ELT & Literary Studies Books
Penguin Books Ltd The Life of Right Reverend Ronald Knox Penguin
Book SynopsisFrom Evelyn Waugh, the author of beloved novels such as Brideshead Revisited, A Handful of Dust and Vile Bodies, this is the biography of Ronald Knox - priest, classicist, prolific writer and one of the outstanding men of letters of his time. The renowned Oxford chaplain was a friend of figures such as G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, and was known for his caustic wit and spiritual wisdom. Evelyn Waugh, his devoted friend and admirer, was asked by Knox to write his biography just before his death in 1957. The result, published after two years of research and writing, is a tribute to a uniquely gifted man: ''the wit and scholar marked out for popularity and fame; the boon companion of a generation of legendary heroes; the writer of effortless felicity and versatility ... who never lost a friend or made an enemy''.Trade ReviewWaugh wrote like an angel ... a fallen one Irish Times
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Penguin Guide to Literature in English
Book Synopsis
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd Portable Magic
Book Synopsis''A fascinating journey into our relationship with the physical book...I lost count of the times I exclaimed with delight when I read a nugget of information I hadn''t encountered before'' Val McDermid, The TimesMost of what we say about books is really about the words inside them: the rosy nostalgic glow for childhood reading, the lifetime companionship of a much-loved novel. But books are things as well as words, objects in our lives as well as worlds in our heads. And just as we crack their spines, loosen their leaves and write in their margins, so they disrupt and disorder us in turn. All books are, as Stephen King put it, ''a uniquely portable magic''. Here, Emma Smith shows us why.Portable Magic unfurls an exciting and iconoclastic new story of the book in human hands, exploring when, why and how it acquired its particular hold over us. Gathering together a millennium''s worth of pivotal encounters with volumes big and small, Smith reveals Trade ReviewIf you love books, you'll love Portable Magic -- Val McDermidFor many of us, books are the life we chose without thinking about it too much. Emma Smith's terrifically knowledgeable and thoughtful Portable Magic helps us understand every aspect of what our beloved books stand for. I for one am very grateful. What a delight this book is. -- Lynne TrussIrresistibly fascinating -- John CareyBrilliant... amusing, darkly sobering, and consistently fascinating ... a combination of deep scholarship and down-to-earth wit * Telegraph *Fun, playful, learned and accessible... Smith is herself a magical writer * BBC History Magazine *Smith's genius is to question as well as to value and register every contradiction - to make you, the reader, think without even suspecting that you are ... for communicating complex material in conversational, occasionally irreverent, prose -- Lucasta Miller * The Critic *Joyous ... thrilling ... A brilliantly written account of the book-as-material-object, and the slightly seedy pleasures of "bookhood" -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian (Book of the Week) *Wildly entertaining ... This fascinating, slyly amusing book carries an undertow of personal affection for the curious, rectangular, multileaved objects with which we're so familiar * Sunday Times *Smith's enchanting book sparkles with gems of trivia that often conceal deeper truths about the evolution of reading and publishing. Fascinating, enlightening, funny and touching, this is indeed portable magic * Sydney Morning Herald *Emma Smith's history of the physical book is a thing to cherish ... witty and ingenious ... Smith reads with all her senses alert ... A wise, funny, endearingly personal book -- Peter Conrad * Observer *Anyone who's ever enjoyed the feel or indeed smell of a book should read Emma Smith's delightful and informative Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers -- Lucasta Miller * Spectator Books of the Year *From bullet-stopping Bibles to tomes bound in human skin, Smith's history of books revels in their magic and malignity. It skewers our faith in the written word yet repays it handsomely * Telegraph *
£10.44
Oxford University Press Aristophanes Frogs and Other Plays
Book SynopsisThis vibrant collection of verse translations of Aristophanes' works-featuring Clouds, Women at the Thesmophoria (or Thesmophoriazusae), and Frogs-combines historical accuracy with a sensitive attempt to capture the rich dramatic and literary qualities of Aristophanic comedy.Trade ReviewIt would be hard to find a better companion to Aristophanes, for classicists but perhaps especially for the general reader Altogether a fine effort, to be recommended for all classes of reader. * Colin McDonald, Classics for All *Halliwell pairs his fluency in rendering verse with deftness at capturing the complexities of Aristophanes' language, which gives his translations particular verve. * The Classical Journal *Table of ContentsPREFACE; INTRODUCTION; NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION; SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY; CHRONOLOGY; CLOUDS; WOMEN AT THE THESMOPHORIA; FROGS; APPENDIX: THE LOST PLAYS OF ARISTOPHANES; NOTES; INDEX OF NAMES
£9.99
Oxford University Press Jane Austen
Book SynopsisJane Austen is one of the most widely-read novelists in the English language, and one of very few pre-Victorian writers to have a large popular following. This book situates Austen in the literary and historical context of her time, and combines critical introductions to each of her six major novels with the exploration of key themes of her work.Table of ContentsNotes on editions Introduction 1: Jane Austen practising 2: The terrors of Northanger Abbey 3: Sense, sensibility, society 4: The voices of Pride and Prejudice 5: The silence at Mansfield Park 6: Emma and Englishness 7: Passion and Persuasion Afterword Timeline References Further reading Index
£9.49
Oxford University Press Poetry of the Second World War An Anthology
£8.54
Oxford University Press The Short Story
