ELT & Literary Studies Books

Book SynopsisA high-tech business park on the Mediterranean is the setting for a most disturbing crime in this reissue featuring an introduction by Ali Smith.People are so immersed in their work they wouldn't notice the end of the world.A high-tech business park lies hidden in the hills above Cannes an ultra-modern utopia where residents live a life of luxury and seclusion.But when Jane Sinclair arrives in Eden-Olympia for a new medical post, a disturbing mystery awaits. What caused her apparently sane predecessor to murder ten people in a shooting spree that made headlines around the world? As her husband Paul explores his new surroundings, he begins to uncover a thriving subculture of crime that is spiralling out of control.Both novel of ideas and complex thriller, Super-Cannes is an extraordinary satire from the author of Empire of the Sun', The Drowned World' and Crash'.Trade Review‘Sublime…An elegant, elaborate trap of a novel, which reads as a companion piece to “Cocaine Nights” but takes ideas from that novel and runs further. The first essential novel of the 21st century’ Independent ‘Possibly his greatest book. “Super-Cannes” is both a novel of ideas and a compelling thriller that will keep you turning the pages to the shocking denouement. Only Ballard could have produced it’ Sunday Express ‘In this tautly paced thriller he brilliantly details how man’s darker side derails a vast experiment in living, and shows the dangers of a near-future in which going mad is the only way of staying sane’ Daily Mail ‘Vintage Ballard, a gripping blend of stylised thriller and fantastic imaginings’ Guardian

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Book SynopsisA fantastic reissue of Richard Holmes' epic biography of this most enigmatic and intriguing of the Romantic poets. This is simply one of the greatest biographical achievements of recent years.Shelley, the most neglected of all the great Romantic poets, was born in Sussex in 1792 and died in Tuscany in 1822, a brief life packed with love affairs, alarums and excursions. Holmes's book offers a serious and critical reappraisal of Shelley as a man and a writer; all his prose and poetry is carefully re-examined, his sense of spiritual and geographical isolation brilliantly described and a detailed portrait of his macabre imaginative life slowly assembled.Shelley's intense friendships with some of the most remarkable figures of his age fill Holmes's pages with a vivid parorama of revolutionary idealism and recklessness. To this is added the private story of Shelley's tortuous romantic liaisons, complications which affected both the peculiar tenor of his daily life and the remotest conceptionTrade Review‘If the art of biography was ever damned, “Shelley: The Pursuit” redeemed it.’ New York Times ‘The best biography of Shelley ever written. The great emphasis that Mr. Holmes lays on Shelley’s politics, philosophy and social activities corrects the usual view of an extraordinarily idealised, ethereal, spiritualized kind of poetry combined with an extraordinarily incoherent life. He has taken the Shelley story out of the realm of myth and made it far more convincing and significant.’ Sir Stephen Spender ‘An unquestionably great biography which banished forever the image of the poet as an ineffectual angel.’ Independent on Sunday

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Book SynopsisA brilliant personal history from the award-winning author of ‘The Corrections’.Trade Review'His discreetly devastating comic timing derives from the tension between the optimism of his ambition and the reality of the attempts to deal with the experiences that have marked his career as one America's best novelist and essayist.' Times 'Franzen's memoir is cleverly written and often fun to read…He's funny and self deprecating…' Sunday Telegraph ‘Wonderful and supremely personal…' Time Magazine 'Reading such honest, awkward, tender pieces as these, the socially isolated individual may feel that little bit less lonely.' New Statesman. 'The close of this book is almost miraculous; we are reminded that Franzen, at his best, can write like a dream.' FT Magazine

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.'Revealing the truths and realities about Irish society in the early 20th century, Joyce's Dubliners challenged the prevailing image of Dublin at the time. A group portrait made up of 15 short stories about the inhabitants of Joyce's native city, he offers a subtle critique of his own town, imbuing the text with an underlying tone of tragedy. Through his various characters he displays the complicated relationships, hardships and mundane details of everyday life and the desire for escape a yearning that so closely mirrored his own experiences.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.

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Book SynopsisThe 2004 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction returns with a collection of 14 short stories, rife with characters who will stay with you well beyond the last pageTrade ReviewReviews for ‘The Known World’: 'A very moving epic.' Andrea Levy, author of ‘Small Island’ 'Majestic…[its] cumulative effect devastates.' Daily Telegraph 'A moral epic, skilfully and sensitively constructed.' Sunday Times 'A powerful experience…rich in character and plot.' Guardian 'A masterpiece.' Time Magazine

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.''Oh! Mama, how spiritless, how tame was Edward''s manner in reading to us last night! I felt for my sister most severely. Yet she bore it with so much composure, she seemed scarcely to notice it. I could hardly keep my seat.''Spirited and impulsive, Marianne Dashwood is the complete opposite to her controlled and sensible sister, Elinor. When it comes to matters of the heart, Marianne is passionate and romantic and soon falls for the charming, but unreliable Mr Willoughby. Elinor, in contrast, copes stoically with the news that her love, Edward Ferrars is promised to another.It is through their shared experiences of love that both sisters come to learn that the key to a successful match comes from finding the perfect mixture of rationality and feeling.

