ELT & Literary Studies Books
HarperCollins Publishers Through The Looking Glass
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.''It''s a poor sort of memory that only works backward.''In Carroll''s sequel to Alice''s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice once again finds herself in a bizarre and nonsensical place when she passes through a mirror and enters a looking-glass world where nothing is quite as it seems. From her guest appearance as a pawn in a chess match to her meeting with Humpty Dumpty, Through the Looking Glass follows Alice on her curious adventure and shows Carroll''s great skill at creating an imaginary world full of the fantastical and extraordinary.
£5.62
Penguin Books Ltd The Republic
Book SynopsisAn authoritative new translation of Plato's foundational work of Western philosophy The Republic is Plato's masterwork. It was written 2,400 years ago and remains one of the most widely read books in the world, famous for both the richness of its ideas and the virtuosity of its writing. Presented as a dialogue between Plato's teacher Socrates and various interlocutors, it is an exhortation to study philosophy, inviting its readers to reflect on the choices we must make if we are to live the best life available to us. This complex, dynamic work creates a picture of an ideal society governed not money, power, or fame, but by philosophy, wisdom, and justice. 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 sTrade Review"Must we not acknowledge...that in each of us there are the same principles and habits which there are in the State; and that from the individual they pass into the State?"What does it mean to be good? What enables us to distinguish right from wrong? And how should human virtues be translated into a just society? These are the questions that Plato sought to answer in this monumental work of moral and political philosophy, a book surpassed only by the Bible in its formative influence on two thousand years of Western thought.In the course of its tautly reasoned Socratic dialogues, The Republic accomplishes nothing less than an anatomy of the soul and an exhaustive description of a State that both mirrors and enforces the soul's ideal harmony. The resulting text is at once mystical and elegantly logical and may be read as a template for the societies in which most of us live today.Vintage Classics are quality paperback editions of the world's greatest written works. They are durably bound and are printed exclusively on acid-free paper.
£10.44
Dorling Kindersley Ltd The Literature Book
Book SynopsisFeaturing plays and poetry from all over the world, including Latin American and African fiction, this book offers a deeper look into the famed fiction of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and more, as in-depth literary criticism and interesting authorial biographies give each work of literature a new meaning.Table of Contents 1: Introduction 2: Heroes and legends 3000BCE – 1300CE 1: Only the gods dwell forever in sunlight, The Epic of Gilgamesh 2: To nourish oneself on ancient virtue induces perseverance, Book of Changes, attributed to King Wen of Zhou 3: What is this crime I am planning, O Krishna? Mahabharata, attributed to Vyasa 4: Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles, Iliad, attributed to Homer 5: How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there’s no help in the truth! Oedipus the King, Sophocles 6: The gates of hell are open night and day; smooth the descent, and easy is the way, Aeneid, Virgil 7: Fate will unwind as it must, Beowulf 8: So Scheherazade began… One Thousand and One Nights 9: Since life is but a dream, why toil to no avail? Quan Tangshi 10: Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams, The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu 11: A man should suffer greatly for his Lord, The Song of Roland 12: Tandaradei, sweetly sang the nightingale, “Under the Linden Tree”, Walther von der Vogelwelde 13: He who dares not follow love’s command errs greatly, Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, Chretien de Troyes 14: Let another’s wound be my warning, Njal’s Saga 15: Further reading 2: Renaissance to enlightenment 1300 - 1800 1: I found myself within a shadowed forest, The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri 2: We three will swear brotherhood and unity of aims and sentiments, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong 3: Turn over the leef and chese another tale, The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer 4: Laughter’s the property of man. Live joyfully, Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais 5: As it did to this flower, the doom of age will blight your beauty, Les Amours de Cassandre, Pierre de Ronsard 6: He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall, Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe 7: Every man is the child of his own deeds, Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes 8: One man in his time plays many parts, First Folio, William Shakespeare 9: To esteem everything is to esteem nothing, The Misanthrope, Moliere 10: But at my back I always hear Time’s winged chariot hurrying near, Miscellaneous Poems, Andrew Marvell 11: Sadly, I part from you; like a clam torn from its shell, I go, and autumn too, The Narrow Road to the Interior, Matsuo Basho 12: None will hinder and none be hindered on the journey to the mountain of death, The Love Suicides at Sonezaki, Chikamatsu Monzaemon 13: I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good family, Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe 14: If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others? Candide, Voltaire 15: I have courage enough to walk through hell barefoot, The Robbers, Friedrich Schiller 16: There is nothing more difficult in love than expressing in writing what one does not feel, Les Liaisons dangereuses, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 17: Further reading 3: Romanticism and the rise of the novel 1800 - 1855 1: Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge, Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge 2: Nothing is more wonderful, nothing more fantastic than real life, Nachtstucke, E T A Hoffmann 3: Man errs, till he has ceased to strive, Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 4: Once upon a time… Children’s and Household Tales, Brothers Grimm 5: For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn? Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 6: Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley 7: All for one, one for all, The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas 8: But happiness I never aimed for, it is a stranger to my soul, Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin 9: Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes, Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman 10: You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass 11: I am no bird; and no net ensnares me, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte 12: I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul! Wurthering Heights, Emily Bronte 13: There is no folly of the beast of the Earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men, Moby-Dick, Herman Melville 14: All partings foreshadow the great final one, Bleak House, Charles Dickens 15: Further Reading 4: Depicting real life 1855 – 1900 1: Boredom, quiet as the spider, was spinning its web in the shadowy places of her heart, Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert 2: I too am a child of this land; I too grew up amid this scenery, The Guarani, Jose de Alencar 3: The poet is a kinsman in the clouds, Les Fleurs du mal, Charles Baudelaire 4: Not being heard is no reason for silence, Les Miserables, Victor Hugo 5: Curiouser and curiouser! Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll 6: Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart, Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky 7: To describe directly the life of humanity or even of a single nation, appears impossible, War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy 8: It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view, Middlemarch, George Eliot 9: We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne 10: In Sweden all we do is to celebrate jubilees, The Red Room, August Strindberg 11: She is written in a foreign tongue, The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James 12: Human beings can be awful cruel to one another, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain 13: He simply wanted to go down the mine again, to suffer and to struggle, Germinal, Emile Zola 14: The evening sun was now ugly to her, like a great inflamed wound in the sky, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy 15: The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde 16: There are things old and new which must not be contemplated by men’s eyes, Dracula, Bram Stoker 17: One of the dark places of the earth, Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad 18: Further reading 5: Breaking with tradition 1900 - 1945 1: The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle 2: I am a cat. As yet I have no name. I’ve no idea where I was born, I am a Cat, Natsume Soseki 3: Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin, Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka 4: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, Poems, Wilfred Owen 5: April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, The Waste Land, T S Eliot 6: The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit, Ulysses, James Joyce 7: When I was young I, too, had many dreams, Call to Arms, Lu Xun 8: Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself, The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran 9: Criticism marks the origin of progress and enlightenment, The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann 10: Like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars, The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald 11: The old world must crumble. Awake, wind of dawn! Berlin Alexanderplatz, Alfred Doblin 12: Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston 13: Dead men are heavier than broken hearts, The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler 14: It is such a secret place, the land of tears, The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery 15: Further reading 6: Post-war writing 1945 – 1970 1: Big Brother is watching you, Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell 2: I’m seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I’m about thirteen, The Catcher in the Rye, J D Salinger 3: Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland, Poppy and Memory, Paul Celan 4: I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison 5: Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul, Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov 6: Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful! Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett 7: It is impossible to touch eternity with one hand and life with the other, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, Yukio Mishima 8: He was the beat – the root, the soul of beatific, On the Road, Jack Kerouac 9: What is good among one people is an abomination with others, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe 10: Even wallpaper has a better memory than human beings, The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass 11: I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 12: Nothing is lost if one has the courage to proclaim that all is lost and we must begin anew, Hopscotch, Julio Cortazar 13: He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, Catch-22, Joseph Heller 14: I rhyme to see myself, to set the darkness echoing, Death of a Naturalist, Seamus Heaney 15: There’s got to be something wrong with us. To do what we did, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote 16: Ending at every moment but never ending its ending, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez 17: Further reading 7: Contemporary literature 1970 – present 1: Our history is an aggregate of last moments, Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon 2: You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, Italio Calvino 3: To understand just one life you have to swallow the world, Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie 4: Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another, Beloved, Toni Morrison 5: Heaven and Earth were in turmoil, Red Sorghum, Mo Yan 6: You could not tell a story like this. A story like this you could only feel, Oscar and Lucinda, Peter Carey 7: Cherish our island for its green simplicities, Omeros, Derek Walcott 8: I felt lethal, on the verge of frenzy, American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis 9: Quietly they moved down the calm and sacred river, A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth 10: It’s a very Greek idea, and a profound one. Beauty is terror, The Secret History, Donna Tartt 11: What we see before us is just one tiny part of the world, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami 12: Perhaps only in a world of the blind will things be what they truly are, Blindness, Jose Saramago 13: English is an unfit medium for the truth of South Africa, Disgrace, J M Coetzee 14: Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories, White Teeth, Zadie Smith 15: The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn’t one, The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood 16: There was something his family wanted to forget, The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen 17: It all stems from the same nightmare, the one we created together, The Guest, Hwang Sok-yong 18: I regret that it takes a life to learn how to live, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer 19: Further reading 8: Glossary 9: Index 10: Acknowledgments
£16.99
Yale University Press The Voynich Manuscript
Book SynopsisThe first authorized copy of this mysterious, much-speculated-upon, one-of-a-kind, centuries-old puzzleTrade Review“For the first time, a complete reproduction [of] The Voynich Manuscript, has been published, featuring essays exploring what is known about the book and extra-wide margins so readers can record their responses to its beguiling, beautiful strangeness.”—Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe“For people who like a good historical mystery, this first authorized publication of the fifteenth- or sixteenth-century Voynich Manuscript will fascinate.”—Rebecca Onion, Slate“Handsome and well-produced. . . This facsimile and the accompanying series of essays give a clear sense of the current state of knowledge on the manuscript and reveal the findings of new research.”—H. R. Woud Huysen, Times Literary Supplement“The Voynich MS has inspired generations of enthusiasts dedicated to deciphering it. . . . This beautiful facsimile will make it available for many more people to become enticed and entranced by it.”—David V. Barrett, Fortean Times“The Voynich Manuscript, a volume edited by the library’s curator Raymond Clemens, revivifies this tantalising artefact. . . . Wide margins are deliberately provided for readers’ notes on their own ideas. ‘Bonne chance!,’ writes Clemens. I’ll second that.”—Andrew Robinson, Nature“Perhaps studying these pages in the hope of unlocking secrets is to miss the point. It’s almost as though the book exists in order to make the inquiry into its existence possible.”—Jamie Martin, London Review of Books“As handsome a new book as you could own. This medieval beauty has it all: fold-out sections, delicate illustrations of plants, astrological charts, what look to be alchemical recipes. . . . But the main thing about it—the thing that makes publishing it so quixotic—is that it’s a book you can’t actually read. Nobody can.”—Sam Leith, Prospect“Sumptuous facsimile reproduction. . . . Jennifer Rampling’s judiciously skeptical essay . . . is a careful deconstruction of over-excited theories.”—Kathryn Murphy, Apollo“This new book, reproducing the entire Voynich Manuscript, is a godsend. While the essays offer valid clues to the manuscript’s age and relation to late medieval science, the manuscript itself stubbornly refuses to yield its secrets.”—Roger S. Wieck, Department of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Morgan Library & Museum“A book worthy of its subject in every way. Clemens and his collaborators have done an extraordinary job teasing out some of the secrets and wonders of the enigmatic Voynich Manuscript in ways that will make this volume an invaluable resource for many years to come.”—Bruce Holsinger, author of A Burnable Book“Many hands have held Voynich’s now-eponymous book over the centuries . . . yet none of them have managed convincingly to solve its mysteries.”—Deborah Harkness, from the Introduction
£38.00
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd Awake
Book SynopsisA new look at the life and works of William Blake, revealing the full complexity and enduring legacy of this deeply spiritual, politically radical figure.
£26.12
The University of Chicago Press Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics
Book SynopsisThe "Nicomachean Ethics" is one of Aristotle's most widely read and influential works. Drawing on their intimate knowledge of Aristotle's thought, the authors have produced an English-language translation of the "Ethics" that is as faithful to the original as it is graceful in its rendering.Trade Review"[This volume] is much more than a translation. The translators, Robert C. Bartlett... and Susan D. Collins... have provided helpful aids.... [They have] supplied an informative introduction, as well as 'A Note on the Translation,' a bibliography and an outline of the work. All this precedes the main text. Afterward comes a brief 'Overview of the Moral Virtues and Vices,' a very extensive and invaluable glossary, a list of 'Key Greek Terms,' an index of proper names and at last a detailed 'general index.' Together these bring the original text within the compass of every intelligent reader.... Brilliant and readable." (New York Times Book Review)"
£15.00
Penguin Books Ltd Lady Audleys Secret
Book SynopsisWeathering critical scorn, Lady Audley''s Secret quickly established Mary Elizabeth Braddon as the leading light of Victorian ''sensation'' fiction, sharing the honour only with Wilkie Collins. Addictive, cunningly plotted and certainly sensational, Lady Audley''s Secret draws on contemporary theories of insanity to probe mid-Victorian anxieties about the rapid rise of consumer culture. What is the mystery surrounding the charming heroine? Lady Audley''s secret is investigated by Robert Audley, aristocrat turned detective, in a novel that has lost none of its power to disturb and entertain.
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Italian Dictionary Complete and Unabridged
Book SynopsisThe home of trusted Italian dictionaries for everyday language learning.A large-format English to Italian and Italian to English bilingual dictionary for serious students of Italian with up-to-date vocabulary and breadth of coverage. This is the perfect dictionary for everyone using Italian for their language studies.With more than 255,000 words, meanings and phrases and 230,000 translations.Includes the latest vocabulary from a wide range of fields, with special features about life and culture in ItalyA clear, easy-to-read layout with special treatment of complex words ensures the user finds the right translation quickly and easilyThe extensive Language in Use supplement gives real-life examples of how Italian is used daily in a variety of contexts, including letters, emails and text messagesBusiness and Finance supplement covers essential vocabulary for everyday business use
£40.00
HarperCollins Publishers Moonstone The
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.The horrid mystery hanging over us in this house gets into my head like liquor, and makes me wild.'Centred around a glorious yellow diamond that carries with it a menacing history, The Moonstone tells the story of Rachel Verinder, who inherits the stone on her eighteenth birthday. That very evening, the diamond is stolen and there begins an epic enquiry into hunting down the thief. At the same time, three Indian men, Brahmin guardians of the diamond are attempting to reclaim the stone in order to return it to their sacred Hindu Idol.Told from the perspective of 11different characters, Wilkie Collins' tale of mystery and suspicion was considered the first modern English detective novel at its time of publication.
£5.94
HarperCollins Publishers The Prince and the Pauper
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.When I am king, they shall not have bread and shelter only, but also teachings out of books; for a full belly is little worth where the mind is starved, and the heart.'Set in 16th-Century England and following the lives of two young boys, The Prince and the Pauper is a classic and timeless tale. Tom Canty, the lowly pauper is almost identical in appearance to Edward Tudor, a prince. Unbeknownst to those around them, the boys strike up an unlikely friendship and soon realise that with their similar looks they could easily pass for one another.When the Prince's father dies, some of the more underhand court officials persuade the pauper to act as the Prince in order to reap the benefits of the mistake' and there follows a tale of friendship and growing up in one of Mark Twain's most infamous works.
£5.62
Spark Henry IV Parts One and Two
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Henry IV Part One and Two on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.
£7.99
Octopus Publishing Group A Dictionary of Tolkien
Book SynopsisIllustrated with stunning black and white artwork, A Dictionary of Tolkien is an indispensible guide to the rich, mythical world of Middle-earth and the Undying Lands.
