ELT & Literary Studies Books
HarperCollins Publishers KS1 English Study Book
Book SynopsisLevel: KS1Subject: EnglishCovering everything children need to know for KS1When it comes to getting the best results, practice really does make perfect! Matched to the National Curriculum, this Collins KS1 English Study Book contains clear and accessible explanations of every topic with lots of practice opportunities throughout. Using five spaced practice opportunities and a repeated practice method that is proven to work, this book helps to improve English performance. Practice questions are organised into three levels of increasing difficulty to start, then they're mixed at the end of the book for varied revision. Quick tests throughout allow children to test their understanding along the way, while review questions later in the guide allow children to refresh their knowledge. Also included are free downloadable flash cards which are brilliant to use in the classroom or at home. For extra KS1 English practice, try our Practice Workbook (9780008112738).
£6.77
HarperCollins Publishers Henry V Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
£5.70
HarperCollins Publishers The Aeneid Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.
£4.81
HarperCollins Publishers Peter Pan
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.Second to the right and then straight on till morning!'Desperate to hear bedtime stories, Peter Pan waits outside the nursery window of Wendy, John and Michael Darling. When Peter asks Wendy to fly with him to Neverland, the Darling children are whisked away to a world of adventure of daring fairies, wondrous mermaids and The Lost Boys.But there is danger in Neverland too: the villainous Captain Hook is out for revenge and will stop at nothing to take it.Poignant and unforgettable, J. M. Barrie's classic tale is one of the greatest works of children's literature of the last century. Its imaginative scope, tender humour and vivid characters will enchant adults and children alike.Published in association with Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity.Trade Review‘Intensely moving as well as enchanting in its evocation of childhood, the heartlessness of youth and parental grief as children grow older’ Daily Telegraph
£5.62
HarperCollins Publishers Smith of Wootton Major
Book SynopsisA charming new pocket edition of one of Tolkien's major pieces of short fiction, and his only finished work dating from after publication of The Lord of the Rings.What began as a preface to The Golden Key by George MacDonald eventually grew into this charming short story, so named by Tolkien to suggest an early work by P.G. Wodehouse. Composed almost a decade after The Lord of the Rings, and when his lifelong occupation with the Silmarillion' was winding down, Smith of Wootton Major was the product of ripened experience and reflection. It was published in 1967 as a small hardback, complete with charming black and white illustrations by Pauline Baynes, and would be the last work of fiction to be published in Tolkien's own lifetime.Now, almost 50 years on, this enchanting tale of a wanderer who finds his way into the perilous realm of Faery is being published in paperback. Contained here are many intriguing links to the world of Middle-earth, as well as to Tolkien's other tales, and this new edition is enhanced with a facsimile of the illustrated first edition, a manuscript of Tolkien's early draft of the story, notes and an alternate ending, and a lengthy essay on the nature of Faery.Trade Review“The book has a haunting quality, characteristic of the best of the ‘deeper’ folktales. It is a beautiful, memorable story.” Times Educational Supplement “It may be compared to the most delicate miniature but it is one of a rare kind: the more closely it is examined the more it reveals the grandeur of its conception. Whoever reads it at eight will still be going back to it at eighty.” New Statesman “A tremendously valuable volume with important new insights into Tolkien’s way of working. It’s also a beautiful hardcover edition of the story.” Mythprint
£11.69
Intellect Books The Film Paintings of David Lynch: Challenging
Book SynopsisOne of the most distinguished filmmakers working today, David Lynch is a director whose vision of cinema is firmly rooted in fine art. He was motivated to make his first film as a student because he wanted a painting that “would really be able to move.” Most existing studies of Lynch, however, fail to engage fully with the complexities of his films’ relationship to other art forms. The Film Paintings of David Lynch fills this void, arguing that Lynch’s cinematic output needs to be considered within a broad range of cultural references. Aiming at both Lynch fans and film studies specialists, Allister Mactaggart addresses Lynch’s films from the perspective of the relationship between commercial film, avant-garde art, and cultural theory. Individual Lynch films—The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway, The Straight Story, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire—are discussed in relation to other films and directors, illustrating that the solitary, or seemingly isolated, experience of film is itself socially, culturally, and politically important. The Film Paintings of David Lynch offers a unique perspective on an influential director, weaving together a range of theoretical approaches to Lynch's films to make exciting new connections among film theory, art history, psychoanalysis, and cinema.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Towards a Palimpsest Chapter One: Ever Died? Ever Failed? No Matter. Die Again. Fail Better. Immanence and Transcendence In Twin Peaks (With Apologies To Samuel Beckett) Chapter Two: Reasons to be Tearful: Snapshots of Lynchian Excess Chapter Three: Driven to Distraction: Hitching a Ride along the Lynchian Highway Chapter Four: Pierced by the Past: Filmic Trauma; Remembering and Forgetting Chapter Five: ‘It is Happening Again’: Experiencing the Lynchian Uncanny Chapter Six: The Return of the Repressed: INLAND EMPIRE, DavidLynch.Com, and the Re-emergence of Film Painting Conclusion: Stitching up Lynch
£22.75
HarperCollins Publishers Little Women
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.''Wouldn''t it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true, and we could live in them?''An endearing tale of hardship, love and sisterhood during the American Civil War, Little Women tells the story of the March family. Newly impoverished, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy undertake their journey through life together, bound to each other and their beloved mother Marmee by fierce loyalty. Good and bad timescome and go as they struggle with the trials of growing up, getting along, and exploring life outside the comforting walls of home, each discovering her own distinct personality along the way.Full of charm and heart, Little Women is the first novel in a series cherished by children and adults alike.
