ELT & Literary Studies Books

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Book SynopsisFrom the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Last Act of Love, Cathy Rentzenbrink's Dear Reader is the ultimate love letter to reading and to finding the comfort and joy in stories.'Exquisite' - Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups'A warm, unpretentious manifesto for why books matter’ - Sunday ExpressGrowing up, Cathy Rentzenbrink was rarely seen without her nose in a book and read in secret long after lights out. When tragedy struck, it was books that kept her afloat. Eventually they lit the way to a new path, first as a bookseller and then as a writer. No matter what the future holds, reading will always help.A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how books can change the course of your life, packed with recommendations from one reader to another.Trade ReviewCelebrates reading as a means of connection and a vehicle for escapism . . . a heartfelt reminder that, for all the wholesome effects that reading arguably has, the first reason to do it is for pleasure. Fittingly, Dear Reader is a pleasure to read * Times *I will never, ever forget the way Dear Reader made me feel: it is profoundly tender, generous, joy-filled, love-filled and compassionate. I have read so many wonderful books this year but this is the one I would buy and give away to everyone in the world if I could -- Daisy Buchanan, author of How to Be a Grown-UpIf you love books or if you need companionship during a difficult patch in your life or if you simply want to be taken by the hand by a writer who is kind, wise, funny, generous, insightful and profound, then this is the book for you -- Elizabeth DayExquisite. Dear Reader is touching, beautiful and contains countless excellent book recommendations! -- Marian KeyesCathy Rentzenbrink’s exploration of reading books and the comfort they bring in Dear Reader feels like art in your hands * Stylist, 'Best Gift Books this Christmas' *Joyful, poignant and essential reading for people who love books . . . it is a book to cherish -- Nina StibbeBeautifully written and a joy to read, Dear Reader is a best friend of a book -- AJ Pearce, Sunday Times bestselling author of Dear Mrs BirdThis love letter to reading, which is packed with recommendations, is pure joy * Good Housekeeping *Dear Reader restored my soul -- Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie LangtonA companion for readers everywhere . . . intimate, kind and self-effacing, it feels like someone is sitting right next to you, holding your hand and sharing their secrets. I loved it -- Kit de Waal, author of My Name is LeonA warm, unpretentious manifesto for why books matter * Sunday Express *Dear Reader is the best thing I’ve read for ages and it will stay with me forever -- Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will be Glad That You Did)Your first port of call if you’re looking for a book to recommend or just a bit stuck on what to choose next. But it’s more than a reference book; it’s a personal account of how books have comforted the author and what they can do for the soul -- Kit de Waal * New Statesman, Books of the Year *A wonderful warm bath of a book. Perfect for all bookworms to sink into -- Jenny Colgan, author of Meet Me At The Cupcake CaféThis is a book that shows what can happen when reading becomes one of the foundation stones in someone’s life, how it miraculously reveals a map when you’ve lost your path and how it will always provide a connection to the world when we feel alone . . . Cathy, prepare for adulation -- Diane Setterfield, author of The Thirteenth TaleDear Reader is a comfort, an inspiration and a gift of a book for readers, reluctant readers and anyone who wants to feel better about themselves and the world. I applaud Cathy Rentzenbrink, she is a truly brilliant writer -- Julia Samuel, author of Grief WorksYour first port of call if you’re looking for a book to recommend or just a bit stuck on what to choose next. But it’s more than a reference book; it’s a personal account of how books have comforted the author and what they can do for the soul -- Kit de Waal, 'Books of the Year' * New Statesman *Comfort reading has been to the fore lately, and you'll find it in abundance in this joyous memoir of a life immersed in the pleasures and consolations of books by the author of The Last Act of Love . . . It's chock-full of Rentzenbrink's splendid reading recommendations, from "Children's Books I Love to Reread" and books about "Bad Love", to "Posh People Behaving Badly" and "Helpful Non-Fiction", which her own book most certainly is -- Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller *

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Book SynopsisFinalist for the 2020 PROSE Awards, Classics section Homer’s Odyssey is the first great travel narrative in Western culture. A compelling tale about the consequences of war, and about redemption, transformation, and the search for home, the Odyssey continues to be studied in universities and schools, and to be read and referred to by ordinary readers. Reading Homer’s Odyssey offers a book-by-book commentary on the epic’s themes that informs the non-specialist and engages the seasoned reader in new perspectives. Among the themes discussed are hospitality, survival, wealth, reputation and immortality, the Olympian gods, self-reliance and community, civility, behavior, etiquette and technology, ease, inactivity and stagnation, Penelope’s relationship with Odysseus, Telemachus’ journey, Odysseus’ rejection of Calypso’s offer of immortality, Odysseus’ lies, Homer’s use of the House of Atreus and other myths, the cinematic qualities of the epic’s structure, women’s role in the epic, and the Odyssey’s true ending. Footnotes clarify and elaborate upon myths that Homer leaves unfinished, explain terms and phrases, and provide background information. The volume concludes with a general bibliography of work on the Odyssey, in addition to the bibliographies that accompany each book’s commentary. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.Trade Review"The book is a great pleasure to read....Reading Homer’s Odyssey is a book that does exactly what it promises: it helps its reader to read (and understand) the Odyssey. It will appeal to a broad readership as well as to scholars and students of Classics and other fields, and it may also be suggested as accompanying reading in Classical Civilization classes or similar courses."— Bryn Mawr Classical Review "An eloquently erudite and insightful analysis of one of the world's most famous works of literature from Ancient Greece."— Midwest Book Review "Recommended." — Choice Kostas Myrsiades’ remarkably accessible and lively commentary comes as a great boost to readers who approach the Odyssey with great interest but little background in the world of the epic and the techniques of Homer. This book serves as a kind of museum guide through each portion of the Odyssey, giving us the benefit of the author’s wealth of erudition and knowledge in readily understandable prose. Myrsiades not only explains the peculiar features of the narrative and content but also offers many helpful interpretive approaches, including some recent controversial suggestions, that have arisen from his decades of teaching this epic. This commentary will be especially helpful in giving high school and college teachers with little formal classical training the information and tools that will make them authoritative in the classroom. A pleasure to read.— Scott Richardson, Professor of Classics, St. John’s University and the College of St. BenedictTable of ContentsPreface I. From Ithaca to Wonderland Chapter 1: Telemachus' Journey (Od.1-4) Chapter 2: Odysseus from Calypso to the Phaeacians (Od.5-8) Chapter 3: Odysseus' Wanderings (Od.9-12) II. From Wonderland to Ithaca Chapter 4: Odysseus and Telemachus at Eumaeus' Hut (Od.13-16) Chapter 5: Odysseus and Telemachus Strategize at the Palace (Od.17-20) Chapter 6: Revenge, Reunion, and Reconciliation (Od.21-24) Afterword Bibliography

