ELT & Literary Studies Books

Book SynopsisThe theme of the great Shakespearean tragedies is the fall from grace of a great man due to a flaw in his nature. Whether it is the ruthless ambition of Macbeth or the folly of Lear, the irresolution of Hamlet or the suspicion of Othello, the cause of the tragedy - even when it is the murder of a king - is trifling compared to the calamity that it unleashes. Despite his flawed nature, however, the tragic hero has a nobility that emphasizes the greatness of man. From this paradox the audience is brought to a greater understanding of - and sympathy with - suffering. The four tragedies in this collection are accompanied by notes and an introduction to each text, making this edition of particular value to students and theatre-goers.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe story of Manon Lescaut is a tale of passion and betrayal, of delinquency and misalliance, which moves from eighteenth-century Paris - with its theatres, assemblies, and gaming-houses - via prison and deportation to a tragic denouement among the treeless waste of Louisiana. It is one of the great love stories, and also one of the most enigmatic. This new translation includes the vignette and eight illustrations that were published in the edition of1753.Trade Review'an excellent new translation of Manon Lescaut, with a number of useful and welcome features' * MLR *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Nowhere, beloved, can world be but within us''Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is one of the leading poets of European Modernism, and one of the greatest twentieth-century lyric poets in German. From The Book of Hours in 1905 to the Sonnets of Orpheus written in 1922, his poetry explores themes of death, love, and loss. He strives constantly to interrogate the relationship between his art and the world around him, moving from the neo-romantic and the mystic towards the precise craft of expressing the everyday in poetry.This bilingual edition fully reflects Rilke''s poetic development. It contains the full text of the Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus, selected poems from The Book of Images, New Poems, and earlier volumes, and from the uncollected poetry 1906-26. The translations are accurate, sensitive, and nuanced, and are accompanied by an introduction and notes that elucidate Rilke''s poetic practice and his central role in modern poetry. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewA masterly introduction to Rilke ... a representative and well-judged assortment of poems, both familiar and uncollected ... a wealth of excellent and thoughtful notes * The Brown Book *Table of ContentsSELECTED EARLY POEMS; THE BOOK OF HOURS (SELECTIONS); THE BOOK OF IMAGES (SELECTIONS); NEW POEMS (SELECTIONS); UNCOLLECTED POEMS (SELECTIONS); SONNETS TO ORPHEUS (COMPLETE); DUINO ELEGIES (COMPLETE)

Read more less

Book Synopsis''I have heard no end of tales of his strength, his audacity, his fidelity...incorruptible! It is indeed a name of honour for the Capataz of the Cargadores of Sulaco.''One of the greatest political novels in any language, Nostromo enacts the establishment of modern capitalism in a remote South American province locked between the Andes and the Pacific. In the harbourtown of Sulaco, a vivid cast of characters is caught up in a civil war to decide whether its fabulously wealthy silver mine, funded by American money but owned by a third-generation English immigrant, can be preserved from the hands of venal politicians. Greed and corruption seep into the lives of everyone, and Nostromo, the principled Capataz, is tested to the limit.Conrad''s evocation of the great Latin-American landscapes, the ferocity of its politics, and individuals swept up in imperial ambitions has never been bettered. This edition offers new insights into Conrad''s masterpiece. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years O

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Respectable people... What bastards!''Unjustly deported to Devil''s Island following Louis-Napoleon''s coup-d''état in December 1851, Florent Quenu escapes and returns to Paris. He finds the city changed beyond recognition. The old Marché des Innocents has been knocked down as part of Haussmann''s grand programme of urban reconstruction to make way for Les Halles, the spectacular new food markets. Disgusted by a bourgeois society whose devotion to food is inseparable from its devotion to the Government, Florent attempts an insurrection. Les Halles, apocalyptic and destructive, play an active role in Zola''s picture of a world in which food and the injustice of society are inextricably linked.The Belly of Paris (Le Ventre de Paris) is the third volume in Zola''s famous cycle of twenty novels, Les Rougon-Macquart. It introduces the painter Claude Lantier and in its satirical representation of the bourgeoisie and capitalism complements Zola''s other great novels of social conflict and urban poverty. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewThe translation by Brian Nelson for the Oxford World's Classics edition is excellent, and I really like the cover image which is a detail from The Square in Front of Les Halles by Victor-Gabriel Gilbert. * ANZ LitLovers LitBlog, Lisa Hill *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Rus! Russ!...Everything within you is open, desolate, and flat; your squat towns barely protrude above the level of your wide plains, marking them like little dots, like specks; here is nothing to entice and fascinate the onlooker''s gaze. Yet whence this unfathomable, uncanny force that draws me to you?'' Although Dead Souls (1842) was largely composed by Gogol during self-imposed exile in Italy in the late 1830s, his last work remains to this day the most essentially Russian of all the great novels in Russian literature. As we follow its hero Chichikov, a dismissed civil servant turned unscrupulous confidence man, about the Russian countryside in pursuit of his shady enterprise, there unfolds before us a gallery of characters worthy in comic range of Chaucer, Rabelais, Fielding and Sterne. With its rich and ebullient language, ironic twists and startling juxtapositions, Dead Souls stands as one of the most dazzling and poetic masterpieces of the nineteenth century. This brilliant new translation by Christopher English is complemented by a superb introductory essay by the pre-eminent Gogol scholar, Robert Maguire. 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.