Book SynopsisWhat defines a modern short story is much more than a question of length. Despite the efforts of early pioneers like Edgar Allan Poe, the genre was originally synonymous with the anecdote or tale and seen more as entertainment than art. However it has become far more than that, and this Very Short Introduction considers afresh the form''s ongoing innovations in plot construction, capacity for psychological insight, and ability to offer intensely concentrated perceptions.This book charts the rise of the short story from its original appearance in magazines and newspapers, largely in the United States and Great Britain. For much of the nineteenth century, tales were written for the press, and the form''s history is marked by engagement with popular fiction. From the later nineteenth century, the short story earned a reputation for its skillful use of plot design and character study distinct from the novel. After the First World War it found outlets in high-brow publications, and single-author collections, as well as anthologies, were regularly published. Exploring the form''s techniques and themes, Andrew Kahn considers the continuity and variation in key structures and techniques such as the beginning, the creation of voice, the ironic turn or plot twist, and how writers manage endings. Throughout he draws on examples from an international and flourishing corpus of work, with close analysis of classic and lesser-known stories by American, Canadian, Irish, Australian, Russian, and French masters such as James Baldwin, Grace Paley, Alice Munro, Elizabeth Taylor, William Trevor, Helen Garner, Chekhov, and Guy de Maupassant.Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, InspiringABOUT 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.Table of ContentsPreface 1: The Rise of the Short Story 2: Openings 3: Voices 4: Place 5: The Plot Thickens...and Thins 6: Ironies and Reversals 7: Chekhov's Heirs 8: Endings References, Further Reading, Secondary Literature Index
£9.49
Oxford University Press Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome
Book SynopsisTwelve of the greatest voices from ancient Greece and Rome - and why they still inspire and affect us in the 21st century. A book for all readers who want to know more about the literature that underpins Western civilization.Trade ReviewIn this engaging book, the authors make a powerful case for the enduring relevance of the Classics ... From the impact of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey on young men in the trenches of the Great War, to Sappho's intriguing and passionate verses ... Pelling and Wyke take us on an enlightening journey. * JC, The Lady *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Homer 2: Sappho 3: Herodotus 4: Euripides 5: Thucydides 6: Plato 7: Caesar 8: Cicero 9: Virgil 10: Horace 11: Juvenal 12: Tacitus Epilogue Index
£13.49
Oxford University Press What is American Literature
Book SynopsisAn incisive, thought-provoking, and timely meditation, at once panoramic and synoptic, on American literature for an age of xenophobia, heightened nationalism, and economic disparity. The distinguished cultural critic Ilan Stavans explores the nation''s identity through the prism of its books, from the indigenous past to the early settlers, the colonial period, the age of independence, its ascendance as a global power, and its shallow, fracturing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The central motives that make the United States a flawed experiment--its celebration of do-it-yourself individualism, its purported exceptionalism, and its constitutional government based on checks and balances--are explored through canonical works like Mark Twain''s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Walt Whitman''s Leaves of Grass, Emily Dickinson''s poetry, F. Scott Fitzgerald''s The Great Gatsby, the work of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Toni Morrison, and immigrant voices such as those of AméTrade ReviewIt constitutes a rich sample of texts and genres that can inspire whoever reads it to pull the thread and delve into the themes that Stavans points out. * Teresa Requena Pelegrí, Escola de Llibreria *At its core [What is American Literature?] is a compelling thought about the tension between protest and assimilation: the way American literature simultaneously propels change, and manufactures consent... * Alicia Rix, Times Literary Supplement *Stavans brings all his passion and experiences as a prolific and versatile writer, commentator, publisher, anthologist, and academic to bear on this heady reconsideration of American literature... [a] speedy, veering, catch-all book of pronouncements and provocations, upended assumptions and unexpected associations... * Donna Seaman, Booklist *Table of ContentsPreface: American Carnage 1: The Ambition of Origins 2: Hucks R' Us 3: Language and Authority 4: Surviving Democracy Epilogue: The Second American Civil War: A Reckoning
£19.94
Oxford University Press Shakespeare Collaborative Writing Oxford
Book SynopsisShakespeare and Collaborative Writing offers a rich account of Shakespeare's artistic development in, against, and beyond collaboration. In undertaking a rigorous appreciation of his co-authored works, it presents them as distinctive works of art that transform our understanding of Shakespeare the poet, dramatist, and enduring cultural icon.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Illustrations Introduction 1: What is Collaboration? 2: Stage 3: Shakespeare: 1590-4 4: Shakespeare: 1599, 1603-6 5: Shakespeare: 1607-8, 1612-13 6: Page 7: Determining Collaboration Appendix 1: Attribution by Play Appendix 2: Canon and Chronology Notes Further Reading Index
£16.99
OUP Oxford The Transferred Life of George Eliot
Book SynopsisReading George Eliot''s work was described by one Victorian critic as like the feeling of entering the confessional in which the novelist sees and hears all the secrets of human psychology''that roar which lies on the other side of silence''. This new biography of George Eliot goes beyond the much-told story of her life. It gives an account of what it means to become a novelist, and to think like a novelist: in particular a realist novelist for whom art exists not for art''s sake but in the exploration and service of human life. It shows the formation and the workings of George Eliot''s mind as it plays into her creation of some of the greatest novels of the Victorian era. When at the age of 37 Marian Evans became George Eliot, this change followed long mental preparation and personal suffering. During this time she related her power of intelligence to her capacity for feeling: discovering that her thinking and her art had to combine both. That was the great ambition of her novelsnot tTrade ReviewThe strength of Davis's superbly written work of "the great transmitter," as he calls her, lies in the readings of the fiction and discussion of the impact of George Lewes's work on Eliot ... Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. * W. Baker, Choice *The Transferred Life of George Eliot makes its case with impressive force and eloquence. In doing so, it leaves aside many of the standard elements of a biography: an orderly sequence of life-events, financial affairs, contacts with other cultural figures, and so forth. Davis's narrative sticks to Eliot's emotional and intellectual development, as revealed in her fiction and letters. It presents Eliot's life as the heroic overcoming of the multiple oppressions inflicted on a brilliant but awkward and misunderstood provincial girl. * Paul Delany, Los Angeles Review of Books *There have been several good new biographies of George Eliot in recent years but none quite like this... Davis has a magisterial command of all her writing. * John Rignall, George Eliot Review: Journal of the George Eliot Fellowship *A dense and revelatory study. * Rohan Maitzen, Times Literary Supplement *Thoughtful and searching account of the writer we know as George Eliot, Philip Davis undertakes a project of which his subject would have approved... acute on the psychology of the novels, both in their content and on their connection to their authors life. * Salley Vickers, The Observer *Davis's book is a celebration of her "realism", which allows us to see minutely the differences in consciousness of different characters - before we return to our sole selves. * John Mullan, The Guardian *Anyone who has read and loved Middlemarch will appreciate Davis's devotion to his subject * Claire Lowdon, Sunday Times *How many books of erudite, intellectual biography and closely argued literary criticism can ever be described as an enthralling, lucid, page-turning read? ... Philip Davis is the searching, perceptive critic this great novelist deserves. * Patricia Duncker, Literary Review *I came away from his book more full of admiration and awe for his subject matter than ever before. * On: Yorkshire Magazine *At once scrupulous, thoughtful, and empathetic, the book enacts the passionate intellectual sympathy that is its subject. * Andrew Henderson, Studies in English Literature *Table of ContentsIntroduction1: Family Likenesses, 1819-422: The Valley of Humiliation: The Single Woman, 1840-513: Three Translations4: The Two Loves of 1852: 1. Herbert Spencer5: The Two Loves of 1852: 2. George Henry Lewes6: 'The first time' in the 'new era': Scenes of Clerical Life, 1856-77: Adam Bede: 'The Other Side of the Commonplace', 1857-98: The Mill on the Floss: 'My problems are purely psychical', 1859-60: Psychology and the Levels of Thought9: 'Great Facts Have Struggled to Find a Voice': The Toll of the 1860s10: Middlemarch: Realism and Thoughtworld, 1869-7111: Daniel Deronda: The Great Transmitter and the Last Experiment, 1873-6NotesSelect BibliographyIndex
£17.99
Oxford University Press Death in Venice and Other Stories
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£8.54
Oxford University Press How to Read Middle English Poetry
Book SynopsisHow to Read Middle English Poetry guides readers through poetry between 1150 and 1500, for study and pleasure. Chapters give down-to-earth advice on enjoying and analyzing each aspect of verse, from the choice of single words, through syntax, metre, rhyme, and stanza-design, up to the play of larger forms across whole poems.How to Read Middle English Poetry covers major figuressuch as Chaucer, Langland, the Pearl Poet, and Robert Henrysonbut also delves into exciting anonymous lyrics, romances, and drama. It shows, too, how some modern poets have drawn on earlier poems, and how Middle English and early Scots provide crucial standpoints from which to think through present-day writing. Contextual sections discuss how poetry was heard aloud, introduce manuscripts and editing, and lay out Middle English poetry''s ties to other tongues, including French, Welsh, and Latin. Critical terms are highlighted and explained both in the main text and in a full indexed glossary, while the uses of key
£19.00
Oxford University Press The Sidney Psalter
Book Synopsis''the highest matter in the noblest form''John Donne''s description of the Psalms celebrates not only the perfection of the biblical psalms but their translation into poetic form by the Sidneys, who turned them into some of the most accomplished lyric poems of the English Renaissance. Although it was not printed until the nineteenth century, the Sidney Psalter was widely read in manuscript and influenced poets from Donne and Herbert to Milton and beyond. It turned these well-known and well-loved Psalms into sophisticated verse, selecting or inventing a different stanza form for each one. This variety of forms matches the appeal of their content: there are Psalms of praise and blame, Psalms of cursing and lamentation, Psalms of joy and exaltation, Psalms that recount history, and Psalms that describe Creation or divine law.This is the first complete edition of the Psalter for over forty years. The Psalms are provided in an authoritative modernized text, with helpful glosses and notes il
£9.49
Oxford University Press Kim
Book SynopsisKim (1901) is one of Kipling''s masterpieces. Through the story of the young orphan Kimball O''Hara, and his vocation in the Secret Service, Kipling presents a vivid picture of India, its teeming populations, religions, and superstitions, and the life of the bazaars and the road. 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.
£8.54
Oxford University Press The Awakening
Book SynopsisKate Chopin was one of the most individual and adventurous of nineteenth-century American writers, whose fiction explored new and often starting territory. When her most famous story, The Awakening, was first published in 1899, it stunned readers with its frank portrayal of the inner word of Edna Pontellier, and its daring criticisms of the limits of marriage and motherhood. From her first stories, Chopin was interested in independent characters whochallenged convention. This selection, freshly edited from the first printing of each text, enables readers to follow her unfolding career as she experimented with a broad range of writing, from tales for children to decadent fin-de siecle sketches. The Awakening is set alongside thirty-two short stories,illustrating the spectrum of the fiction from her first published stories to her 1898 secret masterpiece, 'The Storm'.