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Comparisons to [Emily] Wilson's recent translation are inevitable. . . . Both Wilson and Green capture the spirit of the Odyssey, but word-for-word, Green also captures a feel for the Homeric language, an experience closer to the original." * Library Journal *"Green's intelligent translation is . . . a superb choice." * The Weekly Standard *"Green brings to the poem the rhetorical directness and historical expertise which worked so well in his translation of The Iliad. Speeches in his version are vigorous and direct. " * London Review of Books *“The kind of absorption offered by Green’s translation seems particularly relevant to the reading of a poem from an alien culture and period. It contributes to the opening of the imagination that is surely one of the main pleasures of reading such a work. . . . I recommend this translation not only for its weighty introduction and notes but above all for the sensitivity of its expression.” * Manchester Review *Table of ContentsPrefaceAbbreviationsIntroductionTHE ODYSSEYSynopsisGlossarySelect Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAhuvia Kahane is Regius Chair of Greek and A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He is the author of several books, including A Companion to the Prologue of Apuleius' Metamorphoses (2000).

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Book SynopsisA Book of the Year for The Times and the Sunday Times ‘The writer is the engineer of the human soul,’ claimed Stalin. Although one wonders how many found nourishment in Turkmenbashi’s Book of the Soul (once required reading for driving tests in Turkmenistan), not to mention Stalin’s own poetry. Certainly, to be considered great, a dictator must write, and write a lot. Mao had his Little Red Book, Mussolini and Saddam Hussein their romance novels, Kim Jong-il his treatise on the art of film, Hitler his hate-filled tracts. What do these texts reveal about their authors, the worst people imaginable? And how did they shape twentieth-century history? To find out, Daniel Kalder read them all – the badly written and the astonishingly badly written – so that you don’t have to. This is the untold history of books so terrible they should have been crimes.Trade Review‘Daniel Kalder has slogged his way through the 20th century’s “Krakatoa-like eruption of despotic verbiage” so you don’t have to… Kalder’s dispatches from “the transnational empire of ultra-boredom” are not only very funny, they also form a quirky, pacey guide to recent world history.’ * Sunday Times, Books of the Year *‘Full of…wonders, and startling individual facts… An overwhelmingly powerful reminder of 20th-century misrule, and of just how delusional human beings can be – especially if they’re literate.’ * Telegraph *‘This wonderfully entertaining book is a cautionary tale about how societies are easily wooed by foolish demagogues spouting gibberish.’ * The Times, Books of the Year *‘I enjoyed this book a great deal…it’s actually a rather snappy read.’ * Will Self, Guardian *‘Hugely compelling…Like coming across a planet-sized car crash, with hundreds of millions snarled up in the wreckage: you can’t look away. Kalder has really dug deep into the minds of these infernal texts’ creators, and thus delivers some truly enlightening insights.’ * Irish Independent *‘Daniel Kalder…deserves a medal…Dictator Literature is a great book... An insightful book, but also a funny one.' * The Times *‘Very funny… After reading Dictator Literature you will never look at books with such a benevolent eye again.’ * Spectator *‘A engaging, brisk, and morbidly humorous haul of the lives and literary pretensions of the murderous wingnuts who defined a century.’ * Irish Times *‘Kalder's book is an informative, lively and often hilarious account of some of the worst authors who ever lived, doubling as a history of the terrible ideologies that marred the last century. Some execrable books have come out of communism and fascism, but Dictator Literature is certainly not one of them.’ * Catholic Herald *‘A fascinating study…partly an enjoyable romp but mostly a sombre sidelong-glance history of 20th-century totalitarianism.’ * Sunday Telegraph *‘Brisk, and full of antic fun.’ * New Statesman *‘Highly readable.’ * Herald *‘A mesmerizing study of books by despots great and small, from the familiar to the largely unknown.’ * Washington Post *‘Kalder is our cheeky and irreverent guide to the (generally aggressively tedious) prose by history’s despots.’ * Tatler *‘This is about the most discomforting book I’ve read in the past year. Never mind Trump and never mind Twitter: Kalder demonstrates that words themselves, and the escapist spells we weave with them, are our riskiest civic gift.’ -- Simon Ings, author of Stalin and the Scientists‘A compelling examination of why bad minds create bad writing, and therefore a valuable read for anyone interested in literature – or the world, in fact. Kalder’s dry humour makes Dictator Literature a fun tour de force through the mad history of the 20th century and the present.’ -- Norman Ohler, author of Blitzed

