ELT & Literary Studies Books

Book SynopsisPresents the work of one of America's greatest poets, increasingly recognised as one of the greatest English-language poets of the twentieth century, loved by poets and readers alike.Trade ReviewOne of the greatest poets of the twentieth century -- William Boyd * Guardian *When we read her, we enter the classical serenity of a new country -- Robert LowellIf ever there was a poet whose every scrap of writing should be in print, that poet must be Elizabeth Bishop -- Christopher Reid

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Book SynopsisPresented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, this book is an enquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. It addresses the purpose of education and the role of both women and men as 'guardians' of the people.

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Book SynopsisDine with beloved writers in this ''utterly charming'' (Nina Stibbe) new anthology of their very own favourite recipes, introduced by Bee Wilson.Agatha Christie's hot bean salad.Jack Kerouac''s green pea soup.Allen Ginsberg's cold summer borscht.Daphne du Maurier''s sloe gin.Christopher Isherwood's brownies.Joan Didion''s Mexican chicken.George Orwell''s plum cake.Have you ever wondered what your favourite classic authors cooked - whether as an intimate snack for one or as their showstopping dinner party special? Here''s your chance to wine and dine with the world''s most famous writers in a gorgeous new collection of their most-loved recipes, curated from their archives, letters and diaries. Whet your appetite: there are culinary treats and eccentricities in store ...

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Book SynopsisA stunning gift edition of the indispensable and comprehensive handbook to the rich history of the symbol of the ring, its origin in ancient storytelling tradition, and its influence on Tolkien's work from acclaimed Tolkien scholar David Day.

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

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Book SynopsisLook what the cat dragged in from the Middle Ages - a curious compendium of cats unlike any you''ve ever lapped up before. Medieval Cats is the purr-fect bedside companion for lonely cat people and cat-holics (not to be confused with Catholics, obviously) and hiss-terical to boot.For more than a millennium, between 500 and 1500 AD, a myriad of medieval manuscripts and artworks painted an unpretty picture of cats as nothing more than lazy, selfish, and vicious. (How dare they!) Centuries later, the legacy of these masterpieces live on, shining a bright light on the dark age of cats, and telling a brand-new story of their paw-some glory.From bum-licking to devil-tricking, cat-fighting to nip-dribbling, Medieval Cats is a claw-filled clowder of more than 200 glorious full-colour felines getting up to no good - and a whole lot more! - from ye olde times of yester yore.

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Book SynopsisHomer's best-loved and most accessible poem, recounting the great wandering of Odysseus during his ten-year voyage back home to Ithaca, after the Trojan War. A superb new verse translation, now published in trade paperback, before the standard Penguin Classic B format.Table of ContentsThe OdysseyIntroductionIntroductionThe Spelling and Pronunciation of Homeris NamesMaps:1. Homeric Geography: Mainland Greece2. Homeric Geography: The Peloponnese3. Homeric Geography: The Aegean and Asia MinorHomer: The OdysseyBook 1: Athena Inspires the PrinceBook 2: Telemachus Sets SailBook 3: King Nestor RemembersBook 4: The King and Queen of SpartaBook 5: Odysseus-Nymph and ShipwreckBook 6: The Princess and the StrangerBook 7: Phaeacia's Halls and GardensBook 8: A Day for Songs and ContestsBook 9: In the One-Eyed Giant's CaveBook 10: The Bewitched Queen of AeaeaBook 11: The Kingdom of the DeadBook 12: The Cattle of the SunBook 13: Ithaca at LastBook 14: The Loyal SwineherdBook 15: The Prince Sets Sail for HomeBook 16: Father and SonBook 17: Stranger at the GatesBook 18: The Beggar-King of IthacaBook 19: Penelope and her GuestBook 20: Portents GatherBook 21: Odysseus Stings his BowBook 22: Slaughter in the HallBook 23: The Great Rooted BedBook 24: PeaceNotesTranslator's PostscriptGenealogiesTextual Variants from the Oxford Classical TextNotes on the TranslationSuggestions for Further ReadingPronouncing Glossary

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Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Richard III on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.

