ELT & Literary Studies Books
Princeton University Press Spinozas Ethics
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Carlisle has done a beautiful job editing George Eliot’s translation and providing a scholarly apparatus. . . . This is the edition that George Eliot’s translation of Spinoza’s Ethics has long deserved, and that we have long needed."---Steven Nadler, La Vie des Idées"This edition will be of most interest to scholars of Eliot seeking more insight into the influence of Spinoza’s thought on her literary work." * Choice *"Readers and lovers of George Eliot owe a large debt of gratitude to Clare Carlisle and Princeton University Press for their fine new edition of Eliot’s translation of Benedict de Spinoza’s Ethics (1677)."---Thomas Albrecht, Women's Writing"For this volume to be truly worthwhile, the significance of the translation must be revealed, and to do this, the biographical, literary, and philosophical context in which the translation came to be needs to be explored and analysed. And Carlisle succeeds splendidly in all these respects."---Michael Della Rocca, Mind"Carlisle offers us an outstanding introductory essay in which she contextualizes the slow travel of Spinoza among English intellectuals in the early to mid-decades of the nineteenth century. . . . With her philosophical and poetic sensitivity to these two seventeenth- and nineteenth-century thinkers, Carlisle reminds us that rather than tracing direct lines of influence, today’s historical criticism might be ready to think in terms of ‘cosmic affinities’. . . . The notion of a ‘spiritual friendship’ is not what I expected to find in this new edition of a long-translated Spinoza, but Carlisle inspires and challenges us to recognize and value ‘the subtle power of a certain tie between two human beings, which is somehow sacred, a rich source of meaning.’"---Ilana M. Blumberg, George Eliot—George Henry Lewes Studies
£19.80
University of Minnesota Press Indifference to Difference
Book SynopsisIndifference to Difference demonstrates that our desires are not ours to be owned; they areindifferent to our differences. This polemical book shows that if we turn to akind of universalism that recognizes we are all similar in our powerlessness tocontain desire, then difference no longer becomes the focus of our identity.Trade Review"Madhavi Menon has written an exhilarating manifesto. The tough-minded courage of Menon's intervention is one of this book's great strengths; the fierce intelligence that shapes her arguments is another. Indifference to Difference pursues a supple, peripatetic, and deeply principled methodology, informed by a nuanced theoretical acumen that declares itself at every turn."—Kathryn Schwarz, Vanderbilt UniversityTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Indifference 1. Out of Africa: Yinka Shonibare’s Museum of Desire 2. Disembodying the Cause: Shakespeare’s Dramatic Elisions3. Lesbians without Borders: The Story of Dastangoi Coda: Queer and UniversalNotesIndex
£19.79
Bodleian Library Literary Cats
Book Synopsis‘Everything you ever wanted to know about cats in books. A wonderful idea, beautifully executed.’ - Viv Groskop Cats have provided the inspiration for an incredible range of fiction, memoir and poetry, from ancient myths and fables to much-loved children’s books, and from classic tales to contemporary novels. Featuring such famous feline characters as Puss in Boots, Tom Kitten, Pangur Bán, the Cheshire Cat, Macavity, Pluto and Bob the street cat, this light-hearted book is a whirlwind journey through the history of literary cats, uncovering their domestication, early cultural beginnings and religious associations, exploring their roles in different literary genres and revealing some real-life authors’ cats, including those belonging to Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Patricia Highsmith and Muriel Spark. A section on cats in world literature introduces narrator cats and cat companions from Japan, Eastern Europe, France, Greece, Germany and Finland, demonstrating their enduring worldwide appeal. A must for all cat-lovers, this book celebrates the inspirational connections between our favourite feline friends and the literary imagination.Table of ContentsContents Introduction Felines of Note Classic Cats Poetical Cats Books for Kittens Talking Cats Authors and their Cats Astrocats Cats in Fact Cats in Translation Notes Further Reading Index
£15.29
Columbia University Press Literature and Politics Selected Writings
Book Synopsis
£22.50
Columbia University Press Two Hours
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Springer Nature Switzerland AG Bestsellers: Popular Fiction Since 1900
Book SynopsisThis book charts the publishing industry and bestselling fiction from 1900, featuring a comprehensive list of all bestselling fiction titles in the UK. This third edition includes a new introduction which features additional information on current trends in reading including the rise of Black, Asian and LGBTQIA+ publishing; the continuing importance of certain genres and up to date trends in publishing, bookselling, library borrowing and literacy. There are sections on writing for children, on the importance of audiobooks and book clubs, self- published bestsellers as well as many new entries to the present day including bestselling authors such as David Walliams, Peter James, George R R Martin and far less well known authors whose books s sell in their thousands. This is the essential guide to best-selling books, authors, genres, publishing and bookselling since 1900, providing a unique insight into more than a century of entertainment, and opening a window into the reading habits and social life of the British from the death of Queen Victoria to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Table of Contents1. Origins, Problems and Philosophy of the Bestseller.- 2. How the British Read.- 3 Genre: History and Form.- 4. Literature for Children.- 5. Further Thoughts on Literature for Children.- 6. Best-selling Authors Since 1900.
