ELT & Literary Studies Books
Spark The Tempest (No Fear Shakespeare): Volume 5
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 the words into everyday language A complete list of characters, with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary
£7.59
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC V is for Venom
Book SynopsisFourteen novels. Fourteen more poisons. Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it's all made-up ... Agatha Christie revelled in the use of poison to kill off unfortunate victims in her books; indeed, she employed it more than any other murder method, with the poison itself often being a central part of the novel. Her choice of deadly substances was far from random the characteristics of each often provide vital clues to the discovery of the murderer. With gunshots or stabbings the cause of death is obvious, but this isn't the case with poisons. How is it that some compounds prove so deadly, and in such tiny amounts?This book, the follow-up to Kathryn Harkup's best-selling A is for Arsenic, features fourteen more poisons from the books of Agatha Christie. V is for Venom explores the scientific facts behind the chemicals Christie put to such deadly use in her fiction. How do these compounds affect the body? What is their history of use in real-life murder cases, some of which may have
£18.00
Penguin Books Ltd The Sonnets and a Lovers Complaint
Book SynopsisPart of the "Clothbound Classics" series, this title collects sonnets of Shakespeare's that deal with eternal subjects such as love and infidelity, memory and mortality, and the destruction wreaked by Time. It also includes the sonnet "A Lover's Complaint", in which a young woman is overheard lamenting her betrayal by a heartless seducer.
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Letters to a Young Poet
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£9.99
Pearson Education Limited Heinemann Advanced Shakespeare King Lear
Book SynopsisPart of the "Heinemann Advanced Shakespeare" series, this version of "King Lear" aims to help A Level students understand the text and develop their own insights. It includes notes to bridge the gap between GCSE and A Level, space for students' own annotations, and activities and assignments.
£15.84
Oxford University Press A Gentle Creature and Other Stories
Book SynopsisIn the stories in this volume Dostoevsky explores both the figure of the dreamer divorced from reality and also his own ambiguous attitude to utopianism, themes central to many of his great novels. In White Nights the apparent idyll of the dreamer''s romantic fantasies disguises profound loneliness and estrangement from ''living life''. Despite his sentimental friendship with Nastenka, his final withdrawal into the world of the imagination anticipates the retreat into the ''underground'' of many of Dostoevsky''s later intellectual heroes. A Gentle Creature and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man show how such withdrawal from reality can end in spiritual desolation and moral indifference and how, in Dostoevsky''s view, the tragedy of the alienated individual can be resolved only by the rediscovery of a sense of compassion and responsibility towards fellow human beings. This new translation captures the power and lyricism of Dostoevsky''s writing, while the introduction examines the stories in relation to one another and to his novels. 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 new translations read smoothly, and Professor William Leatherbarrow's introductory essay is helpfully informative. * Sunday Telegraph *Table of ContentsWhite Nights ; A Gentle Creature ; The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
£6.99
Prakash Books The Complete Short Stories of Sherlock Holmes
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£13.29
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Macbeth
Book SynopsisMacbeth is one of Shakespeare's most performed and studied tragedies. This major new Arden edition offers students detailed on-page commentary notes highlighting meaning and theatrical ideas and themes, as well as an illustrated, lengthy introduction setting the play in its historical, theatrical and critical context and outlining the recent debates about Middleton's possible co-authorship of some scenes. A comprehensive and informative edition ideal for students and teachers seeking to explore the play in depth, whether in the classroom or on the stage.Trade ReviewThis is a splendid edition: it incorporates the most recent modern scholarship ... and it does so within a compass and format that is both readable and usable. -- Neil Rhodes, University of St. Andrews, UK * Around the Globe *A much needed third series edition of Macbeth, which provides the reader with a breath of fresh scholarship after over 30 years. * Jarrod DePrado, Sacred Heart University, USA *Table of ContentsPreface List of Illustrations Introduction Macbeth Appendices Further Reading Index
£10.90
Penguin Books Ltd Selected Writings on Art and Literature Penguin
Book SynopsisDiscusses works by great painters such as Delacroix and Ingres. This title features writings on Poe, Flaubert and Gautier.Table of ContentsThe Salon of 1845 (extracts); the Salon of 1846 (extracts); of virtuous plays and novels; the universal exhibition of 1855 - the fine arts (extracts); of the essence of laughter, and generally of the comic in the plastic arts; Edgar Allan Poe, his life and works; further notes on Edgar Poe; some French caricaturists; "Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert; Theophile Gautier; the Salon of 1859 (extracts); Richard Wagner and "Tannhauser" in Paris; the life and work of Eugene Delacroix; the painter and modern life.