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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 SynopsisExam Board: Pearson EdexcelLevel: AS/A-levelSubject: English literatureFirst teaching: September 2015First exams: Summer 2016 (AS); Summer 2017 (A-level)Enable students to achieve their best grade with this Pearson Edexcel AS/A-level English literature guide, designed to instil in-depth textual understanding as students read, analyse and revise the Poems of the Decade anthology throughout the course.This Study and Revise guide:- Increases students' knowledge of the Poems of the Decade anthology as they progress through the detailed commentary and contextual information written by experienced teachers and examiners- Develops understanding of characterisation, themes, form, structure and language, equipping students with a rich bank of textual examples to enhance their coursework and exam responses- Builds critical and analytical skills through challenging, thought-provoking questions and tasks that encourage students to form their own personal responses to the poems- Extends learning and prepares students for higher-level study by introducing critical viewpoints, comparative references to other literary works and suggestions for independent research- Helps students maximise their exam potential using clear explanations of the Assessment Objectives, sample student answers and examiner insights- Improves students' extended writing techniques through targeted advice on planning and structuring a successful essay

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Book SynopsisTrade 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

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Book Synopsis''Lorca brought an understanding of the paradox that was Spain - sensuality chafing under a rigid moral code, individual desire at war with tradition.'' Manuel DuranFederico García Lorca is perhaps the most celebrated of all twentieth-century Spanish writers, known not only for his plays but also for several collections of poems published both in his short lifetime and after. Lorca''s poetry is steeped in the land, climate, and folklore of his native Andalusia, though he writes memorably of New York and Cuba too. Often in modernist idiom, and full of startling imagery, he evokes a world of intense feelings, silent suffering, and dangerous love.This selection balances poems from Lorca''s early collections with his better-known work to give a clear vision of his poetic development. Martin Sorrell''s accomplished translations are complemented by D. Gareth Walters''s shrewd Introduction, with its distinctive focus on the achievements of the poet. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford

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Book SynopsisA Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse contains the Old English texts of all the major short poems, such as ''The Battle of Maldon'', ''The Dream of the Rood'', ''The Wanderer'' and ''The Seafarer'', as well as a generous representation of the many important fragments, riddles and gnomic verses that survive from the seventh to the twelfth centuries, with facing-page verse translations. These poems are the well-spring of the English poetic tradition, and this anthology provides a unique window into the mind and culture of the Anglo-Saxons.The volume is an essential companion to Faber''s edition of Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney.

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Book SynopsisArthur Machen is a significant figure in supernatural and horror literature, in the genre of 'weird fiction'. This collection brings together his best horror tales with a full contextual introduction and which helps to illuminate Machen's place in the literary and cultural milieu of 1890s Britain.Trade ReviewThis is a must-have collection of landmark tales of horror. * Publisher's Weekly *Table of ContentsIntroductionThe Lost Club (1890)The Great God Pan (1894)The Inmost Light (1894)The Three Impostors; or, the Transmutations (1895)The Shining Pyramid (1895)The Red Hand (1895)From Ornaments in Jade (1897, 1924)Psychology, or, Fragments of PaperThe Rose GardenThe CeremonyThe TuraniansThe White People (1899)The Bowmen (1914)Out of the Earth (1915)The Coming of the Terror (1917)The Islington Mystery (1927)N (1935)The Children of the Pool (1936)Ritual (1937)ReferencesFurther Reading

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Book Synopsis''It''s a dreadful thing to yield...but resist now?Lay my pride bare to the blows of ruin?That''s dreadful too.''The remarkable story of Greek tragedy''s most intrepid heroine.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin''s 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Sophocles (496 BC-406 BC). Sophocles''s works available in Penguin Classics are The Theban Plays and Electra and Other Plays.