£14.24
Oxford University Press NotreDame de Paris
Book SynopsisThree extraordinary characters caught in a web of fatal obsession are at the centre of Hugo's novel. The grotesque hunchback Quasimodo, bell-ringer of Notre-Dame, owes his life to the austere archdeacon, Claude Frollo, who in turn is bound by a hopeless passion to the gypsy dancer Esmeralda. She, meanwhile, is bewitched by a handsome, empty-headed officer, but by an unthinking act of kindness wins Quasimodo's selfless devotion. Behind the central figures moves apageant of picturesque characters, ranging from the cruel, superstitious king, Louis XI, to the underworld of beggars and petty criminals. These disreputable truands' night-time assault on the cathedral is one of the most spectacular set-pieces of Romantic literature. Hugo vividly depicts medieval Paris, where all life is dominated by the massive cathedral. His passionate enthusiasm for Gothic architecture is set within the context of an epic view of mankind's history, to which he attaches even more importance than to the novelTrade ReviewAlban Krailsheimer's fluent new translation more than does justice to a great romantic classic. * Max Davidson, Weekend Telegraph *
£9.49
Shambhala Publications Inc Letters to a Young Poet: A New Translation and
Book Synopsis
£14.39
Atlantic Books For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority
Book SynopsisThe global turmoil of the late 1980s and early 1990s severely tested every analyst and commentator. Few wrote with such insight as Christopher Hitchens about the large events - or with such discernment and wit about the small tell-tale signs of a disordered culture. First published in 1993, the writings in For the Sake of Argument range from the political squalor of Washington to the twilight of Stalinizm in Prague, from the Jewish quarter of Damascus in the aftermath of the Gulf War to the embattled barrios of Central America. Hitchens provides re-assessments of Graham Greene, P. G. Woodhouse and C. L. R. James, and his rogues' gallery gives us portraits of Henry Kissinger, Mother Theresa and P. J. O'Rouke. The addition of pieces on political assassination in America, as well as a devastating indictment of the evisceration of politics by pollsters and spin doctors, and an entertaining celebration of booze and fags, complete this outstanding collection from a writer of unequalled talent.Trade ReviewDisplays the intelligence, invective and stubborn common sense Mr Hitchens brings to his commentaries, be they about the political scene in Washington, the soap-opera travail of the British Royal family or a novel by George Eliot. * New York Times *Hitchens rejoices without inhibition in the pleasure of hating and knows that satire is murder by other means... A pen like this is more lethal than most swords. * The Observer *The fiercely independent-minded Hitchens provides reams of fuel for intellectual conflagration, couched in the luxurious excess of humour... progressive journalism as it was meant to be. * The Nation *The test of this kind of book is for the reader to be able to open it anywhere and be drawn into the argument; it's a test that Hitchens passes time and time again... He can be devilishly funny, but he is also capable of writing with acid seriousness. * Independent on Sunday *Table of Contents1: Where Were You Standing? 2: On the Imagination of Conspiracy 3: Contempt for the Little Colony 4: The State Within the State 5: Voting in the Passive Voice 6: The Hate that Dare Not Speak Its Name 7: A Pundit Who Need Never Dine Alone 8: Hard on the Houseboy 9: New Orleans in a Brown Shirt 10: Rioting in Mount Pleasant 11: Billionaire Populism 12: The Clemency of Clinton 13: Clinton as Rhodesian 14: Bill's Bills in Miami 15: Realpolitik in the Gulf: A Game Gone Tilt 16: Churchillian Delusions 17: No End of a Lesson 18: Befriending the Kurds 19: Arise, Sir Norman 20: Jewish in Damascus 21: Songs Fit For Heroes 22: Hating Sweden 23: Squeezing Costa Rica 24: The Saviour 25: Tio Sam 26: The Autumn of Patriarch 27: Third Thoughts 28: Cretinismo Eroico 29: The Twilight of Panzerkommunismus 30: Police Mentality 31: On the Road to Timsoara 32: Bricks in the Wall 33: The Free Market Cargo Cult 34: Now Neo-conservatives Perish 35: Appointment in Sarajevo 36: 'Society' and Its Enemies 37: Credibility Politics: Sado-Monetarist Economics 38: Union Jackshirt: Ingham's Conservative Chic 39: Neil Kinnock: Defeat Without Honour 40: Bribing and Twisting 41: How's the Vampire? 42: Charlie's Angel 43: Unhappy Families 44: Princess of Dysfunction 45: New York Intellectuals and the Prophet Outcast 46: Clubland Intellectuals 47: The 'We' Fallacy 48: Shouting Anarchy 49: Politically Correct 50: Friend of Promise 51: Booze and Fags 52: Nixon: Maestro of Resentment 53: Kissinger: A Touch of Evil 54: Berlin's Mandate for Palestine 55: Ghoul of Calcutta 56: The Life of Johnson 57: A Grave Disappointment All Round 58: Too Big For His Boot 59: P.J. O'Rourke: Not Funny Enough 60: Not Funny Enough (2) 61: Warhol in One Dimension 62: Siding with Rushdie 63: Goya's Radical Pessimism 64: Degenerate Art 65: James Baldwin: Humanity First 66: Updike on the Make 67: P.G. Wodehouse in Love, Poverty and War 68: Greene: Where the Shadow Falls 69: Kazuo Ishiguro 70: Victor Serge 71: C.L.R James 72: In Defence of Daniel Deronda
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd Black Panther 3 Penguin Classics Marvel
Book SynopsisThe Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents the origin stories, seminal tales, and characters of the Marvel Universe to explore Marvel’s transformative and timeless influence on an entire genre of fantasy. A Penguin Classics Marvel Collection Edition Collects Fantastic Four #52-53 (1966); Jungle Action #6-21 (1973-1976). It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few. The Black Panther is not just a super hero; as King T’Challa, he is also the monarch of the hidden African nation of Wakanda. Combining the strength and stealth of his namesake with a creative scientific Trade Review“A groundbreaking example of comics representation in literature.”—Publishers Weekly“Penguin provides introductory essays; superb analyses by the series editor, Ben Saunders; and extensive bibliographies.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post“Stories become classics when generations of readers sort through them, talk about them, imitate them, and recommend them. In this case, baby boomers read them when they débuted, Gen X-ers grew up with their sequels, and millennials encountered them through Marvel movies. Each generation of fans—initially fanboys, increasingly fangirls, and these days nonbinary fans, too—found new ways not just to read the comics but to use them. That’s how canons form. Amateurs and professionals, over decades, come to something like consensus about which books matter and why—or else they love to argue about it, and we get to follow the arguments. Canons rise and fall, gain works and lose others, when one generation of people with the power to publish, teach, and edit diverges from the one before ... A top-flight comic by Kirby—or his successor on “Captain America,” Jim Steranko—barely needed words. You could follow the story just by watching the characters act and react. Thankfully, Penguin volumes do justice to these images. They reproduce sixties comics in bright, flat, colorful inks on thick white paper—unlike the dot-based process used on old newsprint, but perhaps truer to their bold, thrill-chasing spirit.”—Stephanie Burt, The New Yorker
£21.25
Oxford University Press The Collected Peter Pan
Book SynopsisA collection of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan stories--from his first appearance in The Little White Bird to the final version of the Peter Pan play we know today.Table of ContentsThe Little White Bird Anon: A Play Peter and Wendy Scenario for a Proposed Film of Peter Pan Peter Pan Appendix 1: On the Acting of a Fairy Play Appendix 2: When Wendy Grew Up: An Afterthought Appendix 3: The Blot on Peter Pan Appendix 4: Captain Hook at Eton Notes
£7.59
Taylor & Francis Ltd Bodies That Matter
Book SynopsisIn Bodies That Matter, renowned theorist and philosopher Judith Butler argues that theories of gender need to return to the most material dimension of sex and sexuality: the body. Butler offers a brilliant reworking of the body, examining how the power of heterosexual hegemony forms the matter of bodies, sex, and gender. Butler argues that power operates to constrain sex from the start, delimiting what counts as a viable sex. She clarifies the notion of performativity introduced in Gender Trouble and via bold readings of Plato, Irigaray, Lacan, and Freud explores the meaning of a citational politics. She also draws on documentary and literature with compelling interpretations of the film Paris is Burning, Nella Larsen's Passing, and short stories by Willa Cather.Trade Review"As a philosopher of gender [Judith Butler] is unparalleled." – Village Voice"Butler gives us a new way to think about the materiality of the body in the discursive performity operative in the materialization of sex. Following a common move in postmodern feminism, Butler sets out to demolish the sex/gender distinction that has formed the mainstay of the de Beauvorian and radical feminism's notion that gender, as a cultural construction, could be critiqued and politicized against the givenness of the body's biological sex. . . .What is new in Bodies That Matter is Butler's attempt to write more directly about race." – Signs"Extending the brilliant style of interrogation that made her 1990 book Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity a landmark of gender theory/queer theory, Butler here continues to refine our understandings of the complexly performative character of sexuality and gender and to trouble our assumptions about the inherent subversiveness of dissident sexualities. . . . indispensable reading across the wide range of concerns that queer theory is currently addressing." – Artforum"What the implications/limitations of 'sexing' are and how the process works comprise the content of this strikingly perceptive book. . . . Butler has written a most significant and provocative work that addresses issues of immediate social concern." – The Boston Book Review "A brilliant and original analysis." – Drucilla Cornell, Rutgers University, USA"...a classic." – Elizabeth GroszTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Part 1: 1. Bodies that Matter 2. The Lesbian Phallus and the Morphological Imaginary 3. Phantasmatic Identification and the Assumption of Sex 4. Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion Part 2: 5. 'Dangerous Crossing': Willa Cather's Masculine Names 6. Queering, Passing: Nella Larsen Rewrites Psychoanalysis 7. Arguing with the Real 8. Critically Queer. Notes. Index