Read more less

Book SynopsisKen Kesey (1935-2001) is the author of several works of well-known fiction and other hard-to-classify material. His debut novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, was a critical and commercial sensation that was followed soon after by his most substantial and ambitious book, Sometimes a Great Notion. His other books, including Demon Box, Sailor Song, and two children's books, appeared amidst a life of astounding influence. He is maybe best known for his role as the charismatic and proto-hippie leader of the West Coast LSD movement that sparked ""The Sixties,"" as iconically recounted in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. In the introduction to ""An Impolite Interview with Ken Kesey,"" Paul Krassner writes, ""For a man who says he doesn't like to do interviews, Kesey certainly does a lot of them."" What's most surprising about this statement is not the incongruity between disliking and doing interviews but the idea that Kesey could possibly have been less than enthusiastic about being the center of attention. After his two great triumphs, writing played a lesser role in Kesey's life, but in thoughtful interviews he sometimes regrets the books that were sacrificed for the sake of his other pursuits. Interviews trace his arc through success, fame, prison, farming, and tragedy--the death of his son in a car accident profoundly altered his life. These conversations make clear Kesey's central place in American culture and offer his enduring lesson that the freedom exists to create lives as wildly as can be imagined.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn esteemed literary critic shares his final musings on books, his children, and his own impending deathTrade Review"The literary judgments in Latest Readings are as a sound as ever . . . [James’s] credo: 'The critic should write to say not "look how much I’ve read" but "look at this, it’s wonderful."' I submit: reader, look at this book, it’s wonderful."—Philip Collins, Times"Pick up Latest Readings. It’s wonderful."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post"This is the kind of writing we have always appreciated him for: perceptive, acerbic, laconic, witty . . . There is so much to enjoy here, so many infectious enthusiasms."—Sue Gaisford, The Tablet"His qualities are his capacious intelligence, sardonic voice and fondness for wordplay and paradox . . . James has approached the time of his vanishing with grace and good humour, not sentimentality or anger. These essays and poems are death-haunted but radiant with the felt experience of what it means to be alive, even when mortally sick, especially when mortally sick."—Jason Cowley, Financial Times"For those who prefer something more literary, this year’s collection of Clive James’s essays on a variety of literary topics, Latest Readings, is an eye-opener. Mr. James is terminally ill. This is sanity, humor and acuity in the face of death."—Mary Beard, Wall Street Journal"Latest Readings is a plain demonstration that Mr. James remains as learned and as funny as any critic on earth."—Dwight Garner, New York Times“If the [Nobel Prize in Literature] were ever to go to a critic, I’d give it to Clive James. He has so much erudition and high-stepping passion. He writes excellent poems and even better memoirs. He has delivered very good books of translation. He is a polymath. He is also very funny.”—Dwight Garner, New York Times"A collection of beautifully thought-out, piquant essays, some only a few pages, that survey what [James] has been reading with the clock ticking. The results are entirely free of self-pity, and emanate vitality and invention . . . James relishes the limited reading time he has and makes no bones about it, providing sparkling commentary on his old favorites and new discoveries."—Publishers Weekly"With James, one hopes fervently that the finale is only just beginning."—Evening Standard"The author delivers a sign-off of substance . . . The unadulterated love of literature proves infectious and a little humbling."—James Kidd, the Independent"Of one military history [James] observes: 'The text is full of observation, judgement and accurate detail, and those things are always new.' The same might be said of this book."—Daniel Swift, The Spectator". . . there is nothing boastful about James’s insatiable consumption . . . His observations on individual books are acute and sometimes challenging."—Rosemary Goring, Glasgow Herald"His amused, unpretentious, loving commentaries on the books he continues to enjoy are heart-warming and comforting. The volume is a ringing endorsement of the solace of good literature."—Eilis Ni Dhuibhne, Irish Times"As a reader and writer confronting death, Clive James has all the creative energy and charm of a man discovering life. These thoughtful essays are immensely appealing, their tone is beautifully judged. Cleverly, he re-reads in order to measure the past. With this and his recent poetry, he could outlive us all."—Ian McEwan"Clive James is perhaps the most original and distinctive literary-critical voice of the last half-century."—Martin Amis"Clive James, brilliant to the (near) end, turns his readings and re-readings of everyone and everything from Hemingway and Conrad to Patrick O'Brian and Game of Thrones into sharp, funny meditations on—among much else—class, beauty, mimicry, memory, manhood, death (other people's), and life (his own). Long may his dazzling, long farewell continue."—Salman Rushdie"In these farewell marginal notes to a life of bookishness, enthusiasm and playful dissent, Clive James disdains to go gentle or regretfully into Dylan Thomas's good night. He retains his energetic piquancy as he makes one more round of the garden of literary delights. The comparison of one old favourite to a Cord automobile is a signature flourish entirely, typically, his own. We shall miss him, but that rare tone of voice will stay with us."—Frederic Raphael"Clive James's inevitable humor, sanity, erudition, enthusiasm, and crystal keenness are everywhere evident in Latest Readings, but perhaps its greatest grace is the opportunity it gives to feel as if you're spending time in his company, listening and learning for at least a little while longer. If its mini essays (and some not so mini) seem to float from James's mind into yours, it is only because a lifetime of reading, thinking, feeling, and formulating has gone into them, registering the pure, responsive authority of a writer with nothing left to prove but so much left to say."—James Wolcott