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Book SynopsisThe translation of Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien was an early work, very distinctive in its mode, completed in 1926: he returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication.This edition is twofold, for there exists an illuminating commentary on the text of the poem by the translator himself, in the written form of a series of lectures given at Oxford in the 1930s; and from these lectures a substantial selection has been made, to form also a commentary on the translation in this book.From his creative attention to detail in these lectures there arises a sense of the immediacy and clarity of his vision. It is as if he entered into the imagined past: standing beside Beowulf and his men shaking out their mail-shirts as they beached their ship on the coast of Denmark, listening to the rising anger of Beowulf at the taunting of Unferth, or looking up in amazement at Grendel's terrible hand set under the roof of Heorot.But the commentary in this book includes also much from those lectures in which, while always anchored in the text, he expressed his wider perceptions. He looks closely at the dragon that would slay Beowulf snuffling in baffled rage and injured greed when he discovers the theft of the cup'; but he rebuts the notion that this is a mere treasure story', just another dragon tale'. He turns to the lines that tell of the burying of the golden things long ago, and observes that it is the feeling for the treasure itself, this sad history' that raises it to another level. The whole thing is sombre, tragic, sinister, curiously real. The treasure is not just some lucky wealth that will enable the finder to have a good time, or marry the princess. It is laden with history, leading back into the dark heathen ages beyond the memory of song, but not beyond the reach of imagination.'Sellic Spell, a marvellous tale', is a story written by Tolkien suggesting what might have been the form and style of an Old English folk-tale of Beowulf, in which there was no association with the historical legends' of the Northern kingdoms.Trade Review“This is long-awaited, and hugely exciting for Tolkien readers” The Guardian “If he had never written The Lord of the Rings he would have been famous in academic circles for writing one published lecture on Beowulf called The Monsters and the Critics. It turned things upside down. Beowulf was probably the medieval text that influenced him the most and the commentary and lectures are ‘nuggets of gold’”The Independent “A tantalising prospect. Tolkien’s translation of Sir Gawain is a master class in linguistic chicanery – Middle English meets Middle Earth… it will be interesting to see if it gives Heaney's Beowulf a run for its money”Simon Armitage, The Guardian

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Book SynopsisMansfield Park is the complex and controversial novel starring Fanny Price, the heroine through which the world-renowned author of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility views the social mores of her day and contemplates human nature itself.Never did any novelist make more use of an impeccable sense of human values.—Virginia WoolfMansfield Park encompasses not only Jane Austen’s great comedic gifts and her genius as a historian of the human animal, but her personal credo as well—her faith in a social order that combats chaos through civil grace, decency, and wit. At the novel’s center is Fanny Price, the classic “poor cousin,” brought as a child to Mansfield Park by the rich Sir Thomas Bertram and his wife as an act of charity. Over time, Fanny comes to demonstrate forcibly those virtues Austen most admired: modesty, firm principles, and a loving heart. As Fanny watches her cousi

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Book SynopsisIn his reflections on Christianity, Saint Thomas Aquinas forged a unique synthesis of ancient philosophy and medieval theology. Preoccupied with the relationship between faith and reason, he was influenced both by Aristotle's rational world view and by the powerful belief that wisdom and truth can ultimately only be reached through divine revelation. Thomas's writings, which contain highly influential statements of fundamental Christian doctrine, as well as observations on topics as diverse as political science, anti-Semitism and heresy, demonstrate the great range of his intellect and place him firmly among the greatest medieval philosophers.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 enhanTrade Review"There are readers of Aquinas's works, but Penguin's surpasses all by its sheer size, the very representative choice of texts, the excellent translations, and scholarly, informative introductions." —Albert E. GunnTable of ContentsSelected Writings - Thomas Aquinas IntroductionChronologyA Note on the TextsPart One: Student (1245-56)1. The Inaugural Sermons (1256)2. On the Principles of Nature (1252-6)3. On Being and Essence (1252-6)4. The Nature of Theology. Commentary on Sentences I, Prologue (1252-4)5. The Work of the Six Days of Creation. Commentary on Sentences 2.2, d. 12 (1252-4)Part Two: Master at Paris (1256-9)6. Theology, Faith and Reason. On Boethius On the Trinity, 1-2 (1257)7. How are Things Good? Exposition of On the Hebdomads of Boethius (1257)8. The Meanings of Truth. Disputed Question on Truth, I (1256-9)9. On the Teacher. Disputed Question on Truth, II (1256-9)10. On Conscience. Disputed Question on Truth, 17 (1256-9)Part Three: Italy (1259-68)11. Proof of God's Existence. Summa contra Gentiles, I, 9-14 (1259)12. The Human Good. Summa contra Gentiles, 3 (1259-65)13. On the Divine Simplicity. Disputed Question of the Power of God, 7 (1265-6)14. On Goodness and the Goodness of God. Summa theologiae, 1, 5-6 (1268)15. On Creation. Summa theologiae, 1, 44 (1268)16. On Angelic Knowledge. Summa theologiae, 1, 54-8 (1268)17. Definitions of Soul. On Aristotle's De anima, 2, 1-3 (1268)18. Platonism and Neoplatonism. Preface to Exposition of On the Divine Names (1265-8)Part Four: Paris (1269-72)19. The Range of Natural Philosophy. Expositions of Physics, 1, 1, Preface to On the Heavens, Preface to On Sense and the Sensed Object (1269)20. How Words Mean. Exposition of On Interpretation, 1-5 (1270-71)21. On the Ultimate End. Summa theologiae, 1-2, 1-5 (1271)22. On Human Choice. Disputed Question on Evil, 6 (1266-72)23. What Makes Actions Good or Bad? Summa theologiae, 1-2, 18-20 (1271)24. On Law and Natural Law. Summa theologiae, 1-2, 90-94 (1271)25. The Virtues. Summa theologiae, 1-2, 55-7 (1271-2)26. The Active and Contemplative Lives. Summa theologiae, 2-2, 179-81 (1271-2)27. On the Eternity of the World (1271)28. The Love of Wisdom. Exposition of Metaphysics, Preface and 1, 1-3 (1271)Part Five: Naples (1272-4)29. The Logic of the Incarnation. Summa theologiae, 3, 16 (1273)30. What is a Sacrament? Summa theologiae, 3, 6 (1273)31. The Exposition of the Book of Causes, 1-5 (1272)32. Exposition of Paul's Epistle to Philemon (1273)33. Exposition of the Angelic Salutation (Ave Maria) (1273)Glossary