£19.99
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 The Love Poems
Book SynopsisOvid''s love-poetry was typically original and innovative. His witty analysis in the Amores (Loves) of the elegiac relationship develops with relentless irony its essential paradox - love as simultaneously fulfilling and destructive - to its logical conclusion: definitive disestablishment of the poet-lover''s role as presented by Gallus, Tibullus, and Propertius. In its place he went on to offer in the Ars Amatoria (Art of Love) and Remedia Amoris (Cures for Love) an equally brilliant presentation of an alternative and more realistic conception of love as a game at which both sexes can play without getting hurt - providing they stick to Ovid''s rules. Under the surface of Ovid''s wit there runs an undercurrent of serious meaning: the theme of the poet''s complete control of his medium and his art and a proud consciousness of his achievements. His claim to be `the Virgil of elegy'' is arrestingly justified in these extraordinarily accomplished poems. Alan Melville''s accomplished translations match the sophisticated elegance of Ovid''s Latin. Their witty modern idiom is highly entertaining. In this volume he has included the brilliant version of the Art of Love by Moore, published more than fifty years ago and still unequalled; the small revisions he has made will enhance the reader''s admiration for Moore''s achievement. 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'Melville has worked a miracle. It is difficult to imagine that there will ever be an English version so faithful to the Latin, and written in such sound and engaging verse.' The Times.'Melville has worked a miracle ... It is difficult to imagine that there will ever be an English version so faithful to the Latin, and written in such sound and engaging verse.' David West, The Times'a new, faithful yet engaging translation ... Ovid was a brilliant, innovative, elegant, witty and ironic poet, who has entertained readers for thousands of years and this new version will give pleasure to many more.' Day by DayATable of ContentsHistorical sketch; Introduction; Translator's note; elect bibliography; Amores (Books I-III); Cosmetics for ladies; The art of love (Books I-III); The cures for love; Explanatory notes; Glossary and index of names
£10.44
Oxford University Press Defence of Socrates Euthyphro Crito
Book SynopsisThese new translations present Plato''s remarkable dramatization of the momentous events surrounding the trial of Socrates in 399 BC, on charges of irreligion and corrupting the young. The Euthyphro, Defence of Socrates, and Crito form a dramatic and thematic sequence, raising fundamental questions about the basis of moral, religious, legal, and political obligation. Plato explores these issues with a freshness and directness that have never been surpassed. In the Defence of Socrates, Plato seeks not only to clear his master''s name, but also to defend the whole Socratic way of life, and therefore philosophy itself. The result is an oratorical masterpiece. The Euthyphro, an inquiry into the nature of piety, probes the relationship between religion and morality. The Crito discusses the citizen''s obligation to the state, in the context of a life-or-death issue confronting Socrates himself - whether or not to escape from prison. David Gallop''s Introduction provides a stimulating philos
£7.99
Oxford University Press Les Liaisons dangereuses
Book SynopsisThe complex moral ambiguities of seduction and revenge make Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782) one of the most scandalous and controversial novels in European literature. The subject of major film and stage adaptations, the novel''s prime movers, the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, form an unholy alliance and turn seduction into a game - a game which they must win. This new translation gives Laclos a modern voice, and readers will be able a judge whether the novel is as `diabolical'' and `infamous'' as its critics have claimed, or whether it has much to tell us about the kind of world we ourselves live in. David Coward''s introduction explodes myths about Laclos''s own life and puts the book in its literary and cultural context. 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 weTrade ReviewThe Oxford World's Classic edition offers students an excellent introduction to this classic text and also important notes and chronologies. * Dr. Paraic Finnerty, University of Portsmouth. *
£8.54
Oxford University Press Tales of Glass Town Angria and Gondal
Book Synopsis''We pretended we had each a large island inhabited by people 6 miles high.''In their collaborative early writings the Brontës created and peopled the most extraordinary fantasy worlds, whose geography and history they elaborated in numerous stories, poems, and plays. Together they invented characters based on heroes and writers such as Wellington, Napoleon, Scott, and Byron, whose feuds, alliances, and love affairs weave an intricate web of social and political intrigue in imaginary colonial lands in Africa and the Pacific Ocean. The writings of Glass Town, Angria, and Gondal are youthful experiments in imitation and parody, wild romance and realistic recording; they demonstrate the playful literary world that provided a ''myth kitty'' for their early - and later - work.In this generous selection the writings of Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell are presented together for the first time. The Introduction explores the rich imaginative lives of the Brontës, and the tension between thTrade ReviewIn short, no student of the Bronte¤ s and indeed Victorian literature should be without Christine Alexanders edition. * William Baker, Years Work in English Studies *Extraordinary... Christine Alexander's imaginative and meticulous editing makes the juvenilia accessible for the first time. * Samantha Ellis, Times Literary Supplement *A fascinating piece of juvenilia. * Colin Waters, Sunday Herald *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing Autobiography of Red
Book SynopsisAnne Carson was born in Canada and has been a professor of Classics for over thirty years. Her awards and honours include the T. S. Eliot Prize, a Lannan Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Griffin Prize, on two occasions, fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, and the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature 2020.Trade ReviewLike all of Anne Carson's writing, this book is amazing - I haven't discovered any writing in years that's so marvellously disturbing. I just feel so happy that she's around -- Alice MunroHer work is full of moments of startling originality and beauty. The poems play with character and plot, myth and magic; they are rich with attitude and wit and the undertow of grief. If she was a prose writer she would instantly be recognised as a genius -- Colm Tóibín * Times Literary Supplement *Anne Carson has created, from fragments of the Greek poet Stesichoros, a profound love story...forty-seven compulsively readable long-lined poems of intense cinematic detail. Carson writes in language any poet would kill for: sensuous and funny, poignant, musical and tender, brilliantly lighted -- Ruth Padel * New York Times Book Review *Anne Carson is a daring, learned, unsettling writer. Autobiography of Red, which perhaps comes closest to representing the range of her voice and gifts, is a spellbinding achievement -- Susan Sontag
£13.50
Oxford University Press Science Fiction
Book SynopsisScience Fiction has proved notoriously difficult to define. It has been explained as a combination of romance, science and prophecy; as a genre based on an imagined alternative to the reader''s environment; and as a form of fantastic fiction and historical literature. It has also been argued that science fiction narratives are the most engaged, socially relevant, and responsive to the modern technological environment. This Very Short Introduction doesn''t offer a history of science fiction, but instead ties examples of science fiction to different historical moments, in order to demonstrate how science fiction has evolved over time. David Seed looks not only at literature, but also at drama and poetry, as well as film. Examining recurrent themes in science fiction he looks at voyages into space, the concept of the alien and alternative social identities, the role of technology in science fiction, and its relation to time - in the past, present, and future. 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 Reviewbrief yet thorough * The Guardian *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Voyages into space ; 2. Alien encounters ; 3. Science fiction and technology ; 4. Utopias and dystopias ; 5. Fictions of time ; 6. The field of science fiction
£9.49
Pearson Education Twelfth Night York Notes for AS A2
Book SynopsisTable of Contents Part 1: Introducing Twelfth Night Part 2: Studying Twelfth Night Part 3: Characters and Themes Part 4: Structure, Form and Language Part 5: Contexts and Critical Debates Part 6: Grade Booster Essential Study Tools
£7.99
Dedalus Press Butterfly Valley: A Requiem
Book Synopsis
£6.95
Cambridge University Press Stories of Ourselves Volume 1
Book SynopsisDiscover fully updated volumes of global poetry and short stories for use as set texts. Parts of Stories of Ourselves Volume 1 are set for study in Cambridge IGCSE, O Level and International AS & A Level Literature in English courses. Each short story in this collection has its own unique voice and point of view. They may differ in form, genre, style, tone and origin, but all have been chosen because of their wide appeal. Written in English by authors from different countries and cultures, the anthology includes works by Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells, Virginia Woolf, Graham Greene, V.S. Naipaul, R.K Narayan, Janet Frame, Raymond Carver, Jhumpa Lahiri, Annie Proulx and many others.