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Birds and Other Plays The
Book SynopsisFive comedies from Ancient Greece that freely blend satire and slapstickOffering a window into the world of ordinary Athenians, Aristophanes' The Birds and Other Plays is a timeless set of comedies, combining witty satire and raucous slapstick to wonderful effect. The plays in this volume all contain Aristophanes' trademark bawdy comedy and dazzling verbal agility. In The Birds, two cunning Athenians persuade the birds to build the utopian city of 'Much Cuckoo in the Clouds' in the sky, blockading the Olympian gods and installing themselves as new deities. The Knights is a venomous satire on Cleon, a prominent Athenian demagogue, who vies with a humble sausage-seller for the approval of the people; while The Assembly-Women deals with the battle of the sexes as the women of Athens infiltrate the all-male Assembly in disguise. The lengthy conflict with Sparta is the subject of Peace, inspired by the hope of a settlement in 421 BC, and Table of ContentsThe Birds and Other PlaysAbout the Author7Aristophanes in Antiquity9Aristophanes, Comedian and Poet21The Knights29Peace91The Birds147The Assemblywoman215Wealth265Notes313Select Bibliography336
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Aesop The Complete Fables
Book Synopsis'Many people are not in the least disturbed at the harm that befalls them, provided they can see their enemies’ downfall first’ In a series of pithy, amusing vignettes, Aesop created a vivid cast of characters to demonstrate different aspects of human nature. Here we see a wily fox outwitted by a quick-thinking cicada, a tortoise triumphing over a self-confident hare and a fable-teller named Aesop silencing those who mock him. Each jewel-like fable provides a warning about the consequences of wrong-doing, as well as offering a glimpse into the everyday lives of Ancient Greeks.This definitive edition is the first translation into English of the entire corpus of 358 unbowdlerized fables. It is fully annotated, with an introduction that rescues the fables from a tradition of moralistic interpretation.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700&Table of ContentsIntroductionA Note on the TextTHE COMPLETE FABLES
£8.99
Penguin Books Ltd Phaedrus
Book SynopsisPhaedrus is widely recognized as one of Plato''s most profound and beautiful works. It takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus and its ostensible subject is love, especially homoerotic love. This new translation is accompanied by an introduction, further reading, and full notes on the text and translation that discuss the structure of the dialogue and elucidate issues that might puzzle the modern reader.
£9.49
Columbia University Press Far Beyond the Field
Book SynopsisA collection of haiku by Japanese women, this volume includes translations of 400 haiku written by 20 poets from the 17th century (Basho's school) to the second half of the 20th. For each poet there is a brief biographical and critical headnote, followed by 20 haiku.Table of ContentsIntroduction Den Sutejo (1633-1698) Kawai Chigetsu (1634?-1718) Shiba Sonome (1664-1726) Chiyojo (1703-1775) Enomoto Seifu (1732-1815) Tagami Kikusha (1753-1826) Takeshita Shizunojo (1887-1951) Sugita Hisajo (1890-1946) Hashimoto Takako (1899-1963) Mitsuhashi Takajo (1899-1972) Ishibashi Hideno (1909-1947) Katsura Nobuko (b. 1914) Yoshino Yoshiko (b. 1915) Tsuda Kiyoko (b. 1920) Inahata Teiko (b. 1931) Uda Kiyoko (b. 1935) Kuroda Momoko (b. 1938) Tsuji Momoko (b. 1945) Katayama Yumiko (b. 1952) Mayuzumi Madoka (b. 1965)
£25.50
Columbia University Press Regimes of Historicity
Book SynopsisA classical historian confronts our crises of time, radically calling into question our relations to the past, present, and future.Trade ReviewSince his classic Mirror of Herodotus, Francois Hartog has emerged as the most significant theorist of history and chronicler of our changing relationship to our own past that France has produced. In this series of meditative chapters, he takes us from the Greeks to the present once more, emphasizing how the theory of history must move from diagnosing the modern gap between expectation and experience to confronting the exigency of historical crisis today. Hartog's reflections are valuable for all humanists. -- Samuel Moyn, Columbia University In a book that should be required reading for anyone interested in history's role in contemporary society, Francois Hartog shows how unexamined assumptions about the past shape our understandings of ourselves and our place in history. -- Lynn Hunt, University of California, Los Angeles Francois Hartog's pioneering work on the concept of 'regimes of historicity' makes this book a must for scholars in both the social sciences and the humanities. A distinguished classical historian, Hartog uses specific, well-chosen examples to explain how understanding regimes of historicity will allow us to better understand the conditions of possibility for producing histories and, more generally, our own relationship to time. -- Robert Morrissey, University of Chicago Francois Hartog is perhaps the most important historian of historiography today... Regimes of Historicity should be required reading for anyone interested in the past, present, and future writing of history. American Historical Review Regimes of Historicity should be required reading for anyone interested in the past, present, and future writing of history. Time's BooksTable of ContentsPresentism: Stopgap or New State? Introduction: Orders of Time and Regimes of Historicity Orders of Time 1 1. Making History: Sahlins's Islands 2. From Odysseus's Tears to Augustine's Meditations 3. Chateaubriand, Between Old and New Regimes of Historicity Orders of Time 2 4. Memory, History, and the Present 5. Heritage and the Present Our Doubly Indebted Present: The Reign of Presentism Notes Index
£19.80
Peepal Tree Press Ltd A Choreographer's Cartography
Book SynopsisRaman Mundair's second collection of poems sees her expanding her territory to create a new poetic geography. Her voice dances with her love for the language and life of the Shetland Islands through the anguish of war to the movement of people and the crossing of boundaries. She brings to all a combination of passion and compassion, sensitivity and sensuality.The collection encompasses poems written in the Shetland dialect, narratives of thwarted desire and a sequence of poems which explore the dynamics and historical by-ways of the waltz.Raman Mundair is a writer and artist. She was born in Ludhiana, India and came to live in the UK at the age of five. She is the author of two volumes of poetry, A Choreographer's Cartography and Lovers, Liars, Conjurers and Thieves.Trade Review"Mundair conveys a vivid and memorable sense of self, and a truly poetic intimation of a dimension beyond the sharply focused moment. This voice deserves to be widely heard." Michael Mitchell, University of Warwick"
£8.54
Vintage Publishing How Fiction Works