£8.54
Oxford University Press The Alchemist and Other Plays
Book SynopsisThis edition brings together Jonson''s four great comedies in one volume. Volpone, which was first performed in 1606, dramatizes the corrupting nature of greed in an exuberant satire set in contemporary Venice. The first production of Epicene marked the end of a year long closure of the theatres because of an epidemic of the plague in 1609; its comedy affirms the consolatory power of laughter at such a time. The Alchemist (1610) deploys the metaphors of alchemical transformation to emphasize the mutability of the characters and their relationships. In Bartholomew Fair (1614) Jonson embroils the visitors to the fair in its myriad tempations, exposing the materialistic impulses beneath the apparent godliness of Jacobean Puritans. Under the General Editorship of Michael Cordner of the University of York the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. Stage directions hvae been added to facilitate the reconstruction of the plays'' Table of ContentsVolpone, or The Fox ; Epicene, or The Silent Woman ; The Alchemist ; Bartholemew Fair
£9.49
Oxford University Press The Black Tulip
Book SynopsisAlexandre Dumas''s novels are notable for their suspense and excitement, their foul deeds, hairsbreadth escapes, and glorious victories. In The Black Tulip (1850), the shortest of Dumas''s most famous tales, the real hero is no Musketeer, but a flower. The novel - a deceptively simple story - is set in Holland in 1672, and weaves the historical events surrounding the brutal murder of John de Witte and his brother Cornelius into a tale of romantic love. The novel is also a timeless political allegory in which Dumas, drawing on the violence and crimes of history, makes his case against tyranny and puts all his energies into creating a symbol of justice and tolerance: the fateful tulipa negra.This new edition reprints the first, classic English translation. David Coward sets the novel in the context of its author''s life, the turbulent history of the Dutch Republic, and the amazing `tulipmania'' of the seventeenth century which brought wealth to some and ruin to many. 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.
£8.54
Oxford University Press Humour
Book SynopsisHumour has been discovered in every known human culture and thinkers have discussed it for over two thousand years. Humour can serve many functions; it can be used to relieve stress, to promote goodwill among strangers, to dissipate tension within a fractious group, to display intelligence, and some have even claimed that it improves health and fights sickness. In this Very Short Introduction Noel Carroll examines the leading theories of humour including The Superiority Theory and The Incongruity Theory. He considers the relation of humour to emotion and cognition, and explores the value of humour, specifically in its social functions. He argues that humour, and the comic amusement that follows it, has a crucial role to play in the construction of communities, but he also demonstrates that the social aspect of humour raises questions such as ''When is humour immoral?'' and ''Is laughing at immoral humour itself immoral?''. 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 ReviewExcellent introduction. * Steven Poole, the guardian *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The nature of humour ; 2. Humour, emotion, and cognition ; 3. Humour and value ; References ; Further reading
£9.49
Oxford University Press Phaedrus
Book Synopsis''Some of our greatest blessings come from madnessPhaedrus is widely recognized as one of Plato''s most profound and beautiful works. It takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus and its ostensible subject is love, especially homoerotic love. Socrates reveals it to be a kind of divine madness that can allow our souls to grow wings and soar to their greatest heights. Then the conversation changes direction and turns to a discussion of rhetoric, which must be based on truth passionately sought, thus allying it to philosophy. The dialogue closes by denigrating the value of the written word in any context, compared to the living teaching of a Socratic philosopher.The shifts of topic and register have given rise to doubts about the unity of the dialogue, doubts which are addressed in the introduction to this volume. Full explanatory notes also elucidate issues throughout the dialogue that might puzzle a modern reader. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Cla
£8.54
Oxford University Press The Country Wife and Other Plays
Book SynopsisWycherley''s four comedies are admired for their satirical wit, farcical humour, vivid characterization, and social criticism.Love in a Wood, a lively comedy of intrigue, established him as a brilliant new dramatist.The Gentleman Dancing-Master, in contrast, disappointed contemporary audiences, but the central relationship between Hippolyta and Gerrard features an original and sympathetic study of a young woman''s attitudes and feelings. The Country Wife is a sharp but also highly amusing attack on social and sexual hypocrisy. The Plain Dealer, a powerful dramatic satire loosely based on Moliere''s Le Misanthrope, continues and enlarges Wycherley''s assault on greed and corruption.Under the General Editorship of Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is a scholarly introduction, a note on staging, and detailed annotation. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsLove in a Wood ; The Gentleman Dancing-Master ; The Country Wife ; The Plain Dealer
£10.44
Oxford University Press Childrens Literature A Very Short Introduction
Book SynopsisChildren''s literature takes many forms - works adapted for children in antiquity, picture books and pop-ups - and now includes the latest online games and eBooks. This vast and amorphous subject is both intimately related to other areas of literary and cultural investigation but also has its own set of concerns, issues and challenges. From familiar authors including Beatrix Potter and Roald Dahl, classic books such as Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, and The Secret Garden, to modern works including Harry Potter and the Twilight series, thisVery Short Introduction provides an overview of the history of children''s literature as it has developed in English, whilst at the same time introducing key debates, developments, and figures in the field.Raising questions about what shape the future of literature for children should take, and exploring the crossover with adult fiction, Reynolds shows that writing for children - whether on page or screen - has participated in shaping and directing ideas about culture, society and childhood.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.Table of ContentsIntroduction: What is children's literature? ; 1. An outline history of publishing for children ; 2. Why and how are children's books studied? ; 3. Transforming the texts of childhood ; 4. Genres and generations - and the case of the family story ; 5. Visions of the future ; 6. Ethical debates in children's literature ; Afterword ; References ; Further reading ; Index