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Book SynopsisHorace exposes the vices and follies of his Roman contemporaries in his Satires, and the Epistles include the famous Art of Poetry, whose advice on poetic style influenced many later writers and dramatists. John Davie's new prose translations perfectly capture the ribald style of the original.

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Book SynopsisThe name of the Marquis de Sade is synonymous with the blackest corners of the human soul, a byword for all that is foulest in human conduct. In his bleak, claustrophobic universe, there is no God, no morality, no human affection, and no hope. Power is given to the strong, and the strong are murderers, torturers, and tyrants. No quarter is given; compassion is the virtue of the weak. Yet Sade was a man of savage intelligence who carried the philosophy of the French Enlightenment to its logical extreme. His writings effectively release the individual from all social and moral constraint: for many, Sade is the Great Libertarian. The Victorians considered him `Divine' and Apollinaire called him `the freest spirit'; the Surrealists recognised him as a founding father, and he is a key figure in the history of modernism and post-modernism. With Freud and Marx, Sade has been oneof the crucial shaping influences on this century, and reactions to him continue to be extreme. But he has always bTable of ContentsThe Misfortunes of Virtue; Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man; The Successful Ruse; The Pimp Well Served; The Windbags of Provence; An Inexplicable Affair; The Prude; Émile de Tourville; Augustine de Villeblanche; The Law of Talion; The Self-Made Cuckold; The Husband who Said Mass; The Lady of the Manor of Longeville; The Confidence Men

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Book SynopsisAnd now I found these fancies creating their own realities, and all imagined horrors crowding upon me in fact''.The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym is an archetypal American story of escape from home and family which traces a young man''s rite of passage through a series of terrible brushes with death during a fateful sea voyage. But it also goes much deeper, as Pym encounters various interpretative dilemmas, at last leaving the reader with a broken-off ending that defies solution.Apart from its violence and mystery, the tale calls attention to the act of writing and to the problem of representing truth. Layer upon layer of elaborate hoaxes include its author''s own role of posing as ghost-writer of the narrative; Pym - his only novel - has become the key text for our understanding of Poe.This edition offers eight short tales which are linked to Pym by their treatment of persistent themes - fantastic voyages, gigantic whirlpools, and premature burials - or by their ironic commentary on Trade Review'a fine introduction to a fascinating writer' The Observer

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Book SynopsisDevils, also known in English as The Possessed and The Demons, was first published in 1871-2. The third of Dostoevsky''s five major novels, it is at once a powerful political tract and a profound study of atheism, depicting the disarray which follows the appearance of a band of modish radicals in a small provincial town. Dostoevsky compares infectious radicalism to the devils that drove the Gadarene swine over the precipice in his vision of a society possessed by demonic creatures that produce devastating delusions of rationality.Dostoevsky is at his most imaginatively humorous in Devils: the novel is full of buffoonery and grotesque comedy. The plot is loosely based on the details of a notorious case of political murder, but Dostoevsky weaves suicide, rape, and a multiplicity of scandals into a compelling story of political evil. _ This new translation also includes the chapter `Stavrogin''s Confession'', which was initially considered to be too shocking to print. In this edition it appears where the author originally intended it. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. _ _

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Book 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

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Book SynopsisTable of Contents1. 'The Origin of Virtue (Protagoras 320c-323a) ; 2. 'The Judgement of Souls' (Gorgias 523a-527a) ; 3. 'The Androgyne' (Symposium 189c-193e) ; 4. 'The Birth of Love' (Symposium 201d-212c) ; 5. 'The Other World' (Phaedo 107c-115a) ; 6. 'The Cave' (Republic 514a-517a) ; 7. 'Er's Journey into the Other World' (Republic 614b-621d) ; 8. 'The Winged Soul' (Phaedrus 246a-257a) ; 9. 'The Two Cosmic Eras' (Statesman 268d-274e) ; 10. 'Atlantis and the Ancient City of Athens' (Timaeus 20d-25d; Critias 108e-121c)

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Book SynopsisThese essays are a testimony to the polymathic reach of Aldous Huxley's intellect, as well as to the relish with which he entered into some of his more surprising enthusiasms.