Book SynopsisRediscover this deep, practical anatomy of the novel from 'the strongest ... literary critic we have' (New York Review of Books) in this new revised 10th anniversary edition.What do we mean when we say we 'know' a fictional character? What constitutes a 'telling' detail? When is a metaphor successful? Is realism realistic? Why do most endings of novels disappoint?In the tradition of E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel and Milan Kundera's The Art of the Novel, How Fiction Works is a study of the main elements of fiction, such as narrative, detail, characterization, dialogue, realism, and style. In his first full-length book of criticism, one of the most prominent critics of our time takes the machinery of story-telling apart to ask a series of fundamental questions. Wood ranges widely, from Homer to Beatrix Potter, from the Bible to John Le Carré, and his book is both a study of the techniques of fiction-making and an alternative history of the novel. Playful and profound, it incisively sums up two decades of bold, often controversial, and now classic critical work, and will be enlightening to writers, readers, and anyone interested in what happens on the page.'Should find a place on every novel-lover's shelf. It has the quality all useful works of criticism should have: refined taste, keen observation, and the ability to make the reader argue, passionately, with it' Financial TimesTrade ReviewThis compelling essay shows just how deeply, sensitively, imaginatively and joyfully he reads * Scotland on Sunday *There aren't many book reviewers whose leaving one magazine to go to work for another would make the headlines. But then there aren't many book reviewers like James Wood * Sunday Telegraph *Luminous... full of top-notch observations from the coal-face -- D.J. Taylor * Independent on Sunday *Enchanting... Witty, concise, and composed with a lovely lightness of touch * Economist *Exceptionally illuminating... brilliantly acute and enticingly widely read work. It should be compulsory reading for anyone in the reviewing trade and committed to memory before aspiring writers put pen to paper. For those who intend to pursue the underrated calling of reading fiction without wishing to add to its ranks, it will not only make reading more pleasurable, but articulate what you may have felt but never been able to express -- Rosemary Goring * Herald *
£10.44
Little, Brown Book Group Eating Fire: Selected Poetry 1965-1995
Book SynopsisFrom the author of The Handmaid's Tale and Dearly I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary.Eating Fire brings together three of Margaret's Atwood's key poetry collections: Poems 1965-1975, Poems 1976-1986 and Morning in the Burned House. The landscape of Atwood's poetry is one of bus trips and postcards, wilderness, glass, and fires both savage and tender. Atwood's signature themes resound throughout all of them: the politics of sex, the darkness at the heart of every fairytale, and the pain - and triumph - of existing as a woman. * * * 'Atwood is the quiet Mata Hari, the mysterious, violent figure . . . who pits herself against the ordered too-clean world like an arsonist' - Michael Ondaatje'Detached, ironic, loving by turns . . . poems that sing off the page and sting' - Michèle RobertsTrade ReviewAtwood is the quiet Mata Hari, the mysterious, violent figure ... who pits herself against the ordered too-clean world like an arsonist * Michael Ondaatje *An acute and poetic observer of the eternal, universal rum relations between women and men * THE TIMES *Detached, ironic... poems that sing off the page and sting * Michele Roberts *Lean, symbolic, thoroughly Atwoodesque prose honed into elegant columns... * SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Dolphins the Whales and the Gudgeon Penguin
Book Synopsis''An ass, clothed in the skin of a lion...''Aesop''s animal fables are some of the earliest stories ever told, thought to have been composed by a slave in Greek antiquity and giving glimpses of a world that is harsh, pitiless and yet also eerily familiar.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin''s 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millionsAesop is believed to have lived in 6th century BC. Aesop''s The Complete Fables is available in Penguin Classics.
£5.71
Little, Brown Book Group If Not, Winter: Fragments Of Sappho
Book SynopsisFrom the critically acclaimed poet and classicist Anne Carson: a brilliant new translation of the work of Sappho, together with the original Greek. During her life on the island of Lesbos, Sappho is said to have composed nine books of lyrics. Only one poem has survived complete. In IF NOT, WINTER, Carson presents all the extant fragments of Sappho's verse, employing brackets and white space to denote missing text - allowing the reader to imagine the poems as they were written. Carson says of her method of translation: 'I like to think that, the more I stand out of the way, the more Sappho shows through.' And certainly her translation illuminates Sappho's reflections on love and desire, her companions and rivals, the goddess Aphrodite, her own daughter, Kleis. IF NOT, WINTER gives us an extraordinary ancient poet brought alive by a brilliantly empathetic contemporary poet. Complete with Carson's introduction and notes, it will become the standard translation of Sappho for our time.Trade Reviewa superb version...these new poems, made by Carson out of Sappho, are subtle, beautiful, precise, moving. * Margaret Reynolds, THE TIMES *This collection of her [Sappho's] fragments gives you everything, for the first time... * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *The beautiful blur of Sappho's work, the rhythms, the ornate grammar, the singing sounds she teases out of rare words...are impossible to match. * DAILY TELEGRAPH *Imaginatively presented and superbly prefaced, this collection is both heartrending and uplifiting. * INDEPENDENT *
£15.29
Hesperus Press Ltd Brief Lives: Virginia Woolf
Book Synopsis
£6.39
Columbia University Press Brevity
Book SynopsisDavid Galef provides a guide to writing flash fiction, from tips on technique to samples by canonical and contemporary authors to provocative prompts that inspire powerful stories in a little space. Brevity is an indispensable resource for anyone working in this increasingly popular form.Trade ReviewIf I had to choose just one book for my class in writing flash fiction, it would be this one. Practical, direct, wonderful examples, fun to read-if this book doesn't energize your writing, nothing will. -- Robert Shapard, coeditor of Sudden Fiction: American Short-Short Stories Brevity represents a useful addition to the range of current creative writing texts, combining an anthology of flash fiction with an analysis of the subcategories within the form and writing exercises that will inspire students. Galef's witty, welcoming tone will appeal to beginning and intermediate writers. Often, I felt so inspired by the prompts that I wanted to sit down at my computer and try the exercises myself. -- Eileen Pollack, author of A Perfect Life: A Novel Brevity is a thorough introduction to the form, offering a variety of strategies for composition, as well as a wide-ranging, international anthology linked to each chapter's focus. A relentlessly generative, eclectic, instructive, entertaining, and motivational text. -- Michael Martone, author of The Flatness and Other Landscapes Galef is an excellent writer, and the book throughout is a delight-he makes the reader want to immediately start writing... He provides deft insights and suggestions on editing... and he suggests techniques that work well when applied to a small text. Best of all, each chapter provides examples of great flash fiction-from authors as different as Saki and Steve Martin-as well as ideas for readers to explore. Publishers WeeklyTable of ContentsAcknowledgments A Short Introduction Vignettes. Readings: Colette: "The Other Wife"; Isaac Babel: "An Incident on the Nevsky