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1878 the Victorian critic Matthew Arnold wrote: ''Goethe is the greatest poet of modern times... because having a very considerable gift for poetry, he was at the same time, in the width, depth, and richness of his criticism of life, by far our greatest modern man.''In this Very Short Introduction Ritchie Robertson covers the life and work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832): scientist, administrator, artist, art critic and supreme literary writer in a vast variety of genres. Looking at Goethe''s poetry, novels and drama pieces, as well as his travel writing, autobiography, and essays on art and aesthetics, Robertson analyses some of the key themes in his works: love, nature, religion and tragedy. Dispelling the misconception of Goethe as a sedate Victorian sage, Robertson shows how much of his art was rooted in turbulent personal conflicts, and draws on recent research to present a complete portrait of the scientific work and political activity which accompanied Goethe''s writings.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 ReviewRobertsone points the reader interested in rediscovery to the best starting points. * Catholic Herald *This Very Short Introduction does exactly what a VSI should do. It introduces the reader to its subject and explains why it is significant, and it's pitched at a non-academic audience in accessible language and with a coherent organisation of the content. Ritchie Robertson's Goethe, A Very Short Introduction made me want to drop what I'm currently reading and find out more about this great German writer ... I can't this VSI highly enough. * ANZ LitLovers *Table of Contents1. Love ; 2. Nature ; 3. Classical Art and World Literature ; 4. Politics ; 5. Tragedy ; 6. Religion ; Further Reading ; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat is literary theory? Is there a relationship between literature and culture? In fact, what is literature, and does it matter? These are some of questions addressed by Jonathan Culler in this Very Short Introduction to literary theory. Often a controversial subject, said to have transformed the study of culture and society in the past two decades, literary theory is accused of undermining respect for tradition and truth and encouraging suspicion about the political and psychological implications of cultural projects rather than admiration for great literature. Here, Jonathan Culler explains ''theory'', not by describing warring ''schools'' but by sketching key ''moves'' theory has encouraged, and speaking directly about the implications of theory for thinking about literature, human identity, and the power of language. In this new edition Culler takes a look at new material, including the ''death of theory'', the links between the theory of narrative and cognitive science, trauma theory, ecocriticism, and includes a new chapter on ''Ethics and aesthetics''. This lucid introduction is useful for anyone who has wondered what all the fuss is about or who wants to think about literature today.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 ReviewReview from previous edition It is impossible to imagine a clearer treatment of the subject, or one that is, within the given limits of length, more comprehensive. Culler has always been remarkable for his expository skills, and here he has found exactly the right method and tone for his purposes. * Sir Frank Kermode *A must read for all literature students. * Bookwise *Table of Contents1. What is theory? ; 2. What is literature and does it matter? ; 3. Literature and cultural studies ; 4. Language, meaning, and interpretation ; 5. Rhetoric, poetics, and poetry ; 6. Narrative ; 7. Performative language ; 8. Identity, identification, and the subject ; 9. Ethics and aesthetics ; Appendix: Theoretical schools and movements ; References ; Further Reading ; Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis''I loathe what I did, but what I loathe even more is your virtue.''Seventeen-year-old Effi Briest is steered by her parents into marriage with an ambitious bureaucrat, twenty years her senior. He takes her from her home to a remote provincial town on the Baltic coast of Prussia where she is isolated, bored, and prey to superstitious fears. She drifts into a half-hearted affair with a manipulative, womanizing officer, which ends when her husband is transferred to Berlin. Years later, events are triggered that will have profound consequences for Effi and her family.Effi Briest (1895) is recognized as one of the masterpieces by Theodor Fontane, Germany''s premier realist novelist, and one of the great novels of marital relations together with Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina. It presents life among the conservative Prussian aristocracy with irony and gentle humour, and opposes the rigid and antiquated morality of the time by treating its heroine with sympathy and keen psychological insight.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 ReviewFontane's masterpiece is now generally acclaimed as Germany's contribution, alongside Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, to the great nineteenth-century European novels of adultery. * Leo A. Lensing, Times Literary Supplement *I'd barely heard of Theodor Fontane before I read this, but he clearly was an important novelist and I'm delighted to have been introduced to him. This is an great new edition, with a helpfully wide-ranging introduction and notes, and the translation by Mike Mitchell is excellent I never had the sense that I was even reading a translation, which is high praise from someone as fussy as I am. So highly recommended. * Shiny New Books, Harriet Devine *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTimothy Morton explores the foundations of the ecological crisis to reestablish our ties to nonhuman beings and rediscover playfulness and joy. Dark ecology puts us in an uncanny position of radical self-knowledge, illuminating our place in the biosphere and our belonging to a species in a sense that is far less obvious than we like to think.Trade ReviewIn often witty and