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Book SynopsisAn Introduction to Quantitative Text Analysis for Linguistics: Reproducible Research Using R is a pragmatic textbook that equips students and researchers with the essential concepts and practical programming skills needed to conduct quantitative text analysis in a reproducible manner. Designed for undergraduate students and those new to the field, this book assumes no prior experience with statistics or programming, making it an accessible resource for anyone embarking on their journey into quantitative text analysis.Through a pedagogical approach which emphasizes intuitive understanding over technical details, readers will gain data literacy by learning to identify, interpret, and evaluate data analysis procedures and results. They will also develop research skills, enabling them to design, implement, and communicate quantitative text analysis projects effectively. The book places a strong emphasis on programming skills, guiding readers through interactive lessons,

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Book SynopsisBuild confidence in a range of key textual analysis techniques and skills with this practical companion, full of advice and guidance from experienced experts.- Build analysis techniques and skills through a range of strategies, serving as a useful companion throughout the course - from critical-thinking, referencing and citation and the development of a line of inquiry to reflecting on the writing process and constructing essays for Paper 1 and Paper 2- Develop skills in how to approach a text using textual analysis strategies and critical theory, for both unseen texts (the basis of Paper 1) and texts studied in class- Concise, clear explanations help students navigate the IB requirements, including advice on assessment objectives and how literary and textual analysis weaves through Paper 1, Paper 2, the HL Essay, Individual Oral and the Learner Profile- Build understanding in how to approach texts so that students can write convincingly and passionately about texts through active reading, note-taking, asking questions, and developing a personal response to texts - Engaging activities are provided to test understanding of each topic and develop skills for the exam - guiding answers are available to check your responses

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2014 Christian Gauss Award for excellence in literary scholarship from the Phi Beta Kappa Society Having excavated the world’s earliest novels in his previous book, literary historian Steven Moore explores in this sequel the remarkable flowering of the novel between the years 1600 and 1800—from Don Quixote to America’s first big novel, an homage to Cervantes entitled Modern Chivalry. This is the period of such classic novels as Tom Jones, Candide, and Dangerous Liaisons, but beyond the dozen or so recognized classics there are hundreds of other interesting novels that appeared then, known only to specialists: Spanish picaresques, French heroic romances, massive Chinese novels, Japanese graphic novels, eccentric English novels, and the earliest American novels. These minor novels are not only worthy of attention in their own right, but also provide the context needed to appreciate why the major novels were major breakthroughs. The novel experienced an explosive growth spurt during these centuries as novelists experimented with different forms and genres: epistolary novels, romances, Gothic thrillers, novels in verse, parodies, science fiction, episodic road trips, and family sagas, along with quirky, unclassifiable experiments in fiction that resemble contemporary, avant-garde works. As in his previous volume, Moore privileges the innovators and outriders, those who kept the novel novel. This sequel, like its predecessor, is a “zestfully encyclopedic, avidly opinionated, and dazzlingly fresh history of the most ‘elastic’ of literary forms” (Booklist).Trade ReviewIn this second volume of his ambitious study on the novel, Moore cheekily continues his deconstruction of classic works from the medium’s most formative centuries… Mischievous humor and a range of contemporary references are often the sugar to Moore’s dense analytical medicine: The 40-Year-Old Virgin comes up in the section on Don Quixote, Pat Benatar makes an appearance as well. Refusing to simply connect the dots between canonized works, Moore chooses instead to catalog the ‘hundreds of little-known novels that not only provide context for [a] dozen or so classics, but are interesting in their own right.’ It’s this rigorous aim that gives the book velocity. This is a must-read for those interested in studying the novel’s long evolution from less traditional angles. * Publishers Weekly *[Moore] reads everything he can, and his prodigious appetite for forgotten fiction, together with his eye-popping struggle to get through it all, becomes an entertaining running theme throughout the book. […] The advantages of Moore’s broad scope are obvious and real. He writes with gusto and acumen, and even when he takes against an author or work, he does so with engaging verve. […] There are countless illuminating retrievals in his Herculean chapters about fiction in France and Britain … and the book is a trove of unexpected discoveries throughout. Moore is especially good at drawing out the literary and material self-consciousness of much early fiction. […] Moore is right about the playful self-consciousness that suffuses so much pioneering fiction of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and his energetic study conveys the freshness of this fiction with wit and insight. -- Thomas Keymer * TLS *Critical insight is blended with summarized overviews of historical contexts and the plots of unfamiliar novels, thereby providing an accessible, comprehensive introduction for the general reader, as well as refreshing scholarly analysis for academic audiences. Moore’s richly informative work traces the complex and contested debates as to what