Prospekt" Character Sketches. Readings: L. E. Leone: "The Argument for a Shotgun"; Josefina Estrada: "The Extravagant Behavior of the Naked Woman" Letters. Readings: Yasunari Kawabata: "Canaries"; Phil Karasik: "Mickey the Dog Phones Home" Diary Entries. Readings: Will Stanton: "Barney"; Mark Budman: "The Diary of a Salaryman" Lists. Readings: Sei Shonagon: "Annoying Things"; Steve Martin: "Disgruntled Former Lexicographer" Fables. Readings: Anonymous: Untitled; Raphael Dagold: "The Two Rats and the BB Gun" Anecdotes. Reading: The peasant and the genie Prose Poems. Readings: Yusef Komunyakaa: "Nude Interrogation"; Len Kuntz: "Story Problems" Soliloquies, Rants, Riffs, and Themes. Readings: Christine Byl: "Hey, Jess McCafferty"; John Edgar Wideman: "Witness" Perfect Miniatures. Readings: John Collier: "The Chaser"; Jeffrey Whitmore: "Bedtime Story" Intermission: Cutting Down. Bruce Taylor: "Exercise" Surrealism. Readings: Richard Brautigan: "A Need for Gardens"; Donald Barthelme: "The Baby" What If? Readings: Wayland Hilton-Young: "The Choice"; Dicky Murphy: "The Magician's Umbrella" Genre. Readings: Roxane Gay: "The Mistress of Baby Breath"; Tara Orchard: "My Love" Setting. Readings: Bharati Mukherjee: "Courtly Vision"; Alice Walker: "The Flowers" Twists. Readings: Luisa Valenzuela: "Vision Out of the Corner of One Eye"; Saki: "The Open Window" Two Viewpoints. Readings: Robert Schipits: "Dialogue Between Two Teenagers, One Interested in Cars and One Not"; Ryan Ridge: "Shaky Hands & All" Mass Compression. Readings: Bruce Holland Rogers: "Dinosaur"; Susan O'Neill: "Memento Mori" Metafiction. Readings: Ptim Callan: "Story"; Jorge Luis Borges: "Borges and I" Vanishing Point. Readings: Merilee Faber: "We came around the corner"; Dean Clayton Edwards: "It was pretending"; Davian Aw: "She raised the glass"; Augusto Monterroso: "The Dinosaur" The Future Conclusion Bibliography Permissions Index
£18.00
University of Notre Dame Press Interpreting Dante
Book SynopsisIn Interpreting Dante: Essays on the Traditions of Dante Commentary, Paola Nasti and Claudia Rossignoli gather essays by prominent scholars of the Dante commentary tradition to discuss the significance of this tradition for the study of the Comedy, its broad impact on the history of ideas, and its contribution to the development of literary criticism.Interest in the Dante commentary tradition has grown considerably in recent years, but projects on this subject tend to focus on philological reconstructions. The contributors shift attention to the interpretation of texts, authors, and reading communities by examining how Dante commentators developed interpretative paradigms that contributed to the advancement of literary criticism and the creation of the Western literary canon. Dante commentaries illustrate the evolution of notions of literariness and literature, genre and style, intertextuality and influence, literary histories, traditions and canons, authorship Trade Review"Just as the University of Notre Dame has become the central point in American Dante studies, its press is now recognized as the most vital current source of publications dealing with the Florentine poet. These fifteen essays, composed by Italian, American, and British scholars, gather to form an essential companion to such collections of the early commentaries as that found in the Dartmouth Dante Project." —Robert Hollander, Princeton University (emeritus)"Interpreting Dante is an extremely valuable and timely contribution to scholarship on the Dante commentary tradition. Such a collection, devoted both to methodological problems and to single cases, is a novelty. Additionally, as the first comprehensive volume on the topic in English, it will serve as an invaluable resource for students and scholars." —Anna Pegoretti, University of Warwick"Interpreting Dante presents a genuinely top-notch collection of essays written by some of the most innovative and influential scholars in the field, on both sides of the Atlantic. A joy to read, from beginning to end, this volume will make a lasting impact on the study of Dante's reception." —Michael Papio, University of Massachusetts Amherst"This volume draws on a diversity of critical perspectives to reevaluate the Dante commentary tradition not as a monolithic entity but as one embodying, in the rich plurality of its exegetical practices, the perennial challenges and rewards of 'interpreting Dante.' . . . the book leaves us with a sense of the commentary tradition as an animate entity, which continues to evolve and grow into the body of Dante scholarship as we know it today, If 'a text is also the history of its reception,' then Interpreting Dante confirms that the Comedy continues to enjoy a prolific afterlife." —Speculum“. . . editors Paola Nasti and Claudia Rossignoli have crafted a volume that offers broad coverage while focusing on two periods of particular vitality: the earliest commentaries of the fourteenth century, and the sixteenth-century commentaries, which recast Dante’s poem in the period of the Counter-Reformation. The meticulously researched and footnoted essays offer an entry point into the study not of Dante’s Commedia, but of the most important commentaries that have accompanied the poem.” —Renaissance Quarterly“With the high level of expertise of its contributors and the high level of scholarship in their essays, it will be no surprise when the volume becomes essential reading for the study of Dante commentary . . . . This volume offers an enticing foray into the complex study of Dante commentary with its well-curated and well-chosen collection of essays.” —Comitatus“. . . this is a welcome initiative, as wide-ranging as it is brimming with expertise and as amply provided bibliographically as it is beautifully illustrated.” —Modern Language Review“As Dante scholarship and medieval textual studies evolve, this volume will surely be a guide for the next decade and more . . . this book should be found in every college library and will prove indispensable to a wide circle of scholars.” —Sixteenth Century Journal“Paola Nasti and Claudia Rossignoli’s erudite volume . . . has the potential to initiate not only further research on the commentaries but also to inspire Dane scholarship more broadly. Composed with great care, executed with methodological rigor, and mindful of philological concerns, as well as cultural and historical contexts, the essays follow a maxim that has been adapted for the Devers series from Aldus Manutius, but is all too often forgotten in academic life today: festina lente.” —Medievalia et Humanistica
£35.10
Oxford University Press Selected Speeches
Book Synopsis''Even if everyone else succumbs to slavery, we must still fight for our freedom.''Admired by many in the ancient world as the greatest of the classic Athenian orators, Demosthenes was intimately involved in the political events of his day. As well as showing a master orator at work, his speeches are a prime source for the history of the period, when Athens was engaged in a doomed struggle against the rising power of Macedon under the brilliant father and son, Philip and Alexander. Demosthenes wrote for the courts, both for political trials in which he was involved and for other cases in which he acted as ghost-writer for plaintiff or defendant, and his lawcourt speeches give an unrivalled glimpse of the daily life of ancient Athens. He also played a central role in education in Greece and Rome from the Hellenistic period onward, and was imitated by the greatest of Roman orators, Cicero.This selection includes the fullest range of Demosthenes'' speeches, for trials both public and privTrade Review[Demosthenes' speeches] impress with their emotional intensity, brilliance and variety of argument (dishonest or not), irony, forceful imagery, wit and general sense of mastery of the spoken word, in Robin Waterfields fine new translations. * Peter Jones, Classics for All *Table of ContentsDELIBERATIVE SPEECHES; TRIALS IN PUBLIC CASES; PRIVATE AND GHOST-WRITTEN SPEECHES