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Book Synopsis''I hated the office. I hated my work...the only career in life within my reach was that of an author.''The only autobiography by a major Victorian novelist, Trollope''s account offers a fascinating insight into his literary life and opinions. After a miserable childhood and misspent youth, Trollope turned his life around at the age of twenty-six. By 1860 the ''hobbledehoy'' had become both a senior civil servant and a best-selling novelist. He worked for the Post Office for many years and stood unsuccessfully for Parliament. Best-known for the two series of novels grouped loosely around the clerical and political professions, the Barsetshire and Palliser series, in his Autobiography Trollope frankly describes his writing habits. His apparent preoccupation with contracts, deadlines, and earnings, and his account of the remorseless regularity with which he produced his daily quota of words, has divided opinion ever since. This edition reassesses the work''s distinctive qualities and incTrade ReviewTrollope is one of my favourite authors & his autobiography is a portrait of a lovable man who survived a miserable childhood & created a happy life for himself, both personally & professionally as a novelist. * I Prefer Reading *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION; NOTE ON THE TEXT; CHRONOLOGY; AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY; TROLLOPE ON JANE AUSTEN; 'ON ENGLISH PROSE FICTION AS A RATIONAL AMUSEMENT'; FROM THACKERAY; FROM 'THE GENIUS OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE; FROM 'A WALK IN THE WOOD'; APPENDIX: PASSAGES OMITTED FROM THE MANUSCRIPT; EXPLANATORY NOTES; INDEX

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Book SynopsisThe Masterpiece is the tragic story of Claude Lantier, an ambitious and talented young artist from the provinces who has come to conquer Paris and is conquered by the flaws in his own genius. While his boyhood friend Pierre Sandoz becomes a successful novelist, Claude's originality is mocked at the Salon and turns gradually into a doomed obsession with one great canvas. Life - in the form of his model and wife Christine and their deformed child Jacques - issacrificed on the altar of Art.The Masterpiece is the most autobiographical of the twenty novels in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. Set in the 1860s and 1870s, it provides a unique insight into his career as a writer and his relationship with Cézanne, a friend since their schooldays in Aix-en-Provence. It also presents a well-documented account of the turbulent Bohemian world in which the Impressionists came to prominence despite the conservatism of the Academy and the ridicule of the general public.Table of ContentsNo Penguin competition.

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Book SynopsisThomas Hardy (1840-1928) remains one of the best loved of the great English poets. Hardy thought of himself as a poet all his life, although his poetic career only flowered after he had retired from novel-writing in his mid-fifties. Over the next thirty years he wrote the poems that have established him as one of the great and most enduringly popular English poets of the twentieth century. His verse touches all the common themes of human existence: birth, childhood, love, marriage, ageing, death. If Hardy''s age brings anything to them, it is an old man''s ironic and elegiac sense that in life hopes are likely to be defeated and losses sustained, and that the world was not designed for human happiness. This collection is prepared by Samuel Hynes, editor of the Oxford English Texts edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Thomas Hardy, and selected from the Oxford Authors critical edition. The introduction and notes illuminate Hardy''s central place in the tradition of English poetry. 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'There is no more trusted name when it comes to the work of the great British poets than that of Oxford University Press. If you want the collected works, fully annotated and with scholarly editing then it's OUP you look to ... a series of elegant paperback volumes, each dedicated to a single poet, and with an introduction by an acknowledged expert.' David Thomas, Oxford Times'the selections are excellent, and the books real value for money' Robert Nye, The TimesTable of ContentsWessex Poems ; Poems of the Past and the Present ; Time's Laughingstocks ; Satires of Circumstance ; Moments of Vision ; Late Lyrics and Earlier ; Human Shows ; Winter Words ; Uncollected Poems

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Book SynopsisAdvanced vocabulary tests with answers to accompany the popular English Vocabulary in Use Advanced Second Edition reference and practice book.

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Book SynopsisBeowulf is the greatest surviving work of literature in Old English, unparalleled in its epic grandeur and scope. It tells the story of the heroic Beowulf and of his battles, first with the monster Grendel, who has laid waste to the great hall of the Danish king Hrothgar, then with Grendel''s avenging mother, and finally with a dragon that threatens to devastate his homeland. Through its blend of myth and history, Beowulf vividly evokes a twilight world in which men and supernatural forces live side by side. And it celebrates the endurance of the human spirit in a transient world.Alexander''s translation is marked by a conviction that it is possible to be both ambitious and faithful [and] ...communicates the poem with a care which goes beyond fidelity-to-meaning and reaches fidelity of implication. May it go on ... to another half-million copies. - Tom Shippey, Bulletin of the International Association of University Professors of EnglishTrade ReviewMichael Alexander is much the best translator from Old English. His Penguin Beowulf is much to be recommended -- A.N. Wilson

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Book Synopsis''we can speak of no greater contest than Olympia''The Greek poet Pindar (c. 518-428 BC) composed victory odes for winners in the ancient Games, including the Olympics. He celebrated the victories of athletes competing in foot races, horse races, boxing, wrestling, all-in fighting and the pentathlon, and his Odes are fascinating not only for their poetic qualities, but for what they tell us about the Games. Pindar praises the victor by comparing him to mythical heroes and the gods, but also reminds the athlete of his human limitations. The Odes contain versions of some of the best known Greek myths, such as Jason and the Argonauts, and Perseus and Medusa, and are a valuable source for Greek religion and ethics. Pindar''s startling use of language - striking metaphors, bold syntax, enigmatic expressions - makes reading his poetry a uniquely rewarding experience.Anthony Verity''s lucid translations are complemented by an introduction and notes that provide insight into competition, myth,

