of au courant idiom — the poem begins with the word ‘Bro!’ and Queen Wealhtheow is ‘hashtag: blessed’ — Headley asks one to consider not only present conflicts in light of those of the past, but also the line between human and inhuman, power and powerlessness, and the very nature of moral transformation, the ‘suspicion that at any moment a person might shift from hero into howling wretch.’ The women of Beowulf have often been sidelined. Not so here.’ -- Danielle Trussoni * The New York Times Book Review *‘Move over, Tolkien and Heaney. This translation of Beowulf into muscular urban slang is electric … The American novelist’s sharp new version slices clean and bright to the brutal heart of this ancient adventure like a sword snatched from the dull grey stone of academia.’ -- Helen Brown * The Telegraph *‘Stupendous … exhilarating and dangerous.’ -- Philip Hensher * The Spectator *‘Maria Dahvana Headley’s radical translation of Beowulf turns the old epic into a rollicking tale for today, grabbing your lapels from its very first word.’ -- Rishi Dastidar * The Guardian *‘I have a lot of things to say about Maria Dahvana Headley's new book, Beowulf … The first thing I need to tell you is that you have to read it now. No, I don't care if you've read Beowulf (the original) before … I don't care what you think of when you think of Beowulf in any of its hundreds of other translations because this — this — version, Headley's version, is an entirely different thing. It is its own thing.’ -- Jason Sheehan * NPR *‘[L]ively and vigorous … I am delighted. I’ve never read a Beowulf that felt so immediate and so alive … It’s profane and funny and modern and archaic all at once, and its loose and unstructured verses are full of twisting, surprising kennings.’ -- Constance Grady * Vox *‘[A]s a poetic meditation on the poem, it’s full of startlingly powerful and often raucously lovely language.’ -- Steve Donoghue * Open Letters Review *‘The author of the crazy-cool Beowulf-inspired novel The Mere Wife tackles the Old English epic poem with a fierce new feminist translation that radically recontextualises the tale.’ -- Barbara VanDenburgh * USA Today *‘Thrilling … she interrogates the text to great effect.’ -- Erica Wagner * The Spectator *‘Of the four translations I’ve read, Headley’s is the most readable and engaging. She combines a modern poetry style with some of the hallmarks of Old English poetry, and the words practically sing off the page … Headley’s translation shows why it’s vital to have women and people from diverse backgrounds translate texts.’ -- Margaret Kingsbury * Buzzfeed *‘Without sacrificing the rhythm, rhyme, and visceral language of the original, Headley’s spin is refreshing. Her use of contemporary slang and tempo make the ancient text appealing to a younger audience … For Headley to find a feminist angle in the midst of all this macho behaviour is a feat — but she does it … This is a translation that deserves a wide audience. It’s clear Headley had a lot of fun with this text, and it is to be hoped it lands on the school curriculum.’ -- Afric McGlinchey * Irish Examiner *‘Headley brings a directness, intensity, and rhythm to her translation that I haven’t seen before. This is what it must have felt like to sit in a mead hall and listen to a scop tell the tale. Other translations may be more scholarly, literal, or true to the poetic form of the original, but it’s been a thousand years since Beowulf was this accessible or exciting.’ -- Steve Thomas * The Fantasy Hive *‘Headley’s Beowulf is kindred in spirit to The Mere Wife — highly conscious of gender and modernised to the hilt — but totally different in form. Instead of changing names or places, Headley sticks closely to the original Old English text while updating the vocabulary with flourishes of internet humour … The feminism in Headley’s translation is embedded in the texture and language of the poem itself rather than in its individual events or characters … Her Beowulf is a tragicomic epic about the things men do to impress one another. It’s as fierce an examination of masculine weakness as The Mere Wife was of feminine strength.’ -- Jo Livingstone * Poetry Foundation *‘The new Beowulf is incredibly exciting from beginning to end!’ -- Jason Furman * Harvard University *‘The new translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahavana Headley is the best thing I've read all fucking year.’ -- Mike Drucker, TV Writer and Comedian‘Finally, a Beowulf translation that leaves us feeling ‘hashtag: blessed’.’ -- Alena Smith * SLATE/Future Tense virtual event *‘Beowulf: a new translation pulls Beowulf into the fraught discourse on masculinity in the 21st century … Headley’s choice of backward-hatterd beer-soaked vernacular has its origins in the grandstanding language of the hero as we've always known him — a beefcake who wants to pull off such incredible feats that dudes will hype his reputation for centuries to come.’ -- Miles Klee * MEL Magazine *‘Maria Dahavana Headley’s breathtakingly audacious and idiomatically rich Beowulf: a new translation is a breath of iconoclastically fresh air blowing through the old tale's stuffy mead-hall atmosphere.’ -- Mike Scroggins * Hyperallergic *‘Joy. That is the primary emotion I felt as I was reading Maria Dahvana Headley’s new translation of Beowulf … I cannot recommend this translation more highly. It is accessible to the reader who has never encountered Beowulf before, yet it intrigues and challenges those who study the poem professionally.’ -- David Wilton * WordOrigins.org *‘The sheer poetry lifts the reader into a realm that is both familiar and even enlivening.’ FOUR STARS * Carpe Librum *‘Now science fantasy writer, Maria Dahvana Headley has cut through with a punk sensibility. Hers is a culturally radical reading with a feminist edge and it opens a pathway to a deeper historical reading.’ -- Barry Healy * Green Left *‘Compelling and persuasive … Maria Dahvana Headley’s new translation is bold, exciting and breathes new life into an old classic. With a more nuanced approach to some characters and some inspired language choices, Headley helps Beowulf reclaim its rightful place as a raucous and boozy crowd pleaser.’ FOUR STARS -- Simon Clark * The AU Review *‘This latest reimagining of the epic is through the feminist lens of Maria Dahvana Headley. Bringing this ancient text up to date is no mean feat; Headley does it with flair, fury, and fresh relatability.’ * Happy Magazine *‘This is a version that is highly recommended, not so much to ensure you’re up with your classic education, but rather, for the sheer pleasure of the story and its execution … There’s nothing quite like reading the book.’ -- Magdalena Ball * Compulsive Reader *‘In the wake of Seamus Heaney’s energetic and masterly translation 20 years ago, it took a brave writer to attempt a radically different one. But Headley’s engaging introduction to her almost rap-like version shows up many of the places where a translation can slant the original this way or that, and uses her own life and times as a starting point.’ -- Kerryn Goldsworthy * Sydney Morning Herald *‘[A] bold and fabulous feminist translation … This Beowulf is a joy to read: Headley has loosened herself from the shackles of stuffy scholarship and archaic language (although do not be fooled – she is adept at understanding her source material) to provide a rollicking good yarn.’ -- Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore * The Saturday Paper *‘[An] incredible feminist interpretation.’ * Keeping Up With the Penguins *‘It definitely isn’t your grandma’s Beowulf … Hooked from the first word … Headley's combination of alliteration, assonance, and consonance makes for verse that we can’t help but tap our feet and bob our heads to.’ -- Kwan Ann Tan * Asymptote *‘The critical aspect of this translation is that Headley uses language to bring the story vividly to life. Reinterpreting the text enables it to sing off the page, deploying verse and modern interpretations when necessary to recreate Beowulf as a flowing, visceral tale … a joy to read and highly recommended.’ -- Robert Goodman * Newtown Review of Books *‘Headley’s Beowulf demands to be read in one sitting … Barrelling along at breakneck speed, pulsating and breathless with excitement, it’s an outstanding poetic feat … It’s an astonishing world, and Headley offers us a uniquely powerful way into it.’ -- Carolyne Larrington * Literary Review *[T]here is precise scholarship at work here and a deep understanding of the language and style of the original poem – but Headley’s translation also injects new life into the epic … Headley is dragon-like in bringing her courage, grit and considerable poetic talent to the task of translation, yet also conveys plenty of its literary tradition … The Beowulf that emerges not only speaks to us but demands to be heard in our 21st-century moment. And what a captivating shout it is.’ -- Laura Varnam * History Today *‘Maria Dahvana Headley has satisfied the most deeply-felt and desired dream of any translator, to transfer into her language the words, feelings and cultural icons of a classic, lost tongue. Her Beowulf is wild and wiry, rich and ribald. It sings and dances, curtseys and copulates, although with a more graphic update of the latter, and it quite simply takes one's breath away … This Beowulf is born and eats from language at home in the world of the internet, robots, genes but maintains the alliterations and rhymes of traditional poetry, keeping the tradition alive and renewing it at the same time.’ -- Indran Amirthanayagam, judge in the Academy of American Poets' Harold Morton Landon Translation Award‘An electrifying translation.’ * The Telegraph *‘It’s awesome how strictly she follows the structure and rules while escalating the giddy gallop into a crescendo of overwhelming terror of the destructive marauder.’ -- Sue Prideaux * New Statesman *Praise for Maria Dahvana Headley: ‘Maria Dahvana Headley is a firecracker: she’s whip-smart with a heart, and she writes like a dream.’ -- Neil GaimanPraise for The Mere Wife: ‘There’s not a false note in this retelling, which does the Beowulf poet and his spear-Danes proud.’ STARRED REVIEW * Kirkus *Praise for The Mere Wife: ‘Vivid and thrilling.’ * The Daily Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Case of Loss gathers the best of Lutz Seiler's non-fiction from last twenty-five years, revealing his essays to be different to, but on a par with, his fiction and poetry. Seiler's beautifully anecdotal and associative pieces throw fascinating light on literature and his background, not least the environmental and human catastrophe of the Soviet-era mining in the community he grew up in, ‘the tired villages . . . beneath which lay the ore, uranium.’ Other essays focus on poetry, including his discovery of poetry during his military service and pieces on German poets, including Ernst Meister, Jürgen Becker and Peter Huchel, whose former house, outside Berlin, is now home to Lutz Seiler, after he broke and entered it with Huchel's widow's blessing. Meanwhile, the title essay – a fascinating insight into creative process – describes Huchel's notebook, a kind of dictionary of poetic images organised by mood and location. Providing a perfect welcome in to his work as a whole, In Case of Loss sees one of Europe's most original writers speak with openness and clarity in essays full of insight, humanity and a poet's attention to the importance of often overlooked objects and lives.Trade Review‘If this book were a building, it would surely be a makeshift shack of some kind. A shelter for forgotten objects but also a workshop in which wheels are allowed to turn without always having to touch the ground. The views from the window keep changing. No sooner have you glimpsed old tank roads running past dunes in Fischland by the Baltic, than you’re somehow looking out from a hotel room in Los Angeles, or gazing over a lawn, which at first lies outside a proscribed poet’s house in a remote forest, and is then transported to a cultural centre in Rome. There’s a village too, still in the GDR, where everyone is tired thanks to the Cold War decision to convert it into a vast uranium mine. This is an exceptional and absorbing book, in which Lutz Seiler successfully recovers and also recreates the narrative of our times.’ Patrick Wright ---- 'It is never about reconstructing. Memory does not bring back what was forgotten. Indeed, the person who remembers doesn't even know for sure that what is remembered ever existed. . . Seiler's inimitable style as a storyteller, the wilful waywardness and weight of what he has to say, the intensity (and personal tact) of his engagement with the landscapes of others' poetries and lives all make these essays a lively portrait of the writer surrounded by his library. Seiler sets standards for reflection in art today. At the same time, he gives us a sense of the pagan-sacramental importance of objects in poetry.' Sibylle Cramer, Suddeutsche Zeitung

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA clever investigation into two unsolved mysteries of poetic authorship. The technique known as contemporary stylometry uses different methods, including machine learning, to discover a poem’s author based on features like the frequencies of words and character n-grams. However, there is one potential textual fingerprint stylometry tends to ignore: versification, or the very making of language into verse. Using poetic texts in three different languages (Czech, German, and Spanish), Petr Plecháč asks whether versification features like rhythm patterns and types of rhyme can help determine authorship. He then tests his findings on two unsolved literary mysteries. In the first, Plecháč distinguishes the parts of the Elizabethan verse play The Two Noble Kinsmen written by William Shakespeare from those written by his coauthor, John Fletcher. In the second, he seeks to solve a case of suspected forgery: how authentic was a group of poems first published as the work of the nineteenth-century Russian author Gavriil Stepanovich Batenkov? This book of poetic investigation should appeal to literary sleuths the world over. Table of ContentsIntroductionPrevious PublicationsData and Code1. Quantitative Approaches to Authorship Attribution1.1 Origins of Stylometry1.2 Searching for the “Golden Feature”1.3 Multivariate Analyses1.4 Support-Vector Machines1.5 Versification-Based Attribution1.6 Summary2. Versification features2.1Rhythm2.2 Rhyme2.3 Euphony3. Experiments3.1 Data3.2 Versification-Based Attribution3.3 Comparison with Lexicon-Based Models3.4 Summary4. Application4.1 The Two Noble Kinsmen4.2 The Case of (Pseudo-)Batenkov: Towards a Formal Proof of Literary Forgery (co-authored by Artjoms Šela)5. Bibliography