humorous language, Timothy Morton provides a kind of affective atlas for the human era. The book calls for scholars to recognize the structures of entwinement between (the human) species and ecological phenomena and to develop modes of thought for accommodating them. -- Kate Marshall, University of Notre Dame Dark Ecology is a brave, brilliant interrogation of the presumptions that have driven our approach to the ecological and environmental challenges of our era. Anyone who is willing to ride the rollercoaster of ideas on which Morton takes us will reach the end brimming with new conceptual and intellectual energies with which to face up to our present limits and failures and to shape an alive and joyful future. -- Imre Szeman, University of Alberta Morton is a master of philosophical enigma. In Dark Ecology he treats us to an obscure ecognosis, the essentially unsolvable riddle of ecological being. Prepare to be endarkened! -- Michael Marder, author of The Philosopher's Plant and Pyropolitics Morton commands readers' attention with his free-form style... [Dark Ecology] extends his previous work to offer a seismically different vision of the future of ecology and humankind. Publishers WeeklyTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Beginning After the End The First Thread The Second Thread The Third Thread Ending Before the Beginning Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Miserere Mei, Clare Costley King''oo examines the critical importance of the Penitential Psalms in England between the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century. During this period, the Penitential Psalms inspired an enormous amount of creative and intellectual work: in addition to being copied and illustrated in Books of Hours and other prayer books, they were expounded in commentaries, imitated in vernacular translations and paraphrases, rendered into lyric poetry, and even modified for singing. Miserere Mei explores these numerous transformations in materiality and genre. Combining the resources of close literary analysis with those of the history of the book, it reveals not only that the Penitential Psalms lay at the heart of Reformation-age debates over the nature of repentance, but also, and more significantly, that they constituted a site of theological, political, artistic, and poetic engagement across the many polarities that are ofTrade Review“King’oo provides a careful and multi-disciplinary history of this group of psalms during the years before and following the English Reformation. . . . Using tools from the scholarship of history, art, literature, and theology, King’oo has written a fascinating study. With its superb scholarship and carefully reasoned arguments, this book is recommended for academic libraries supporting graduate programs.” —Catholic Library World“The discovery of continuities amidst the upheaval of the Reformation has been a major area of scholarship in recent years and King’oo ably demonstrates that the Penitential psalms form yet another example of the way in which ‘the religious literature of the pre-Reformed past was not cast aside but rather gradually and complexly reshaped in Reformation England.’” —Journal of Ecclesiastical History“The interdisciplinary approach used by Costley King’oo is one of the book’s great strengths: we study manuscripts, early printed works and illustrations; Bible commentary, paraphrase and translation; lyric poetry, political parody and devotional song. . . . [This book] will have a broad appeal to scholars of the Bible (and the psalms in particular), scholars of art history and religious history, literary scholars and those interested in early modern sexuality.” —The History of Women Religious“King’oo lays out a concentrated argument for the centrality of the Penitential Psalms and what she calls a ‘penitential hermeneutic’ in both late medieval and early modern culture. . . . The monograph makes a solid case for the need for further study in this area.” —The Medieval Review“A fascinating and impressively composed monograph. . . . King’oo’s study is at its finest and most compelling in her analysis of individual adaptations of the Penitential Psalms, where close reading merges richly with attention to historical context and textual details.” —Comitatus“King’oo is especially perceptive in her attention to textual and literary detail, and she offers many valuable insights into the dynamic life of old traditions carried through time. Read as a whole or as selected essays, this book gives helpful case studies for those looking for a highly nuanced understanding of the continuities and discontinuities between the late medieval and early modern uses of biblical texts.” —Religious Studies Review“King’oo’s study distinguishes itself among other excellent scholarly works on the Psalter for its carefully considered focus on the unique textual tradition of the Seven Penitential Psalms. . . . Given King’oo’s training as a literary scholar, her attention to the Penitential Psalms’ form, genre, language, and even the material texts in which they were available yields exciting interpretations of their nuanced revisions and their implied audiences.” —Church History“Her writing is clear and engaging and stylistically sophisticated. This is a thoroughly enjoyable and well-researched book whose focus, although seemingly narrow, sheds much light on the some of the central controversies of the early modern period.” —Speculum“Miserere Mei convincingly and originally answers a number of the questions raised by the use and persistence of these Psalms, and offers new ones that we didn’t know enough to ask previously. . . . The greatest strengths of the book may be the ostensible narrowness and concreteness of its focus. By limiting her attention to the penitential Psalms, King’oo has written a monograph that is unusually coherent and organic, given the span of time and range of genres covered.” —Renaissance Quarterly“The book offers itself both as a valuable cultural history of the penitential psalms and as a model for rethinking outdated yet still dominant modes of historical periodization.” —Modern Language Review