£13.49
WW Norton & Co The Odyssey
Book Synopsis“A revelation. Never have I been so aware at once of the beauty of the poetry, the physicality of Homer’s world, and the moral ambiguity of those who inhabit it.” —Susan Chira, The New York Times Book Review, “New & Noteworthy"
£11.99
UEA Publishing Project A True & Just Record
Book SynopsisHecate-like, A True & Just Record invites us to the three-way crossroads of poetry, feminist rhetorics, and early modern studies. Kate Bolton Bonnici weaves together archival materials from the English witch trials, 20th- century poets and philosophers, and her own family. With fury and care, haunted by absences, these poems—all also forms of experimental scholarship—interrogate, disrupt, and play.Here, a multitude of stellar engagements delve spiritedly into what sonic and visual presences may be made of form, utterance, accusation, exchange, and page on the troubled edge of devilish societal inquisition ... . Bring on the prizes, this poetry is delicious! Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, author of Look at This BlueKate Bolton Bonnici’s A True & Just Record movingly demonstrates poetry’s capacity to forge critical and philosophical dialogue across time and space. ... The result is a daring and gorgeous poetic conversation. Melissa E. Sanchez, Donald T. Regan Professor, University of PennsylvaniaWitch as spell, curse, praise, eulogy, recovery, incantation, archival raid and save, library as cathedral and books as catechism — as befits poetry as anarchic art, in Kate Bolton Bonnici’s hands the sacred is barbaric and the profane is holy. ... A wicked and wise achievement. Fred D’Aguiar, author of Letters to America and For the UnnamedBonnici’s collection reveals that, far from being remote and unapproachable, centuries-old writings remain vibrantly relevant to our own historical moment. Kimberly Johnson, author of Fatal
£11.69
Pearson Education York Notes for AQA GCSE 91 Rapid Revision Guide
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£6.06
Oxford University Press Gullivers Travels
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£5.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Novel Ideas
Book SynopsisThis concise yet comprehensive study explores innovative practice in the novel and, from the perspective of creative writing, the astonishing resilience of the novel form. It offers a practical guide to the many possibilities available to the writer of the novel, with each chapter offering exercises to encourage innovation and to expand the creative writer's narrative skills. Beginning with early iterations of the novel in the 17th century, this book follows the evocation of innovation in the novel through Realism, Modernism, Postmodernism and into today's dizzying array of digital and interactive possibilities. While guiding the reader through the possibilities available (in both genre and literary fiction), this book encourages both aspiring and established writers to produce novels with imagination, playfulness and gravitas. Dynamic and interactive, this text is distinctive in offering a grounding in the literary history of the novel, while also equipping readers to write in the fTrade ReviewI highly recommend Novel Ideas for aspiring writers and creative writing tutors - the volume combines sound practical advice with detailed knowledge of wider literary and theoretical contexts. Beautifully written, informative and accessible, this is an essential text. * James Miller, Kingston University London, UK *With entertaining and provocative exercises, Paul Williams details the genesis and development of this essential art form, and includes a welcoming embrace of different voices and identities, as the novel arrives in the present moment. * Alan Michael Parker, Davidson College, USA *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Novel 1.Rise of the Novel: It was a Dark and Stormy Night 2.Realism: The Willing Suspension of Disbelief 3.Modernism: The Fragmentation of Reality 4.Minimalism: Le Mot Juste 5.Magical Realism: How Flying Carpets Really Fly 6.Postmodernism: Constructing ‘Reality’ 7.Metafiction: Writing About the Mirror 8.The Transgressive Novel: Writing with Dark Ink 9.Ecriture Feminine: Writing the Body 10.Postcolonialism: Writing Back to Empire 11. The Graphic Novel and Illustrated Books 12. Interactive Narrative and Digital Possibilities Conclusion: Writing Innovative Fiction
£20.89
Springer Nature Switzerland AG Sandscapes: Writing the British Seaside
Book SynopsisSandscapes: Writing the British Seaside reflects on the unique topography of sand, sandscapes, and the seaside in British culture and beyond. This book brings together creative and critical writings that explore the ways sand speaks to us of holidays and respite, but also of time and mortality, of plenitude and eternity. Drawing together writers from a range of backgrounds, the volume explores the environmental, social, personal, cultural, and political significance of sand and the seaside towns that have built up around it. The contributions take a variety of forms including fiction and nonfiction and cover topics ranging from sand dunes to sand mining, from seaside stories to shoreline architecture, from sand grains to global sand movements, from narratives of the setting up of bed and breakfasts to stories of seaside decline. Often a symbol of aridity, sand is revealed in this book to be an astonishingly fertile site for cultural meaning.Table of Contents1. Introduction: Sandscapes, Jo Carruthers and Nour Dakkak.- 2. Tide Wrack and Sand, Jenn Ashworth.- 3. An Eclectic A-Z of Sand: Removing, Treasuring, Recreating and Protecting, Peter Coates.- 4. An Englishwoman’s Home is her Castle: Social Morphologies and Coastal Formations, Sefryn Penrose.- 5. Sand, Good Sands, Excellent Sands: Writing and Ranking the British Coastline in the Middle of the Twentieth Century, Tim Cole.- 6. Queer Sands: Passion and Dynamic Sexualities in the Edwardian Sandscape, Nour Dakkak.- 7. On the Sound-Sea: Fifteen Ways of Thinking about Sand and Sound, Brian Baker.- 8. Rough and Smooth Sands: Social Thresholds and Seaside Style, Jo Carruthers.- 9. A Morecambe Mystery, Angela Piccini.- 10. Map of the Quick, Shona Legaspi.- 11. “Over Sands to the Lakes”: Journeys over Morecambe Bay before and after the Age of Steam, Christopher Donaldson.- 12. Sand’s Immense: A Fool’s Errand. Jean Sprackland.- 13 Confounding Cartography: The Sandscape Diminution of Hayling Island, David Cooper and Michelle Green.- 14. Drifting in a Cemetery of Sandscapes, Julian Brigstocke.