£22.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Illustrating Children's Books: Creating Pictures
Book SynopsisLearn how to create effective illustrations to match children's stories for different age groups. The art of illustration for children has a long and rich tradition, and for generations has been loved by countless readers. Illustrating Children's Books shows you how to create beautiful artwork for children, examines the approaches taken by advanced-level students and leading artists and describes how their ideas evolve from start to finish through step-by-step sketches. - Identify the techniques used by successful children's illustrators and get advice on how to tackle fantasy, fairy tale, realism and nature drawings - Learn tips on working in a wide variety of media and receive professional advice on illustrating for different age groups and types of publication - Discover how to interpret and enrich the text, build consistent character identities, and create vibrant settings that will stir readers' imaginations - Find out how to create storyboards and layouts, work to brief, and present your work professionally - Explore specific examples such as picture books for little ones, storybooks for older children and educational books, with the final chapters devoted to design and typography and the business of getting publishedTrade ReviewFollow Martin Salisbury's tips and instructions and, if you have the aptitude, you could find yourself producing pictures good enough for printing. * Writing Magazine *Table of ContentsA Brief History Drawing Media, Materials, and Techniques Character Development The Picture Book Illustration for Older Children Non-fiction Illustration Design and Typography Getting Published Glossary Resources Index and Credits
£22.50
Paris Grafik Bram Stoker: Dracula Map
Book Synopsis
£7.59
Oxford University Press A Dictionary of Critical Theory
Book SynopsisWith over 750 authoritative entries covering all areas of critical theory, this dictionary is an essential reference work for anyone needing a clear guide to theory, from feminism to globalization, from Marxism to psychoanalysis. This edition is fully revised and updated.Table of ContentsIntroduction A-Z Recommended web links
£13.29
Yale University Press Faust
Book SynopsisPresents a philosophical and poetic drama full of satire, irony, humour and tragedy. This book creates the text's varied metre and rhyme and also its diverse tones and styles - dramatic and lyrical, reflective and farcical, pathetic and coarse, colloquial and soaring.Trade Review"Greenberg is quite remarkable, and at his best truly brilliant, in evoking the poetic ‘feel’ of Goethe’s original. I do not believe that any other version of Faust has attempted anything quite like it."—Cyrus Hamlin, Yale University (on the earlier edition of Part One)"Goethe’s Faust is an enigmatic and perhaps barely translatable masterpiece. Its grotesque and exuberant part 2 must be the most outrageous poem in the western canon. Martin Greenberg’s revised version conveys the outrage yet also shows again and again why the poem does stand with the major works of the western tradition."—Harold Bloom"Greenberg has accomplished a magnificent literary feat. He has taken a great German work, until now all but inaccessible to English readers, and made it into a sparkling English poem, full of verve and wit. Greenberg's translation lives; it is done in a modern idiom but with respect for the original text; I found it a joy to read."—Irving Howe
£16.99
HarperCollins Publishers The History of the Hobbit
Book SynopsisBrand new deluxe edition of this definitive companion to The Hobbit, quarter-bound, stamped in gold foil with a unique design inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's own artwork, featuring a ribbon marker and housed in a matching custom-built slipcase.The Hobbit was first published on 21 September 1937. Like its sequel, The Lord of the Rings, it is a story that grew in the telling', and many characters and plot threads in the published text are quite different from the story J.R.R. Tolkien first wrote to read aloud to his young sons as one of their fireside reads'.Together in one volume, The History of the Hobbit presents the complete text of the unpublished manuscript of The Hobbit, accompanied by John Rateliff's lively and informative account of how the book came to be written and published. Recording the numerous changes made to the story both before and after publication, he examines chapter by chapter why those changes were made and how they reflect Tolkien's ever-growing concept of Middle-earth.As well as reproducing the original version of one of the world's most popular novels both on its own merits and as the foundation for The Lord of the Rings this book includes many little-known illustrations and draft maps for The Hobbit by Tolkien himself. Also featured are extensive commentaries on the dates of composition, how Tolkien's professional and early mythological writings influenced the story, the imaginary geography he created, and how Tolkien came to revise the book years after publication to accommodate events in The Lord of the Rings.Endorsed by Christopher Tolkien as a companion to his essential 12-volume The History of Middle-earth, this thoughtful and exhaustive examination of one of the most treasured stories in English literature offers fascinating new insights for those who have grown up with this enchanting tale, and will delight any who are about to enter Bilbo's round door for the first time.Trade ReviewPraise for The Hobbit:‘The Hobbit belongs to a very small class of books which have nothing in common save that each admits us to a world of its own. Its place is with Alice and The Wind in the Willows’Times Literary Supplement ‘One of the best loved characters in English fiction… a marvellous fantasy adventure’Daily Mail ‘Finely written saga of dwarves and elves, fearsome goblins and trolls… an exciting epic of travel, magical adventure, working up to a devastating climax’The Observer
£75.00
HarperCollins Publishers The Woman in White Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.The woman who first gives life, light, and form to our shadowy conceptions of beauty, fills a void in our spiritual nature that has remained unknown to us till she appeared.'One of the earliest works of detective' fiction with a narrative woven together from multiple characters, Wilkie Collins partly based his infamous novel on a real-life eighteenth century case of abduction and wrongful imprisonment. In 1859, the story caused a sensation with its readers, hooking their attention with the ghostly first scene where the mysterious Woman in White' Anne Catherick comes across Walter Hartright. Chilling, suspenseful and tense in mood, the novel remains as emotive for its readers today as when it was first published.