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsList of Abbreviations | ix List of Figures | xi List of Plates | xv Preface | xvii Introduction: The Articulate Codex, Manuscription, and Empathic Codicology | 1 1 Florentius’s Body | 11 2 Monks at Work: Grammatica and Contemplative Manuscription | 33 3 The Garden of Colophons | 64 4 Manu mea: Charters, Presence, and the Authority of Inscription | 92 5 Makers and the Inscribed Environment | 106 6 Remember Maius: The Library and the Tomb | 128 7 The Strange Time of Handwriting | 160 8 The Weavers of Albelda | 185 Conclusion: The Handy Manuscript | 207 Acknowledgments | 217 Notes | 221 Manuscripts Cited | 291 Bibliography | 293 Index | 321 Plates follow page 168

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn anthology of poems which attempts to give readers the possession of six centuries of great British and American poetry.Trade Review“A colossus among critics. . . . His enthusiasm for literature is a joyous intoxicant.” — New York Times Magazine “Our most valuable critic . . . Harold Bloom reminds us what matters.” — Boston Globe “One feels about Bloom’s focus, every serious reader of poetry really must begin with the works he so ardently loves and champions…this comprehensive anthology is an ideal starting place.” — Booklist “A poetry anthology of and for the ages.” — Los Angeles Times “Whether you love poetry or you want to know more about the art form over the centuries, this is the book you will want.” — Albuquerque Journal “Uncommonly valuable to all who appreciate poetry. . . . This superb anthology will ensure Bloom’s role in the process for a long time and will, I hope, inspire others to walk in his formidable footsteps.” — San Francisco Chronicle

Read more less

Book SynopsisRadical alternatives to consent and traumaArguing that we have become culturally obsessed with healing trauma, Sexuality Beyond Consent calls attention to what traumatized subjects do with their pain. The erotics of racism offers a paradigmatic example of how what is proximal to violation may become an unexpected site of flourishing. Central to the transformational possibilities of trauma is a queer form of consent, limit consent, that is not about guarding the self but about risking experience. Saketopoulou thereby shows why sexualities beyond consent may be worth risking-and how risk can solicit the future.Moving between clinical and cultural case studies, Saketopoulou takes up theatrical and cinematic works such as Slave Play and The Night Porter, to chart how trauma and sexuality join forces to surge through the aesthetic domain. Putting the psychoanalytic theory of Jean Laplanche in conversation with queer of color critique, performance studies, and phTrade ReviewLavishly brilliant. Rarely has a book so daringly startled me. Clarity, nuance, pain, even tenderness here braid uniquely, keyed to sexual collisions with race. A series of showstopping claims result, glistening with seduction. Never have I felt so welcomed into trauma as a mode of doing, a mode of expanding, a mode of greeting what is foreign in oneself. Take this invitation laced with surprise. * Kathryn Bond Stockton, author of Gender(s) *Making a vibrant argument for psychoanalysis’s importance in grappling with our modern racial dramas, Sexuality Beyond Consent weaves together insights from queer theory, performance studies, and critical race theory to explore overwhelm. Saketopoulou’s clear and compelling prose brings together clinical case studies, Laplanche, and Slave Play to arrive at an ethics for dealing with power and difference now—the result is a dazzling, brilliant read. * Amber Jamilla Musser, author of Sensual Excess: Queer Femininity and Brown Jouissance *Offers nothing less than a theory of sexuality, one that refuses contemporary pieties. In a series of profound and sometimes personal reflections, Saketopoulou subjects our reigning models of consent to close scrutiny, and asks what happens when fantasy—intractable, recalcitrant, but also protean and surprising—belies our most dearly held political and ethical commitments. The result is a work that excavates the complex enmeshments of the sexed body, race, and history, and demonstrates the ongoing salience of psychoanalytic concepts to feminist and anti-racist cultural analysis. Saketopoulou’s critique of the liberal sexual subject is politically necessary and intellectually thrilling. * Damon Ross Young, University of California, Berkeley *This brilliant, often counter-intuitive examination of sexuality, race, and consent explores how we might yield to the opacity in ourselves. Saketopoulou unpacks with startling insight moments beyond the politics of identity and trauma to imagine how the surrendering of consent might lead to an ethical expansion rather than diminishment of the self. * David L. Eng, University of Pennsylvania *

Read more less