£14.24
HarperCollins Publishers Inferno
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.There is no greater sorrow then to recall our times of joy in wretchedness.'Considered one of the greatest medieval poems written in the common vernacular of the time, Dante's Inferno begins on Good Friday in the year 1300. As he wanders through a dark forest, Dante loses his way and stumbles across the ghost of the poet Virgil. Virgil promises to lead him back to the top of the mountain, but to do so, they must pass through Hell, encountering all manner of shocking horrors, sins and evil torments along the way, evoking questions about God's justice, human behaviour and Christianity.
£5.62
New Island Books The Ulysses Guide
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£12.56
Bonnier Books Ltd Jane Austens Bookshelf
£11.69
Faber & Faber Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Book SynopsisWhen a mysterious green knight arrives unbidden at Camelot one Christmas, only the young and inexperienced Gawain is brave or foolhardy enough to take up his challenge . . .This story, first told in the late fourteenth century, is one of the most enthralling, enigmatic and beloved poems in the English language. Simon Armitage''s version is meticulously responsive to the tact, sophistication and dramatic intensity of the original. It is as if, six hundred years apart, two poets set out on a journey through the same mesmeric landscape physical, allegorical and acoustic in the course of which the Gawain poet has finally found his true translator.The poem''s key episodes have been visualised into a series of bold, richly textured screen-prints by British artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins. They are reproduced here, alongside Armitage''s revised text, to create a special edition of this marvellous classic.
£17.09
HarperCollins Publishers An Odyssey A Father A Son and an Epic
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2017 SHORTLISTED FOR THE LONDON HELLENIC PRIZE 2017 WINNER OF THE PRIX MÉDITERRANÉE 2018From the award-winning, best-selling writer: a deeply moving tale of a father and son's transformative journey in reading and reliving Homer's epic masterpiece.When eighty-one-year-old retired scientist Jay unexpectedly enrols in his estranged classicist son Daniel's course on the Odyssey, the journey of a lifetime commences. Professor and student glean life lessons from the page over a semester and, that summer, son and father take to the sea to follow Odysseus's epic trail. Reading Homer becomes their chance to understand each other before it's too late. Theirs is a moving and erudite story of filial love and the importance of the classics. Rich with literary and emotional insight and weaving themes of deception and recognition, marriage and children, the pleasures of travel and the meaning of home, this is memoir writing at its finest.Trade Review‘A brilliant family memoir … At its core, it is a funny, loving portrait of a difficult but loving parent: … An Odyssey is a stellar contribution to the genre of memoirs about reading – literary analysis and the personal stories are woven together in a way that feels both artful and natural. A thoughtful book from which non-classicists will learn a great deal about Homer … A funny, loving portrait of a difficult but loving parent: a “much-turning man”’ Emily Wilson, Guardian ‘Combining an in-depth literary analysis with a personal narrative is a bold enterprise. An Odyssey could have been, in the hands of a lesser writer, grandiose. It isn’t. It is so well written that every page makes you feel more alert and alive. The brilliance of An Odyssey lies in the insightfulness of the writing, as Mendelsohn immerses himself in the Odyssey: lives it, breathes it, and presses it for meaning’ Helen Morales, TLS ‘There are a handful of books that have captured the pleasure and romance of this subject. Donna Tartt’s was one … this is another. Homer has a phrase for those who can speak bewitchingly: they have ‘winged words’. Mendelsohn has winged words’ The Times ‘The book enacts a truth that has long been central to Mendelsohn’s writing and teaching, which is that the great works of antiquity remain relevant today. His prose flits seamlessly across intervals and registers, switching from erudite exposition one minute to emotion-filled reminiscence the next. An accomplished, brave book that testifies to what is perhaps The Odyssey’s most abiding message: that intelligence has little value if it isn’t allied to love’ Observer ‘An exquisitely written book about fathers and sons, life and grief’ Mail on Sunday ‘Subtle, profoundly moving … an intricately constructed, multidimensional journey of a father and son and their travails through life and love … A book of shimmering, beautiful, dapple-skilled intelligence’ Adam Nicolson, New York Times Book Review
£10.44
Little, Brown Book Group On Writers and Writing