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Book SynopsisTrade Reviewwelcome the new additions to the finest and widest-ranging library of great writing (at accessible prices too), OUP's World's Classics series ... Goethe's Erotic Poems ... this is the first readily available version of the uncensored Elegies * Oxford Times *

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Book SynopsisIn this new offering from Stanley Wells, the pre-eminent Shakespearian scholar, comes a Very Short Introduction to the life and writings of the world''s greatest and best-known dramatists: William Shakespeare.Looking at his early life and education, Wells explores Shakespeare''s social and intellectual background and the literary traditions on which Shakespeare drew. Examining the theatres and theatrical profession of the time, he also considers how Shakespeare experienced this world, both as an actor and as a writer. Examining Shakespeare''s narrative poems, sonnets, and all of his plays, Wells outlines their sources, style, and originality over the course of Shakespeare''s career, to consider the fundamental impact his work has had for subsequent generations. Written with enthusiasm and flair by a scholar who has devoted a lifetime to the study of Shakespeare and his works, this is an engaging and authoritative introduction. 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 ReviewWells approaches his subject matter with refreshing clarity and potent enthusiasm ... his convivial tone is one of this volume's great strengths. * English *an engaging and insightful guide which may inspire its readers to explore not only the author's life and works, but the wealth of contemporary Shakespearean manifestations. * English *So all in all I enjoyed this little book very much, and it made me want to go back to the plays themselves as well as to delve into some recent secondary works. If you think you might have failed to fully appreciate Shakespeare, whether owing to bad teaching or to less than first-rate performances, this is an excellent place to start exploring the life and work of probably the most celebrated dramatist not only in Britain but also throughout the world. * Shiny New Books, Harriet Devine *this is an excellent place to start exploring the life and work of probably the most celebrated dramatist not only in Britain but also throughout the world. * Shiny New Books *Table of ContentsPreface: Why Shakespeare? ; 1. Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon ; 2. Theatre in Shakespeare's time ; 3. Shakespeare in London ; 4. Plays of the 1590s ; 5. Shakespeare and comic form ; 6. Return to tragedy ; 7. The classical plays ; 8. Tragi-comedy ; Epilogue ; Chronology: Shakespeare's works ; Further reading ; Index

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is pround to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.''Ah, but let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart.''A tale of sin, punishment and atonement, The Scarlet Letter exposes the moral rigidity of a 17th-Century Puritan New England community when faced with the illegitimate child of a young mother. Regarded as the first real heroine of American fiction, it is Hester Prynne''s strength of character that resonates with the reader when her harsh sentence is cast. It is in her refusal to reveal the identity of the father in the face of her accusers that Hawthorne champions his heroine and berates the weakness of Society for attacking the innocent.

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Book SynopsisA title that involves us so deeply that Austen's final illness and death come almost as a personal tragedy to the reader. It presents Austen as remarkably clever; sensitive, but sentimental; tough, yet observant; guarded; and a woman with the devil of a genius in her.Trade ReviewAs near perfect a Life of Austen as we are likely to get: intelligent, feeling, suggestive -- Carmen Callil * Daily Telegraph *A book that radiates intelligence, wit and insight -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times *A perfect biography: detailed, witty, warm -- Dirk Bogarde * Sunday Telegraph *Claire Tomalin is the finest and most disinterested of biographers, because in her pages she has given Jane Austen her liberty -- Hilary Mantel * New York Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisKey dimensions of Dostoevskii's writing and life are explored in this collection of specially commissioned essays. While remaining accessible to an undergraduate and non-specialist readership, the essays as a whole seek to renegotiate the terms in which Dostoevskii and his works are to be approached. This is achieved by replacing the conventional 'life and works' format by one that seeks instead to foreground key aspects of the cultural context in which those works were produced. Contributors trace the often complex relationship between those aspects and the processes accompanying the creation of Dostoevskii's art. They examine topics such as Dostoevskii's relation to folk literature, money, religion, the family and science. The essays are well supported by supplementary material including a chronology of the period and detailed guides to further reading. Altogether the volume provides an invaluable resource for scholars and students.Trade Review'This collection fully equals the earlier publications in this widely respected series.' Contemporary Review'Indispensable for all those teaching or studying Dostoevskii.' Rusistika'Professor Leatherbarrow deserves congratulation as well as the thanks of students and scholars for producing such a useful and stimulating volume. It will doubtless join his other works on many a reading list.' Arnold McMillin, Slavonic & East European ReviewTable of ContentsNotes on contributors; Chronology; Editor's note; Introduction W. J. Leatherbarrow; 1. Dostoevskii and the Russian folk heritage Faith Wigzell; 2. Dostoevskii and literature W. J. Leatherbarrow; 3. Dostoevskii as a professional writer William Mills Todd; 4. Dostoevskii and money Boris Christa; 5. Dostoevskii as an Intelligent Derek Offord; 6. Dostoevskii and psychology Robert L. Belknap; 7. Dostoevskii and religion Malcolm V. Jones; 8. Dostoevskii and the family Susanne Fusso; 9. Dostoevskii and science Dianne Oenning Thompson; 10. Conclusion Gary Saul Morson.