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Book Synopsis''It was at the time when I was wandering around hungry in Kristiania, that strange city no one leaves before it has set its mark on them...'' Hunger is the first-person story of a young man desperately trying to establish himself in the city as a writer, living in shabby lodgings where he can seldom afford to pay the rent, eating almost nothing, and engaging spasmodically and manically with landladies, eccentric elderly men, policemen, shopkeepers, pawnbrokers, and others on the way. He wanders around the streets, sits on benches trying to write, spends a night locked in a pitch-dark police cell, thinks, slides into remarkably inventive reveries, speculates on his mental health, his ethical comportment, his relation to the divinity, the topics he might write about. The traces of a consistent narrative logic are uncertain and blurred; the voice of the narrator keeps shifting between pragmatic appraisal of his situation, wild fantasies, manic outbursts, anger, and despair. This is a stoTable of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Translation Select Bibliography A Chronology of Knut Hamsun Hunger Explanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisAn airline captain crafts a riveting, adventurous novel inspired by the remarkable true life of pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman, a Black woman who learned to fly at the dawn of aviation and found freedom in the air.The daughter of a woman born into slavery, Bessie answers the call of the Great Migration, moving to Chicago, where she wins the backing of two wealthy, powerful Black men--Robert Abbott, creator and publisher of the Chicago Defender, and Jesse Binga, the founder of Chicago's first Black bank.While she finds no prejudice in the air, Bessie wrestles with other challenges on the ground. A plane crash nearly kills her, her brothers seem to be crumbling under the weight of Jim Crow, and, while grappling with tough truths about Binga, Bessie begins to wonder if the freedom she finds in the sky means she must otherwise fly solo.

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Book SynopsisIn North Seamus Heaney found a myth which allowed him to articulate a vision of Ireland - its people, history and landscape. Here the Irish experience is refracted through images drawn from different parts of the Northern European experience, and the idea of the north allows the poet to contemplate the violence on his home ground in relation to memories of the Scandinavian and English invasions which have marked Irish history so indelibly.

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Book Synopsis Our brand-new York Notes for GCSE Workbooks offer a wide range of write-in tasks and exercises to boost your students’ knowledge of the text and help them practise for the new GCSE (9-1) English Literature exams.Table of Contents Part 1: Getting Started Part 2: Plot and Action Part 3: Characters Part 4: Key Contexts and Themes Part 5: Form, Structure and Language Part 6: Progress Booster

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Book Synopsis'By far the best edition of King Lear - in respect of both textual and other matters - that we now have.'John Lyon, English Language Notes'This volume is a treasure-trove of precise information and stimulating comments on practically every aspect of the Lear-universe. I know of no other edition which I would recommend with such confidence: to students, professional colleagues and also the 'educated public'.'Dieter Mehl, Shakespeare Jahrbuch, vol 134Trade Review'Lear is trapped into a position of anger, having embarked on a game of vanity with his daughters: who loves me most?' * Michael Coveney, The Independent, 8.12.10 *'Of all the Shakespeare roles, King Lear is the actor's Everest... To play this you need to have lived long enough to know or see suffering, madness, and human folly.' * Libby Purves, The Times, 8.12.10 *'King Lear is perhaps the greatest of all Shakespeare's dramas, but it is so harrowing, so despairing, so graphic in its cruelty, that it is also a test of endurance.' * Charles Spencer, The Daily Telagraph, 8.12.10 *'If Shakespeare's plays were mountains, King Lear would be the entire Himalayas.' * Paul Callan, Daily Express, 8.12.10 *'The play - arguably the Bard's greatest' * Paul Callan, Daily Express, 8.12.10 *''Lear' is an undeniably majestic work; * Matt Wolf, The International Herald Tribune, 14.12.10 *