Book SynopsisBy the author of THE HANDMAID''S TALE and ALIAS GRACEWhat is the role of the writer? Prophet? High Priest of Art? Court Jester? Or witness to the real world? Looking back on her own childhood and the development of her writing career, Margaret Atwood examines the metaphors which writers of fiction and poetry have used to explain - or excuse! - their activities, looking at what costumes they have seen fit to assume, what roles they have chosen to play. In her final chapter she takes up the challenge of the book''s title: if a writer is to be seen as ''gifted'', who is doing the giving and what are the terms of the gift?Margaret Atwood''s wide and eclectic reference to other writers, living and dead, is balanced by anecdotes from her own experiences as a writer, both in Canada and on the international scene. The lightness of her touch is underlined by a seriousness about the purpose and the pleasures of writing, and by a deep familiarity with the mTrade ReviewAtwood's wonderful collection of lectures isn't so much advice on how to write as it is a series of ruminations on the deeper problems and joys of being a writer, such as what moral debt we may owe the reader. She calls on past great writers like helpful friends for their adivce -- Lesley McDowell * Sunday Herald *As one of literature's luminaries, surely Margaret Atwood possesses a magical secret we can truffle out? It's an absorbing book, which you read with pleasure and benefit...'On Writers and Writing,' is frequently hilarious * The Independent *Juggling well worn subjects which "get murky or pretentious", this is a streetwise, erudite suggestive enquiry into problems and myths of the writer's role. Her light touch on hard thoughts, her humour and eclectic quotations, lend enchantment to an argument that has as many undulating tentacles as a well developed sea anemone * Independent *Her witty, occasionally self-depracating and always ingenious approach is a delight * Sunday Times *A witty and profound rumination about writing * The Times *A playful, informed and briskly sensible discussion of the writing life * Sunday Telegraph *'an absorbing book, which you read with pleasure and benefit... the sense of an agile mind revolving sophisticated ideas' -- Stevie Davies * Independent *
£10.44
Pearson Education Limited Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde York Notes for GCSE
Book SynopsisThis updated edition is designed to support students in study and revision for the new GCSE (9-1) English Literature exams.Table of Contents Part 1: Induction Part 2: Plot and Action Part 3: Characters Part 4: Key Contexts and Themes Part 5: Language and Structure Part 6: Grade Booster Literacy Terms
£7.87
Penguin Books Ltd Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter Penguin Modern
Book SynopsisA superb autobiography by one of the great literary figures of the twentieth century, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter offers an intimate picture of growing up in a bourgeois French family, rebelling as an adolescent against the conventional expectations of her class, and striking out on her own with an intellectual and existential ambition exceedingly rare in a young woman in the 1920s. Simone de Beavoir describes her early life, from her birth in Paris in 1908 to her student days at the Sorbonne, where she met Jean-Paul sartre - ''the dream-companion I had longed for since I was fifteen''.
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Shakespeares Sonnets
Book Synopsis''Shall I compare thee to a summer''s day?Thou art more lovelyand more temperate . . .''Shakespeare''s 154 sonnets contain some of the most exquisite and haunting poetry ever written, dealing with eternal themes such as love and infidelity, memory and mortality, and the destruction wreaked by time. This new edition collects them in a pocket-sized volume, perfect for gifting. William Shakespeare was born some time 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.
£6.99
Hodder Education Men Should Weep by Ena Lamont Stewart: School
Book SynopsisA Schools Edition of Men Should Weep by Scottish playwright Ena Lamont Stewart, a popular set text for SQA Higher English.Set in the 1930s, Men Should Weep centres on the challenges faced by the Morrison family. This riveting portrayal of life in Glasgow's slums explores themes such as poverty, love and the role of women.This edition includes:- An educational introduction with an overview of the play and playwright- The full playscript- Notes on the text, key quotations and questions to improve students' understanding of the play- Tasks and activities designed to support study/revision and build the skills of analysis and evaluation- Assessment advice for the Critical Reading question paperTrade ReviewI have taught 'Men Should Weep' as a set text at Higher for the last few years and at times it had been a struggle to get copies of the play so I am really pleased that this new edition is out.It begins with a brief introduction and context, including a bit about the language used in it. The play is then presented in full. After the play there are lots of notes, revision and practice. Firstly, it takes you step by step through each scene, using a revision question as a focus, with notes on several quotations (and page numbers) to support pupils with them. There are tasks pertaining to the context, to the structure of the play (with key terms like 'exposition' explained), the main characters (supported by a web with Maggie in the centre), relationships and conflict, the ending and themes. There is also some general advice for using it as a text for both the Set Text and Critical Essay sections of the final exam. There is one set of exam questions for both sections, which is always handy. There are revision questions too, which are always helpful. It would be great to see in future editions more translation of the Scots - a lot of pupils studying this will not be familiar with the Glaswegian dialect and maybe not much Scots at all. Overall, the detailed scene notes and revision prompts will be useful to any pupil studying this play. -- English Teacher, Blairgowrie High School, Perth and Kinross
£15.59
Icon Books Jane Austen the Secret Radical