£11.69
Oxford University Press The New Oxford Shakespeare Modern Critical
Book SynopsisThe Complete Works: Modern Critical Edition is part of the landmark New Oxford Shakespeare--an entirely new consideration of all of Shakespeare''s works, edited afresh from all the surviving original versions of his work, and drawing on the latest literary, textual, and theatrical scholarship. In one attractive volume, the Modern Critical Edition gives today''s students and playgoers the very best resources they need to understand and enjoy all Shakespeare''s works. The authoritative text is accompanied by extensive explanatory and performance notes, and innovative introductory materials which lead the reader into exploring questions about interpretation, textual variants, literary criticism, and performance, for themselves.The Modern Critical Edition presents the plays and poetry in the order in which Shakespeare wrote them, so that readers can follow the development of his imagination, his engagement with a rapidly evolving culture and theatre, and his relationship to his literary contemporaries.The New Oxford Shakespeare consists of four interconnected publications: the Modern Critical Edition (with modern spelling), the Critical Reference Edition (with original spelling), a companion volume on Authorship, and an online version integrating all of this material on OUP''s high-powered scholarly editions platform. Together, they provide the perfect resource for the future of Shakespeare studies.Table of ContentsTHE COMPLETE WORKS
£47.60
Oxford University Press The Wild Asss Skin
Book Synopsis''Who possesses me will possess all things,But his life will belong to me...''Raphael de Valentin, a young aristocrat, has lost all his money in the gaming parlours of the Palais Royal in Paris, and contemplates ending his life by throwing himself into the Seine. He is distracted by the bizarre array of objects in a chaotic antique shop, among them a strange animal skin, a piece of shagreen with magical properties. It will grant its possessor his every wish, but each time a wish is bestowed the skin shrinks, hastening its owner''s death. Around this fantastic premise Balzac weaves a compelling psychological portrait of his hero, a prisoner of his own Promethean imagination, and explores profound ideas about the human will, vice and virtue, love and death. Helen Constantine''s new translation captures the energy and exuberance of Balzac''s novel, one of the most engaging of his ''Études philosophiques'' from the Comédie humaine. The accompanying introduction and notes offer fresh insights into this remarkable work. 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 novel has been elegantly translated by Helen Constantine, who is both faithful and creative * Nicholas White, Times Literary Supplement *A model of its kind * Nineteenth-Century French Studies *
£11.69
Oxford University Press The SketchBook of Geoffrey Crayon Gent.
Book SynopsisIn The Sketch-Book Washington Irving explores the uneasy relationship of an American writer to English literary traditions. He sketches a series of encounters with the cultural shrines of the parent nation, and in two brilliant experiments with tales transplanted from Europe creates the first classic American short stories, `Rip Van Winkle' and `The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow'.
£9.49
Oxford University Press Romes Mediterranean Empire Books 4145 and the
Book Synopsis''I will do as the Senate decrees.''These words from one of Rome''s opponents encapsulate the authority Rome achieved by its subjugation of the Mediterranean. The Third Macedonian War, recounted in this volume, ended the kingdom created by Philip II and Alexander the Great and was a crucial step in Rome''s eventual dominance. For Livy, the story is also a fascinating moral study of the vices and virtues that hampered and promoted Rome''s efforts in the conflict. He presents the war not so much as a battle against Perseus, Alexander''s last and unworthy successor, than as a struggle within the Roman national character. Only traditional moral strength, embodied in Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the general who ultimately defeats Perseus, ensures the Roman victory.This edition also includes the Periochae, later summaries of Livy''s entire original 142-book history of Rome from its founding to the age of Augustus (of which only 35 books survive).The complete Livy in English, available in five volumes from Oxford World''s Classics. 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.
£13.29
Oxford University Press Meno and Other Dialogues
Book SynopsisMeno Charmides Laches Lysis''Do please try to tell us what courage is...''In these four dialogues Plato considers virtue and its definition. Charmides, Laches, and Lysis investigate the specific virtues of self-control, courage, and friendship; the later Meno discusses the concept of virtue as a whole, and whether it is something that can be taught. In the conversations between Socrates and his interlocutors, moral concepts are debated and shown to be more complex than at first appears, until all the participants in the conversations are reduced to bafflement.The artistry as well as the philosophy of these dialogues has always been widely admired. The introduction to this edition explains the course of the four dialogues and examines the importance of Socrates'' questions and arguments, and the notes cover major and minor points in more detail. This is an essential volume for understanding the brilliance of the first Western philosopher. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford WTable of ContentsMENO; CHARMIDES; LACHES; LYSIS
£8.54
Oxford University Press Against Nature
Book Synopsis`It will be the biggest fiasco of the year - but I don''t care a damn! It will be something nobody has ever done before, and I shall have said what I had to say.'' As Joris -Karl Huysmans announced in 1884, Against Nature was fated to be a novel like no other. Resisting the models of classic nineteenth-century fiction, it focuses on the attempts of its anti-hero, the hypersensitive neurotic and aesthete, Des Esseintes, to escape Paris and the vulgarity of modern life. Holed up in his private museum of high taste, he offers Huysmans''s readers a treasure trove of cultural delights which anticipates many of the strains of modernism in its appreciation of Baudelaire, Moreau, Redon, Mallarmé and Poe. This new translation is supplemented by indispensable notes which enhance the understanding of a highly allusive work. 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''
£9.49
Oxford University Press Memoirs of Emma Courtney