£7.59
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Anatomy of a Suicide
Book SynopsisAlice Birch's new play is scored like a piece of music ... It is an extraordinary echoing text, full of pain and strange beauty. The three stories play out simultaneously on stage, the dialogue from one scene overlapping with the other two in a manner that borders on the choral ... Birch has provided a text that explores these ideas in a formally invigorating way. The StageThree generations of women. For each, the chaos of what has come before brings with it a painful legacy.A powerful, unflinching look at a family afflicted with severe depression and mental illness. Presented as a triptych of plays performed side by side, this groundbreaking play reverberates with audiences and readers. Published for the first time in Methuen Drama''s Modern Classics series, this edition features a brand new introduction by Ava Davies.Trade ReviewWhat determines our character? Nature or nurture? Genetic inheritance or social environment? It is an age-old debate, and Alice Birch now adds to it with this startling theatrical triptych about three generations of mothers and daughters... Birch’s progress as a writer has been fascinating to watch... On the evidence so far, I would say Birch has a gift for radical experiment in the style of Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane. In her new play we are confronted by three women, Carol, Anna and Bonnie, who we learn are mother, daughter and granddaughter. They exist in three different time zones but the story of their lives is told simultaneously. As Birch herself says, the text has been scored and can be read, or viewed, horizontally... I can, in fact, think of few exact parallels to this play. * Michael Billington, The Guardian *The way conversations overlap, intersect, even chime exactly, as if words are echoing down the decades, is a compositional marvel... [any] vague misgivings pale beside the essential bravery and daring of it all: anyone who has experienced the nightmare of handed-on familial sadness, let alone the horror of suicide, will surely find in this a therapeutic-cathartic release. * Telegraph *What a fiercely uncompromising, clinically emotional two hours this is Alice Birch, darling of the film world after her stark and powerful script for Lady Macbeth, returns in triumph to her home ground of the theatre for an unflinching examination of three generations of women in one family... an intricately interwoven work in which three separate scenes often play out simultaneously. * Evening Standard *
£12.34
HarperCollins Publishers Silas Marner Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.Our consciousness rarely registers the beginning of a growth within us any more than without us: there have been many circulations of the sap before we detect the smallest sign of the bud.'Set in the agricultural town of Raveloe in the English countryside, Silas Marner is a tragic figure. Exiled from a religious community because of a wrongful accusation of theft, he works from day to day as a weaver, saving his money and living a lonely life as a recluse.It is only when his money is stolen and a small orphan girl, Eppie appears in his life that Silas's fortunes begin to change and he truly begins to learn what it means to regain his faith in life.
£5.62
Spark Macbeth SparkNotes Literature Guide
Book SynopsisWhen an essay is due and dreaded exams loom, this book offers students what they need to succeed. It provides chapter-by-chapter analysis, explanations of key themes, motifs and symbols, a review quiz, and essay topics. It is suitable for late-night studying and paper writing.
£7.49
Verso Books The Communist Manifesto: A Modern Edition
Book SynopsisIn the two decades following the fall of the Berlin Wall, global capitalism became entrenched in its modern, neoliberal form. Its triumph was so complete that the word "capitalism" itself fell out of use in the absence of credible political alternatives. But with the outbreak of financial crisis and global recession in the twenty-first century, capitalism is once again up for discussion. The status quo can no longer be taken for granted.As Eric Hobsbawm argues in his acute and elegant introduction to this modern edition, in such times The Communist Manifesto emerges as a work of great prescience and power despite being written over a century and a half ago. He highlights Marx and Engels's enduring insights into the capitalist system: its devastating impact on all aspects of human existence; its susceptibility to enormous convulsions and crises; and its fundamental weakness.Trade ReviewAs a force for change, its influence has been surpassed only by the Bible. As a piece of writing, it is a masterpiece. * Guardian *[T]he best possible explanation of what the world was about that I had ever read. It pointed out that the real conflicts in the world were not between black and white, men and women, Muslims, Christians and Jews, Americans, Russians and Chinese; it was about the conflict of economic interest between 95 per cent of the population of the world, who create the world's wealth, and the 5 per cent who own it. I think of Marx as a prophet: the last of the Old Testament prophets. And we should think of him as a teacher ... Karl Marx discovered it all long before I did, and I am very grateful to him. -- Tony Benn * The New Statesman *
£8.21
Spark The Catcher in the Rye SparkNotes Literature
Book SynopsisWhen an essay is due and dreaded exams loom, this title offers students what they need to succeed. It provides chapter-by-chapter analysis, explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols, a review quiz and essay topics. It is suitable for late-night studying and paper writing.
£7.49
Spark Fahrenheit 451 SparkNotes Literature Guide
Book SynopsisWhen an essay is due and dreaded exams loom, this book offers students what they need to succeed. It provides chapter-by-chapter analysis, explanations of key themes, motifs and symbols, a review quiz, and essay topics. It is suitable for late-night studying and paper writing.
£7.49
Columbia University Press Peoples Choice Literature The Most Wanted and
Book Synopsis
£18.00
Spark 1984 SparkNotes Literature Guide
Book SynopsisWhen an essay is due and dreaded exams loom, this book offers students what they need to succeed. It provides chapter-by-chapter analysis, explanations of key themes, motifs and symbols, a review quiz, and essay topics. It is suitable for late-night studying and paper writing.