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which gives direction to the character of Man.'Including Poe's most terrifying, grotesque and haunting short stories, Tales of Mystery and Imagination is the ultimate collection of the infamous author's macabre works.Considered to be one of the earliest American writers to encapsulate the genre of detective-fiction, the collection features some of his most popular tales.The Gold-Bug' is the only tale that was popular in his lifetime, whereas The Black Cat', The Pit and the Pendulum' and The Murders in the Rue Morgue' became more widely read after his death.Focussing on the internal conflict of individuals, the power of the dead over the living, and psychological explorations of darker human emotion that appear to anticipate Sig

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Book SynopsisWriting at the very moment when the foundations of Western thought were being challenged and undermined, George Eliot fashions in Middlemarch a concept of life and society free of the past's dogma yet able to confront the scepticism that was taking over the age.

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Book SynopsisKaren Britland is Professor of Early Modern English Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. Her research interests include early modern drama, the Stuart court, and women's writing. She has edited plays by Elizabeth Cary, John Marston, and James Shirley, and was an associate editor for the Cambridge Complete Works of Ben Jonson edition between 2000 and 2012.Table of ContentsIntroduction Preface Plot Summary Analysis 1. Historical and Literary Contexts 2. Performance Aspects of the Text 3. Critical Interpretations Resources and Annotated Bibliography A Note on the Text The Play

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.If music be the food of love, play on;Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,The appetite may sicken, and so die.'A comedic romance of mistaken identity, Twelfth Night begins with a shipwreck, splitting up Viola and her twin brother, Sebastian. Alone in a strange land, Viola disguises herself as a male servant, Cesario, in order to work for the Duke Orsino. Orsino is in love with Lady Olivia, but it is Cesario that Olivia falls for. A farcical tale of misplaced love, confusion, gender-swapping and aspiration, Twelfth Night remains one of Shakespeare's best-loved and inventive comedies.

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Book SynopsisCan you get lost in a crowd? It is polite to stare at people walking past on the street? What differentiates the city of daylight and the nocturnal metropolis? What connects walking, philosophy and the big toe? Can we save the city - or ourselves - by taking the pavement?There is no such thing as the wrong step; every time we walk we are going somewhere. In a series of riveting intellectual rambles, Matthew Beaumont retraces a history of the walker from Charles Dicken's insomniac night rambles to wandering through the faceless, windswept monuments of the neoliberal city including Edgar Allen Poe, Andrew Breton, H G Wells, Virginia Woolf, Jean Rhys and Ray Bradbury. As the author shows, the act of walking is one of escape, self-discovery, disappearances and potential revolution, and explores the relationship between the metropolis and its pedestrian life.Trade Review“[The Walker] is an erudite book that moves at a pace alternating between brisk and leisurely … Like his prose, Beaumont’s mind is anything but pedestrian. He is as attuned to matters of medicine and science, anthropology, economics, philosophy and psychology as he is to literature and the visual arts … Beaumont uses the language of contemporary literary theory, but with none of the rebarbative jargon-mongering of others in the professoriate. His references to the usual suspects—from Marx, Freud and Adorno through Lacan and Derrida, to Deleuze and Guattari, Žižek and Agamben—are never gratuitous, but always helpful in understanding the literary, historical, and psychological terrain he explores.”—Willard Spiegelman, Wall Street Journal “Matthew Beaumont’s prose is the golden thread of elegance and erudition we need to guide us through the labyrinth of the modern city. These essays confirm him to be simultaneously the possessor of a coherent and convincing overview of emergent Modernist thought and creativity in the urban context, and the inheritor of all the radical subjectivities he engages with. This is a superb and always engrossing collection.”—Will Self, author of Psychogeography “[The Walker] is absolutely fascinating and [Beaumont’s] literary references are wonderful … I absolutely loved it.”—Jo Good, BBC Radio London “The Walker seeks to take its reader on an intriguing journey … if you’re looking for some escapism that goes beyond the clichés of repetitive travel literature, this could well be the book for you.”—Northern Soul “[Beaumont’s] style is a treat—elegant, intelligent and entertaining as he describes the ways we read a city with our feet and mind, and guides us through a history of walking writing from Dickens and Poe to Marx and Žižek.”—Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times “An uncanny and haunting foreshadowing of our cities as they now appear to us … familiar subjects are given revelatory new interpretations … thought-provoking.”—Margaret Drabble, Times Literary Supplement “Drawing on numerous literary sources, both familiar and obscure, Beaumont takes the reader on a labyrinthine journey into the literature of walking and thinking.”—Sean O’Hagan, Observer“[A] heady blend of history and theory.”—New Yorker “Fascinating … those interested in how literature has explored urban modernity are sure to find ample food for thought.”—Publishers Weekly“Dazzling.”—Eminetra “Dazzlingly erudite.”—Chris Moss, Guardian “Elegantly written and compellingly argued … A highly commendable, engaging, and thoroughly researched study, The Walker infuses the poetics of walking with the politics of homing.”—‪Maxim Shadurski‬, English Studies‬‬“Striking … a poetic heft rings resoundingly throughout [Beaumont’s] commentary, justly inviting a reader’s own imagined extensions.”—Patrick James Dunagan, Rain Taxi Review of Books “From start to finish a delight to read, The Walker is the beginning of wisdom in all things metro-pedestrian.”—Ian Thomson, New Statesman “[The Walker] fascinates and informs from beginning to end … Beaumont has positioned himself as the foremost theorist of walking working in English literary studies today.”—Jeremy Withers, The Wellsian“Intriguing … The Walker celebrates the secret, subversive life of cities and the people who pace their streets.”—Jane Shilling, Daily Mail “[A] well-researched work of literary criticism.”—Hannah Beckerman, Observer“Drawing on numerous literary sources, both familiar and obscure, Beaumont takes the reader on a labyrinthine journey into the literature of walking and thinking … Baudelaire, the flâneur poet of the Parisian dispossessed of another time, would surely have approved.”—Sean O’Hagan, Guardian