Book Synopsis''A sublime piece of literary detective work that shows us once and for all how to be precisely the sort of reader that Austen deserves.'' Caroline Criado-Perez, GuardianAlmost everything we think we know about Jane Austen is wrong. Her novels don''t confine themselves to grand houses and they were not written just for readers'' enjoyment. She writes about serious subjects and her books are deeply subversive. We just don''t read her properly - we haven''t been reading her properly for 200 years.Jane Austen, The Secret Radical puts that right. In her first, brilliantly original book, Austen expert Helena Kelly introduces the reader to a passionate woman living in an age of revolution; to a writer who used what was regarded as the lightest of literary genres, the novel, to grapple with the weightiest of subjects - feminism, slavery, abuse, the treatment of the poor, the power of the Church, even evolution - at a time, and in a place, when to write about such things directly was seen as a
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers The Tao of Pooh. 40th Anniversary Gift Edition
Book SynopsisWhat's this you're writing? asked Pooh, climbing onto the writing table.The Tao of Pooh, I replied.The how of Pooh? asked Pooh, smudging one of the words I had just written.The Tao of Pooh, I replied, poking his paw away with my pencil.It seems more like ow! of Pooh, said Pooh, rubbing his paw.Well, it's not, I replied huffily.What's it about? asked Pooh, leaning forward and smearing another word.It's about how to stay happy and calm under all circumstances! I yelled.Have you read it? asked PoohWinnie-the-Pooh has a certain way about him, a way of doing things that has made him the world''s most beloved bear, and Pooh''s Way, as Benjamin Hoff brilliantly demonstrates, seems strangely close to the ancient Chinese principles of Taoism.Follow the Pooh Way in this humorous and enlightening introduction to Taoism, with classic decorations by E.H.Shepard throughout. Over a million copies sold to date.This deluxe anniversary edition is a beautiful gift for any fans of this classic title or everyone's favourite bear.Trade Review‘Winnie-the-Pooh has always been a very special (albeit funny old) bear, not least of all because his books are filled with wonderful words of wisdom.', Stylist magazine "Aspects of Taoism told through the characters of 'Winnie the Pooh' – I mean, does it get better?” Meghan Markle ‘Mr. Hoff gives grown-ups permission to rediscover Winnie the Pooh’ New York Times
£15.29
HarperCollins Publishers Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with Pearl and
Book SynopsisThis smart new paperback edition contains the fully-reset text of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour. It features a beautifully decorated text and includes as a bonus the complete version of Tolkien's acclaimed lecture on Sir Gawain.Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl are two poems by an unknown author written in about 1400. Sir Gawain is a romance, a fairy-tale for adults, full of life and colour; but it is also much more than this, being at the same time a powerful moral tale which examines religious and social values.Pearl is apparently an elegy on the death of a child, a poem pervaded with a sense of great personal loss: but, like Gawain it is also a sophisticated and moving debate on much less tangible matters.Sir Orfeo is a slighter romance, belonging to an earlier and different tradition. It was a special favourite of Tolkien's.The three translations represent the complete rhymTrade Review‘The introduction to Gawain is a little masterpiece.’Times Higher Educational Supplement ‘This magnificent Arthurian tale of love, sex, honour, social tact, personal integrity and folk-magic is one of the greatest and most approachable narrative poems in the language. Tolkien’s version makes it come triumphantly alive, a moving and consoling elegy.’Birmingham Post
£8.54
Cambridge University Press What Was Shakespeare Really Like
Book SynopsisSir Stanley Wells is one of the world''s greatest authorities on William Shakespeare. Here he brings a lifetime of learning and reflection to bear on some of the most tantalising questions about the poet and dramatist that there are. How did he think, feel, and work? What were his relationships like? What did he believe about death? What made him laugh? This freshly thought and immensely engaging study wrestles with fundamental debates concerning Shakespeare''s personality and life. The mysteries of how Shakespeare lived, whom and how he loved, how he worked, how he produced some of the greatest and most abidingly popular works in the history of world literature and drama, have fascinated readers for centuries. This concise, crystalline book conjures illuminating insights to reveal Shakespeare as he was. Wells brings the writer and dramatist alive, in all his fascinating humanity, for readers of today.Trade Review'It is, I think, incontestable to claim that no single person in history has done more for the study and appreciation of Shakespeare than Stanley Wells. This book asks four beguilingly simple questions which result in deeply fascinating and exciting journeys into Shakespeare's mind and practice. As you read, you are very likely to exclaim, as I did, 'Why the hell didn't my English teacher talk like this? Actors, directors, producers, lecturers, teachers, students, and all who want to know and understand more will hug this book to them.' Stephen Fry'If this book wasn't short I wouldn't trust it. There is very little to go on in trying to find Shakespeare the man, and Stanley Wells doesn't pad anything out with wishful speculation. Having studied his works for longer than any man alive he is almost uniquely placed to do this detective work. In his tenth decade Wells has lost none of his curiosity or his eagerness to share his intimate knowledge.' Harriet Walter'Stanley Wells illuminates and entertains – brilliant!' Kenneth Branagh'A truly excellent book – I enjoyed every page. I am sure it will be read with appreciation by all who care for Shakespeare, or are curious about the inner turmoil of his life.' Claire Tomalin'This illuminating compilation … helps separate the man from the myth.' Publishers Weekly'Wells is our pre-eminent Shakespearean, and here he reflects magisterially on the topic that has absorbed his life for seven decades … [His] book offers a readable, pacy and personal introduction to Shakespeare's works, and to Wells's own important role, part-Prospero, part-Puck, in their popularisation. And if you're still wondering: what Shakespeare was really like remains, happily, a mystery.' The Telegraph'Wells roots his picture of the playwright and poet in evidence and logic, and he's too erudite to be anything but modest in his conjectures - which is much the appeal of this book.' Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater'Stanley Wells, the nonagenarian dean of Shakespeare scholars, condenses decades of living with Shakespeare into What Was Shakespeare Really Like? … Commonsensical, easy-going, Mr. Wells wants to encounter Shakespeare as a personality.' The Wall Street Journal'Just as any production of a Shakespeare play reveals as much about its interpreters as its playwright, so Wells paints a portrait of himself alongside his subject. That the reader will still likely be glad of it is testament to the author's unwavering enthusiasm and insight.' Rory Kinnear, The Guardian'…secret, passionate urgings and scoldings were the seeds of [Shakespeare's] creativity. Professor Wells deserves a round of applause for bringing them into the light.' John Walsh, The Mail on SundayTable of ContentsForeword Stephen Fry; 1. What Manner of Man Was He?; 2. How Did Shakespeare Write a Play?; 3. What Do the Sonnets Tell Us about Their Author?; 4. What Made Shakespeare Laugh?; Epilogue: Eight Decades with Shakespeare.
£13.49
Faber & Faber They Faber Editions
Book SynopsisAs performed by Maxine Peake (''visionary''): the radical dystopian classic, lost for forty years: in a nightmarish Britain, THEY are coming closer''A creepily prescient tale ... Insidiously horrifying!'' Margaret Atwood''A masterpiece of creeping dread.'' Emily St. John MandelThis is Britain: but not as we know it. THEY begin with a dead dog, shadowy footsteps, confiscated books. Soon the National Gallery is purged; eerie towers survey the coast; mobs stalk the countryside destroying artworks - and those who resist.THEY capture dissidents writers, painters, musicians, even the unmarried and childless in military sweeps, curing' these subversives of individual identity.Survivors gather together as cultural refugees, preserving their crafts, creating, loving and remembering. But THEY make it easier to forget ...Lost for half a century, newly introduced by Carmen Maria Machado, Kay Dick''s They (1977) is a re
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Last Days of Socrates
Book SynopsisEuthyphro/Apology/Crito/Phaedo''Nothing can harm a good man either in life or after death''The trial and condemnation of Socrates on charges of heresy and corrupting young minds is a defining moment in the history of classical Athens. In tracing these events through four dialogues, Plato also developed his own philosophy of a life guided by self-responsibility. Euthyphro finds Socrates outside the court-house, debating the nature of piety, while the Apology is his robust rebuttal of the charges against him. In the Crito, awaiting execution in prison, Socrates counters the arguments of friends urging him to escape. Finally, in the Phaedo, he is shown calmly confident in the face of death.Translated by HUGH TREDENNICK and HAROLD TARRANT with an Introduction and notes by HAROLD TARRANTTable of ContentsThe Last Days of SocratesChronologyPrefaceGeneral IntroductionFurther ReadingA Note on the TextsEuthyphroHolinessSocrates in ConfrontationApologyJustice and Duty (i)Socrates Speaks at his TrialCritoJustice and Duty (ii)Socrates in PrisonPhaedoWisdom and the SoulSocrates about to DiePostscript: The Theory of Ideas in the PhaedoNotesIndex
£9.99
Oxford University Press To the Lighthouse
Book Synopsis''I am making up To the Lighthouse - the sea is to be heard all through it'' Inspired by the lost bliss of her childhood summers in Cornwall, Virginia Woolf produced one of the masterworks of English literature in To the Lighthouse. It concerns the Ramsay family and their summer guests on the Isle of Skye before and after the First World War. As children play and adults paint, talk, muse and explore, relationships shift and mutate. A captivating fusion of elegy, autobiography, socio-political critique and visionary thrust, it is the most accomplished of all Woolf''s novels. On completing it, she thought she had exorcised the ghosts of her imposing parents, but she had also brought form to a book every bit as vivid and intense as the work of Lily Briscoe, the indomitable artist at the centre of the novel. 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 commitm
£6.99
Oxford University Press Twelfth Night or What You Will The Oxford
Book SynopsisTwelfth Night is one of the most popular of Shakespeare's plays in performance, and this edition emphasizes its theatrical qualities in both the introduction and the full and detailed commentary. Where the original music has not survived, James Walker has composed settings compatible with the surviving originals, freshly edited, so that this edition, uniquely, offers all the music required to perform the play.Trade ReviewThe commentary on Twelfth Night is alive with the editors' feeling for the play in performance. * M.M. Mahoud, University of Kent, YES, 27, 1996 *
£7.59
Spark Julius Caesar (No Fear Shakespeare): Volume 4
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
£7.99
Pearson Education Limited The Handmaids Tale York Notes Advanced