£7.49
Zondervan Rembrandt Is in the Wind
Book SynopsisRembrandt Is in the Wind by Russ Ramsey is part art history, part biblical study, part philosophy, and part analysis of the human experience; but it's all story. An invitation to discover some of the world’s most celebrated artists and works, it presents the beauty of the gospel in a way that speaks to our most common struggles and longings.Trade Review'Art and the act of creating is essential. We must remember that without it, we would not be here. To notice beauty is to be fully alive and without the act of intimately engaging life, we are numb to ourselves and to the world around us. Ramsey points us towards God through the raw, sensual power of the art, disrupting our unconscious lives that often want to grasp for whatever makes us un-feel.' * Wayne Brezinka, award-winning artist and illustrator *'Encountering paintings drawings and sculpture as a little boy set me up for my life arc. Encountering Christ set me up for a lifelong love affair with my creator. Russ has gone to great lengths to examine art and faith in a way that helps us define our path forward. Art making is sometimes a lonely experience relying on one's own imagination and talent. This book illustrates the tight wire one must balance on to find the peace and beauty in expression. It's often difficult to maintain balance with all life offers is pulling on us. Rembrandt in the wind helps us find a way forward by the examples and stories of art makers who have gone before us.' * Jimmy Abegg, visual artist and musician with Rich Mullins and the Ragamuffin Band, Charlie Peacock, and Steve Taylor and the Perfect Foil *'Here's what I love about Russ Ramsey's latest project--it understands down deep that Truth is exclusive to no party or sect; that Goodness arrives in the form of the lonely, the ill, and the outcast; and that Beauty, amid the church's moral twilight, might be the last apologetic that holds.' * Leif Enger, Bestselling Author of Virgil Wander and Peace Like A River *'In days fractured by those who aim to seize power, darkened by those who play dirty politics, and clouded by those who use platforms to polarize, perhaps the artists can lead us home. The artists featured in these pages, artists who devoted their life and work to what is good, true, and beautiful, remind us that we can--and should--do the same.' * Karen Swallow Prior, Research Professor of English and Christianity & Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and author of On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books *'It is easy to believe that enjoying and understanding 'Art' is only for those who have a PhD in Art History. Russ Ramsey reminds us how simple and holy it is to be stirred by the mystery of images.' * John Hendrix, author/illustrator of The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler *'Ramsey is a deep lover of art and a student of art history. In this book he takes the reader on an amazing guided tour through an art museum that doesn't exist. In this carefully curated collection of art from around the world, he offers you an experience that only someone who really loves art can. This book inspires the reader to engage art in an eye-opening way and understand how these famous works of art bring glory to God.' * Ned Bustard, is the illustrator of the Every Moment Holy series, Creative Director of Square Halo Books, and the artist and author of History of Art: Creation through Contemporary *'Ramsey leads us well into one of the best possible uses of our time--engaging with art and beauty.' * Mark Maggiori is an award-winning painter of the American West *'Russ Ramsey doesn't just see some of the wonders seen and painted by great artists of the past, but even more wonderfully, he helps us see them too. Yet it is full of surprises. What he offers is never a matter of beauty for its own sake, although we are drawn into a glorious journey of beauty down the ages; nor is it one of artistic skills and accomplishments, although every one of the artists he focuses on could easily claim to have mastered their art; nor even can this book be distilled into a mere, fascinating overview of five centuries of human creativity (even though the story told provides a superb entry-point to the novice keen to learn more). The greatest joy of this book, however, is that the accumulative effect of these nine artists has helped me glimpse something of the world and of humanity as God our Creator sees us. And what a gift that is!' * Mark Meynell, Director (Europe & Caribbean), Langham Partnership, writer and cultural critic: A Wilderness of Mirrors and When Darkness Seems My Closest Friend *'Russ Ramsey has gone deep into the histories of nine artists and their masterworks, revealing how each struggled--in both their giftedness and fallenness--to create beauty. I am reminded anew of how beauty leads us to God, 'the Author of beauty.' I cannot wait to share this book!' * Debbie Taylor, visual artist *'Russ Ramsey was kind enough to give me an early chapter of this book a few years ago when I was preparing to go on a silent retreat and asked him for a work of art I might spend some time meditating on during my weekend away. Thanks to Russ's recommendation, I spent hours contemplating Rembrandt's painting, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee. I was shaken by the depiction of this scene and the disciples' question to Jesus, 'Do you not care that we are perishing?' Russ's gentle shepherding of my understanding regarding the painting and the Biblical story behind it was a balm in my life just when I needed it. I know that this book will be the same for you.' * Shawn Smucker, author of The Day the Angels Fell and The Weight of Memory *'Sometimes, when standing at a museum, I think to myself 'I wish somebody who knows something would explain this to me.' And I look around and see, on one side of me, someone expertly pointing out every intricacy in the painting and, on the other, someone bored and looking at a phone in hand. Somehow this book is able to captivate people in all those categories. In this book, Russ Ramsey walks us through a museum of artists and art works, showing how each of them illuminates something about God, humanity, and the meaning of life. And this book does so in a way that won't bore the expert or intimidate the novice. Those who love art will find here new paths to the gospel. And those who love the gospel will find that they can love art. That's a lot to ask from a book, and this one delivers.' * Russell Moore, Director of Christianity Today’s Public Faith Project *
£17.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Violence and the Sacred
Book SynopsisViolence and the Sacred is René Girard''s landmark study of human evil. Here Girard explores violence as it is represented and occurs throughout history, literature and myth. Girard''s forceful and thought-provoking analyses of Biblical narrative, Greek tragedy and the lynchings and pogroms propagated by contemporary states illustrate his central argument that violence belongs to everyone and is at the heart of the sacred.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 1.Sacrifice 2.The Sacrificial Crisis 3.Oedipus and the Surrogate Victim 4.The Origins of Myth and Ritual 5.Dionysus 6.From Mimetic Desire to the Monstrous Double 7.Freud and the Oedipus Complex 8.Totem and Taboo and the Incest Prohibition 9.Levi-Strauss, Structuralism and the Marriage Laws 10.The Gods, the Dead, the Sacred and Sacrificial Substitution 11.The Unity of All Rites Conclusion Bibliography Index
£19.99
Oxford University Press Twelfth Night Get Revision with Results Oxford
Book SynopsisEasy to use in the classroom or as a tool for revision, Oxford Literature Companions provide student-friendly analysis of a range of popular A Level set texts. Each book offers a lively, engaging approach to the text, covering characterisation and role, genre, context, language, themes, structure, performance and critical views, whilst also providing a range of varied and in-depth activities to deepen understanding and encourage close work with the text. Each book also includes a comprehensive Skills and Practice section, which provides detailed advice on assessment and a bank of exam-style questions and annotated sample student answers. This guide covers Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, is suitable for all exam boards and for the most recent AS/A level specifications.