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Book SynopsisCompiled and published after Fitzgerald's death by his friend, the prominent critic and editor Edmund Wilson, The Crack-Up is a collection of writings that chronicle the author's state of mind and personal perspective on events, fellow writers and public figures of the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to articles and essays such as the celebrated title piece, this volume includes a selection of Fitzgerald's notebooks, which - as well as being a repository of anecdotes and witty lines - provide a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse into the novelist's creative process, with passages that would be reworked into his fiction.Trade ReviewHe was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a generation. * The New York Times *

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Book SynopsisHesiod, who lived in Boetia in the late eighth century BC, is one of the oldest known, and possibly the oldest of Greek poets. His Theogony contains a systematic genealogy of the gods from the beginning of the world and an account of the struggles of the Titans. In contrast, Works and Days is a compendium of moral and practical advice on husbandry, and throws unique and fascinating light on archaic Greek society. As well as offering the earliest known sources for the myths of Pandora, Prometheus and the Golden Age, Hesiod''s poetry provides a valuable account of the ethics and superstitions of the society in which he lived. Unlike Homer, Hesiod writes about himself and his family, and he stands out as the first personality in European literature. This new translation, by a leading expert on the Hesiodic poems combines accuracy with readability. It is accompanied by an introduction and explanatory notes. 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'This is a very welcome publication, an authoritative translation of a major greek author at a reasonable price. Essential reading for classicists' J. G. Hourie, Dept. of Classics, University of Edinburgh' Readers who have no previous knowledge of Hesoid will find this an extremely accessible book, written in such a way that the non-specialist will be able to read, follow and enjoy these works. This is in part due to Professor West's excellent translations and partly due to his real and profound interest in his subject, which is further reflectd by a most informative and useful introduction.' The Greek Rreview'So much better than the corresponding Penguin translation of Hesiod. The introduction is splendid.' P. Walcot, University College, Cardiff.'The edition is admirably produced, mercifully free from misprints ... an edition with a stimulating Introduction, a very readable translation' JACT Review'West ... has now produced fine translations of these poems into fresh, lively and eminently readable English. It must quickly establish itself as the translation for English-speaking readers.' Jennifer R. March, University College, London. Classical Review