constitutes the first American novel ... [His] work—styled as an ‘alternative’ history—is written in a lively, conversational tone, combining both comedy and critical acumen. * The Year's Work in English Studies *[A]s one reads deeper in The Novel: An Alternative History, 1600–1800 there is the frankly terrible realization that English-only readers have missed out on so much worthwhile writing from two hundred creative years. A new line of (alternative) classics could be drawn from this book and its predecessor, replacing the tired wares seen repeatedly in stores, especially at Christmas…If there is one daring enough to present a truly panoramic set of works from Ancient Egypt to early nineteenth-century America, the logical choice as general editor is at hand. -- Jeff Bursey * Musicandliterature.org *In the preceding first volume of his impossibly thorough and wilfully provocative overview, Moore argued convincingly for a revolutionary redefinition. Here, the scarily well-read Moore flexes even more of his astonishing critical muscle. -- Sergio De La Pava, author of A Naked Singularity * Metro *The immensity of Moore’s accomplishment with this volume can’t be understated: he packs 200 years of world literature into 1,000 pages.[...] Moore identifies the major examples of all the literary trends and genres for each language or region, then the inevitable sequels and imitators. The reader will have to keep a notebook handy in order to make a list of books to seek out as she moves through the text. [...] Moore’s work is exhaustive, but never exhausting, and his writing is witty, engaging, and accessible; he never gets bogged down with academic snoozery, and makes welcome use of slang and humor to punctuate his major points. The result is that the reader becomes just as excited about Moore’s project as Moore is, finding out about so many works, from novels you’re already read, to ones you know you should have read, and to the hopelessly obscure. [...] There are great lines on every page. [...] The Novel: An Alternative History, 1600-1800 catalogs and reviews more books than most people will read in a lifetime, works of immense importance not only to the history of the genre, but to human cultural history as well. Moore’s achievement is staggering. * Rain Taxi *A remarkable catalog of both traditional and ‘experimental’ novels from all around the world. -- Seth Satterlee, Publisher’s Weekly * PWxyz *The Novel: An Alternative History 1600-1800, spans two centuries of the world’s most popular literary form and introduces readers to an entirely new way of thinking about literature. […] Moore derives true pleasure out of re-creating worlds that would otherwise seem unreachable to modern readers. He uses his knowledge of literature to develop layered landscapes of specific times in history and deftly gives us the context to understand why authors were writing the things they were writing. […] If there is a flaw in The Novel: An Alternative History 1600-1800—if it can even be called a “flaw”—it’s unintentional, since it sometimes makes you feel both inadequate and mildly existential (when will I have time to read all these great works?). Yet readers can feel that Moore has empathy with this problem, as he seems to have struggled trying to decide what to include and what to leave out, as well. His passion for literature and the joy he receives from preserving its history are felt in every single page of this work. Volume three can’t come soon enough. -- Pop Matters * Jose Solis *Moore concentrates on the macro and explores the evolution of an amorphous artform using a constellation of lesser known works. -- Seth Satterlee, Publisher’s Weekly * Publisher's Weekly *Moore offers a second volume in his personal revaluation of the novel as a global phenomenon (the first volume – CH, Dec’10, 48-1895 – covered the years from ‘beginnings’ to 1600). And a doorstopper of a book it is. The book’s five chapters look at the European novel (books in Spanish, German, and Latin), the novel in French, the Eastern novel (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Tibetan, Persian, and Indian works), the novel in English (by anyone in the British Isles who wrote novels in English), and the American novel (a spare 42 pages). Moore’s tone is irreverent: he often takes traditionalists to task, pointing out prurient details of books in bald detail (Marquis de Sade gets more attention than Daniel Defoe). Moore is not a completist – his treatment of the pre-1800 English Gothic runs less than 20 pages, whereas Horror Literature: A Core Collection and Reference Guide, ed. By Marshall Tymn (CH, Jan’82), lists 300 titles that qualify for consideration. Moores’ greates talent is dusting off obscure works, placing them in the context of standard classics, and locating the most entertaining parts of whatever he considers. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division graduates, with supervision; general readers. -- M. J. Emery, Cottey College * CHOICE *Mentioned * Studies in English Literature *Moore writes ‘the deeper the reader plunges into Fanny Hill, the greater the returns’ (p. 748). One suspects the same can be said of his massive endeavour The Novel: An Alternative History. * The Year's Work in English Studies *Bloomsbury clearly believe in the award-winning Moore. They published his conversation-changing works The Novel: An Alternative History: Beginnings to 1600 (2010) and The Novel: An Alternative History: 1600-1800 (2013), works that upset many conservative critics with significant buy-in to out-of-date and never-quite-sensible paradigms on the origins of the novel. -- Jeff Bursey * Numéro Cinq *Table of ContentsPreface Chapter 1: The Early Modern European Novel -Spanish -German -Latin Chapter 2: The Early Modern French Novel Chapter 3: The Early Modern English Novel Chapter 4: The Early Modern Eastern Novel -Chinese -Korean -Japanese -Tibetan -Persian -Indian Chapter 5: The Early Modern American Novel Bibliography Chronological Index of Novels Discussed General Index