£11.67
Oxford University Press The Female Quixote
Book SynopsisThe Female Quixote (1752), a parody of the style of Cervantes and much praised by Fielding, Richardson and Dr. Johnson, tells of the misadventures of the aristocratic Arabella, a devoted reader of romantic fiction.
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers The Lays of Beleriand Book 3 The History of
Book SynopsisThe third volume that contains the early myths and legends which led to the writing of Tolkien's epic tale of war, The Silmarillion.This, the third volume of The History of Middle-earth, gives us a priviledged insight into the creation of the mythology of Middle-earth, through the alliterative verse tales of two of the most crucial stories in Tolkien's world those of Turien and Luthien. The first of the poems is the unpublished Lay of The Children of Hurin, narrating on a grand scale the tragedy of Turin Turambar. The second is the moving Lay of Leithian, the chief source of the tale of Beren and Luthien in The Silmarillion, telling of the Quest of the Silmaril and the encounter with Morgoth in his subterranean fortress.Accompanying the poems are commentaries on the evolution of the history of the Elder Days. Also included is the notable criticism of The Lay of The Leithian by CS Lewis, who read the poem in 1929.Trade Review‘A worthy addition to The History of Middle-earth’ Mallorn ‘Anyone loving the oiginal books will want to study this one’ Daily Mail
£10.44
Abrams Clive Barkers Dark Worlds
Book Synopsis
£999.99
Penguin Books Ltd Selected Poems Tennyson
Book SynopsisContains poems which epitomize the Victorian age.Trade Review"[Tennyson] had the finest ear of any English poet since Milton." -T. S. Eliot
£9.99
Penguin Books Ltd One Hundred Poets One Poem Each
Book SynopsisA new edition of the most widely known and popular collection of Japanese poetry.The best-loved and most widely read of all Japanese poetry collections, the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu contains 100 short poems on nature, the seasons, travel, and, above all, love. Dating back to the seventh century, these elegant, precisely observed waka poems (the precursor of haiku) express deep emotion through visual images based on a penetrating observation of the natural world. Peter MacMillan''s new translation of his prize-winning original conveys even more effectively the beauty and subtlety of this magical collection.Translated with an introduction and commentary by Peter MacMillan.Trade ReviewBy far the best translation to date -- Donald KeeneFor more than seven centuries, these poems have resonated with countless readers ... [Peter Macmillan's] excellent new translation of these poems makes clear why they have mattered so much for so long ... [revealing] the vivid emotions that have kept the heart of the collection beating all this time * TIME *
£10.44
Oxford University Press The Tragedy of King Richard III
Book SynopsisRichard III is one of Shakespeare''s most popular plays on the stage and has been adapted successfully for film. This new and innovative edition recognizes the play''s pre-eminence as a performance work: a perspective that informs every aspect of the editing. Challenging traditional practice, the text is based on the 1597 Quarto which, it is argued, brings us closest to the play as it would have been staged in Shakespeare''s theatre. The introduction, which is illustrated, explores the long performance history from Shakespeare''s time to the present. Its critical engagement with the play responds to recent historicist and gender-based approaches. The commentary gives detailed explication of matters of language, staging, text, and historical and cultural contexts, providing coverage that is both carefully balanced and alert to nuance of meaning. Documentation of the extensive textual variants is organized for maximum clarity: the readings of the Folio and the Quarto are presented in separate banks, and more specialist information is given at the back of the book. Appendices also include selected passages from the main source and a special index of actors and other theatrical personnel. 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 ReviewThis is far and away the finest critical edition of the play available * Eric Rasmussen, Shakespeare Survey *Table of ContentsLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS; INTRODUCTION; EDITORIAL PROCEDURES; THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD III; APPENDICES; INDEX
£7.59
HarperCollins Publishers Realms of the Round Table
Book SynopsisFully illustrated collection of rare and previously unpublished tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, retold for a new generation by leading Arthurian expert, John Matthews, introduced by Sir John Boorman, director of the classic film, Excalibur, and illustrated with paintings and drawings by Tolkien artist, John Howe.
£30.08
Vintage Publishing Darkness Visible
Book SynopsisBorn at Newport News, Virginia, in 1925, William Styron was educated at Duke University. He served in the Marine Corps during the last war, and was recalled to service during the Korean War. After 1952, he lived mainly in Europe, before settling in a rural part of Connecticut. He died in 2006.Trade ReviewHair-raising in the manner of A Tale of Horror by Edgar Allan Poe * Daily Telegraph *As short as a hangman's rope and nearly as arresting - an essay of great gravity and resonance. Never has Styron used so few words so effectively * Newsweek *
£9.49
Princeton University Press Paradise Lost
Book Synopsis
£18.00
Faber & Faber The Last Days of Troy
Book SynopsisSimon Armitage is rightly celebrated as one of the country''s most original and engaging poets; but he is also an adaptor and translator of some of our most important epics, such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Death of King Arthur and Homer''s Odyssey. The latter, originally a commission for BBC Radio, rendered the classical tale with all the flare, wit and engagement that we have come to expect from this most distinctive of contemporary authors, and in so doing brought Odysseus''s return from the Trojan War memorably to life.