Read more less

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.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWilliam Shakespeare was born in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon and died in 1616. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. Stanley Wells is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Honorary President of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.Margaret Jane Kidnie is Professor of English at the University of Western Ontario.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOvid?s deliciously clever and exuberant epic, now in a gorgeous new clothbound edition Ovid?s sensuous and witty poetry brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation?often as a result of love or lust?where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of Ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy. Erudite but lighthearted, dramatic yet playful, the Metamorphoses has influenced writers and artists throughout the centuries from Shakespeare and Titian to Picasso and Ted Hughes. This edition includes David Raeburn?s modern verse translation, an introduction by Denis Feeney, and other features to help readers fully appreciate Ovid?s epic.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Trade Review“The true brilliance, that is, the true reading, the accessibility, of McCarter’s tapestry lies in her use of poetic form.(…) Throughout, McCarter produces gorgeous basso continuo undertones juxtaposed against sharp and high-pitched rhymes. Such formal elements of the translation ultimately represent McCarter’s interpretation of Metamorphoses and the art of translation itself—that humble human craft that has the capacity to stand against and despite the will of gods, power, and time. McCarter has produced her own masterpiece that ‘Jove’s wrath cannot / destroy, nor flame, nor steel, nor gnawing time.’ ‘My name,’ she writes, ‘can’t be erased.’” —Anna Deeny Morales, 2023 American Poets Prize citation for The Academy of American Poets“The best translation of a work of ancient literature that I read this year was Stephanie McCarter's marvellous new translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, in fresh, readable, vivid iambic pentameter. McCarter captures Ovid's wit and cleverness, making us laugh at the escapades of abusive, lust-crazed, arrogant gods and hapless, also lust-crazed and arrogant mortals. But she also brilliantly evokes Ovid's more serious sides, including his attentiveness to power and the magical vivacity of the natural world. Her wonderful handling of the metrical poetic form is a fitting match for Ovid's artful, fluent Latin verse.”—Emily Wilson, The New Statesman“McCarter confronts the tricky issues associated with both the poet and his epic not only in her forthright introduction but in the translation itself, where, like an art restorer removing decades of browned varnish from an Old Master, she strips away a number of inaccuracies and embellishments that have accreted in translations over the decades and centuries, obscuring the sense of certain passages, particularly those portraying women and sexual violence… McCarter’s translation reproduces Ovid’s speed and clarity. Even better, she is alert to many of the sparkling verbal effects for which the poet was famous in his own time… If you didn’t know she was writing about the concerns of someone who died twenty centuries ago, you’d think her subject was still alive.”—Daniel Mendelsohn, The New Yorker“McCarter adroitly captures Ovid’s glittering darkness. There is horror here but there is also so much wonder and delight, all conveyed in nimble, fresh language.” —Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire“The Metamorphoses has it all: sex, death, love, violence, gods, mortals, monsters, nymphs, all the great forces, human and natural. With this vital new translation, Stephanie McCarter has not only updated Ovid's epic of transformation for the modern ear and era --- she's done something far more powerful. She's paid rigorous attention to the language of the original and brought to us its ferocity, its sensuality, its beauty, its wit, showing us how we are changed, by time, by violence, by love, by stories, and especially by power. Here is Ovid, in McCarter's masterful hands, refreshed, renewed, and pulsing with life.” —Nina MacLaughlin, author of Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung“Stephanie McCarter’s gorgeous verse translation of the Metamorphoses is ground-breaking not just in its refreshingly accessible approach to Ovid’s syntax and formal devices but for how she reframes the controversial subjects that have made Ovid, and Ovidian scholarship, so fraught for contemporary readers. McCarter’s translation understands that the Metamorphoses is a complex study of power and desire, and the dehumanizing ways that power asserts itself through and on a variety of bodies. McCarter’s deft, musical, and forthright translation returns much needed nuance to Ovid’s tropes of violence and change, demonstrating to a new generation of readers how our identities are always in flux, while reminding us all of the Metamorphoses’ enduring relevance.” —Paisley Rekdal, author of Nightingale"A graceful and fluid and deeply meaningful translation. Compared to the other translations of the Metamorphoses on which I’ve relied in the past, it’s as though this is of an entirely different book. The reader follows the lines with genuine emotion. And so do worlds open up—" —Alexander Nemerov, Carl and Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities, Stanford University "Stephanie McCarter’s translation offers an attractive alternative to the finest versions to appear in recent decades, while the abundance of her introductory and explanatory material gives her work a clear advantage over those predecessors. As a vehicle for serious engagement with Ovid’s poem in English, McCarter has no rival." – Richard Tarrant, Harvard University, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Restlessly curious, insightful, and quirky, David Damrosch is the perfect guide to a round-the-world adventure in reading'' Stephen GreenblattA transporting and illuminating voyage around the globe, told through eighty classic and modern books''It is always a pleasure to talk about books with David Damrosch, who has read all of them, and he is so eloquent and understanding about them all'' Orhan PamukInspired by Jules Verne''s hero Phileas Fogg, David Damrosch, chair of Harvard''s Department of Comparative Literature and founder of Harvard''s Institute for World Literature, set out to counter a pandemic''s restrictions on travel by exploring eighty exceptional books from around the globe. Following a literary itinerary from London to Venice, Tehran and points beyond, and via authors from Woolf and Dante to Nobel prizewinners Orhan Pamuk, Wole Soyinka, Mo Yan and Olga Tokarczuk, he explores how these works have shaped our idea of the world, and the ways the world bleeds into literature.To chart the expansive landscape of world literature today, Damrosch explores how writers live in two very different worlds: the world of their personal experience, and the world of books that have enabled great writers to give shape and meaning to their lives. In his literary cartography, Damrosch includes compelling contemporary works as well as perennial classics, hard-bitten crime fiction as well as haunting works of fantasy, and the formative tales that introduce us as children to the world we''re entering. Taken together, these eighty titles offer us fresh perspective on perennial problems, from the social consequences of epidemics to the rising inequality that Thomas More designed Utopia to combat and the patriarchal structures within and against which many of these books'' heroines have to struggle, from the work of Murasaki Shikibu a millennium ago to that of Margaret Atwood today.Around the World in 80 Books is a global invitation to look beyond ourselves and our surroundings, and to see our world and its literature in new ways.Trade ReviewA hymn to the unifying power of literature... Around the World in 80 Books takes us on a tour of the author's global head, and while expanding our knowledge it enlarges our capacity for fellow-feeling -- Peter Conrad * Observer *It is always a pleasure to talk about books with David Damrosch, who has read all of them, and he is so eloquent and understanding about them all -- Orhan PamukRestlessly curious, insightful, and quirky, David Damrosch is the perfect guide to a round-the-world adventure in reading. With such a companion, you never know where you will go next, but you can be confident that the encounter will be memorable. Count me in! -- Stephen Greenblatt, author of TYRANT and THE SWERVEAn insightful journey into the books that have for so long captivated us. Profound, boundless and diverse -- Jokha Alharthi, author of Celestial BodiesPleasurable and full of insights, Around the World in 80 Books is such a joyful journey through the places, times and people who have made our world literature. Every time I finished a chapter I felt an urge to discover or re-read the books whose stories Damrosch is telling so vividly - but that meant putting down his own book and I wasn't able do that... -- Dror Mishani, author of The Missing File and ThreeA vast, fascinating latticework of books within books... This rewarding literary Baedeker will inspire readers to discover new places * Kirkus *Damrosch's richly conceived survey offers readers a colorful map for an illuminating, enlivening tour of their own libraries. Travel fans and literature lovers alike will find something to savor * Publisher's Weekly *