£9.49
The University of Chicago Press Musics Monisms Disarticulating Modernism
Book SynopsisDaniel Albright investigates musical phenomena through the lens of monism, the philosophical belief that things that appear to be two are actually one. Trade Review"This is vintage Albright, a work of original, engaging criticism shot through with interpretive flair and sparkling erudition. This is criticism born of boundless sympathy and enthusiasm, not just of deep understanding."-- "Stephen Hinton, Stanford University" "Music's Monisms celebrates the power of music to transcend the oppositions of verbal language and, indeed, of everyday life. Albright presents brilliantly original readings of major works in twentieth-century music. He takes on some of the most imposing figures in music history with a wonderfully humane, and wonderfully personal, touch."-- "Arman Schwartz, King's College London"
£30.00
The University of Chicago Press Gods Scrivener
Book SynopsisA biography of a long-forgotten but vital American Transcendentalist poet. In September of 1838, a few months after Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered his controversial Divinity School address, a twenty-five-year-old tutor and divinity student at Harvard named Jones Very stood before his beginning Greek class and proclaimed himself the second coming. Over the next twenty months, despite a brief confinement in a mental hospital, he would write more than three hundred sonnets, many of them in the voice of a prophet such as John the Baptist or even of Christ himselfall, he was quick to claim, dictated to him by the Holy Spirit. Befriended by the major figures of the Transcendentalist movement, Very strove to convert, among others, Elizabeth and Sophia Peabody, Bronson Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and most significantly, Emerson himself. Though shocking to some, his message was simple: by renouncing the individual will, anyone can become a son of God and thereby usher in a millennialistTrade Review“In God’s Scrivener: The Madness and Meaning of Jones Very, Clark Davis doesn’t spend much time on his subject’s spectacular breakdown. Instead, relying on new research, he painstakingly reconstructs everything that came before and after. . . . Mr. Davis wonders, at the end of his fine biography, if the world really needs ‘the strange purity’ of Very’s voice. But if you like your poems plain and unfussy, written as if every word mattered and were meant for you and no one else, give Very’s poetry a try. You will even get the occasional piece of useful life advice. Feeling too wrapped up in your own concerns? ‘Open thy window, gaze abroad / Go forth and walk an hour.’” * Wall Street Journal *“Davis . . . enthusiastically argues for a ‘reevaluation of the existing biographical evidence’ in his sympathetic God’s Scrivener. . . . To Davis, Very in the end is a kind of hero devoted to his vision and voice, a maverick committed to something like the beatitudes. He emerges as a kind of protomodern figure, resolute and true, who casts ‘a strong light on the compromises and half-truths of others.’” * New York Review of Books *“God’s Scrivener is a thoughtful, moving, and deeply researched portrait of the otherworldly mystic and poet Jones Very. Clark Davis reveals that, far from being the punchline of an old joke, the unjustly forgotten Very was nothing less than the stillness at the heart of Transcendentalism, joining Thoreau and Whitman as one of the era’s great poet-prophets who articulated a powerful and innovative response to the pressures of modernity. Davis’s biography radically deepens our understanding of the movement’s potential and its limits, a message with surprising resonance today. This is essential reading for anyone who cares about Transcendentalism, the poetry of faith and doubt, or the place of Christian mysticism at the heart of America’s longing for a better world.” * Laura Dassow Walls, author of "Henry David Thoreau: A Life" *“Massively well researched and well argued, God’s Scrivener benefits from Clark Davis’s informed attention to a trove of documents not available fifty-six years ago when the last biography of Jones Very was published. By showing how the life, times, and works illuminate each other, Davis restores to us an author once considered one of the best sonnet writers in the language. Even as he establishes Very’s historical importance, Davis clearly explores both the strengths and dangers of his example.” * Robert Daly, author of "God’s Altar: The World and the Flesh in Puritan Poetry" *“Jones Very has been the lost Transcendentalist for decades, but Clark Davis has recovered him as a superb poet and penetrating spiritual mind in his remarkable God’s Scrivener. This is the story of a moving and enlightening life, artfully told.” * David M. Robinson, author of "Natural Life: Thoreau’s Worldly Transcendentalism" *“God’s Scrivener, the first biography of the enigmatic and fascinating Transcendentalist poet Jones Very in more than half a century, is a masterful revaluation of both Very’s life and work. Davis’s careful analysis of Very’s sometimes ecstatic poetry and surviving accounts of his unconventional behavior help to make sense of Very’s state of mind during the period when he came to public attention in the intellectual, religious, and literary circles of Salem and the greater Boston area. Mining the poet’s neglected ‘commonplace books’ to great effect, Davis builds the most complete picture yet of the poet’s intellectual and spiritual development in his formative years.” * Helen R. Deese, editor, "Jones Very: The Complete Poems" *Table of ContentsList of Figures Introduction Prologue: 1823 I. “There is something very strange in it all” 1. Cousins 2. Federal Street 3. Eldest Son 4. Biography (I) 5. Cornelia Africana 6. Biography (II) 7. A Student’s Notes, 1833–34 8. A Poet’s Notes, 1834 9. Early Poems, 1833–35 10. The Uses of Faith, 1835 11. “Change of heart” 12. Scrapbook, 1835–36 13. Lamartine 14. Poems, 1835–36 15. “The Torn Flower” 16. Spiritual Freedom II. “Flee to the mountains!” 