Book SynopsisFirst published in the turbulent decade following the French Revolution, Memoirs of Emma Courtney is based on Mary Hays'' own passionate struggle with romance and Enlightenment philosophy. A feminist and ardent disciple of Mary Wollstonecraft, Hays reveals the lamentable gap between `what women are'' and `what woment ought to be''. The novel is one of the most articulate and detailed expressions of the yearnings and frustrations of a woman living in late eighteenth-century English society. It questions marital arrangements and courtship rituals by depicting a woman who actively pursues the man she loves. The novel explores the links between sexuality, desire, and economic and social freedom, suggesting the need for improvement in the laws of society which `have enslaved, enervated, and degraded woman''. 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 commitTrade Reviewthe editions deserve great credit for the enthusiasm of their approach ... The introductions by eminent scholars put the thoughts of the author and the history of the time into clear perspective. Oxford should be given credit for making the classics accessible for all rather than just crib notes for students. * Jonathan Copeland, Lincolnshire Echo *
£9.49
Oxford University Press Classical Literary Criticism Oxford Worlds
Book SynopsisThis excellent and accessible work includes many major texts in translation: Aristotle's Poetics, Longinus' On Sublimity, Horace's Art of Poetry, Tacitus' Dialogues, and extracts from Plato and Plutarch.Trade Review'A very useful selection.' Dr M. S. Silk, King's College, London'A very useful collection.' Anne Sheppard, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College'An excellent collection.' M. J. Blumenthal, University of Liverpool'A fine selection at an attractive price. It is good to see some less well known texts of ancient criticism included.' Dr Alison Sharrock, University of Keele'I welcome this book particularly for the less familiar authors not easily accessible to students.' Dr M. A. Bromley, St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill'extremely useful to students' P. E. Easterling, University College, London'An excellent anthology' Dr A. P. Baldwin, Cambridge UniversityTable of ContentsPlato: Ion: Republic 2-3; Republic 10; Aristotle: Poetics; Horace: A Letter to Augustus; The Art of Poetry; Tacitus: Dialogue on Orators; `Longinus': On Sublimity; Dio of Prusa: Philoctetes in the Tragedians; Plutarch: On the Study of Poetry
£8.99
Penguin Books Ltd The Iliad
Book SynopsisThe great war epic of Western literature, translated by acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles, and featured in the Netflix series The OAA Penguin Classic Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in his superb introduction that although the violence of the Iliad is grim and relentless, it coexists with both images of civilized life and a poignant yearning for peace. Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. HTable of ContentsThe IliadTranslator's PrefaceIntroductionIntroductionThe Spelling and Pronunciation of Homeric NamesMapsHomer: The IliadBook 1: The Rage of AchillesBook 2: The Great Gathering of ArmiesBook 3: Helen Reviews the ChampionsBook 4: The Truce Erupts in WarBook 5: Diomodes Fights the GodsBook 6: Hector Returns to TroyBook 7: Ajax Duels in HectorBook 8: The Tide of Battle TurnsBook 9: The Embassy to AchillesBook 10: Marauding Through the NightBook 11: Agamemnon's Day of GloryBook 12: The Trojans Storm the RampartBook 13: Battling for the ShipsBook 14: Hera Outflanks ZeusBook 15: The Achaean Armies at BayBook 16: Patroclus Fights and DiesBook 17: Menalaus' Finest HourBook 18: The Shield of AchillesBook 19: The Champion Arms for BattleBook 20: olympian Gods in ArmsBook 21: Achilles Fights the RiverBook 22: The Death of HectorBook 23: Funeral Games for PatroclusBook 24: Achilles and PriamNotesThe Genealogy of the Royal House of TroyTextual Variants from the Oxford Classical TextNotes on the TranslationSuggestions for Further ReadingPronouncing Glossary
£12.99
Penguin Books Ltd Heroides Penguin Classics xx
Book SynopsisIn the twenty-one poems of the Heroides, Ovid gave voice to the heroines and heroes of epic and myth. These deeply moving literary epistles reveal the happiness and torment of love, as the writers tell of their pain at separation, forgiveness of infidelity or anger at betrayal. The faithful Penelope wonders at the suspiciously long absence of Ulysses, while Dido bitterly reproaches Aeneas for too eagerly leaving her bed to follow his destiny, and Sappho—the only historical figure portrayed here—describes her passion for the cruelly rejecting Phaon. In the poetic letters between Paris and Helen the lovers seem oblivious to the tragedy prophesied for them, while in another exchange the youthful Leander asserts his foolhardy eagerness to risk his life to be with his beloved Hero.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a gTable of ContentsHeroidesIntroductionI: Penelope to UlyssesII: Phyllis to DemophoonIII: Briseis to AchillesIV: Phaedra to HippolytusV: Oenone to ParisVI: Hypsipyle to JasonVII: Dido to AeneasVIII: Hermione to OrestesIX: Deianira to HerculesX: Ariadne to TheseusXI: Canace to MacareusXII: Medea to JasonXIII: Laodamia to ProtesilausXIV: Hypermestra to LynceusXV: Sappho to PhaonXVI: Paris to HelenXVII: Helen to ParisXVIII: Leander to HeroXIX: Hero to LeanderXX: Acontius to CydippeXXI: Cydippe to AcontiusAppendix 1: Principal CharactersAppendix 2: Index of Names
£13.16
Penguin Books Ltd The History of Alexander Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisThe essential history of Alexander the Great, compelling and brilliantly realizedAlexander the Great (356-323 BC), who led the Macedonian army to victory in Egypt, Syria, Persia and India, was perhaps the most successful conqueror the world has ever seen. Yet although no other individual has attracted so much speculation across the centuries, Alexander himself remains an enigma. Curtius' History offers a great deal of information unobtainable from other sources of the time. A compelling narrative of a turbulent era, the work recounts events on a heroic scale, detailing court intrigue, stirring speeches and brutal battles—among them, those of Macedonia's great war with Persia, which was to culminate in Alexander's final triumph over King Darius and the defeat of an ancient and mighty empire. It also provides by far the most plausible and haunting portrait of Alexander we possess: a brilliantly realized image of a man ruined by constant good fortune in his youTable of ContentsThe History of AlexanderIntroductionSummary of the Lost Books 1 and 2Book 3Book 4Book 5Book 6Book 7Book 8Book 9Book 10BibliographyList of IllustrationsNotesAppendices1. List of Variations from the Budé Text2. Chrononlogy3. Glassary of Personal Names4. Index of Mythical, Historical and Literary Figures5. Index of Peoples6. Geographical IndexIndex to MapsMaps1. The Campaign of Alexander the Great (334-323 B.C.)2. Alexander's Campaigns in Asia Minor (334-333/2 B.C.)3. Alexander's Campaigns in India (327-325 B.C)
£12.99
Penguin Books Ltd The Roman History The Reign of Augustus Penguin
Book SynopsisFollowing Rome's long road to peace after decades of civil war, Cassius Dio provides the fullest account of the reign of the first emperor in Books 50 through 60 of his Roman History.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Table of ContentsRoman History: The Reign of AugustusIntroduction by John CarterBibliographical NoteAcknowledgmentsA Note on the TextThe Roman HistoryNotesChronological TableList of ConsulsKey to Place-NamesMaps1. Italy2. North-West Europe3. Germany4. South-East and Western Anatolia5. The Middle East6. North-Western Africa7. Egypt8. The Balkans9. South Russia10. Plan of Rome11. SpainIndex