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Book SynopsisZoroastrianism was the religion of the ancient Persian kings and following the Arab conquest, it remained the religion of a significant portion of the population in Iran and parts of Central Asia.

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Book SynopsisThe Self-Help Compulsion reveals the profound entanglement of modern literature and commercial advice from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Beth Blum explores popular reading practices in which people turn to literature in search of practical advice alongside modern writers’ rebukes of such instrumental purposes.Trade ReviewBeth Blum has opened our eyes to a fascinating area: the intersection between self-help and serious literature. Blum is deeply unusual among scholars in appreciating the extent to which ordinary readers seek solace and insight in literature—and she explores the consequences of this idea in a series of readings of important and interesting writers. This book is sure to deepen our understanding of a genre of literature that has perhaps been too hastily dismissed in the past. -- Alain de Botton, author of How Proust Can Change Your LifeSelf-help books have become the favorite reading of Americans, and English professors are no exception. Until Beth Blum’s ferociously witty yet ultimately sympathetic study, however, few critics saw any way to connect their lowbrow guilty pleasure with the high-flown ambitions of literary theory. Blum’s intellectual history of self-help takes seriously the ideas as well as the institutions involved in the production of this body of practical knowledge. Self-help thus stands revealed as the uncanny double not just of literature itself but of literary theory. -- Leah Price, author of What We Talk About When We Talk About BooksIn this witty and original study, Beth Blum traces the diffusion of a nebulous genre—textual advice—into artistic zones in which one does not expect to find it. Unpacking self-help’s collectivist, working-class origins, and tracing the impact of its commercialization on the styles of James, Woolf, Beckett, Joyce, and others, Blum’s story of popular morality’s various roles in the genealogy of modernism unfolds with critical incision and humor. What an eye-opening book! -- Sianne Ngai, University of ChicagoBeth Blum places us at the cross road of creation. Here at last we can see the “self-improvement axioms” hidden in the rarified atmosphere of Virginia Woolf’s modernism, Marcel Proust in the company of advice columnist Ann Landers, a poem by Baudelaire enumerating his recent reading of self-help books. In moments of acute love or loss or fear, literature can feel like a rope bridge carrying us safely across a ravine. Beth Blum’s brilliant and startling book shows us why. -- Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard UniversityBeth Blum’s The Self-Help Compulsion is the first book to explore the multiple forms of contact, influence, negotiation, strife, and imitation between modern fiction and self-help literature, and the result is breathtaking. Any scholars who assume that self-help books are not worth their attention or that self-help and serious literature have nothing to do with each other will be wholly disabused and wonderfully edified by Blum’s magisterial study. -- Timothy Aubry, author of Guilty Aesthetic PleasuresA deep scholarly probe into self-help’s inextricable influence on the history and future of literature. * Kirkus Reviews *Blum’s outstanding debut places self-help books in historical and literary contexts. . . . This insightful look at a popular genre will give fans and critics alike much to contemplate. * Publishers Weekly *Sedulously researched . . . The Self-Help Compulsion traces the evolution of self-help books, places them in historical context, and, perhaps most strikingly, suggests that they're worthy of more respect than they get. * Wall Street Journal *Self-help offers us insight into the real power of literature: that books can and even should help readers remake their world. * Nation *Blum's thorough review of 19th-and 20th-century self-help literature will inform readers not only about the literature but also about themselves. * Choice *Beth Blum’s rich and fascinating study The Self-Help Compulsion, an overdue effort by a literary scholar to reframe the relationship between those 'ambivalent shelf-fellows' self-help and literature as one of mutual fascination rather than antipathy. Blum makes a compelling case for self-help as an important 'shadow genre' for literature. * Times Literary Supplement *[A] cogent and jargon-free book. * Modern Language Quarterly *[An] excellent study. * The Hedgehog Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction 1. Self-Help’s Portable Wisdom2. Bouvard and Pécuchet: Flaubert’s DIY Dystopia3. Negative Visualization4. Joyce for Life5. Modernism Without Tears 6. Practicality HungerCoda: The Shadow University of Self-HelpNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisPrior to becoming a psychiatrist, Frantz Fanon wanted to be a playwright and his interest in dialogue, dramatisation and metaphor continued throughout his writing and career. His passion for theatre developed during the years that he was studying medicine, and in 1949 he wrote the plays The Drowning Eye (L'Œil se noie), and Parallel Hands (Les Mains parallèles). This first English translation of the works gives us a Fanon at his most lyrical, experimental and provocative.Table of ContentsFrantz Fanon: Works Cited General Introduction, by Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young Fanon, Revolutionary Playwright, by Robert J.C. Young 1 The Drowning Eye 2 Parallel Hands Frantz Fanon’s Library and Life Franz Fanon’s Library Key dates of Fanon’s chronology Index

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Book SynopsisFrantz Fanon's political impact is difficult to overestimate. His anti-colonialist, philosophical and revolutionary writings were among the most influential of the 20th century. The essays, articles and notes published in this volume cover the most politically active period of his life and encapsulate the breadth, depth and urgency of his writings. In particular, they clarify and amplify his much-debated views on violent resistance. These works provide new complexity to our understanding of Fanon and reveal just how relevant his thinking is to the contemporary world and how important his ideas are to changing it.Trade ReviewFanon’s writings, some of the most intense political writing of the century, reflect the turmoil of his moment and seek a way out through a series of provisional and historically specific solutions … What The Political Writings shows is the range of problems and solutions faced by one of the great leftists of the 20th century. * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of ContentsPlates Frantz Fanon: Works Cited General Introduction, by Jean Khalfa and Robert J.C. Young Introduction 1. The demoralized Foreign Legion 2. Algeria’s independence: An everyday reality 3. National independence: The only possible outcome 4. Algeria and the French crisis 5. The Algerian conflict and African anticolonialism 6. A democratic revolution 7. Once again: The reason for the precondition 8. Algerian revolutionary consciousness 9. In the Caribbean, birth of a nation? 10. The strategy of an army with its back to the wall 11. The survivors of no man’s land 12. Testament of a ‘man of the left’ 13. Ultracolonialism’s rationale 14. The western world and the fascist experience in France 15. Gaulist illusions 16. The calvary of a people 17. The rising anti-imperialist movement and the slow-wits of pacification 18. African countries and their solidary combat 19. Richard Wright’s White Man, Listen! 20. At Conakry, he declares: ‘Global peace goes via national independence’ 21. Africa accuses the west 22. Why we use violence 23. The stooges of imperialism 24. Letter to Ali Shariati Publishing Fanon (France and Italy, 1959-1971) Frantz Fanon’s Library and Life Franz Fanon’s Library Key dates of Fanon’s chronology Index