£15.95
Penguin Books Ltd Captain America 2 Penguin Classics Marvel
Book SynopsisThe Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents the origin stories, seminal tales, and characters of the Marvel Universe to explore Marvel’s transformative and timeless influence on an entire genre of fantasy. A Penguin Classics Marvel Collection Edition Collects Captain America Comics #1 (1941); the Captain America stories from Tales of Suspense #59, #63-68, #75-81, #92-95, #110-113 (1964-1969); “Captain America…Commie Smasher” from Captain America #78 (1954). It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few. Drawing upon multiple comic book series, thisTrade Review“A groundbreaking example of comics representation in literature.”—Publishers Weekly“Penguin provides introductory essays; superb analyses by the series editor, Ben Saunders; and extensive bibliographies.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post“Stories become classics when generations of readers sort through them, talk about them, imitate them, and recommend them. In this case, baby boomers read them when they débuted, Gen X-ers grew up with their sequels, and millennials encountered them through Marvel movies. Each generation of fans—initially fanboys, increasingly fangirls, and these days nonbinary fans, too—found new ways not just to read the comics but to use them. That’s how canons form. Amateurs and professionals, over decades, come to something like consensus about which books matter and why—or else they love to argue about it, and we get to follow the arguments. Canons rise and fall, gain works and lose others, when one generation of people with the power to publish, teach, and edit diverges from the one before ... A top-flight comic by Kirby—or his successor on “Captain America,” Jim Steranko—barely needed words. You could follow the story just by watching the characters act and react. Thankfully, Penguin volumes do justice to these images. They reproduce sixties comics in bright, flat, colorful inks on thick white paper—unlike the dot-based process used on old newsprint, but perhaps truer to their bold, thrill-chasing spirit.”—Stephanie Burt, The New Yorker
£32.00
Yale University Press How to Read Literature
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Part of the fun of the book is the way in which Eagleton prompts, provokes and at times infuriates. How to read How to Read Literature? . . . as an ideal introductory guide to critical analysis, and a thoroughly enjoyable reminder of Eagleton’s own skill and subtlety as a reader."—Felicity James, Times Higher Education Supplement"A pleasingly readable overview of what we talk about when we talk about books. . . . Incisive and honest."—Michael Washburn, Boston Globe"How to Read Literature is a lively and engaging primer on basic strategies for appreciating literature, a kind of English 101 in a book."—Washington Post"This is Eagleton at his most charming and an excellent guide for literature students early in their education or those seeking a refresher course."—Publishers Weekly"This book is seriously good fun. Teachers should pounce on it with glee, especially if they have tried for weary years to tell students, daunted by having to comment on great literary works, that poems and novels are not alarming, for they are composed only of words. Of course students themselves may not read the book, students being what they are, but those entrusted with their education should rejoice. It is, says Terry Eagleton in his preface, a guide for beginners. But it is much more than that. Like fireworks over Sydney harbour, it fizzes and explodes with ideas. You don’t have to be either teacher or beginner to relish it: Eagleton is so full of enthusiasm that you just need to be able to read. His canvas is broad. He is unafraid of tackling anything, from “Baa Baa Black Sheep” to “Lycidas”, and he is splendidly unpompous."—Sue Gaisford, Tablet"Eagleton is alive to the complexity of literature and to a commonsense clarity. . . . In a cheering way, Eagleton believes in literary value and thinks an inability to recognise it would be as absurd as someone who is into single-malt whisky not being willing to admit a great one when he tasted it. . . . This is as brilliant as an absolutely sensible book about literature could be. Anyone intrigued by the subject, as well as quite a few who have long been bemused by it, will read it with intense pleasure."—Peter Craven, The Sydney Morning Herald"This is not only an entertaining book, it's an important one. What Eagleton refers to as "slow reading", after Nietzsche, seems horribly endangered as a human activity. He draws us back to basics here, in a sequence of sharp analyses, taking into account the essential aspects of intelligent reading. I love his breezy style, so accessible and concrete; yet he never sacrifices nuance or subtlety. This is a book for every reader, not only beginners, yet it will prove immensely useful in the classroom."—Jay Parini, author of Why Poetry Matters
£11.99
Faber & Faber The Letters of Seamus Heaney
Book SynopsisA marvellous book, lovingly edited, beautifully produced. . . and brimming with literary insights, much laughter, a sprinkle of gossip and the poet's insuppressible joie de vivre, even in adversity. Buy it, read it, and keep it to hand on to your children.' John Banville, GuardianAn epistolary cornucopia. . . contains an abundance of insight and illumination, literary gossip and appraisal, playfulness and cogency, all bound up with a steadfast attention to the feelings and expectations of each correspondent.' Patricia Craig, TLS Books of the YearEvery now and again I need to get down here, to get into the Diogenes tub, as it were, or the Colmcille beehive hut, or the Mossbawn scullery. At any rate, a hedge surrounds me, the blackbird calls, the soul settles for an hour or two . . .For all his public eminence, Seamus Heaney seems never to have lost the compelling need to write personal letters. In this ample but discriminating selection from fifty years of his correspondence, we are given access as never before to the life and poetic development of a literary titan from his early days in Belfast, through his controversial decision to settle in the Republic, to the gradual broadening of horizons that culminated in the award of a Nobel Prize and the years of international acclaim that kept him heroically busy until his death.Editor Christopher Reid draws from both public and private archives to reveal this story in the poet's own words. Generous, funny, exuberant, confiding, irreverent, empathetic and deeply thoughtful, the letters encompass decades-long relationships with friends and colleagues, as well as showing an unstinted responsiveness to passing acquaintances. Moreover, Heaney's joyous mastery of language is as evident here as it is in any of his writing for a literary readership.Listening to Heaney's voice, we find ourselves in the same room as a man whose presence, when he lived, enriched the world immeasurably, and whose legacy continues to deepen our sense of what truly matters.