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Book SynopsisNow in a second edition, Theatre Studies: The Basics is a fully updated guide to the wonderful world of theatre. The practical and theoretical dimensions of theatre â from acting to audience â are woven together throughout to provide an integrated introduction to the study of drama, theatre and performance. Topics covered include: dramatic genres, from tragedy to political documentary theories of performance the history of the theatre in the West acting, directing and scenography With a glossary, chapter summaries and suggestions for further reading throughout, Theatre Studies: the Basics remains the ideal starting point for anyone new to the subject.Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Performance Chapter 2: The TextChapter 3: Dramatic Form Chapter 4: Theatre and History Chapter 5: Acting Chapter 6: Directing Chapter 7: Scenography Chapter 8: The audience GlossaryIndexBibliography

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Book SynopsisFrançois Mauriac''s masterpiece and one of the greatest Catholic novels, Thérèse Desqueyroux is the haunting story of an unhappily married young woman whose desperation drives her to thoughts of murder. Mauriac paints an unforgettable portrait of spiritual isolation and despair, but he also dramatizes the complex realities of forgiveness, grace, and redemption. Set in the countryside outside Bordeaux, in a region of overwhelming heat and sudden storms, the novel''s landscape reflects the inner world of Thérèse, a figure who has captured the imaginations of readers for generations.Raymond N. MacKenzie''s translation of Thérèse Desqueyroux, the first since 1947, captures the poetic lyricism of Mauriac''s prose as well as the intensity of his stream-of-consciousness narrative. MacKenzie also provides notes and a biographical and interpretive introduction to help readers better appreciate the mastery of François Mauriac, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1952. This volume alTrade ReviewAimed at the American English ear, MacKenzie's syntax restores the Jazz Age punch of Mauriac's original. Thanks to MacKenzie's introduction, notes, and translated first draft of Mauriac's text ('Conscience'), Therese's sexuality is also restored, making her once again an ambivalent 'new woman' [la garçonne] of the 1920s and a scandalous protagonist for a 'Catholic novel.' As a result, the interwar 'Catholic revival' [renouveau catholique] also recovers its punch with Mauriac's challenge to bourgeois Catholicism. With new eyes and ears, another generation of readers can now wade with Therese Desqueyroux into 'the human river.' -- Stephen Schloesser, author of Jazz Age Catholicism: Mystic Modernism in Postwar Paris, 1919-1933An invaluable volume for those exploring Mauriac or his place in the French Catholic renaissance. MacKenzie's fresh, highly readable translation of Mauraic's disturbing masterpiece includes translator's notes and an excellent introduction. His inclusion of Mauriac's first draft permits rare insights into the startling evolution of the eponymous heroine. -- William Bush, Professor Emeritus of French Literature at the University of Western Ontario, CanadaIt is safe to say that Francois Mauriac's Thérèse Desqueyroux has achieved the most coveted form of 'immortality' that any writer could hope for: inclusion on countless university and secondary school reading lists for both courses and exams. Only a few French novels share this distinction. Thus, Professor MacKenzie's excellent translation is well timed, for Thérèse, a great novel by any criterion, will be read by many throughout the rest of the new century. The Gerard Hopkins translation, competent and reliable in its day, nonetheless shows signs of wear. The English language, particularly in North America, has evolved considerably in the intervening three quarters of a century since its publication, and a fresh new translation in today's idiom is most welcome. This bright new translation is a valuable addition to Mauriac studies, and will add to the luster of Mauriac's reputation in the English-speaking world. Thanks to Professor MacKenzie, a new generation of readers in the English-speaking world will be able to have a direct, lively and utterly reliable interaction with Mauriac 's great novel. -- David O'Connell, Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Georgia State UniversityTable of ContentsPart 1 Foreword Part 2 Introduction Part 3 Thérèse Desqueyroux 4 Conscience, The Divine Instinct

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Book SynopsisJohn Ruskin was one of the most influential writers of the nineteenth century. His study of art and architecture in Britain and Europe led him to consider of the conditions of the people who lived in his world, and his interests embraced social and political economy. His ideas propounded in books like Unto This Last had a profound effect: William Morris, Bernard Shaw and many other early socialists practised his teachings. It also shows where the effects of his teaching can be seen today, in green belts, town planning, smokeless zones, the Rent Restrictions Act and the National Trust.