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Book SynopsisOffers readings of key contemporary trends and themes in the vibrant genre of short-story writing in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, with attention to major practitioners and translations of two representative stories. Since the 1990s, the short story has re-emerged in the German-speaking world as a vibrant literary genre, serving as a medium for both literary experimentation and popular forms. Authors like Judith Hermann and Peter Stamm have had a significant impact on German-language literary culture and, in translation, on literary culture in the UK and USA. This volume analyzes German-language short-story writing in the twenty-first century, aiming to establish a framework for further research into individual authors as well as key themes and formal concerns. An introduction discusses theories of the short-story form and literary-aesthetic questions. A combination of thematic and author-focused chapters then discuss key developments in the contemporary German-language context, examining performance and performativity, Berlin and crime stories, and the openendness, fragmentation, liminality, and formal experimentations that characterize short stories in the twenty-first century. Together the chapters present the rich field of short-story writing in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, offering a variety of theoretical approaches to individual stories and collections, as well as exploring connections with storytelling, modernist short prose, and the novella. The volume concludes with a survey of broad trends, and three original translations exemplifying the breadth of contemporary German-language short-story writing.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Note on Translations Introduction to the Contemporary Short Story in German - Andrew Plowman, Lyn Marven, and Kate Roy Chapter 1: Berlin Shorts: The German Capital in the Short Story of the Twenty-First Century - Katharina Gerstenberger Chapter 2: The German Crime Story in the Twenty-First Century - Todd Herzog Chapter 3: Performance, Performativity, and the Contemporary German Kurzgeschichte - Emily Spiers Chapter 4: Cramped Spaces, Creative Bottlenecks: Sudabeh Mohafez's das zehn-zeilen-buch and the Short-Short - Kate Roy Chapter 5: Bodo Kirchhoff's Widerfahrnis: A Novelle for Our Time? - Helmut Schmitz Chapter 6: The Liminal Space of the Short Story: Clemens Meyer's Die Nacht, die Lichter and Die stillen Trabanten - Gillian Pye Chapter 7: Framing the Presence: Judith Hermann's Lettipark - Leonhard Herrmann Chapter 8: Of Unhomed Subjects and Unsettled Voices: Alois Hotschnig's Die Kinder beruhigte das nicht - Heide Kunzelmann Chapter 9: Literary Development and Rewriting Spaces in the "Complete Stories": Peter Stamm's Der Lauf der Dinge - Andrew Plowman Chapter 10: On Disappearing: Reading Ulrike Almut Sandig with Sylvia Bovenschen - Heike Bartel and Elizabeth Boa Chapter 11: Metamorphic Becomings: Yoko Tawada's Opium für Ovid: Ein Kopfkissenbuch von 22 Frauen - Áine McMurtry Chapter 12: Melinda Nadj Abonji and Jurczok 1001: Performance, Politics, and Poetry - Rafaël Newman and Caroline Wiedmer Chapter 13: Rhizomatic Wanderings: The Writings of Gabriele Petricek - Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger Chapter 14: Trends and Issues in the Contemporary German-Language Short Story - Lyn Marven Appendix: Contemporary German-Language Short Stories in Translation Sudabeh Mohafez, A Short-Short Selection - Translated by Kate Roy Roman Ehrlich, "Engineers of Time" - Translated by Lyn Marven Saša Stanišić, "The Factory" - Translated by Lyn Marven Bibliography of Primary Texts Notes on Contributors

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Book SynopsisThis book reconstructs the first two decades of Time and Tide (1920-1939) and explores the periodical's significance for an interwar generation of British women writers and readers.

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

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Book SynopsisA one-volume translation of one of the most important and controversial texts from early Christianity. It offers a sympathetic understanding of the text, and provides new insights into the structure of the work and the nature of theology as it was practiced in early Christianity.Trade ReviewBehr's translation is literal without being wooden or cumbersome. In keeping with the original languages, some sentences are long, but they are readable. Some detailed footnotes remain to guide readers. * Christopher A. Stephenson, Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Origen and his On First Principles I: Origen in Alexandria II: On First Principles 2: The structure of On First Principles I: The Two Cycles II: The Division into Chapters III: Theology and Economy IV: The Apostolic and the Ecclesiastical Preaching V: Scripture, Book Four, and the Purpose of On First Principles VI: Conclusion and the Context of On First Principles 3: Theology I: An Eternal Creation? II: The 'Foundation' of the World 4: Economy I: Incarnation II: The 'Pre-existence' and Incarnation of Christ 5: 'In My End is My Beginning' Text and Translation Origen, On First Principles Manuscripts and Other Sources, Abbreviations and Sigla 1: Rufinus' Translation I: Manuscripts II: Insalest Witnesses III: Editiocs 2: The Philocalia I: Manuscripts II: Editions 3: Abbreviations and Sigla Rufinus' Preface Preface Part I: Theology I: The Apostolic Preaching II: The Church's Preaching Part II: Economy I: The Apostolic Praching II: The Church's Preaching Part III: The Inspired Scripture Recapitulation Appendix I Chapter Titles in the Latin Manuscripts Appendix II Koetschau's Fragments Bibliography Index of Ancient Sources Index of Modern Authors Cited