£32.00
Atlantic Books Twenty-First-Century Tolkien: What Middle-Earth
Book Synopsis'Fascinating.... Wonderfully exhilarating.' Mail on SundayFinalist for The Tolkien Society Best Book AwardAn engaging, original and radical reassessment of J.R.R. Tolkien, revealing how his visionary creation of Middle-Earth is more relevant now than ever before.What is it about Middle-Earth and its inhabitants that has captured the imagination of millions of people around the world? And why does Tolkien's visionary creation continue to fascinate and inspire us eighty-five years on from its first appearance?Beginning with Tolkien's earliest influences and drawing on key moments from his life, Twenty-First-Century Tolkien is an engaging and radical reinterpretation of the beloved author's work. Not only does it trace the genesis of the original books, it also explores the later adaptations and reworkings that cemented his reputation as a cultural phenomenon, including Peter Jackson's blockbuster films of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and the highly anticipated TV series The Rings of Power.Delving deep into topics such as friendship, failure, the environment, diversity, and Tolkien's place in a post-Covid age, Nick Groom takes us on an unexpected journey through Tolkien's world, revealing how it is more relevant now than ever before.Trade ReviewFascinating... Wonderfully exhilarating... In a rousing finale, Groom suggests that Tolkien is exactly the writer we need at this particularly perilous moment, as we emerge, Hobbit-like, from our holes and try to imagine a new kind of life in this post-pandemic age. * Mail on Sunday *Each chapter displays a mastery of both the works in question - whether books or adaptations - and of the vast corpus of Tolkien scholarship. Narratives of literary production or of Hollywood bureaucratic processes rarely come as absorbing as Groom's... Illuminating... Groom's explorations of Tolkien's sources... are always provocative and often ingenious. * Literary Review *This fascinating book explores The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings from their genesis through all the different major adaptations of the Tolkien 'legendarium.' It starts off neatly summarizing Tolkien's life and influences - such as his friendship with W.H. Auden and C.S. Lewis. * Wall Street Journal *Provides a fresh study of the impact Tolkien has on contemporary readers' and viewers' understanding of good, evil, war, and conflict. * Library Journal *A loving ode to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. An adventure worth taking. * Publishers Weekly *A modern journey through Tolkien's work, which has engendered a rich field of cultural activity. A thought-provoking examination. With the authority of extensive research, Groom unpacks the reasons for the appeal of Tolkien to a new generation. * Kirkus Reviews *An excellent, perceptive and superbly crafted analysis of the way our ever-changing world has responded to Tolkien. A stunning achievement. -- Brian Sibley, award-winning author of The Fall of NúmenorTable of Contents1: Myriad Middle-Earths 2: Uncertainty 3: The Ambiguity of Evil 4: The Hesitancy of Good 5: Lucid Moments 6: Just War 7: Conclusion: Weird Things
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd Layli and Majnun
Book SynopsisTrade Review“A highly engaging tale of impossible love . . . The first verse translation of the 12th-century Persian poet Nezami . . . Davis’s rhythmic translation is full of lush imagery.” ―Publishers Weekly“Nezami . . . paints a visionary world full of erotic tension and trepidation which is both sublimated and enriched with psychological chiaroscuro.” ―Italo Calvino
£12.59
Melville House UK The Future of the Novel
Book SynopsisAs part of the FUTURES series, authorand essayist Simon Okotie interprets the signposts - evident through the history of the novel - thatpoint to the form's fate.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Sebald W After Nature
Book SynopsisAfter Nature is the very first literary work by W. G. Sebald, author of Austerlitz''The greatest writer of our time'' Peter CareyAfter Nature by W.G. Sebald, author of Austerlitz, is his first literary work and the start of his highly personal and brilliant writing journey. In this long prose poem, Sebald introduces many of the themes that he explores in his subsequent books. Focusing on the conflict between man and nature, each of the three distinct parts of After Nature give centre stage to a different character from a different century - the last being W.G. Sebald himself.''A deeply intelligent book, but also a marvellously warm, exciting and compassionate one'' Andrew Motion''A début of rare poetic grandeur'' Irish Times''Astonishing writing. A true poet at work'' Evening Standard''Graceful, allusive, serious, but also immensely readable'' Sunday Telegraph''When you read Sebald you are transported to another realm'' Literary ReviewW . G. Sebald was born in Wertach im Allgäu, Germany, in 1944 and died in December 2001. He studied German language and literature in Freiburg, Switzerland and Manchester. In 1996 he took up a position as an assistant lecturer at the University of Manchester and settled permanently in England in 1970. He was Professor of European Literature at the University of East Anglia and is the author of The Emigrants, The Rings of Saturn, Vertigo, Austerlitz, After Nature, On the Natural History of Destruction, Campo Santo, Unrecounted, For Years Now and A Place in the Country. His selected poetry is published in a volume called Across the Land and the Water.Trade Review'A deeply intelligent book, but also a marvellously warm and intelligent one' Andrew Motion
£9.49
Oxford University Press The Tale of Sinuhe
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewClassicists interested in the development of ancient lyric and epic will find plenty to enjoy in Parkinson's elegant and subtle collection of translations of the principal Egyptian literary texts dating to the period known as the Middle Kingdom ... His beautiful translations and thorough, informative yet unobtrusive commentaries work together to convey strongly the poetic qualities of the Egyptian originals ... Parkinson has produced a book of lasting value here, whose high quality and easy yet authoritative presentation will make these too-long-obscure poems accessible to a wider audience in comparative literary studies, and (I hope) beyond. * Dominic Montserrat, The Classical Review *
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Cambridge International AS A Level Literature in
Book SynopsisExam Board: Cambridge Assessment International EducationLevel & Subject: Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in EnglishFirst teaching: September 2019 First examination: from 2021The Student's Book introduces the key concepts and skills in the Cambridge International syllabus, with a focus on developing effective writing from the start, to give students a toolkit for responding to unseen texts and exploring the set texts in depth.Develops effective writing throughout with dedicated activities and exemplar student writing to model different ways of responding to texts.Structured to help students make progress: each unit offers a clear, step-by-step learning sequence, moving from exploration to supported analysis to independent writing, and building towards examination-style tasks at the end of each chapter.Supports and challenges all learners. The first chapter of the book introduces the fundamental skills and concepts for the course, building learners' confidence and support
£30.00
HarperCollins Publishers Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Book SynopsisThis elegant deluxe slipcased edition of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour, features a beautifully decorated text and includes as a bonus the complete text of Tolkien's acclaimed lecture on Sir Gawain.Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl are two poems by an unknown author written in about 1400. Sir Gawain is a romance, a fairy-tale for adults, full of life and colour; but it is also much more than this, being at the same time a powerful moral tale which examines religious and social values.Pearl is apparently an elegy on the death of a child, a poem pervaded with a sense of great personal loss: but, like Gawain it is also a sophisticated and moving debate on much less tangible matters.Sir Orfeo is a slighter romance, belonging to an earlier and different tradition. It was a special favourite of Tolkien's.The three translations represent the complete rhyme and alliterative schemes of tTrade Review‘The introduction to Gawain is a little masterpiece.’Times Higher Educational Supplement ‘This magnificent Arthurian tale of love, sex, honour, social tact, personal integrity and folk-magic is one of the greatest and most approachable narrative poems in the language. Tolkien’s version makes it come triumphantly alive, a moving and consoling elegy.’Birmingham Post
£56.25
HarperCollins Publishers The Great Gatsby Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.'I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited they went there'Jay Gatsby's Long Island mansion throngs with the bright young things of the Roaring Twenties. But Gatsby himself, young, handsome and mysteriously rich, never appears. He stands apart, yearning for something just out of reach Daisy Buchanan, lost years before to another man. One fateful summer, when the pair finally reunite, their actions set in motion events that will unravel their lives, bringing tragedy to all who surround them.Widely considered F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby is a tale of excess and obsession, and a work of classic twentieth-century American literature.