£10.44
Viking Society for Northern Research Edda Prologue Gylfaginni
Book Synopsis
£11.40
Vintage Publishing Hope Against Hope
Book Synopsis'Suddently, at about one o'clock in the morning, there was a sharp, unbearably explicit knock on the door. 'They've come for Osip', I said'.In 1933 the poet Osip Mandelstam- friend to Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova- wrote a spirited satire denouncing Josef Stalin. It proved to be a sixteen-line death sentence. For his one act of defiance he was arrested by the Cheka, the secret police, interrogated, exiled and eventually re-arrested. He died en route to one of Stalin's labour camps. His wife, Nadezhda (1899-1980) was with him on both occasions when he was arrested, and she loyally accompanied him into exile in the Urals, where he wrote his last great poems. Although his mind had been unbalanced by his ordeal in prison, his spirit remained unbroken. Eager to solve 'the Mandelstam problem', the Soviet authorities invited the couple to stay in a rest home near Moscow. Nadezhda saw it as an opportunity for her husband to mend his shattered life, but it was a trap and he was arrested for the last time.'My case will never be closed', Osip once said, and it is mostly through the courageous efforts of Nadezhda that his memory has been preserved. Hope against Hope, her first volume of memoirs, is a vivid and disturbing account of her last four years with her husband, the efforts she made to secure his release, to rescue his manuscripts from oblivion, and later, tragically, to discover the truth about his mysterious death. It is also a harrowing, first-hand account of how Stalin and his henchmen persecuted Russia's literary intelligentsia in the 1930s and beyond.Nadezhda Mandelstam spent most of the Second World War in Tashkent, living with her friend Akhmatova. Only in 1964 was she at last granted permission to return to Moscow. Here she began Hope against Hope, and later Hope Abandoned, the two memoirs of her life.Trade ReviewNo other work conveys as well the atmosphere of the 1930s terror, nor how Russian people survived it by listening to their great poets -- Orlando Figes * The Week *A superb memoir... A reminder that it is only a genuine work of art which is capable of communicating a reality so appalling as the Stalinist terror * Philip Toynbee *Not only a vivid account of persecution during Stalin's terror, it is also one of the few convincing descriptions of how a genius writes poetry -- A. AlvarezA Day of Judgement on earth for her age and its literature -- Joseph BrodskySurely the most luminous account we have- or are likely to get- of life in the Soviet Union during the purges of the 1930's * New York Review of Books *
£15.29
HarperCollins Publishers Three Rings A Tale of Exile Narrative and Fate
Book SynopsisWinner of the 2020 Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, France''s best foreign book of the year.Astounding' Sebastian BarryA masterpiece' Ayad AkhtarThis little book is ruminative, humane, and gorgeously precise'Jonathan LethemIn this genre-defying book, best-selling memoirist and critic Daniel Mendelsohn explores the mysterious links between the randomness of the lives we lead and the artfulness of the stories we tell.Combining memoir, biography, history, and literary criticism, Three Rings weaves together the stories of three exiled writers who turned to the classics of the past to create masterpieces of their own-works that pondered the nature of narrative itself.Erich Auerbach, the Jewish philologist who fled Hitler''s Germany and wrote his classic study of Western literature, Mimesis, in Istanbul.Francois Fenelon, the seventeenth-century French archbishop whose ingenious sequel to the Odyssey,The Adventures of Telemachus a veiled critique of the Sun King and the best-selling book in Trade Review‘Exquisite … Ornate and oneiric, the results are well worth circling and circling back to’New York Times Book Review ‘As always, the author's voice blends authority with considerable warmth and charm, luring readers into his complex intellectual enthusiasms … Three Rings, a short but profoundly moving work, clings with tenacity to a belief in the regenerative power of literature’Wall Street Journal ‘Spectacular … The reader feels the flow of a strong narrative, trusts the author’s seafaring skills and embarks on a brilliant journey … Three Rings is a glorious celebration of multiplicity, diversity, journeys, transformations and our common humanity’Times Literary Supplement ‘Contained in the interwoven circles of this slim, labyrinthine book is a vision that encompasses the world. Part dirge, part memoir, part exegesis, all rhapsody Mendelsohn's anatomy of literature's subtlest pleasures is itself that subtlest of literary pleasures: a masterpiece’Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Homeland Elegies ‘An astounding Borgesian document of clarity and brilliance. A book about telling stories that wanders down the seeming two roads of the Hebrew tradition and the classical, which, like Proust's two ways, might turn out to be one way after all. Three Rings has the keeled force of a long poem’Sebastian Barry ‘Classicist, historian, memoirist, cultural critic, with consummate skill and the sharp, sympathetic eye of the poet, Daniel Mendelsohn brilliantly combines these roles. Three Rings is a masterly exegesis and demonstration of digression as a high art’Joyce Carol Oates ‘Daniel Mendelsohn's Three Rings is erudition, essayism, and memoir … This little book is ruminative, humane, and gorgeously precise’Jonathan Lethem
£8.54
Oxford University Press The Pickwick Papers
Book SynopsisIn 1836 the 23-year-old Dickens was invited by his publishers to write `a monthly something'' illustrated by sporting plates. Thus the Pickwick Club was born: its supposed `papers'' soom outgrew their origins and became a brilliantly comic novel, still among Dicken''s most popular works. 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'The publication of this edition of ___The Pickwick Papers___ adds to the series of cheap but reliable coipes of Dicken's novels which are based on the formidable Clarendon editions ... authoritative introductions.' Margaret Reynolds, King's College, University of London'Extremely useful edition with excellent introduction, notes ete. and very reasonably priced' Norman Vance, Sussex University.