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Book SynopsisFrom The Hobbit to Harry Potter, how fantasy harnesses the cultural power of magic, medievalism, and childhood to re-enchant the modern world Why are so many people drawn to fantasy set in medieval, British-looking lands? This question has immediate significance for millions around the world: from fans of Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones to those who avoid fantasy because of the racist, sexist, and escapist tendencies they have found there. Drawing on the history and power of children’s fantasy literature, Re-Enchanted argues that magic, medievalism, and childhood hold the paradoxical ability to re-enchant modern life.Focusing on works by authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Susan Cooper, Philip Pullman, J. K. Rowling, and Nnedi Okorafor, Re-Enchanted uncovers a new genealogy for medievalist fantasy—one that reveals the genre to be as important to the history of English studies and literary modernism as it is to shaping beliefs across geographies and generations. Maria Sachiko Cecire follows children’s fantasy as it transforms over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries—including the rise of diverse counternarratives and fantasy’s move into “high-brow” literary fiction. Grounded in a combination of archival scholarship and literary and cultural analysis, Re-Enchanted argues that medievalist fantasy has become a psychologized landscape for contemporary explorations of what it means to grow up, live well, and belong. The influential “Oxford School” of children’s fantasy connects to key issues throughout this book, from the legacies of empire and racial exclusion in children’s literature to what Christmas magic tells us about the roles of childhood and enchantment in Anglo-American culture.Re-Enchanted engages with critical debates around what constitutes high and low culture during moments of crisis in the humanities, political and affective uses of childhood and the mythological past, the anxieties of modernity, and the social impact of racially charged origin stories.Trade Review"Re-Enchanted is essential for the study of the fantastic. While other recent critical studies have focused on fantasy’s origins before 1900 or the genre’s place in the contemporary literary landscape, Maria Sachiko Cecire focuses the reader on the influence of the Oxford School fantasists, also known as the ‘Inklings,’ who mapped the world of story through perspectives influenced by their times. Thus, fantasy was left behind while the rest of the world changed. Re-Enchanted reminds us of the ways that English-language fantasy is, was, and can continue to be an instrument of empire. Engaging, thorough, and absolutely necessary."—Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, author of The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games"Full of revelatory scholarship on J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Phillip Pullman, and their heirs, Re-Enchanted makes the case for scholarship itself at the heart of fantasy. No one will read The Lord of the Rings or His Dark Materials again without realizing just how much Oxford itself—its libraries and its landscape—scripted their imaginations and how its syllabi inspire, to this day, Harry Potter, The Magicians, and beyond."—Seth Lerer, author of Children's Literature: A Reader's History, from Aesop to Harry Potter"In the twenty-first century, fantasy has become a way of speaking, in fiction (adults or children's) and outside it. Here Maria Sachiko Cecire interrogates the Oxford roots of something that has become, like wallpaper, part of our world, and helps us to see the landscape of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, of Diana Wynne Jones and Philip Pullman, and understand how that landscape became universal, the ways it buoys us up and the ways that it fails us."—Neil Gaiman "Cecire calls upon readers to acknowledge the dangers of the Oxford School’s project while recognizing the cultural power its members harnessed. She encourages us to embrace and explore new ways of expanding the scope of the tropes of children’s fantasy to become more inclusive in the ways it reaches into the past to find magic in a difficult contemporary world."—Medievally Speaking"Effectively, Cecire proves that in terms of modern children’s fantasy literature, all roads lead to the Oxford School."—CHOICE"Cecire illustrates brilliantly how Tolkien and Lewis took the building blocks of medieval literature and historical linguistics and created alternative worlds."—Times Literary Supplement"An important and endlessly engaging book that will provoke much further thought and discussion."—Mythlore"A compelling case both for training our critical attention on medieval and medievalist literature and for expanding the texts we read, teach, study, and share."—The Medieval Review"Re-Enchanted reveals how magic mystifies ideologies, embedding antimodernist, nationalist, colonialist ideas in children’s fantasy, concealing them in an invisibility cloak of (white) childhood innocence. It’s an essential book for anyone who wants to unlearn the hidden assumptions of our own childhood reading and find better stories for the next generation. "—ALH Online Review

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Book SynopsisThe Aeneid – thrilling, terrifying and poignant in equal measure – has inspired centuries of artists, writers and musicians.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is translated by J. W. Mackail and has an afterword by Coco Stevenson.Virgil’s epic tale tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero, who flees his city after its fall, with his father Anchises and his young son Ascanius – for Aeneas is destined to found Rome and father the Roman race. As Aeneas journeys closer to his goal, he must first prove his worth and attain the maturity necessary for such an illustrious task. He battles raging storms in the Mediterranean, encounters the fearsome Cyclopes, falls in love with Dido, Queen of Carthage, travels into the Underworld and wages war in Italy.Trade ReviewThe Aeneid is suffused with a fascinating, upending sense that most of what goes gravely wrong on earth isn’t imputable to human agency -- Brad Leithauser * New York Times *Generally viewed as the pre-eminent masterpiece of the Western literary tradition -- Michael Dirda * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisA collection of essays by the influential founder of the black radical traditionTrade Review'Before the movement for black lives made black radicalism cool for millennials, Cedric Robinson did the work of excavating an intellectual history we rely upon today' -- The Root'Like W. E. B. Du Bois, Michel Foucault, Sylvia Wynter, and Edward Said, Robinson was that rare polymath capable of seeing the whole - its genesis as well as its possible future. No discipline could contain him. No geography or era was beyond his reach.... He left behind a body of work to which we must return constantly and urgently' -- Robin D. G. Kelley, author of 'Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination'‘Through these essays, we see further evidence of Robinson’s profound faith in the ability of ordinary people to fight against the corruptions of a world that routinely mocks the logic and practice of democracy. In them, we get a clear sense of what Robinson insisted in his work from the outset: that Black freedom struggles are a central part of resisting today’s violent racial and capitalist order’ -- The NationTable of ContentsForeword by Ruth Wilson Gilmore Preface by Elizabeth Peters Robinson Introduction: Looking for Grace in Redemption - H. L. T. Quan Part I - On Africa and Black Internationalism 1. Notes Toward a “Native” Theory of History 2. In Search of a Pan-African Commonwealth 3. The Black Detective and American Memory Part II - On Bourgeois Historiography 4. “The First Attack is an Attack on Culture” 5. Oliver Cromwell Cox and the Historiography of the West 6. Fascism and the Intersections of Capitalism, Racialism, and Historical Consciousness 7. Ota Benga’s Flight Through Geronimo’s Eyes: Tales of Science and Multiculturalism 8. Slavery and the Platonic Origins of Anti-democracy Part III - On World Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy 9. Fascism and the Response of Black Radical Theorists 10. Africa: In Hock to History and the Banks 11. The Comedy of Terror 12. Ralph Bunche and An American Dilemma Part IV - On Reality and Its (Mis)Representations 13. White Signs in Black Times: The Politics of Representation in Dominant Texts 14. The American Press and the Repairing of the Philippines 15. On the Los Angeles Times, Crack Cocaine, and the Rampart Division Scandal 16. Micheaux Lynches the Mammy 17. Blaxploitation and the Misrepresentation of Liberation 18. The Mulatta on Film: From Hollywood to the Mexican Revolution 19. Ventriloquizing Blackness: Eugene O’Neill and Irish-American Racial Performance Part V - On Resistance and Redemption 20. Malcolm Little as a Charismatic Leader 21. The Appropriation of Frantz Fanon 22. Amilcar Cabral and the Dialectic of Portuguese Colonialism 23. Race, Capitalism, and the Anti-democracy 24. David Walker and the Precepts of Black Studies 25. The Killing in Ferguson 26. On the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Index