Book SynopsisThe most supportive, easy-to-use and focussed literature guides to help your students understand the texts they are studying at GCSE and A LevelTable of Contents Part 1: Introduction Part 2: The text Part 3: Critical approachs Part 4: Critical history Part 5: Background Further Reading Literacy Terms
£7.99
Penguin Books Ltd Stung with Love Poems and Fragments of Sappho
Book SynopsisMore or less 150 years after Homer's Iliad, Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos, west off the coast of what is present Turkey. Little remains today of her writings, which are said to have filled nine papyrus rolls in the great library at Alexandria some 500 years after her death. The surviving texts consist of a lamentably small and fragmented body of lyric poetry—among them poems of invocation, desire, spite, celebration, resignation and remembrance—that nevertheless enables us to hear the living voice of the poet Plato called the tenth Muse. This is a new translation of her surviving poetry.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 b
£8.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Shakespeare is Hard but so is Life
Book SynopsisThe works of Shakespeare have become staples of literature. They are everywhere, from our early schooling to the lecture rooms of academia, from classic theatre to modern adaptations on stage and screen. But how well do we really know his plays?In this witty, iconoclastic book, the bestselling author Fintan O'Toole examines four of Shakespeare's most enduring tragedies: Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear. He shows how their tragic heroes have been over-simplified and moulded to fit restrictive, conservative values, and restores the true heart and spirit of the classics. 'I've never read a book like this before: it's challenging, irreverent and funny.' Roddy Doyle
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Refugee Boy
Book SynopsisAn eye for an eye. It's very simple. You choose your homeland like a hyena picking and choosing where he steals his next meal from. Scavenger. Yes you grovel to the feet of Mengistu and when his people spit at you and kick you from the bowl you scuttle across the border. Scavenger.As a violent civil war rages back home in Ethiopia, teenager Alem and his father are in a bed and breakfast in Berkshire. It''s his best holiday ever. The next morning his father is gone and has left a note explaining that he and his mother want to protect Alem from the war. This strange grey country of England is now his home. On his own, and in the hands of the social services and the Refugee Council, Alem lives from letter to letter, waiting to hear something from his father. Then he meets car-obsessed Mustapha, the lovely ''out-of-your-league'' Ruth and dangerous Sweeney three unexpected allies who spur him on in his fight to be seen as more than just the Refugee Boy. Lemn Sissay''s remarkable staTrade ReviewFine and humane ... Sissay weaves in poetry, laughter [and] moments of awe * The Times *The playful, obstinate and courageously humorous tone of Zephaniah's writing shines through ... Hilarious and later heartbreaking. * Guardian *The content of the play speaks directly to contemporary issues around immigration and asylum, the plight of refugees fleeing warfare, the traumatic legal process of applying for asylum, the contribution of refugees to life in Britain, and the treatment of children in the judicial/asylum process ... Lynette Goddard is the leading UK scholar on Black British theatre and performance. She has published widely in this field and is expertly placed to write the introduction for Refugee Boy. * Chris Megson, Reader in Drama, Royal Holloway, University of London *The text is likely to be a welcome addition to Edexcel’s set text list * Jenny Stevens, author and series editor *Table of ContentsCHRONOLOGY CONTEXT & THEMES Cultural and Theatrical Contexts Themes Dramatic Devices Performance History Trends in Scholarly and Popular Debate ADDITIONAL READING REFUGEE BOY NOTES
£10.99
WW Norton & Co Frankenstein
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A wonderful critical edition. I’m impressed with the quality of the essays. I will use this book in my Brit Lit II survey course." -- Mary Thompson, University of Sussex"This is a magnificent edition of Frankenstein! The articles selected are really relevant... The notes are also significant and informative, and the materials are equally interesting. Very good indeed!" -- Dr. Antonio Gonzales, Filologia Moderna, University of Castilla–La Mancha, Spain
£11.99
Penguin Books Ltd Leaves of Grass
Book SynopsisAs Malcolm Cowley says in his introduction, the first edition of Leaves of Grass ''might be called the buried masterpiece of American writing'', for it exhibits ''Whitman at his best, Whitman at his freshest in vision and boldest in language, Whitman transformed by a new experience.'' Mr Cowley has taken the first edition from its narrow circulation among scholars, faithfully edited it, added his own introduction and Whitman''s original introduction (which never appeared in any other edition during Whitman''s life), and returned it to the common readership to whom the great poet really speaks.Trade Review“Whitman, the great poet, has meant so much to me. Whitman the one man breaking a way ahead. Whitman the one pioneer . . . Ahead of Whitman, nothing. Ahead of all poets, pioneering into the wilderness of unopened life, Whitman. Beyond him, none.” —D. H. Lawrence
£7.59
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Death of England Delroy