£7.59
Vintage Publishing Letters To Sartre
Book SynopsisIn 1983 de Beauvoir published Sartre''s letters, maintaining that her own to him had been lost. They were found by de Beauvoir''s adopted daughter, and published to a storm of controversy in France. Tracing the emotional and triangular complications of her life with Sartre, the letters reveal her not only as manipulative and dependent but Simonealso as vulnerable, passionate, jealous and committed.Trade ReviewThere is more than a whiff of Les Liaisons Dangereuses about these pages * Spectator *This is a vivid piece of unexpurgated social history, and an opportunity to hear a vigorous and innovative thinker...speaking in her abrasive, touching, breathtakingly candid private voice * Sunday Times *
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Prelude The Four Texts 1798 1799 1805 1850
Book SynopsisFirst published in July 1850, shortly after Wordsworth''s death, The Prelude was the culmination of over fifty years of creative work. The great Romantic poem of human consciousness, it takes as its theme ''the growth of a poet''s mind'': leading the reader back to Wordsworth''s formative moments of childhood and youth, and detailing his experiences as a radical undergraduate in France at the time of the Revolution. Initially inspired by Coleridge''s exhortation that Wordsworth write a work upon the French Revolution, The Prelude has ultimately become one of the finest examples of poetic autobiography ever written; a fascinating examination of the self that also presents a comprehensive view of the poet''s own creative vision.
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Poetics
Book SynopsisOne of the most powerful, perceptive and influential works of criticism in Western literary history In his near-contemporary account of classical Greek tragedy, Aristotle examines the dramatic elements of plot, character, language and spectacle that combine to produce pity and fear in the audience, and asks why we derive pleasure from this apparently painful process. Taking examples from the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the Poetics introduced into literary criticism such central concepts as mimesis (''imitation''), hamartia (''error'') and katharsis (''purification''). Aristotle explains how the most effective tragedies rely on complication and resolution, recognition and reversals. The Poetics has informed thinking about drama ever since.Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Malcolm HeathTable of ContentsTranslated with an Introduction and Notes by Malcolm HeathIntroduction1. Human culture, poetry and the Poetics2. Imitation3. Aristotle's history of poetry4. The analysis of tragedy5. Plot: the basics6. Reversal and recognition7. The best kinds of tragic plot8. The pleasures of tragedy9. The other parts of tragedy10. Tragedy: miscellaneous aspects11. Epic12. Comedy13. Further reading14. Reference conventionsNotes to the IntroductionSynopsis of the PoeticsPOETICSNotes to the translation
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Index A History of the
Book Synopsis*A TIME, New Yorker, Financial Times and History Today Book of the Year*''Hilarious'' Sam Leith''I loved this book'' Susie Dent''''Witty and affectionate'' Lynne TrussPerfect for book lovers, a delightful history of the wonders to be found in the humble book indexMost of us give little thought to the back of the book - it''s just where you go to look things up. But here, hiding in plain sight, is an unlikely realm of ambition and obsession, sparring and politicking, pleasure and play. Here we might find Butchers, to be avoided, or Cows that sh-te Fire, or even catch Calvin in his chamber with a Nonne. This is the secret world of the index: an unsung but extraordinary everyday tool, with an illustrious but little-known past. Here, for the first time, its story is told. Charting its curious path from the monasteries and universities of thirteenth-century Europe tTrade ReviewFascinating * Financial Times *Witty and wide-ranging...adventurous... as if academic research were as revved-up as a Formula One race -- Peter Conrad * Observer *Masterful * Prospect *Hilarious -- Sam Leith * UnHerd *Exceptionally good ... I learned a huge amount from this wry, clever, diverting book * Scotsman *Brilliant, fascinating...a binge-worthy book -- Greg JennerI loved this book - the story of the index turns out to be a true adventure -- Susie Dent (on Twitter)Charming ... Indexes are to books as menus are to meals: often the best bit * Economist *Illuminating ... A seemingly niche and esoteric subject, the index becomes, in Duncan's hands, a minor miracle. Index, A History of the is not only about books, printing, and the necessity of consistent page-numbering ... but about the nature of reading and about how we understand, categorise, and engage with the world -- Kate Wiles * History Today *What a surprise to discover that the plain and humble index has such an intricate and rollicking history! Dennis Duncan gives us a learned grand tour from ancient times to the almost present in the design and uses - and cunning abuses - of what is still the most sophisticated search tool ever devised. Instruction, passim! Entertainment, idem! -- David Bellos * author of Is That a Fish in Your Ear? *Dennis Duncan has done a great service to all bibliophiles by writing this scholarly, witty and affectionate history. By rights "Books, love of" ought to have a page-long entry in the index. -- Lynne Truss * author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves *Entrancing ... Seldom is a short book so wide-ranging or so original in its subject. Every page has things I didn't know, or hardly realised I knew from a lifetime of looking things up. I want to stop people at random and tell them new facts I've found out. Master the use of the index and you have access to all knowledge. -- Christopher de Hamel * author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts *Packed with easy wit and erudition ... Dennis Duncan gives us not only a history of the index, but an essay on human folly ... Some indexes, says Duncan, are miniature narratives, while others are literary performances, and he provides glorious examples of both. Indexes can also be a form of mockery or satire, and they make excellent objects of disdain ... A terrifically rewarding and timely book * The Oldie *Index, A History of the focuses on the ultimate paratext - the index, an ancient information organiser and search tool that is still invaluable in the age of social media ... Its possibilities fascinated writers including Lewis Carrol, JG Ballard and Vladamir Nabokov ... Duncan's brilliant work makes us realise that the back of the book can be as important as the front * The Lady *To me, a truly great history book is one that changes something in the way in which I see the world Dennis Duncan's Index, A History of the certainly achieved that. Who realised there was such a fascinating, funny and delightful history behind the humble index? -- Katja Hoyer * History Today – Books of the Year *Index, A History of the manages to be both a work of immense erudition and perfect Sunday afternoon reading -- Joseph Hone * History Today – Books of the Year *Smart, playful....Duncan has written such a generous book, attentive to the varieties of the reading experience -- Jennifer Szalai * New York Times *Gracefully learned, often witty and enlightening -- Ben Yagoda * Wall Street Journal *Dennis Duncan's history - from Socrates to software - along with Paula Clarke Bain's peerless index, is witty and personable throughout, and also serves as a sneak attack on the search engine. It's safe to say that you will never take an index for granted again -- Mary Norris, author of Between You & Me and Greek to MeSparkles with geeky wit and shines with an infectious enthusiasm...Always erudite, frequently funny, and often surprising - a treat for lovers of the book qua book * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *Backmatter has never enjoyed such a spotlight; sure to amuse bibliophiles and casual readers alike * Library Journal (starred review) *Duncan proves an amiable companion on what his subtitle aptly refers to as a 'bookish adventure'...[U]seful as an introduction to book history in general as well as indexes in particular -- James Waddell * Times Literary Supplement *An adventure, and 'bookish' in the most appealing sense.... From ancient Egypt to Silicon Valley, Duncan is an ideal tour guide: witty, engaging, knowledgeable and a fount of diverting anecdotes -- Steven Moore * Washington Post *A learned and playful study, by British academic Dennis Duncan, of a textual machinery so successful it's become almost invisible -- Brian Dillon * 4Columns *A decidedly fun history.... Dennis Duncan's enthusiasm for the subject matter shines through the many witticisms and illustrations as he shows how something so seemingly small has been so vital to western literature -- Erica Ezeifedi * BookRiot *After reading Dennis Duncan's delightful history of the tool, you'll never forget to check the index again ... indexes have shaped the way we communicate and engage with power. They might even have saved lives along the way * TIME Magazine *Book of the Year* *Clever, sprightly ... Duncan is a brilliantly illuminating and wide-ranging guide -- Fara Dabhoiwala * New York Review of Books *Brilliant, fascinating...a binge-worthy book -- Greg Jenner