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Book Synopsis''It was the time when the rush for spoils filled a corner of the forest with the yelping of hounds, the cracking of whips, the flaring of torches. The appetites let loose were satisfied at last, shamelessly, amid the sound of crumbling neighbourhoods and fortunes made in six months. The city had become an orgy of gold and women.''The Kill (La Curée) is the second volume in Zola''s great cycle of twenty novels, Les Rougon-Macquart, and the first to establish Paris - the capital of modernity - as the centre of Zola''s narrative world. Conceived as a representation of the uncontrollable ''appetites'' unleashed by the Second Empire (1852-70) and the transformation of the city by Baron Haussmann, the novel combines into a single, powerful vision the twin themes of lust for money and lust for pleasure. The all-pervading promiscuity of the new Paris is reflected in the dissolute and frenetic lives of an unscrupulous property speculator, Saccard, his neurotic wife Renée, and her dandified lover, Saccard''s son Maxime. 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 ReviewNelson's translation is preceded by a highly useful and scrupulously researched introduction [with] a depth of analysis rarely found in introduction of this kind... The translation itself is sensitive and elegant...the text reads as an engaging and thoughtful close rereading of the original which is especially effective in bringing Zola's fascination with descriptive detail to the attention of the anglophone reader without syntactically overburdening the prose. * Hannah Thompson, Modern Languages Review vol 102, part1 *Émile Zola's The Kill, in Brian Nelsons thrillingly good Oxford World's Classics translation, is one of the most sensuous, sexy books that I think Ive ever read. * Illuminations *

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Book SynopsisAs a child, Lucy Mangan was reading all the time, using books to navigate the challenges and complexities of this world and many others. As an adult, she uses her new relationship with literature to seize upon the most important question: (how) do books prepare us for life?Bookish picks up where Bookworm left off: at the cusp of teenage, when everything including the way we read undergoes a not-so-subtle transformation. Here, Mangan vividly recounts her metamorphosis from young bookworm to bookish adult, from the way GCSE curricula can impact our relationship with literature to the growing pains of swapping the pleasures of re-reading for those of book-hoarding. Revisiting the books of all genres - from thrillers and bonkbusters to historical sagas and apocalyptic zombie stories - that ferried her through each important stages of life falling in love, finding a job, becoming a mother and navigating grief Bookish is a coming-of-age in books. It''s an ode to our favourite bookish spaces - from the smallest secondhand bookstalls to libraries, glorious big bookshops and our very own book rooms - and a love story to how books not only shelter our souls through hard times and help us find ourselves when we feel lost, but also help us connect with the people we love through shared stories.