17. “Part or particle of God,” 1836 18. The Messianic Moment 19. Mr. Tutor Very 20. Temptation and Peace 21. “My heart in life’s winter” 22. The White Mountains, 1837 23. Arrival 24. “Beauty” 25. Concord 26. Miracles 27. “Newborn bard of the Holy Ghost” 28. “The end of all things” 29. Madness III. God’s Scrivener 30. Prince Hamlet 31. Asylum 32. “In obedience to the Spirit” 33. “Pierced through with many spears” 34. “Insane with God” 35. “Epistles to the Unborn” 36. “Between Very & the Americans” 37. Essays and Poems by Jones Very 38. Madness and Meaning 39. “True relations . . . in a false age” IV. Man of Peace 40. Nonresistance 41. “Heaven is a state and not a place” 42. War, Slavery, and Intemperance 43. “I war not, nor wrestle with the earthly man” 44. “But still the poet midst the tumult sings” 45. Knowledge and Truth 46. “The presence of things invisible” 47. “The Book of Life” Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Notes A Note on Sources Bibliography Index
£28.50
The University of Chicago Press The Writer as Migrant
Book Synopsis
£10.00
University of Chicago Press Beyond Individualism
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£38.00
The University of Chicago Press Pragmatics of Democracy
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£20.90
Penguin Books Ltd The Philokalia
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd Charlotte Bronte Biography
Book SynopsisThe definitive biography of an extraordinary novelist, by acclaimed literary biographer Claire Harman''There was no possibility of taking a walk that day . . .'' With these words Charlotte Brontë began Jane Eyre and changed English literature irrevocably.Claire Harman''s landmark biography provides a bold new view of one of Britain''s best loved writers, uncovering an inner life that touched the furthest extremes of human emotion. Harman shows us an intense and troubled young woman from an astonishingly creative family, whose early works were produced in total secrecy. Struggling against the conventional limitations of both life and literature, Charlotte created a new kind of heroine which both shocked and inspired her Victorian contemporaries. Love, loss, ambition and heartbreak: the anonymous author poured everything into her ground-breaking books, but lived it first.''Harman [is] a master-storyteller in her own right. Her account of Bronte''s life is a level-headed, highly readable and always intelligent. A delight from start to finish'' Sunday Times ''Subtle, measured. Full of insight into Bronte''s fiery intellect as well as the tragic intensity of her experience'' Helen Dunmore, Observer ''Three rounds of applause... a superb retelling of Charlotte''s story'' Mark Bostridge, Spectator Trade ReviewHarman's sane, unshowy re-telling is exactly right for the bicentenary next April. The result is a retooled classic biographical narrative, shipshape and serviceable for the next 200 years * The Guardian *Finely judged and authoritative * Sunday Times Book of the Week *Elegantly written, consistently perceptive...[Harman] succeeds in bringing Charlotte back to life in all her spiky vulnerability * Daily Mail Book of the Week *This is a comprehensive biography to enjoy and admire. Harman writes well and she is a fine and sensitive critic * The Times *Harman... portrays Bronte's complexity and dark genius in elegant prose with deep human sympathy * The Lady *Superb retelling of Charlotte's story (...) admirably concise * The Spectator *Harman tells [Charlotte's] story with quick wit, a sharp sympathy, and a fire and fury of her own * Evening Standard *Full of pleasing and piquant detail, scraps of passing recollection assembled from the various lives and letters in which the Brontes featured and from which we might reconstruct their world * Financial Times *Elegant, sensitive, beautifully paced and moving. [Claire Harman] has... produced a work that is affirmative, edifying, inspiring and humane * Sunday Express *Revelatory (...) adds freshness and texture to her account with original speculations. As someone who once wrote a book about the Brontës' afterlives, few people can have read as many biographies of them as I have. I thought I was Brontë-ed out, but reading this book-which will be equally accessible to someone coming to Charlotte for the first time-has drawn me back in * Lucasta Miller, The Independent *Three rounds of applause...for Claire Harman's superb retelling of Charlotte's story -- Mark Bostridge, The Spectator[An] excellent new bicentennial biography....Ms. Harman writes with warmth and a fine understanding of Ms. Brontë's literary significance. Above all, she is a storyteller, with a sense of pace and timing, relish for a good scene and a wry sense of humour * Economist *A vigorous new biography (...) Harman does a splendid job * Mail on Sunday *An immensely readable biography * Woman and Home *A substantial biography (...) that lets the disparate pieces speak for themselves * Daily Telegraph *Harman renders her daring novels fresh, interweaving what shocked critics then with what surprises us still * Sunday Telegraph *Prepare to suffer similar time-loss at the hands of Harman, Brontë's most recent biographer and a master storyteller in her own right. Level-headed, highly readable and always intelligent, Harman's account of Brontë's life and work is a delight from start to finish * Sunday Times *A subtle, measured biography, full of insight into Bronte's fiery intellect as well as the tragic intensity of her experience -- Helen Dunmore, ObserverHarman brings a fresh eye to many of the same papers studied by Gaskell to compile her Charlotte Brontë: A Life. The Gothic atmosphere and heart-breaking details remain, but Harman achieves a great feat by making the story seem new again -- Marcus Field, Independent
£999.99
Yale University Press Devotion
Book SynopsisThe National Book Award–winning author of Year of the Monkey, Just Kids, and M Train offers a rare, intimate account of her own creative processTrade Review“Devotion is short enough to devour at one enjoyable sitting and thought-provoking enough to deserve re-reading. . . . It’s a privilege to spend any time with Patti Smith, however brief.”—Suzi Feay, Financial Times“A triptych of compact, heartfelt essays on discovery, solitude and writing.”—Darragh McManus, Irish Independent“By turns allegorical, metaphysical, fictional and factual, Devotion shows rather than tells what it means to give a life to writing. A master of poetic innovation, Smith takes her style to the next level in this slim volume.”—Katherine Cooper, Hyperallergic