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers Uncle Toms Cabin
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.One thing is certain, - that there is a mustering among the masses, the world over; and there is a dis irae coming on, sooner or later.'Viewed by many as fuelling the abolitionist movement of the 1850s and laying the groundwork for the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe's sentimental and moral tale of slaves attempting to secure their freedom was one of the most popular books of the nineteenth century. Centred round the long-suffering Uncle Tom, a devout Christian slave who endures cruelty and abuse from his owners, Tom is often celebrated as the first black hero in American fiction who refuses to obey his white masters. With other strong protagonists such as Eliza, a courageous slave who flees to the North with her son when she learns that he is to be sold, Beecher Stowe highlighted the plight of southern slaves and the breaking up of black families. Not without its controversy, more recent criticism has sugge
£5.94
Oxford University Press Catilines Conspiracy The Jugurthine War Histories
Book Synopsis''the glory of wealth and physical beauty is fluid and fragile; but virtue is held brilliant and eternal''The Roman historian Sallust lived through troubled times. He deplored the moral and political decline of the Republic, and in his two monographs he set out to exemplify the reasons for the years of civil strife. Catiline''s Conspiracy is an account of the rebellion against the state led by the disaffected Catiline. For Sallust it was ''especially memorable because of the unprecedented nature of the crime and the danger it caused''. Rome''s fight against the king of Numidia in The Jugurthine War is a graphic depiction of power struggles in Rome and brutal battles in Africa that eventually resulted in the capture of Jugurtha. Sallust''s abrupt and distinctive style is the perfect vehicle for his moral urgency, bitter condemnation, and satirical cynicism. This new translation, which also includes Sallust''s fragmentary Histories, captures his effects in an accessible English idiom, and provides a comprehensive introduction to his work as history and literature. 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.
£9.49
Oxford University Press Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Book SynopsisMoney is what God used to be. Good and evil have no meaning any longer except failure and success.Disgusted by society''s materialism, Gordon Comstock leaves his job in advertising to pursue an ill-fated career as a poet. In his race to the bottom, only Rosemary, his long-suffering girlfriend, challenges Gordon''s self-destructive course. The novel contains the most sustained reflections on the role of the author and the artistic imagination anywhere in Orwell''s fiction, as the book''s protagonist struggles (and ultimately fails) to reconcile his romantic-aestheticist sensibilities with the pressures of the literary marketplace and with social expectations. Completed while Orwell travelled north to work on The Road to Wigan Pier, this novel is a key transitional text in his career. Offering a powerful portrayal of the emotional toll of precarity and the desire to break with capitalism, Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a significant work of mid-century British fiction but it also speaks to our own time.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsIntroduction Notes on the Text Select Bibliography A Chronology of George Orwell Keep the Aspidistra Flying Explanatory Notes
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Burning the Days
Book SynopsisThis is the brilliant memoir of a man who starts out in Manhattan and comes of age in the skies over Korea, before emerging as one of America's finest authors in the New York of the 1960s. Burning the Days showcases James Salter's uniquely beautiful style with some of the most evocative pages about flying ever written, together with portraits of the actors, directors and authors who later influenced him. It is an unforgettable book about passion, ambition and what it means to live and to write.Trade Review'A wise and sensual memoir. Salter writes his self-portrait by focusing on what has shaped him, by showing what he has loved and admired and feared to become in others. You cannot put it down' Michael Ondaatje‘Salter writes wonderfully of a world most of his readers will never have known’ Observer‘A masterwork of memory, deeply impressive and deeply moving’ Time Out One of the great literary memoirs . . . there is nothing better in English about what it is like to fly' * Spectator *A stylish and moving account of his various incarnations as a fighter pilot, rock climber, screenwriter and novelist . . . written in the heroic language of an American memoir * New Statesman *An extraordinarily gifted composer of prose . . . [a] teller of memorable stories. . . . It isn't often that a writer of superlative skills knows enough about flying to write well about it; Saint-Exupérywas one; Salter is another * New York Times Book Review *He can bestow a powerful aura of glamour and heightened significance to even the most casual encounter . . . entertaining, sharply observed . . . pure and ravishing * The Nation *[His] account of air combat in Korea . . . stands as a masterpiece of battle writing in this century . . . His prose is in flight * Los Angeles Times Book Review *A dazzling book . . . so full of splendid writing that at times the overwhelmed reader may blink like a sleeper awaking to hard light * Philadelphia Inquirer *No man who is even remotely honest with himself can read Burning the Days without envy; no woman of similar truthfulness will fail to find Salter's life deeply romantic -- John Irving * Toronto Globe and Mail *A wonderful book by a sensitive author who is romantic, intelligent, and superbly balanced. It is a serene account of a surprising diversity of experiences, but it is also a history of my time -- Joseph HellerA classic memoir, alive with amazing people, fabulous events, and extraordinary stories of war and love and the great wide world. Through the sheer and sensual force of his writing (and nobodywrites more beautifully), James Salter hasn't only recollected the past, he's reclaimed it -- Michael HerrA magnificent tour-de-force, the pressure of Salter's high romantic soul animates his crisp, rich, neo-classical prose to bring us page after page of narrative magic -- Frank ConroyIf you were to mark every section worth remembering you'd end up with folded corners on every page, scrawls in every paragraph * GQ *Every sentence is fantastic * Observer *It is years since I read a sharper, more arresting autobiography * Spectator *Wonderful * Daily Telegraph *He has written three books that everyone should read before they die: A Sport and a Pastime, Light Years and his recollections, Burning the Days * Independent *
£11.69
Little, Brown Book Group Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention