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Book SynopsisJane Austen''s richly textured worlds have enchanted readers for centuries and this neatly organised, playful book provides Austen enthusiasts and students alike with a unique insight into the much-loved writer''s way with words. Using a lively A-Z structure, Greaney provides fresh angles on familiar Austen themes (D is for dance; M is for matchmaking), casts light on under-examined corners of her imagination (R is for risk; S is for servant), and shows how current social and cultural concerns are re-shaping our understanding of her work (Q is for queer; W is for West Indies). Through this approach, we learn how attention to the tiniest linguistic detail in Austen''s work can yield rewarding new perspectives on the achievements of one of our most celebrated authors.Sharply focused on textual detail but broad in scope it broaches questions that, like Austen''s work, will intrigue, delight and inspire: Why are children so marginal in her storylinTrade ReviewThe 26 pint-sized essays comprising A Jane Austen A-Z are stuffed full of insights. Each is a masterpiece in miniature. Learned yet playful, Michael Greaney teaches readers new things about the forms and preoccupations of Austen’s fiction. * Deidre Lynch, Professor of Literature, Harvard University, USA *A unique guide to the life and career of a much-loved author. … It sheds new light on key images, ideas, objects, people and places in Jane Austen’s writings. … This neatly organised book provides Austen enthusiasts and students alike with a unique insight into the much-loved writer’s way with words. * Lancashire Life *Michael Greaney’s Jane Austen A to Z is a perfectly judicious and highly entertaining atlas of the great novelist’s life and writings. Each short chapter is an informative delight, from A for Accident to Z for Zig-Zag, in a book cleverly written both for those in want of an engaging first primer, as well as those who already know Austen down to a T. * Devoney Looser, Regents Professor of English and Global Sport Scholar, Arizona State University, USA *Table of ContentsTexts and abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction A is for Accident B is for Bath C is for Children D is for Dance E is for Eye F is for Friend G is for Gift H is for Horse I is for Ill J is for Jane K is for Kindness L is for Letter M is for Matchmaking N is for No O is for Obstacle P is for Poor Q is for Queer R is for Risk S is for Servant T is for Theatre U is for Unexpected V is for Visit W is for West Indies X is for Xis Y is for Young Z is for Zigzag Works cited

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Book Synopsis''I laughed out loud, often, in painful recognition.' Esther Freud''Cusk has created a work of beauty and wisdom.'' New Statesman''Cusk is not afraid to address frankly the grief for freedom lost, the despair, pain, boredom and guilt all in the context of the mother''s unspeakable love for the baby.'' Stephanie Merritt, ObserverA Life's Work is Rachel Cusk's funny, moving, brutally honest account of her early experiences of motherhood. An education in babies, books, breast-feeding, toddler groups, broken nights, bad advice and never being alone, it is a landmark work, which has provoked acclaim and outrage in equal measure.

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Book SynopsisDo lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a sick sense of humour? What is John Updike''s deal anyway? And who won the Adult Video News'' Female Performer of the Year Award the same year Gwyneth Paltrow won her Oscar? David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in his new book of hilarious non-fiction. For this collection, David Foster Wallace immerses himself in the three-ring circus that is the presidential race in order to document one of the most vicious campaigns in recent history. Later he strolls from booth to booth at a lobster festival in Maine and risks life and limb to get to the bottom of the lobster question. Then he wheedles his way into an L.A. radio studio, armed with tubs of chicken, to get the behind-the-scenes view of a conservative talkshow featuring a host with an unnatural penchant for clothing that only looks good on the radio. In what is sure to be a much-talked-about exploration of distinctly modern subjects, one of the sharpest minds of oTrade ReviewHe is eloquent, scathing, precise and very funny * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *Wallace's voice comes zinging off the page, reinforcing the school of thought that says he's some type of maybe-genius doing something they haven't invented a word for yet * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *A writer of virtuostic talents who can seemingly do anything * NEW YORK TIMES *Wallace is a superb comedian of culture . . . his exuberance and intellectual impishness are a delight * James Woods, GUARDIAN *

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Book SynopsisThe Norton Critical Edition of Pride and Prejudice has been revised to reflect the most current scholarly approaches to Austen’s most widely read novel.

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Book SynopsisExam board: AQA, Edexcel, OCR; CXCLevel & Subject: GCSE 9-1 English Literature; CSEC English BFirst teaching: September 2015Next exams: 2024This edition of Animal Farm is perfect for GCSE-level students, with the complete novel, engaging introduction written by a teacher and a handy glossary at the back of the book.Fantastic value for Animal Farm George Orwell bookEasy to read font in an accessible formatA new introduction provides contextBespoke glossary explains key terms

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Book SynopsisCharlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre has gripped readers since its 1847 publication. Thousands of readers since then have been drawn by the vigour of Jane's voice and the novel's forceful depiction of childhood injustice, of the restraints placed upon women, and the complexities of both faith and passion.Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the text Select Bibliography A Chronology of Charlotte Brontë Jane Eyre Appendix A: Opinions of the Press (as printed at the end of the third edition) Appendix B: Charlotte Brontës Punctuation Explanatory Notes and Selected Variants