Read more less

Book SynopsisRichard Holmes's great work of biographical exploration, published alongside its sister volume Sidetracks'.In 1985, Richard Holmes published a small book of essays called Footsteps and the writing of biography was changed forever. A daring mix of travel, biographical sleuthing and personal memoir, it broke all the conventions of the genre and remains ons of the most intoxicating, magical works of modern literary exploration ever published.Sleeping rough, he retraces Robert Louis Stevenson''s famous journey through the Cevennes. Caught up in the Parisian riots of the 1960s, he dives back in time to the terrors of Wordsworth and of Mary Wollstonecraft marooned in Revolutionary Paris and then into the strange tortured worlds of Gérard de Nerval. Wandering through Italy, he stalks Shelley and his band of Romantic idealists to Casa Magni on the Gulf of Spezia.Trade ReviewThis exhilarating book, part biography, part autobiography, shows the biographer as sleuth and huntsman, tracking his subjects through space and time.' HILARY SPURLING, Observer 'Nothing is simple in this intricate, complicated and fascinating book, which is like a set of Russian dolls, biography containing travel-writing containing autobiography containing and so on… Holmes is indeed a biographer and a romantic in every sense.' RICHARD BOSTON, Guardian

Read more less

Book SynopsisRead Shakespeare’s plays in all their brilliance—and understand what every word means! Don’t be intimidated by Shakespeare! These popular guides make the Bard’s plays accessible and enjoyable.Each No Fear guide contains: The complete text of the original play A line-by-line translation that puts Shakespeare into everyday language A complete list of characters with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPortraits of Japanese geisha most often present these women either as tragic victims of oppressive institutions catering to male sexual desire or as sexually empowered entrepreneurs navigating a harsh reality. In Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale, Nagai Kafu introduces us to an altogether different geisha. Because Komayo's story is not offered as an allegory for a woman's place in a man's world, she emerges as a vivid, complex character fiercely resistant to narrow-minded moralizing and simplistic glorification. Her tale pulls readers into a far more compelling world--that of messy, inconsistent, and irreconcilable human attitudes toward love, sex, power, and performance. -- James Dorsey, Dartmouth College Nagai Kafu's novel is powerfully observed, exposing the tension between the elegant surface of the geisha districts and the sexual hierarchy that unfolds behind closed doors between the geisha and their patrons. Stephen Snyder's sensitive and smooth translation draws the reader into a sometimes outrageous, sometimes alluring world. An important corrective to the romanticized and exoticizing Hollywood versions of the geisha experience. -- Ann Sherif, Oberlin College Now we have a complete translation of Rivalry, Nagai Kafu's novel about the couplings and calculations in the world of geisha. The inclusion of the sexually explicit scenes left out in the prior translation makes this version funnier and infinitely tougher. Komayo's distress in the final chapters can only be comprehended if we know the full demands she faces as a geisha. -- Ken K. Ito, University of Michigan An awesomely economical and incisive writer, Nagai packs this short novel with incident and astonishingly thorough characterizations. Booklist (starred review) This new translation by Snyder... successfully transforms Nagai's Taisho-era Japanese into flowing modern English. Library Journal Snyder is to be thanked both for translating this half-forgotten novel... and for doing it so compellingly. -- Bradley Winterton Taipei TimesTable of ContentsIntroduction 1: Intermission 2: A Real Gem 3: Dayflowers 4: Welcoming Fires 5: A Dream in the Daylight 6: The Actor's Seal 7: Afterglow 8: Crimes in Bed 9: The Autumn Review 10: Box Seat 11: The Kikuobana 12: Rain on an Autumn Night 13: The Road Home 14: Asakusa 15: At the Gishun 16: Opening Day (I) 17: Opening Day (II) 18: Yesterday and Today 19: Yasuna 20: The Morning Bath 21: Turmoil 22: One Thing or Another

Read more less

Book SynopsisTable of ContentsForeword, by Stephen F. Teiser Foreword to the 1976 Edition, by Wm. Theodore de Bary Preface Roll One 1. Introduction 2. Expedient Devices Roll Two 3. Parable 4. Belief and Understanding Roll Three 5. Medicinal Herbs 6. Bestowal of Prophecy 7. Parable of the Conjured City Roll Four 8. Receipt of Prophecy by Five Hundred Disciples 9. Prophecies Conferred on Learners and Adepts 10. Preachers of Dharma 11. Apparition of the Jeweled Stupa Roll Five 12. Devadatta 13. Fortitude 14. Comfortable Conduct 15. Welling up out of the Earth Roll Six 16. The Life Span of the Thus Come One 17. Discrimination of Merits 18. The Merits of Appropriate Joy 19. The Merits of the Dharma Preacher Roll Seven 20. The Bodhisattva Never Disparaging 21. The Supernatural Powers of the Thus Come One 22. Entrustment 23. The Former Affairs of the Bodhisattva Medicine King 24. The Bodhisattva Fine Sound Roll Eight 25. The Gateway to Everywhere of the Bodhisattva He Who Observes the Sounds of the World 26. Dharani 27. The Former Affairs of the King Fine Adornment 28. The Encouragements of the Bodhisattva Universally Worthy Glossary Notes on the Sanskrit Text Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisDrawn from Peter H. Lee's Sourcebook of Korean Civilization, Volume One, this abridged introductory collection offers students and general readers primary readings in the social, intellectual, and religious traditions of Korean from ancient times through the sixteenth century.Trade ReviewA monumental accomplishment. Korean Studies Beginning scholars of Asian Studies...will find this a challenging but worthwhile book to read. Korean QuarterlyTable of ContentsPreface Explanatory Note Contributors Part I. Three Kingdoms and Unified Silla 1. Origins of korean culture 2. The Rise of the Three Kingdoms 3. The Introduction of Buddhism 4. Consolidation of the State 5. The Rise of Buddhism 6. Poetry and Song 7. Local Clans and the Rise of the Meditation School Part II. Koryo Introduction 8. Early Koryo Political Structure 9. Koryo Society 10. Military Rule and Late Koryo Reform 11. Buddhism: The Ch'ont'ae and Chogye Schools 12. Popular Beliefs and Confucianists Part III. Early Choson Introduction 13. Founding the Choson Dynasty 14. Political Thought in Early Choson 15. Culture 16. Social Life 17. Economy 18. Thought 19. Buddhism Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis treatise argues that literary criticism must re-establish connections to a wide range of social activities. It sets out a new type of criticism, called ecological literary criticism, which aims to make humanistic studies more socially responsible.

Read more less

Book SynopsisNo modern Japanese writer was more idolized than Shiga Naoya. This work showcases the art of this writer who is often called "the god of the Japanese short story."Trade Review[Shiga wrote] a number of short stories that are nearly perfect in their simplicity, directness, and mastery of subject matter. -- Hiraoki Sato The New York Times