Book SynopsisSince its publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby has become one of the world's best-loved books. Careless People tells the true story behind F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, exploring in newly rich detail its relation to the extravagant, scandalous, and chaotic world in which the author lived.With wit and insight, Sarah Churchwell traces the genesis of a masterpiece, mapping where fiction comes from, and how it takes shape in the mind of a genius. Careless People tells the extraordinary tale of how F. Scott Fitzgerald created a classic and in the process discovered modern America.Trade Review[Sarah Churchwell] tells the story crisply and intelligently, judiciously deploying Fitzgerald's eminently quotable literary remains, and also Zelda's, which are often even better, in a sprightly, enjoyable and slightly strange book: part "biography" of the novel, part sketch of the roaring 1920s, part brief account of the second half of Fitzgerald's life. Churchwell is perceptive and well-informed * Guardian *A perfect book to read alongside The Great Gatsby. Excellent -- William Leith * Evening Standard *This book has as much spirit as gin fizz cocktails * Lady *A treasury of new material. Churchwell adds considerably to our understanding of the early 1920s, and how life for Fitzgerald played into the development of his art . . . Engaging deeply with the facts on the ground, the richly chaotic matrix that was Fitzgerald's life, Sarah Churchwell's Careless People takes us back there -- Jay Parini * Literary Review *A suggestive, almost musical evocation of the spirit of the time -- Thomas Powers * London Review of Books *The wonder of Careless People . . . is that it rewinds the years and allows the reader to appreciate again just how well Fitzgerald reflected his times - Book of the Week -- Nicholas Blincoe * Sunday Telegraph *Investigates subject after subject with subtle intelligence . . . you find yourself caught up in the excitement of her search - Book of the Week -- John Carey * Sunday Times *A literary spree, bursting with recherché detail, high spirits and the desperate frisson of the jazz age -- Robert McCrum * Observer *
£12.34
WW Norton & Co Tess of the dUrbervilles
Book Synopsis
£14.64
Dorling Kindersley Ltd Shakespeare His Life and Works
Book SynopsisUnravel the history, themes, and language of Shakespeare''s plays, poems, and sonnets with this beautifully illustrated guide to his life and works.Comedy and romance, history, and tragedy, Shakespeare''s canon has it all. Some 400 years after they were written and first performed, his works still remain fresh and relevant today. Discover the work of the world''s most celebrated playwright with:- A clear and accessible format- Act-by-act plot summaries of all of his 39 plays with lists of characters- Guidance on how to read and interpret his great sonnets and narrative poems- Plays ordered by time and genre, helping readers to trace the development of Shakespeare''s topics, themes, and artistry- Sidebars that clarify the mythological, geographical, and historical context of each play and decode its language, dramatic action, and themesShakespeare fans will revel in the marvellous depiction of the Stratford-upon-Avon-born Bard hiTrade Review"Should one attempt a complete front-to-back reading, the result would be a thorough grounding in Shakespeare's work and an enlarged astonishment at the range of his imagination." (Previous Edition, 2004) * The New York Times *
£21.25
Cambridge University Press Measure for Measure
Book SynopsisLike every other play in the Cambridge School Shakespeare series, Measure for Measure has been specially prepared to help all students in schools and colleges. This version of Measure for Measure aims to be different from other editions of the play. It invites you to bring the play to life in your classroom through enjoyable activities that will help increase your understanding. You are encourage to make up your own mind about the play, rather than have someone else''s interpretation handed down to you. Whatever you do, remember that Shakespeare wrote his plays to be acted, watched and enjoyed.Table of ContentsList of characters; Measure for Measure; A problem play?; The writer in his time; The powerful and the powerless; Justice and mercy; Sex and sexuality; The language of Measure for Measure; Setting and staging; William Shakespeare.
£11.09
Union Square & Co. Romeo and Juliet
Book SynopsisThis colourful graphic novel features an illustrated cast of characters and a helpful plot summary.
£10.44
Princeton University Press The Pocket Instructor Literature
Book SynopsisThis is the first comprehensive collection of hands-on, active learning exercises for the college literature classroom, offering ideas and inspiration for new and veteran teachers alike. These 101 surefire lesson plans present creative and interactive activities to get all your students talking and learning, from the first class to final review. WhTrade Review"Steal from this book: Diana Fuss and William Gleason want you to. Bringing together an astonishing range of tips on an astounding range of literatures, this is a pedagogical care package for days when you're `off,' or students are tired, or the ice needs to be broken again, or you just want to shake things up. These tricks of the trade are more than surefire: they redefine the art of teaching literature."—Scott Herring, Indiana University"This thoroughly compelling book—the first collection of student-centered teaching tools for English instructors—will be useful to a wide range of teachers."—Maurice S. Lee, Boston University"Refreshingly hands-on without being reductive, this book makes an important contribution to undergraduate teaching and learning. By coming out in favor of active learning and student engagement, it positions itself at the head of a pack of bestsellers on the craft of teaching. But it outdistances them by calling on a wide range of expert teachers to share lessons gleaned from their experiences."—Jennifer Summit, San Francisco State University"From the insightful introduction to the systematic collection of diverse approaches to deep learning, this is a treasure chest that will help transform the literature classroom from a passive space to an active, engaged environment in which students encounter literature in new and exciting ways. Every literature teacher will find plenty of ideas and clever tactics to stimulate his or her teaching. New faculty should find it indispensable."—John Zubizarreta, Columbia College (South Carolina)Table of Contents*Frontmatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. v*Introduction, pg. xi*Discussions-collaborative classroom activities for promoting discussion, pg. 1*Essentials-classic literary exercises everyone should try, pg. 27*Stories-narrative, plot, setting, structure, character, point of view, beginnings, endings, ethics, pg. 45*Poems-content, form, language, sound, meter, pg. 95*Plays-interpretation, genre, character, staging, performance, context, pg. 147*Genres-identifying, rethinking, and switching genres, pg. 197*Canons-using, debating, and building canons, pg. 219*Words-understanding, defining, and relating words, pg. 241*Styles-naming, describing, and imitating styles, pg. 263*Pictures-drawing, printing, and viewing pictures, pg. 285*Objects-touching, making, and interpreting objects, pg. 309*About the Editors, pg. 333*Contributors, pg. 335*Four Cross- Indexes to Help You Plan Ahead, pg. 339*General Index, pg. 341
£19.80
Harvard University Press Epitome of Pompeius Trogus Volume I
Book Synopsis
£23.70