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Long Recessional
Book Synopsis''Superb, beautifully written, touching and occasionally very funny'' Andrew RobertsDavid Gilmour''s superb biography of Rudyard Kipling is the first to show how the life and work of the great writer mirrored the trajectory of the British Empire, from its zenith to its final decades. His famous poem ''Recessional'' celebrated Queen Victoria''s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, but his last poems warned of the dangers of Nazism, and in those intervening years Kipling, himself an icon of the Empire, was transformed from an apostle of success to a prophet of national decline. As Gilmour makes clear, Kipling''s mysterious stories and poetry deeply influenced the way his readers saw both themselves and the British Empire, and they continue to challenge us today.''A fine, fair and generous work ... Gilmour''s celebrated life of Curzon demonstrated his mastery of imperial nuance and esoteric character, and he brings to this book just the right combination of empathy,Trade ReviewAn enthralling biography of a mind ... essential reading for anyone who cares about how a writer finds, and passionately lives, his subject -- Ruth Padel * Daily Telegraph *The best Kipling biogaphy yet written ... Gilmour's account of this driven man shines with intelligence -- J. B. Pick * Scotsman *A fine, fair and generous work ... Gilmour's celebrated life of Curzon demonstrated his mastery of imperial nuance and esoteric character, and he brings to this book just the right combination of empathy, distaste and fastidious detachment -- Jan Morris * New Statesman *
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Portable Edgar Allan Poe
Book SynopsisThe Portable Edgar Allan Poe compiles Poe''s greatest writings: tales of fantasy, terror, death, revenge, murder, and mystery, including The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Amontillado, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue, the world''s first detective story. In addition, this volume offers letters, articles, criticism, visionary poetry, and a selection of random opinions on fancy and the imagination, music and poetry, intuition and sundry other topics.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 traTable of ContentsThe Portable Edgar Allan PoeIntroduction by J. Gerald KennedyChronologyA Note on TextsTalesPredicamentsMS. Found in a Bottle (1832)A Descent into the Maelstrom (1841)The Masque of the Red Death (1842)The Pit and the Pendulum (1842)The Premature Burial (1844)The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar (1845)BereavementsThe Assignation (1834)Berenice (1835)Morella (1835)Ligeia (1838)The Fall of the House of Usher (1839)Eleonora (1841)The Oval Portrait (1842)AntagonismsMetzengerstein (1832)William Wilson (1839)The Tell-Tale Heart (1843)The Black Cat (1843)The Imp of the Perverse (1845)The Cask of Amontillado (1846)Hop-Frog (1849)MysteriesThe Man of the Crowd (1840)The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841)The Gold-Bug (1843)The Oblong Box (1844)A Tale of the Ragged Mountains (1844)The Purloined Letter (1844)GrotesqueriesThe Man That Was Used Up (1839)The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether (1845)Some Words with a Mummy (1845)PoemsThe LakeTo(1827)SonnetTo Science (1829)Fairy-Land (1829)Introduction (1831)"Alone" (1875)To Helen (1831)The Sleeper (1831)Israfel (1831)The Valley of Unrest (1831)The City in the Sea (1831)Lenore (1843)SonnetSilence (1840)Dream-Land (1844)The Raven (1845)UlalumeA Ballad (1847)The Bells (1849)A Dream within a Dream (1849)For Annie (1849)Eldorado (1849)To My Mother (1849)Annabel Lee (1849)LettersTo John Allan, March 19, 1827To John Allan, December 22, 1828To John Allan, January 3, 1831To John Allan, April 12, 1833To Thomas W. White, April 30, 1835To Maria and Virginia Clemm, August 29, 1835To Philip P. Cooke, September 21, 1839To William E. Burton, June 1, 1840To Joseph Evans Snodgrass, April 1, 1841To Frederick W. Thomas, June 26, 1841To Frederick W. Thomas, February 3, 1842To T. H. Chivers, September 27, 1842To Frederick W. Thomas and Jesse E. Dow, March 16, 1843To James Russell Lowell, March 30, 1844To Maria Clemm, April 7, 1844To James Russell Lowell, July 2, 1844To Evert A. Duyckinck, November 13, 1845To Virginia Poe, June 12, 1846To Philip P. Cooke, August 9, 1846To N. P. Willis, December 30, 1846To Marie L. Shew, January 29, 1847To George W. Eveleth, January 4, 1848To George W. Eveleth, February 29, 1848To Sarah Helen Whitman, October 1, 1848To Annie L. Richmond, November 16, 1848To Frederick W. Thomas, February 14, 1849To Maria Clemm, July 7, 1849To Maria Clemm, September 18, 1849Critical PrinciplesOn Unity of EffectOn Plot in NarrativeOn the Prose TaleOn the Design of FictionThe Object of Poetry (from "Letter to B")"The Philosophy of Composition"The Effect of Rhyme"The Poetic Principle" (excerpts)American CriticismObservationsLiterary Nationalism"Some Secrets of the Magazine Prison-House"American Literary IndependenceThe Soul and the SelfImagination and InsightPoetical IrritabilityGenius and Proportionate IntellectReason and GovernmentAdaptation and the Plots of GodWorks of GeniusNational Literature and ImitationLanguage and ThoughtMagazine Literature in AmericaThe Name of the NationThe Unwritable BookImaginationArt and the SoulSuperiority and SufferingMatter, Spirit, and Divine WillNotesSelected Bibliography
£15.29
Oxford University Press Inc Aztec Latin
Book SynopsisIn 1536, only fifteen years after the fall of the Aztec empire, Franciscan missionaries began teaching Latin, classical rhetoric, and Aristotelian philosophy to native youths in central Mexico. The remarkable linguistic and cultural exchanges that would result from that initiative are the subject of this book. Aztec Latin highlights the importance of Renaissance humanist education for early colonial indigenous history, showing how practices central to humanism the cultivation of eloquence, the training of leaders, scholarly translation, and antiquarian research were transformed in New Spain to serve Indian elites as well as the Spanish authorities and religious orders. While Franciscan friars, inspired by Erasmus'' ideal of a common tongue, applied principles of Latin grammar to Amerindian languages, native scholars translated the Gospels, a range of devotional literature, and even Aesop''s fables into the Mexican language of Nahuatl. They also produced significant new writings in L
£999.99
Oxford University Press The Crimes of Love
Book Synopsis''Senneval, you see in me your sister, the girl you seduced at Nancy, the woman who murdered your son, the wife of your own father and the ignoble creature who sent your mother to the gallows...''Who but the Marquis de Sade would write, not of the pain, tragedy, and joy of love but of its crimes? Murder, seduction, and incest are among the cruel rewards for selfless love in his stories; tragedy, despair, and death the inevitable outcome. Sade''s villains will stop at nothing to satisfy their depraved passions, and they in turn suffer under the thrall of love.Psychologically astute, and defiantly unconventional, these stories show Sade at his best. A skilled and artful storyteller, he is also an intellectual who asks questions about society, about ourselves, and about life, for which we have yet to find the answers. This new selection includes ''An Essay on Novels'', Sade''s penetrating survey of the novelist''s art. 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[An] excellent new edition... A recommended introduction to the Sadean oeuvre for anyone genuinely interested in the ideas that won him enduring notoriety. * Ruth Scurr, Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsAn Essay on Novels ; Miss Henrietta Stralson, or The Effects of Despair ; Faxelange, or the Faults of Ambition ; Florville and Courval, or Fatality ; Rodrigo, or The Enchanted Tower ; Ernestine. A Swedish Tale ; The Countess of Sancerre, or Her Daughter's Rival ; Eugenie de Franval. A Tragic Tale
£9.49
Oxford University Press Four Revenge Tragedies
Book SynopsisThe Revenge Tragedy flourished in Britain in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Thomas Kyd''s The Spanish Tragedy helped to establish the popularity of the genre, and it was followed by The Revenger''s Tragedy, published anonymously and ascribed first to Cyril Tourneur and then to Thomas Middleton. George Chapman''s The Revenge of Bussy D''Ambois and Tourneur''s The Atheist''s Tragedy appeared soon after. Each of the four plays printed here defines the problems of the revenge genre, often by exploiting its conventions in unexpected directions. All deal with fundamental moral questions about the meaning of justice and the lengths to which victimized individuals may go to obtain it, while registering the strains of life in a rigid but increasingly fragile social hierarchy. Under the General Editoriship of Dr 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, Table of ContentsThe Spanish Tragedy ; The Revenger's Tragedy ; The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois ; The Atheist's Tragedy
£9.49