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Book SynopsisIn 1956, Anne Sexton was admitted into a mental hospital for post-partum depression, where she met Dr. Martin Orne, a young psychiatrist who treated her for the next eight years. In that time Sexton would blossom into a world-famous poet, best known for her confessional poems dealing with personal subjects not often represented in poetry at that time: mental illness, depression, suicide, sex, abortion, women''s bodies, and the ordinary lives of mothers and housewives. Orne audiotaped the last three years of her therapy to facilitate her ability to remember their sessions. The final six months of these tapes are the focus of this book.In An Accident of Hope, Dawn Skorczewski links the content of the therapy with poetry excerpts, offering a rare perspective on the artist''s experience and creative process. We can see Sexton attempting to make sense of her life and therapy and to sustain her confidence as a major poet, while struggling with the Trade Review"Dawn Skorczewski explores this explosive material with delicacy and a sensitive hand. While An Accident of Hope limns the contours of Anne Sexton's deep-seated emotions – both the joy and the anguish – and the intertwined roots of her poetry, it simultaneously gives us a compelling read that never, ever, disappoints." - Linda Gray Sexton, author of Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide and Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother: Anne Sexton"By combining close readings of Anne Sexton's poems, mid-20th-century cultural history, and reflections on the development of psychoanalytic theory and technique, Dawn Skorczewski has produced a richly contextualized interpretive account of the audio recordings of the last six months of the poet's treatment with psychiatrist Martin Orne. An Accident of Hope amply demonstrates the mutually generative potential of literary and psychoanalytic texts and methodologies, while also reinforcing our sense of the propriety of Freud's oft-cited avowal that, wherever he went, he found that a poet had gotten there before him. Toggling back and forth between Sexton's poems and her taped conversations with Orne, Skorczewski reveals that, in certain ways, Sexton had a more forward-looking understanding than her doctor did of the psychotherapeutic relationship as a creative partnership." - Max Cavitch, University of Pennsylvania, USA "In An Accident of Hope, worlds creatively collide. Skorczewski composes a contrapuntal work of great force that resonates on several levels at once. Poems comment on intimate therapy encounters, and the encounters themselves reveal a patient trying to teach her beloved therapist how to listen to her and a therapist teetering between sexist and rigid theoretical analytic paradigms and a desire to nurture the creative human being in his care. Masterfully—and lyrically—connecting Sexton's poems, therapy sessions, and the therapeutic and cultural norms of the time, Skorczewski tells the tale of a great poet, a traumatized and traumatizing woman, and a patient whose challenges to her therapist foreshadow relational understandings of what harms and what heals." - Lynne Layton, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts, USA"Dawn Skorczewski's responsiveness to the psychoanalytic narrative invites readers into an affecting study of the inner lives of men and women. With sophistication, care, and a literary style that makes for compelling reading, she draws readers into Dr. Martin Orne's tape recorded clinical treatment of the poet Anne Sexton. It is an unusual record of poetry and life woven from the fragility of creativity between the poet and the analyst. Nested in this commentary are the erotic tensions between North American psychoanalysis and the arts in the 1960s. Through the painful complications of childhood, adulthood, and illness, Skorczewski writes of love, hate, and sexuality; there is rare attunement to the backstage of lives in search of meaning. And new questions follow: Must one choose between art and life or between poetry and therapy? This book promises to open significant debate on the emotional conflicts of the imagination." - Deborah P. Britzman, York University, UK, and author of Freud and Education "An Accident of Hope offers the reader insight into the workings of the mind of a patient who is fully aware of the importance of her relationship with her therapist, not only to free her from her demons but to give birth to her poetic creativity. Dawn Skorczewski succeeded in writing a book that is instructive, entertaining, and a captivating read. It is instructive because of the author's appreciation of how psychoanalytic theory of the 1960s had affected this treatment, and because in interpreting Sexton's poems she was able to establish the connection between Sexton's increasing insights into her turbulent inner world and what her poetry was successfully communicating. The easy, conversational style of writing is experienced as if the reader were a third person in Dr. Orne's consulting room. This is an extraordinary book that psychoanalysts and literary critics will find equally rewarding." - Anna Ornstein, University of Cincinnati, USA"An Accident of Hope is a rich and far-ranging text that covers such diverse topics as creativity, identity, narrative, the history of psychiatry/psychology, and the history of feminism. Skorczewski’s explorations touch upon very fundamental questions of identity and creativity." –PsycCRITIQUES"Dawn Skorczewski explores this explosive material with delicacy and a sensitive hand. While An Accident of Hope limns the contours of Anne Sexton's deep-seated emotions – both the joy and the anguish – and the intertwined roots of her poetry, it simultaneously gives us a compelling read that never, ever, disappoints." - Linda Gray Sexton, author of Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide and Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to My Mother: Anne Sexton"By combining close readings of Anne Sexton's poems, mid-20th-century cultural history, and reflections on the development of psychoanalytic theory and technique, Dawn Skorczewski has produced a richly contextualized interpretive account of the audio recordings of the last six months of the poet's treatment with psychiatrist Martin Orne. An Accident of Hope amply demonstrates the mutually generative potential of literary and psychoanalytic texts and methodologies, while also reinforcing our sense of the propriety of Freud's oft-cited avowal that, wherever he went, he found that a poet had gotten there before him. Toggling back and forth between Sexton's poems and her taped conversations with Orne, Skorczewski reveals that, in certain ways, Sexton had a more forward-looking understanding than her doctor did of the psychotherapeutic relationship as a creative partnership." - Max Cavitch, University of Pennsylvania, USA "In An Accident of Hope, worlds creatively collide. Skorczewski composes a contrapuntal work of great force that resonates on several levels at once. Poems comment on intimate therapy encounters, and the encounters themselves reveal a patient trying to teach her beloved therapist how to listen to her and a therapist teetering between sexist and rigid theoretical analytic paradigms and a desire to nurture the creative human being in his care. Masterfully—and lyrically—connecting Sexton's poems, therapy sessions, and the therapeutic and cultural norms of the time, Skorczewski tells the tale of a great poet, a traumatized and traumatizing woman, and a patient whose challenges to her therapist foreshadow relational understandings of what harms and what heals." - Lynne Layton, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts, USA"Dawn Skorczewski's responsiveness to the psychoanalytic narrative invites readers into an affecting study of the inner lives of men and women. With sophistication, care, and a literary style that makes for compelling reading, she draws readers into Dr. Martin Orne's tape recorded clinical treatment of the poet Anne Sexton. It is an unusual record of poetry and life woven from the fragility of creativity between the poet and the analyst. Nested in this commentary are the erotic tensions between North American psychoanalysis and the arts in the 1960s. Through the painful complications of childhood, adulthood, and illness, Skorczewski writes of love, hate, and sexuality; there is rare attunement to the backstage of lives in search of meaning. And new questions follow: Must one choose between art and life or between poetry and therapy? This book promises to open significant debate on the emotional conflicts of the imagination." - Deborah P. Britzman, York University, UK, and author of Freud and Education "An Accident of Hope offers the reader insight into the workings of the mind of a patient who is fully aware of the importance of her relationship with her therapist, not only to free her from her demons but to give birth to her poetic creativity. Dawn Skorczewski succeeded in writing a book that is instructive, entertaining, and a captivating read. It is instructive because of the author's appreciation of how psychoanalytic theory of the 1960s had affected this treatment, and because in interpreting Sexton's poems she was able to establish the connection between Sexton's increasing insights into her turbulent inner world and what her poetry was successfully communicating. The easy, conversational style of writing is experienced as if the reader were a third person in Dr. Orne's consulting room. This is an extraordinary book that psychoanalysts and literary critics will find equally rewarding." - Anna Ornstein, University of Cincinnati, USA"Skorczewski’s work with the transcripts of Sexton’s private therapy sessions refuses any prurient interest the reader may have in Sexton’s flamboyant character—or the melodramatic features of her suicide. With her extensive knowledge of psychoanalytic theory, Skorczewski is able to make lucid comparisons between Orne’s clinical approach, which relied heavily on Freudian theory and its later expression as ego psychology, and contemporary theories of analysis that she argues provide superior modalities for treating mental illness and depression." - Judith Harris, DIVISION | REVIEW WINTER 2014Table of ContentsIntroduction. "You, I, We Created the Poet": November 1963. Did Anne Sexton Kill John F. Kennedy? Late November 1963. Holding Hands and Letting Go: The Road to "Flee on Your Donkey": December 10-12, 1963. "This Terrible Ideal of the Happy Family": December 14-19, 1963. Dancing for Your Doctor: Notes on Narcissism: December 21-24, 1963. The Black Pants and the New Bikini: Oedipal Scripts: February-March 1964. "The Discovery of a Human Being": April 21-28, 1964. Flash Forward: An Epilogue: July 1964-February 1965.