£13.99
Yale University Press The Object of Jewish Literature A Material
Book SynopsisA history of modern Jewish literature that explores our enduring attachment to the book as an objectTrade ReviewFinalist for the 2023 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award, sponsored by AJS“A bold, often surprising, and luminous study that enhances our perception.”—Ranen Omer-Sherman, University of Louisville“Original and finely instructive, this work leads us to see something new and illuminating about the very modality of literature.”—Robert Alter, author of The Art of Biblical Narrative“Whether reading the poignant details of memory books and graphic novels or analyzing small magazines and visual images in modern Jewish literature, Barbara Mann offers insight into the ways publications work as cultural objects in this vivid contribution to the material history of literature.”—Johanna Drucker, author of Iliazd: A Meta-Biography of a Modernist“At once erudite, evocative, and intellectually exciting, this extraordinary book incites us to think in new ways about materiality and literature. This beautifully written and infinitely rewarding book resists a quick reading, demanding careful attentiveness from the first word to the last.”—Leora Auslander, University of Chicago
£38.00
Yale University Press Forgiveness
Book Synopsis
£14.24
WW Norton & Co Medea
Book SynopsisThis Norton Critical Edition, edited by one of the pre-eminent scholars in the field, gathers together research on this Greek tragedy, bringing Medea to life for a contemporary audience.
£11.99
WW Norton & Co The Awakening
Book SynopsisThis perennial favourite Norton Critical Edition of Kate Chopin’s modernist novel of marital infidelity is now available in a new edition.
£16.40
Orion Publishing Co Sir Gawain And The Green
Book SynopsisSIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT is one of the most important alliterative poems of Medieval literatureNow a major film THE GREEN KNIGHT starring Dev PatelFrom the north-west midlands, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight dates from the second half of the 14th century. Gawain, a knight in Arthur''s court, takes up the challenge of the Green Knight, and cuts off his head. The Knight informs Gawain he will have his revenge.Journeying to the Knight''s abode to receive his lot Gawain takes the hospitality of a Lord, and endures the advances of his wife. The Lord is the Green Knight and, when the time comes, merely nicks Gawain''s neck for his infidelity and dishonour. Is Gawain a failure, or a hero?
£9.99
Faber & Faber Contested Will
Book SynopsisFor two hundred years after William Shakespeare''s death, no one thought to argue that somebody else had written his plays. Since then dozens of rival candidates - including The Earl of Oxford, Sir Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe - have been proposed as their true author. Contested Will unravels the mystery of when and why so many people began to question whether Shakespeare wrote the plays (among them such leading writers and artists as Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Orson Welles, and Sir Derek Jacobi)Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro''s fascinating search for the source of this controversy retraces a path strewn with fabricated documents, calls for trials, false claimants, concealed identity, bald-faced deception and a failure to grasp what could not be imagined. If Contested Will does not end the authorship question once and for all, it will nonetheless irrevocably change the nature of the debate by confronting what''s re
£12.34
Faber & Faber The Island
Book SynopsisA groundbreaking reassessment of W. H. Auden's early life and poetry, shedding new light on his artistic development as well as on his shifting beliefs about political belonging in interwar England.W. H. Auden is a towering figure in modern literary history with a complex private self. Hannah Arendt wrote that he had the necessary secretiveness of the great poet'. The Island lays bare for the first time some of the most telling secrets' of Auden's early poetry, his world, his emotional life, his values and the sources of his art.In a book that is an argument but also a story, Nicholas Jenkins gives compelling readings of iconic poems. He presents Auden in the inter-War years as both a visionary writer, creatively dependent on dreams and intuitions, and a traumatized poet, haunted by war and suffering, and shadowed by his outsider status as a privileged but queer man.The Island considers, as well, Auden's imaginative flirtations with a lyrical n
£999.99
Faber & Faber Reading Shakespeares Sonnets A New Commentary
Book SynopsisShakespeare''s Sonnets are as important and vital today as they were when first published four hundred years ago. Perhaps no collection of verse before or since has so captured the imagination of readers and lovers; certainly no poem has come under such intense critical scrutiny, and presented the reader with such a bewildering number of alternative interpretations. In this illuminating and often irreverent guide, Don Paterson offers a fresh and direct approach to the Sonnets, asking what they can still mean to the twenty-first century reader.In a series of fascinating and highly entertaining commentaries placed alongside the poems themselves, Don Paterson discusses the meaning, technique, hidden structure and feverish narrative of the Sonnets, as well as the difficulties they present for the modern reader. Most importantly, however, he looks at what they tell us about William Shakespeare the lover - and what they might still tell us about ourselves.
£15.29
Faber & Faber Mr Lear A Life of Art and Nonsense
Book SynopsisA Daily Telegraph, Times, Evening Standard, TLS and Spectator Book of the Year.Winner of the Hawthornden Prize.Edward Lear is well-loved for his nonsenses', from joyous limericks to great love songs, and for his wonderful natural history paintings, landscapes and travel writing. But although Lear belongs to the age of Darwin and Dickens, his genius for the absurd and his dazzling word-play make him a very modern spirit. He was also a man of great simplicity and charm children loved him yet his humour masked epilepsy, depression and loneliness. Jenny Uglow's beautifully illustrated biography brings us his swooping moods, passionate friendships and restless travels. Above all it shows how this uniquely gifted man lived all his life on the boundaries of disciplines and desires an exile of the heart.