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Arthurian Romances Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisFantastic adventures abound in these courtly romances: Erec and Enide, Cligés, The Knight of the Cart, The Knight with the Lion, and The Story of the Grail.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Table of ContentsTranslated with Introduction and Notes by William W. Kibler; Erec and Enide translated by Carleton W. CarrollIntroductionA Note on the TranslationsSelect BibliographyErec and EnideCligésThe Knight of the Cart (Lancelot)The Knight with the Lion (Yvain)The Story of the Grail (Perceval)Appendix: The Story of the Grail ContinuationsGlossary of Medieval TermsNotes
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd Dr Wortles School Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisMr Peacocke, a Classical scholar, has come to Broughtonshire with his beautiful American wife to live as a schoolmaster. But when the blackmailing brother of her American first husband appears at the school gates, their dreadful secret is revealed, and the county is scandalized. In the character of Dr Wortle, the combative but warm-hearted headmaster, who takes the couple's part in the face of general ostracism, there is an element of self-portrait. There are echoes, too, in Wortle's gallantry to Mrs Peacocke, of Trollope's own attachment to the vivacious Bostonian, Kate Field.With its scathing depiction of American manhood, its jousting with convention and its amiable, egotistical protagonist, Dr Wortle's School(1879) is one of the sharpest and most engaging of Trollope's later novels.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a
£10.44
Oxford University Press The Turn of the Screw and Other Stories
Book SynopsisA young, inexperienced governess is charged with the care of Miles and Flora, two small children abandoned by their uncle at his grand country house. She sees the figure of an unknown man on the tower and his face at the window. It is Peter Quint, the master''s dissolute valet, and he has come for little Miles. But Peter Quint is dead. Like the other tales collected here - `Sir Edmund Orme'', `Owen Wingrave'', and `The Friends of the Friends'' - `The Turn of the Screw'' is to all immediate appearances a ghost story. But are the appearances what they seem? Is what appears to the governess a ghost or a hallucination? Who else sees what she sees? The reader may wonder whether the children are victims of corruption from beyond the grave, or victims of the governess''s `infernal imagination'', which torments but also entrals her? `The Turn of the Screw'' is probably the most famous, certainly the most eerily equivocal, of all ghostly tales. Is it a subtle, self-conscious exploration of thTable of ContentsSir Edmund Orme; Owen Wingrave; The Friends of the Friends; The Turn of the Screw
£6.99
Oxford University Press The Taming of the Shrew
Book SynopsisAudiences have always delighted in the robust comedy and verbal inventiveness of The Taming of the Shrew. It has survived many adaptations ranging from, probably, the play printed in 1594 as The Taming of the Shrew through several eighteenth-century versions to modern-dress productions and transformations into ballet, musical, film, and opera.Introducing this new edition, H.J. Oliver pays attention to the play''s theatrical virtues while also providing a deeply considered study of its textual problems, structural complexities, and interpretive challenges. 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 Review'Stanley Wells' OUP Complete Works of Shakespeare is now eight years old and has spawned a new Oxford Shakespeare which appears now in splendidly affordable volumes in that nonpareil of libraries of good reading The World's Classics.' The Oxford Times
£7.59
Oxford University Press Alls Well That Ends Well
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Oxford University Press The Vicomte de Bragelonne
Book SynopsisIt is May 1660 and the fate of nations is at stake. Mazarin plots, Louis XIV is in love, and Raoul de Bragelonne, son of Athos, is intent on serving France and winning the heart of Louise de la Vallière. Meanwhile, D'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos all undertake their own mysterious enterprises. The Vicomte de Bragelonne opens an epic adventure which continues with Louise de la Vallière and reaches its climax in The Man in the Iron Mask. This new edition of the classic translation presents a key episode in the Musketeers saga, fully annotated and with an introduction that sets Dumas's saga in its historical and cultural context.Trade Reviewalternately melodramatic, sentimental, humorous, wordly, and almost always absorbing * The Irish Times *
£9.49
Oxford University Press Barry Lyndon Oxford Worlds Classics
Book Synopsis
£11.39
Oxford University Press The Golden Bough
Book SynopsisA classic study of the beliefs and institutions of mankind, and the progress through magic and religion to scientific thought, The Golden Bough has a unique status in modern anthropology and literature. First published in 1890, The Golden Bough was eventually issued in a twelve-volume edition (1906-15) which was abridged in 1922 by the author and his wife. That abridgement has never been reconsidered for a modern audience. In it some of the more controversial passages were dropped, including Frazer''s daring speculations on the Crucifixion of Christ. For the first time this one-volume edition restores Frazer''s bolder theories and sets them within the framework of a valuable introduction and notes. A seminal work of modern anthropolgy, The Golden Bough also influenced many twentieth-century writers, including D H Lawrence, T S Eliot, and Wyndham Lewis. Its discussion of magical types, the sacrificial killing of kings, the dying god, and the scapegoat is given fresh pertinence in this new edition. 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.
£14.24
Oxford University Press On Obligations
Book SynopsisOn Obligations (De officiis) was written by Cicero in late 44 BC after the assassination of Julius Caesar to provide principles of behaviour for aspiring politicians. It explores the apparent tensions between honourable conduct and expediency in public life, and the right and wrong ways of attaining political leadership. The principles of honourable behaviour are based on the Stoic virtues of wisdom, justice, magnanimity, and propriety; in Cicero''s view the intrinsically useful is always identical with the honourable. Cicero''s famous treatise has played a seminal role in the formation of ethical values in western Christendom. Adopted by the fourth-century Christian humanists, it beame transmuted into the moral code of the high Middle Ages. Thereafter, in the Renaissance from the time of Petrarch, and in the Age of Enlightenment that followed, it was given central prominence in discussion of the government of states. Today, when corruption and conflict in political life are the focus of so much public attention, On Obligations is still the foremost guide to good conduct. 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.
£9.49
Oxford University Press The Nicomachean Ethics
Book SynopsisIn the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle examines the nature of happiness, which he defines as a specially good kind of life. He considers the nature of practical reasoning, friendship, and the role and importance of the moral virtues in the best life. This new edition features a revised translation and valuable new introduction and notes.