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

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Book Synopsis''For there she was.''Mrs Dalloway follows a single day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class woman in London, in June 1923, as she prepares for a party. Clarissa''s thoughts and actions are interwoven with the trauma and bereavement of Septimus Smith, a poor young man suffering from shell-shock, in a contrasting narrative that provides poignant insights into the political, historical, and social issues of Woolf''s day. The novel brings memories and the present together, written and set in the uneasy years immediately after the First World War.This new edition, annotated and introduced by Trudi Tate, broadens and deepens key aspects of the historical context, including a fresh examination of Woolf''s representations of women in the wake of the first women in Britain winning the right to vote, the context of post-war politics, and the innovative aspects of the author''s writing style.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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Book SynopsisSophocles was the dominant Athenian playwright of the fifth century BCE. This translation includes his best-known work, such as the "Oedipus cycle" ("Oedipus the King", "Oedipus at Kolonos", and "Antigone"), "Elektra and the Women of Trakhis" "Philoktetes" and "Aias".Trade Review"Bagg and Scully's renderings strike me as the most performable versions of Sophocles I've ever encountered...if you're looking for the translation that best reflects the emotional force and expressive range of the original plays, you would be hard pressed to do better." -- Philadelphia Inquirer

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Book SynopsisThe world first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the powerful story of a doomed young man who is sold into slavery and who swears revenge on the magician who killed his father.Kullervo son of Kalervo is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. Hapless Kullervo', as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny.Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and who tries three times to kill him when still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and guarded by the magical powers of the black dog, Musti. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruellest of fates.Tolkien wrote that The Story of Kullervo was the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own', and was a major matter in the legends of the First Age'; his Kullervo was the ancestor of Túrin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. In addition to being a powerful story in its own right, The Story of Kullervo published here for the first time with the author's drafts, notes and lecture-essays on its source-work, The Kalevala, is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien's invented world.Trade ReviewPraise for J.R.R. Tolkien:‘One marvels anew at the depth, breadth and persistence of J.R.R. Tolkien’s labour. No one sympathetic to his aims – the invention of a secondary universe – will want to miss this chance to be present at the creation.’Publishers Weekly

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Book Synopsis''I was at one of those periods in youth--vacant, without any particular love object--when, like a lover seeing his beloved in all things, we desire, we seek, we see Beauty everywhere.''In the Shadow of Girls in Blossom, the second volume of Proust''s In Search of Lost Time (1913-27), is a novel of exploration and (self-) discovery, continuing the story of the narrator''s youth and adolescence. From the enclosed spaces of the fin-de-siècle social world that revolves around Madame Swann, we move to the fictional town of Balbec on the Normandy coast, a place where the social classes intermingle with mutual fascination. Against the ever-changing backdrop of the sea--a constant reminder of beauty, mutability, and the vastness of the world beyond individual human affairs--the narrator encounters individuals who will shape his experience and indelibly colour his outlook on that world. He finds a friend in the aristocratic Robert de Saint-Loup and is perplexed by his enigmatic uncle the Baron

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Book SynopsisFeatures witty illustrations and inspirational quotes. This title covers every work, from the comedies of Twelfth Night and As You Like It to the tragedies of Julius Caesar and Hamlet, and lost plays and less well-known works of poetry.

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