£11.69
Faber & Faber The Cure at Troy Faber Drama
Book SynopsisSeamus Heaney''s version of Sophocles''s Philoctetes tells of the wounded hero marooned upon an island by the Greeks during the Siege of Troy. As the conflict comes to a climax, the Greeks begin to realise they cannot win the Trojan war without Philoctetes''s invincible bow, and turn back to seek his help.The Cure at Troy dramatises the conflict between personal integrity and political expediency, and explores ways in which the victims of injustice can become as devoted to the contemplation of their wounds as the perpetrators are to the justification of their system. Responsive to the Greek playwright''s understanding of the relations between public and private morality, The Cure at Troy is a sharp, fast-paced retelling of the Greek original, shot through with Heaney''s own Irish speech and context.History says, Don''t hopeOn this side of the grave.But then, once in a lifetimeThe longed-for tidal waveOf
£11.69
Faber & Faber Faber Faber The Untold Story
Book SynopsisFirst published to celebrate Faber's 90th anniversary, this is the story of one of the world's greatest publishing houses a delight for all readers who are curious about the business of writing.''A striking drama.''SUNDAY TIMES''Never less than fascinating.''DAILY TELEGRAPH''This book will fascinate anyone with an interest in twentieth-century literature . . . a treasure trove.''SCOTSMAN''The details here do consistently shine.''NEW YORK TIMES''Ingeniously compiled . . . charming and quirky''EVENING STANDARDTold in its own words, this is the story of one of the world's greatest publishers, capturing the excitement, hopes and fears of the people who published and wrote the books that line our shelves today. Including archive material from T. S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, P. D. James, Kazuo Ishiguro and Philip Larkin, this is both
£10.44
Pearson Education Dubliners York Notes Advanced everything you
Book SynopsisDr John Brannigan is lecturer in Irish Studies and Literary Studies at the University of Luton. He is the co-editor of Re: Joyce, a collection of essays which reflects contemporary responses and appraoches to Joyce. He has also published work on contemporary literary theories, the literature of 1950s Britain, and a number of Irish writers, including W.B. Yeats and Brendan Behan.
£7.99
Pearson Education The Mill on the Floss everything you need to catch up study and prepare for the 2025 and 2026 exams
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£7.49
Harvard University Press Lucian Volume I
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£24.65
Vintage Moments Of Being
Book SynopsisVirginia Woolf was born in London in 1882, the daughter of Sir Leslie Stephen, first editor of The Dictionary of National Biography. After his death in 1904 Virginia and her sister, the painter Vanessa Bell, moved to Bloomsbury and became the centre of 'The Bloomsbury Group'. This informal collective of artists and writers which included Lytton Strachey and Roger Fry, exerted a powerful influence over early twentieth-century British culture. In 1912 Virginia married Leonard Woolf, a writer and social reformer. Three years later, her first novel The Voyage Out was published, followed by Night and Day (1919) and Jacob's Room (1922). These first novels show the development of Virginia Woolf's distinctive and innovative narrative style. It was during this time that she and Leonard Woolf founded The Hogarth Press with the publication of the co-authored Two Stories in 1917, hand-printed in the dining room of their house in Surrey. BetweenTrade ReviewOne might think, from the heaps of books, that the bones of Bloomsbury had been by now well and truly disinterred...But one would be wrong, for Moments of Being is a real delight -- Jan Marsh * Daily Telegraph *Of fascinating importance, because they are Virginia's only known autobiographical writings -- John Lehmann * Sunday Telegraph *The book must appeal to anyone interested in Virginia Woolf and her circle -- Derek Parker * The Times *Her manner of recall contains all those surprises and felicities of language we have come to expect when she writes, as it were, with her elbows on the table -- Richard Shone * Spectator *
£11.69
Vintage Virginia Woolf
Book SynopsisAs the nephew of Virginia Woolf, Quentin Bell enjoyed an initimacy with his subject granted to few biographers. Compelling, moving and entertaining, Quentin Bell's biography was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize.Trade ReviewA model of the biographer's art, combining as it does diligent research, abundant quotations and a judicious and self-effacing narrative written in attractive and readable prose... One of the really great biographies of recent times -- Ray Monk * Sunday Telegraph *A work of art, evoking by his frankness and outstanding skill the vivid personality that cast a spell upon almost everyone lucky enough to know her -- Raymond MortimerProfessor Bell is absolute master of his material. He brings his subject to life with such honesty that one almost forgets that she wrote some of the great important novels of the period -- Anthony CurtisOutstanding..romantic, enthralling, even hilarious -- Margaret LaneWill rank among the great lives -- Arthur Calder-Marshall
£17.00
British Museum Press Haiku
Book SynopsisThis collection features 60 classic haiku by masters such as Basho, Kyoshi and Shiki, arranged by season and covering all the most popular subjects. The text features an introduction explaining the background to Japanese haiku and a short biographical note about each of the major poets.
£9.49
Manchester University Press The Revengers Tragedy Revels Student Editions
Book SynopsisDepicts a morally corrupt world where the desire for justice is contaminated by the obsession for revenge. The characters take pleasure in watching adultery, incest and murder. The play's chief moral spokesman, Vindice, is at the same time enamoured of and disgusted by, the luxury of the court.
£13.93