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Book SynopsisThe Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor: Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers- A new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- Extensive introduction gives full attention to the play''s bold treatment of racial themes, gender, and social relations- Detailed performance history designed to meet the needs of theatre professionals- On-page commentary and notes explain language, word-play, and staging- Appendices on music in the play and a full translation of the Italian novella from which the story derives- Illustrated with production photographs and related art- Full index to introduction and commentary- Durable sewn binding for lasting use''not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.'' ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made avTrade Review...For the wealth of helpful material and stimulating ideas this is surely the most valuable edition of Shakespeare's disturbing and controversial tragedy available today. * Dieter Mehl, Archiv *The text of this edition is close to perfect * Eric Rasmussen *

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Book SynopsisElizabeth Gaskell''s biography of her close friend Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857 to immediate popular acclaim, and remains the most significant study of the enigmatic author who gave Jane Eyre the subtitle An Autobiography. It recounts Charlotte Brontë''s life from her isolated childhood, through her years as a writer who had ''foreseen the single life'' for herself, to her marriage at thirty-eight and death less than a year later. The resulting work - the first full-length biography of a woman novelist by a woman novelist - explored the nature of Charlotte''s genius and almost single-handedly created the Brontë myth.

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Book SynopsisWritten four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the struggle between Athens and Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling the author's ambitious claim that the work was done to last forever. The conflicts between the two empires over shipping, trade, and colonial expansion came to a head in 431 b.c. in Northern Greece, and the entire Greek world was plunged into 27 years of war. Thucydides applied a passion for accuracy and a contempt for myth and romance in compiling this exhaustively factual record of the disastrous conflict that eventually ended the Athenian empire.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and nTable of ContentsTranslated by Rex Warner with an Introduction and Notes by M. I. FinleyIntroductionTranslator's NoteBook IIntroductionThe Dispute over EpidamnusThe Dispute over CorcyraThe Dispute over PotidaeaThe Debate at Sparta and Declaration of WarThe PentecontaetiaThe Allied Congress at SpartaThe Stories of Pausanias and ThemistoclesThe Spartan Ultimatum and Pericles' ReplyBook IIOutbreak of WarThe First Year of the WarPericles' Funeral OrationThe PlagueThe Policy of PericlesThe Fall of PotidaeaThe Siege of PlataeaVictories of PhormioThrace and MacedoniaBook IIIRevolt of MytileneThe Mytilenian DebateThe End of PlataeaCivil War in CorcyraOperations in Sicily and GreeceEnd of Sixth Year of WarBook IVAthenian Success at PylosFinal Victory at PylosFurther Athenian SuccessesPeace in SicilyFighting at MegaraBrasidas in ThraceAthenian Defeat at DeliumBrasidas Captures AmphipolisArmistice between Athens and SpartaEnd of Ninth Year of WarBook VBattle of AmphipolisPeace of NiciasNegotiations with ArgosAlliance between Athens and ArgosCampaigns in the PeloponneseBattle of MantineaThe Melian DialogueBook VISicilian AntiquitiesLaunching of the Sicilian ExpeditionThe Debate at SyracuseThe Athenians Arrive in SicilyThe Story of Harmodius and AristogitonRecall of AlcibiadesAthenian Victory before SyracuseThe Debate at CamarinaAlcibiades in SpartaMore Athenian Successes at SyracuseBook VIIGylippus Arrives in SyracuseLetter of NiciasFortification of DeceleaAthenian Defeat in the Great HarbourAthenian Defeat at EpipolaeSyracusan Victory at SeaDestruction of the Athenian ExpeditionBook VIIIAlarm at AthensBeginning of Persian InterventionThe Oligarchic CoupAthenian Victory at CynossemaAppendicesBibliographyMapsIndex

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