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn essays on literary images of lesbianism from Defoe and Diderot to Virginia Woolf and Djuna Barnes, on the homosexual reputation of Marie Antoinette, on the lesbian writings of Anne Lister, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and Janet Flanner, and on Henry James's The Bostonians, Castle shows how a lesbian presence can be identified in the literature, history, and culture of the past three centuries.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTwo revealingly different accounts of the life of the most important figure of the Roman EmpireCharlemage, known as the father of Europe, was one of the most powerful and dynamic of all medieval rulers. The biographies brought together here provide a rich and varied portrait of the king from two perspectives: that of Einhard, a close friend and adviser, and of Notker, a monastic scholar and musician writing fifty years after Charlemagne's death.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAristotle's probing inquiry into some of the fundamental problems of philosophy, The Metaphysics is one of the classical Greek foundation-stones of western thought The Metaphysics presents Aristotle's mature rejection of both the Platonic theory that what we perceive is just a pale reflection of reality and the hard-headed view that all processes are ultimately material. He argued instead that the reality or substance of things lies in their concrete forms, and in so doing he probed some of the deepest questions of philosophy: What is existence? How is change possible? And are there certain things that must exist for anything else to exist at all? The seminal notions discussed in The Metaphysics - of 'substance' and associated concepts of matter and form, essence and accident, potentiality and actuality - have had a profound and enduring influence, and laid the foundations for one of the central branches of Western philosophy. In this editionTable of ContentsThe Metaphysics - Aristotle Translated with an Introduction by Hugh Lawson-TancredPrefaceIntroductionTHE METAPHYSICSBook AlphaBook Alpha the LesserBook BetaBook GammaBook DeltaBook EpsilonBook ZetaBook EtaBook ThetaBook IotaBook KappaBook LambdaBook MuBook NuBibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisTomcat Murr is a loveable, self-taught animal who has written his own autobiography. But a printer''s error causes his story to be accidentally mixed and spliced with a book about the composer Johannes Kreisler. As the two versions break off and alternate at dramatic moments, two wildly different characters emerge from the confusion - Murr, the confident scholar, lover, carouser and brawler, and the moody, hypochondriac genius Kreisler. In his exuberant and bizarre novel, Hoffmann brilliantly evokes the fantastic, the ridiculous and the sublime within the humdrum bustle of daily life, making The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (1820-22) one of the funniest and strangest novels of the nineteenth century.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe capstone volume in Penguin Classics’ celebrated series of Icelandic sagas Comic Sagas and Tales from Iceland brings together the very finest Icelandic stories from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, a time of civil unrest and social upheaval. With feuding families and moments of grotesque violence, the sagas see such classic mythological figures as murdered fathers, disguised beggars, corrupt chieftains, and avenging sons who do battle with axes, words, and cunning. The tales, meanwhile, follow heroes and comical fools through dreams, voyages, and religious conversions in medieval Iceland and beyond. Shaped by Iceland’s oral culture and its people’s conversion to Christianity, these stories are works of ironic humor and stylistic innovation. 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 Trade ReviewThis collection of strange and difficult-to-categorize pieces is comic not in the usual sense, but rather, as Viðar explains in his excellent introduction, in the sense of reading counter to the Icelandic family sagas, whose narratives he terms tragic. The stories here are edgy, subversive and often grim little narratives, in striking contrast to the humane, wise and sometimes uplifting family sagas * The Times Literary Supplement *

Read more less

Book SynopsisOvid’s sensuous and witty poem, in an accessible translation by David RaeburnIn Metamophoses, Ovid brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation—often as a result of love or lust—where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy. Erudite but light-hearted, dramatic and yet playful, Metamorphoses has influenced writers and artists throughout the centuries from Shakespeare and Titian to Picasso and Ted Hughes.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more thanTrade ReviewA good translation in clear, dignified, poetic English -- Prof Elaine Fantham, PrincetonI think this version is terrific. The light enjambed English hexameters are a great success. The effect is properly propulsive -- Prof A D Nuttall, OxfordTable of ContentsMetamorphosesPrefaceChronologyIntroductionFurther ReadingTranslator's NoteMetamorphosesBook 1Prologue - The Creation - The Four Ages - The Giants - Lycaön - The Flood - Deucalion and Pyrrha - Python - Daphne - Io (1) - Interlude: Pan and Syrinx - Io (2) - Phaëton (1)Book 2Phaëton (2) - Callisto - The Raven and the Crow - Ocyrho#235; - Battus - Aglauros - EuropaBook 3Cadmus - Actaeon - Semele - Teiresias - Narcissus and Echo - Pentheus and Bacchus (1) - Acotetes and the Lydian Sailors - Pentheus and Bacchus (2)Book 4The Daughters of Miniyas (1) - Pyramus and Thisbe - Mars and Venus - Leucotho#235; and Lyti#235; - Slmacis and Hermaphroditus - The Daughters of Miniyas (2) - Ino and Athamas - Cadmus and Harmonia - Perseus (1)Book 5Perseus (2) - Minerva and the Muses - Calliope's Song: The Rape of Proserpina; Arethusa; Triptolemus and Lyncus - The Daughters of PierusBook 6Arachne - Niobe - The Lycian Peasants - Marsyas - Pelops - Tereus, Procne and Philomela - Boreas and OrithyiaBook 7Medea and Jason - The Rejuvenation of Aeson - The Punishment of Pelias - Medea's Flight - Theseus and Aegeus - Minos and Aeacus - The Plague at Aegina - The Birth of the Myrmidons - Cephalus and ProcrisBook 8Scylla and Minos - The Minotaur and Ariadne - Daedalus and Perdix - Meleäger and the Calyydonian Boar - Acheloüs, the Naiads and Perimele - Philemon and Baucis - ErysichthonBook 9Acheloüs and Hercules - Hercules and Nessus - The Death of Hercules - Alcmena and Galanthis - Dryope - Iolaüs and Callirhoë's Sons - Miletus - Byblis - IphisBook 10Orpheus and Eurydice - Cyparissus - Orpheus' Song: Introduction; Ganymede; Hyacinthus; The Cerastae and Propoetides; Pygmalion; Myrrha; Venus and Adonis (1) - Venus' Story: Atalanta and Hippomenes - Orpheus' Song: Venus and Adonis (2)Book 11The Death of Orpheus - The Punishment of the Maenads - Midas - Laömedon's Treachery - Peleus and Thetis - Peleus at the Court of Ceÿx (1) - Ceÿx's Story: Daedalion - Peleus at the Court of Ceÿx (2) - Ceÿx and Alcyone - AesacusBook 12The Greeks at Aulis - Rumour - Cycnus - Achilles' Victory Celebration - Caenis - The Battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs - Periclymenus - The Death of AchillesBook 13The Judgement of Arms - Ajax's Suicide - The Fall of Troy - The Sufferings of Hecuba - Memnon - The Wanderings of Aeneas (1) - The Daughters of Anius - The Daughters of Orion - The Wanderings of Aeneas (2) - Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus - Glaucus and Scylla (1)Book 14Glaucus and Scylla (2) - The Wanderings of Aeneas (3) - The Sibyl of Cumae - Achaemenides' Story: Ulysses' Men in Plyphemus' Cave - Macareus' Story: Ulysses and Circe; Picus, Canens and Circe - The Wanderings of Aeneus (4) - The Mutinous Companions of Diomedes - The Apulian Shepherd - The Ships of Aeneus - Ardea - The Apotheosis of Aeneus - Aeneus' Descendants - Pomona and Vertumnus - Iphis and Anaxarete - Romulus - The Apotheosis of RomulusBook 15Myscelus - Pythagoras - Egeria and Hippolytus - Tages, Romulus' Spear, Cipus - Aesculapius - The Apotheosis of Julius Caesar- EpilogueNotesGlossary IndexMap of Ovid's Mediterranean World