£7.99
Autonomedia Surrealist Subversions: Rants, Writings & Images
Book Synopsis
£19.79
Occasional Papers Boooook The Life and Work of Bob Cobbing
Book Synopsis
£16.15
Vintage Publishing Wild Mary The Life Of Mary Wesley
Book SynopsisMary Wesley published her first novel at seventy and went on to write a further nine bestsellers, including the legendary The Camomile Lawn, in a style best described as arsenic without the old lace. Many of her stories were inspired by her experiences during the Blitz, and by her marriages: the first to an aristocrat, a brief and conventional affair, and the second to a penniless writer she adored.A remarkable book about a remarkable woman, Patrick Marnham''s brilliantly researched and wonderfully impartial book disentangles truth from rumour, highlighting the links between Wesley''s real life and her fiction.Trade ReviewMuch of the fascination of Marnham's well-researched and admirably impartial book is that it reveals just how autobiographical Wesley's fiction was -- Miranda Seymour * Sunday Times *[A] fast-paced riveting biography -- Valerie Grove * The Times *A striking portrait not only of an amazing, if strange, woman but of an entire social class -- Rachel Cooke * Evening Standard *Unpicks the complicated web of deceits and half-truths that surrounded much of her life with wit, patience and skill, providing just the sort of compelling read that Wesley did in her novel * Independent *This biography is pure pleasure, a riveting, hilarious tragicomedy of manners... Marnham has disentangled truth from rumour, clarified the many connections between Wild Mary's rackety life and Mary Wesley's fiction, and produced a generous, unsentimental and intelligent portrait of a woman's life and times * Spectator *
£11.69
Oxford University Press Jane Austens Letters
Book SynopsisJane Austen''s letters afford a unique insight into the daily life of the novelist: intimate and gossipy, observant and informative, they bring alive her family and friends, her surroundings and contemporary events with a freshness unparalleled in biography. Above all we recognize the unmistakable voice of the author of Pride and Prejudice, witty and amusing as she describes the social life of town and country, thoughtful and constructive when writing about the business of literary composition. R. W. Chapman''s ground-breaking edition of the collected Letters first appeared in 1932, and a second edition followed twenty years later. A third edition, edited by Deidre Le Faye in 1997, added new material, re-ordered the letters into their correct chronological sequence, and provided discreet and full annotation to each letter, including its provenance, and information on the watermarks, postmarks, and other physical details of the manuscripts. This fourth edition incorporates the findings of new scholarship to enrich our understanding of Austen and give us the fullest and most revealing view yet of her life and family. There is a new preface, the biographical and topographical indexes have been amended and updated, a new subject index has been created, and the contents of the notes added to the general index.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition Review from previous edition Deidre Le Faye's new edition is necessary and very welcome; no one was better qualified, no one could have done it so well. * Independent on Sunday *We waited a long time for the new edition. It was well worth the wait. * Jane Austen Society of North America *for those who are starting to get the novels confused with the films, here is a chance to enjoy their beloved Jane at her most direct ... a generous and comprehensive book * Max Davidson, The Daily Telegraph *Most will enjoy reading Austen unbuttoned, in an unfussy and intelligently edited volume. * Sam Leith, The Observer *Le Faye re-orders the letters chronologically and provides useful background information. She also includes previously unpublished material. * The Express *Wiht little else to fill that ordinary life, Jane had plenty of time to write letters. They were witty, intimate and gossipy and brought alive her contemporaries and their surroundings. More than 160 are collected here, annotated and placed in chronological order. * Oxford Times *it is possible to appreciate Le Faye's edition for what it offers to readers both casual and academic. Most importantly, this is a highly readable text. ... Carefully detailed notes, biographical and topographical indexes, and bibliographical information about primary and secondary sources all contribute to the reader's sense that Le Faye's professional thoroughness has indeed made accessible 'the daily business' of Austen's world. * RES New Series, vol.XLVIII, No.190, 1997 *These are the letters of our greatest novelist ... they give glances and hints at her life from the age of 20 to her death at 41, the years in which she wrote her six imperishable books * Claire Tomalin, Independent on Sunday *[a] landmark collection ... Le Faye's work combines a meticulous compilation of data about the physical attributes and indexes that allow us to read over Austen's shoulder as she shares everyday news and frank opinions with family and friends. * Newsletter of the Jane Austen Society of North America, Volume 28: Issue Number 2 *For someone fairly new to Austen studies, who knows the novels and even the minor works but who is yet to immerse themselves in these tender, touching, entertaining products of their author's mind, there could be no better gift. * The Newsletter of the Jane Austen Society, no. 38 *Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION; LIST OF LETTERS; JANE AUSTEN'S LETTERS; ABBREVIATIONS AND CITATIONS; NOTES; GENERAL NOTES ON THE LETTERS; BIBLIOGRAPHY; BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX; TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX; SUBJECT INDEX; GENERAL INDEX
£22.49
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Waste
Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Though we try to imagine otherwise, waste is every object, plus time. Whatever else an object is, it’s also waste—or was, or will be. All that is needed is time or a change of sentiment or circumstance. Waste is not merely the field of discarded objects, but the name we give to our troubled relationship with the decaying world outside ourselves. Waste focuses on those waste objects that most fundamentally shape our lives and also attempts to understand our complicated emotional and intellectual relationships to our own refuse: nuclear waste, climate debris, pop-culture rubbish, digital detritus, and more. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewFascinating, thought-provoking, and necessary, Brian Thill’s Waste is about not just our present but our future. You can’t read it and come out of the experience unchanged. * Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times-Bestselling Author of The Southern Reach trilogy *If 'waste,' as Brian Thill points out, is any object plus time, then Waste is waste plus spirited curiosity and tremendous intelligence. With a gaze full of vigor and heart, Thill looks at the fate of what we discard—from space junk to horse corpses to bird bellies split open from plastic—and illuminates invisible margins we’d often rather forget. I read the whole book in one sitting, spellbound. * Leslie Jamison, New York Times-Bestselling Author of The Empathy Exams *Waste is the finest filth around—or really the finest mediation of it I can think of: Thill looks deeply into how what we waste controls us at the level of the personal and the public—our discards become our fate and home both—and finds treasure. * Alexander Chee, author of Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night *Waste pluralizes, names a condition into which objects fall, takes us beachcombing, dumpster diving. ‘Waste is every object, plus time’… The true aim of Brian Thill’s book, however, is… that non-place to which waste is sent. We cannot afford… to believe in such a zone any longer. Of course, we never really could or did — out of sight was simply out of mind. Waste always kept coming back. -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of ContentsThe beach that speaks Trash familiars/Tabflab Pigs in space Million-year panic Ruinism Splinter, shard, and stone Where the hoard is Lake Carbamazepine Acknowledgements Illustrations Bibliography Index
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