Book SynopsisMe jumping out of the van, was the beginning of a very bad day for me. I just didn't know it, but I was going to know it, in about four minutes, I was going to know, fer trut.2020. Delroy is arrested on his way to the hospital.Filled with anger and grief, he recalls the moments and relationships that gave him hope before his life was irrevocably changed.Written in response to their play Death of England, Death of England: Delroy is a new standalone work by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams, which follows a Black working-class man searching for truth and confronting his relationship withWhite Britain.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere of Death of England: Delroy, at the National Theatre in 2020. The production was the first play to reopen the theatre following the Coronavirus pandemic.Trade ReviewImpassioned and insightful * The Stage *A blazing performance snuffed out too soon * Telegraph *In this furious, funny shout of a play, one black Londoner explores the racism encoded both in British institutions and in his relationships with his white best friend and girlfriend. It’s an urgent, timely solo work, performed with firecracker energy and a blend of charm and rage * Evening Standard *A commanding physical performance * Times *Dyer and Williams have delivered a play we urgently need, and one we’ll likely be talking about for years to come, when the closure of London’s theatres will be a distant memory * Time Out *The writing glitters ... brash and brilliant theatre * Guardian *
£11.99
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Magnet
Book SynopsisEva Barbarossa is a writer and researcher based in Los Angeles and Italy. Her writing has appeared in the Review of Contemporary Fiction, Surface, and The Island Review.Trade ReviewEva Barbarossa delights in details and shows how much fun technology can be when science appears to be magic. * Mark Kurlansky, author of Paper: Paging Through History (2016), Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas (2018), and Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of a Common Fate (forthcoming 2019) *In this delightful and engaging account, Eva Barbarossa shows us how our attraction to magnets is just as much part of culture as it is science--and has been for millennia. Magnet brings together everything from magic and mystery to mesmerism and MRIs as Barbarossa unpacks the meaning of a magnet's pull. Magnet is a must read. * Lydia Pyne, author of Bookshelf (2016) and Genuine Fakes: How Phony Things Teach Us About Real Stuff (forthcoming 2019) *Table of ContentsPrologue In which I eat hundreds of magnets. 1. Birth In which humans find a stone with magical properties. 2. Earth In which we discover we live on an ancient magnet. 3. Home In which we use magnets to find our way. 4. Alignment In which man and beast align to the magnetic fields. 5. North In which we hunt for polar magnets. 6. Health In which we believe magnets harm and heal. 7. Transcendence In which magnetic fluids provide hope. 8. Tricks In which we use magnets to make trouble. 9. Toys In which we find magnets for play and pedagogy. 10. Technology In which everything needs a magnet. Afterword In which I do not eat more magnets. Acknowledgements Selected sources Notes Index
£9.49
Manchester University Press Courting Disaster
Book SynopsisDrawing parallels with the #MeToo movement, this book explores how a series of brilliant female authors in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries cleverly used the novel as a vehicle for ground-breaking discussions about consent. -- .
£19.00
Boydell & Brewer Ltd The History of William Marshal
Book SynopsisThe career of William Marshal (1146/7-12), who rose from being the penniless, landless younger son of a middle-ranking nobleman to be regent of England in the minority of Henry III, is one of the most extraordinary stories of theMiddle Ages. His biography was completed shortly after his death by a household minstrel and we are fortunate that it survives to give a unique portrait of a twelfth-century knight's life in the early days of tournaments and chivalry as well as his career in warfare and politics.Trade ReviewThis book deserves to become a classic and to find its way into many a university course syllabus and into many a bookcase. * FRANCIA *Table of ContentsIntroduction The History of William Marshal Glossary
£23.74
Little, Brown Book Group The Yellow Wallpaper And Selected Writings
It is stripped off - the paper - in great patches ...The colour is repellent ...In the places where it isn't faded and where the sun is just so - I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure, that seems to skulk about ...' Based on the author's own experiences, 'The Yellow Wallpaper' is the chilling tale of a woman driven to the brink of insanity by the 'rest cure' prescribed after the birth of her child. Isolated in a crumbling colonial mansion, in a room with bars on the windows, the tortuous pattern of the yellow wallpaper winds its way into the recesses of her mind. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was America's leading feminist intellectual of the early twentieth century. In addition to her masterpiece 'The Yellow Wallpaper', this new edition includes a selection of her best short fiction and extracts from her autobiography.
£9.49
Spark The Merchant of Venice (No Fear Shakespeare):
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 the words into everyday language A complete list of characters, with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary
£7.99
Penguin Books Ltd The Nicomachean Ethics
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Oxford University Press Great Expectations
Book SynopsisGreat Expectations includes some of Dickens's most memorable characters - Magwitch, Miss Havisham, Estella - encountered by young Pip as he grows into adulthood. This edition features a wide-ranging introduction, Dickens's working notes, the original ...
£7.06