Read more less

Book Synopsis''I hope my passion for Rome''s past has not impaired my judgement; for I do honestly believe that no country has ever been greater or purer than ours or richer in good citizens and noble deeds''Livy dedicated most of his life to writing some 142 volumes of history, the first five of which comprise The Early History of Rome. With stylistic brilliance, he chronicles nearly 400 years from the founding of Rome to the Gallic invasion in 386 BC, an era that witnessed the establishment of the Republic, unrest and brutal conflict. Bringing compelling characters to life, and re-presenting familiar tales - including the tragedy of Coriolanus and the story of Romulus and Remus - The Early History is a truly epic work, and a passionate warning that a nation should learn from its history. Translated by Aubrey DE Sélincourt with an Introduction by R. M. Ogilvie and a Preface by S. P. OakleyTable of ContentsTranslated by Aubrey de Sélincourt with a New Preface by Stephen OakleyPrefatory NoteIntroductionTHE EARLY HISTORY OF ROMEBook OneRome under the KingsBook TwoThe Beginnings of the RepublicBook ThreeThe Patricians at BayBook FourWar and PoliticsBook FiveThe Capture of RomeMaps: Latium; RomeAppendixIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisHeroic women warriors as reflections of social and moral valuesTrade Review"This detailed, exhaustive exploration of Mulan's story from its earliest beginnings to its modern incarnations is essential to anyone interested in cross-cultural children's literature, Asian studies, and modern popular culture. With a lengthy bibliography that includes Chinese sources, it lights the way for future scholarship, and belongs in most academic libraries, especially where children's literature is studied." -Children's Literature Association QuarterlyTable of ContentsContents List of Figures Acknowledgments 1. Prologue 2. Heroic Lineage: Military Women and Lady Knights-Errant in Premodern China 3. From a Courageous Maiden in Legend to a Virtuous Icon in History 4. The White Tiger Mythology: A Woman Warrior's Autobiography 5. One Heroine, Many Characters: Mulan in American Picture Books 6. Of Animation and Mulan's International Fame 7. Epilogue Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAvailable for the first time in paperback, this is the pre-eminent critical study, and exploration, of how myth and legend played such a significant role in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.The Song of Middle-earth takes a fresh look at The Lord of the Rings, digging deep into the foundations of Tolkien's world to reveal the complex tapestry of history and mythology that lies behind his stories.The charge that Tolkien''s work was merely derivative that he extracted elements from other mythologies and incorporated them into his own fiction is dismissed in favour of a fascinating examination of the rich historical background to Middle-earth.From the mythic tradition of the Tales told in The Book of Lost Tales: I to the significance of oral storytelling throughout the history of Middle-earth, this book examines the common themes of mythology found within Tolkien's work.In doing so, The Song of Middle-earth demonstrates how Tolkien's desire to create a new mythology for England is not only apTrade Review.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWinner of the 2019 H.R.F. Keating Award for best biography or critical book related to crime fiction!A lavish full-colour celebration of the 2000 books by more than 250 authors published by the iconic Crime Club between 1930 and 1994.The Hooded Gunman was the sinister figure who, having appeared in various guises on the covers of Collins' various series of Mystery and Detective books in the 1920s, finally gained recognition with the launch of Collins' Crime Club, becoming the definitive imprint stamp on more than 2,000 books published by that august imprint between 1930 and 1994. From Agatha Christie to Reginald Hill, the Hooded Gunman was a guarantee of a first-class crime novel for almost 65 years, and those books are now as sought after and collectable and almost any other book series, with many commanding high prices and almost impossible to find.In the year that Collins the publisher founded by William Collins in Glasgow in 1819 is enjoying its 200th birthday, this book celebratTrade ReviewREVIEWS FOR AGATHA CHRISTIE’S SECRET NOTEBOOKS: 'Many of Curran's discoveries will shape how Christie is read in future… This book is fascinating.' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY ‘Agatha Christie’s notebooks have had to wait for the meticulous attention, dedication and prodigious knowledge of John Curran to achieve publication.’ THE TIMES ‘A meticulously detailed study that is packed with shrewd perceptions about Christie's fiction… Curran has produced an enthralling miscellany of a book, in which her fans will rummage to their heart's content.' SUNDAY TIMES 'Curran has organized his material as efficiently as an Agatha Christie mystery… His enthusiasm for his subject carries us along.' IRISH TIMES

Read more less

Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world'In London, 1888, the razor-sharp detective skills of Sherlock Holmes are to be put to the test. Mary Morstan reports two seemingly unconnected and inexplicable events: the disappearance of her father, a British Indian Army Captain, and the arrival of pearls by post from an unknown sender. Driven on by its complexity, Holmes and Watson slowly begin to unravel an intricate web of exotic treasure, secret pacts and mysterious deaths.One of only four novels featuring Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick Watson, The Sign of the Four' will delight those who have been captivated by Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories.Trade Review‘Of all the Holmes stories it is ‘The Sign of Four’ which remains persistently in my memory.’ Graham Greene

Read more less

Book SynopsisUpon publication, "Don't Panic" quickly established itself as the definitive companion to "Adams" and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". This edition comes up-to-date, covering the movie, "And Another Thing" by Eoin Colfer and the build up to the 30th anniversary of the first novel. Acclaimed author Neil Gaiman celebrates the life and work of Douglas Adams who, in a field in Innsbruck in 1971, had an idea that became "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". The radio series that started it all, the five - soon to be six - book 'trilogy', the TV series, almost-film and actual film, and everything in between.Trade Review"It's all devastatingly true - except the bits that are lies" - Douglas Adams * "Hilarious fun... a source of much delightful trivia" - Publisher's Weekly"

Read more less

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

Read more less