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Book SynopsisAlbum provides an unparalleled look into Roland Barthes's life of letters. It presents a selection of correspondence, from his adolescence through the last years of his life. The first English-language publication of Barthes's letters, Album is a comprehensive testimony to one of the most influential critics of the twentieth century.Trade ReviewThe significance of this book—the first English-language publication of Barthes's correspondence—cannot be overestimated. Starting with Barthes's adolescence and the years in his late twenties spent in a sanatorium, these selected letters represent exchanges with longtime personal friends as well as many of the key figures of twentieth-century French intellectual history. -- Diana Knight, University of Nottingham[Album] offers charming insights into the famous literary critic’s development as a writer and thinker. . . . This new glimpse into a celebrated career will be rewarding to Barthes scholars. * Publishers Weekly *This wonderful book locates the elusive Roland Barthes—the very notion hints at its impossibility—in his various worlds: in the sanatorium, in literary and academic Paris, in the long escapade of structuralism and after. It succeeds in this attempt not by trying to define him but by allowing him to place himself among his friends and his books, among his colleagues and his projects. One of his dreams, he said, was ‘to disappear and still be close by.’ Here we begin to see how he managed to do just that. -- Michael Wood, Princeton UniversityRoland Barthes was my friend since 1957, though I’ve never had a friend whose offering exacted so little from anyone and so richly fulfilled the rewards of our intimacy—except for the pleasure of Roland’s texts, that are now beyond mourning. Roland arranged to take his mother and me from Paris to New York in the mid 1960s—her first visit since 1904 and her first air travel to the newly named Kennedy Airport, landing on top of a city Madame Barthes could never have imagined from her first encounter with it, and from then on everything was all pleasure. Moreover my discovery that his mother did not read his texts, and that Roland did not expect her to, eased some family tensions of my own. Roland was faithful to what Walter Pater, whom he had never heard of, calls “the administration of the visible”, for Roland adored the physical world: “Desire still irritates the non-will-to-possess by this perilous movement. I love you in my head, but imprison you behind my lips. I do not divulge. I speak silently to who is not yet or is no longer the other: I keep myself from loving you.” (A Lover’s Discourse.) The accents are those of Socrates, the first—as Roland was the latest—Docent of Desire. In his last letter, before he was run down by that laundry-truck: “Since Maman’s death there has been a scission in my life, in my psyche, and I have less courage to undertake things. Don’t hold it against me. Ne m’en veuille pas.” -- Richard Howard, Columbia UniversityAlbum is an enriching milestone. -- Neil Badmington * Times Literary Supplement *Album offers valuable insight, not only into the particulars of Barthes’s life, but also into the themes that haunted his writing, making it a worthwhile resource for Barthes scholars and ordinary readers alike. -- Ayten Tartici * Los Angeles Review of Books *The letters and manuscripts in this volume help the reader to understand not only the kinds of relationships that Barthes had, but also their nature. -- Nicholas P. Greco * ASAP/J *This publication underscores his contribution to 21st century French intellectual culture and his impact on literary studies. * Choice *The paradigmatic French intellectual, up close and intimate. -- Michael Dirda * The Washington Post *It does not propose to tell a story, but picks out moments, connections, elements of a life, and this is its contribution, methodological as much as it is informational, to Barthes studies. -- Callie Gardner * H-France *Rich in insights into Barthes's career, especially that of its ultimate phase. * American Book Review *The book can be read by everyone without any kind of difficulty. . . Highly recommended. -- Anna Maria Polidori * Articles and more.... *Table of ContentsForeword, by Éric MartyDeath of the FatherEncounter in the English Channel on the Night of October 26–27, 1916, Between German Destroyers and the Trawler Le MontaigneAcknowledgmentsNoteChronology1. From Adolescence to the Romance of the Sanatorium: 1932–462. The First Barthes3. The Great Ties4. A Few Letters Regarding a Few Books5. ExchangesNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisExplores libraries, both real and fictional, that have captured our imaginations.

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Book SynopsisThe Hsu-Tang Library presents authoritative and eminently readable translations of classical Chinese literature, in bilingual editions, ranging across three millennia and the entire Sinitic world.New Tales Told While Trimming the Wick by the talented scholar and poet of the Ming dynasty, Qu You (1347-1433), was the first work of fiction officially banned in China, but also the first internationally acclaimed collection of Chinese short stories. These tales often seem quite modern in their character development and plot intricacies, with characters facing ethical and moral challenges that are just as difficult to navigate today as they were over six hundred years ago. This collection is a crucial and delightful bridge between the classical tales of the Tang dynasty and Pu Songling''s famous Strange Tales from Liaozhai in the Qing. Despite being fiction filled with supernatural elements, New Tales offers fascinating insights into the life and society of China during the turbulent transition between the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Translated in full for the first time, with a contextual introduction to the stories and their author, historical and literary annotations to aid the reader, and bibliographical support, this volume introduces a collection of tales that have had a profound influence on literature across all of Asia.

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Book SynopsisSylvia Plath (1932-1963) was one of the writers who defined the course of twentieth-century poetry. Alongside a selection of photographs and Plath's own drawings, they masterfully contextualise what the pages disclose.This later correspondence witnesses Plath and Hughes becoming major, influential contemporary writers, as it happened.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Includes some of Duncan's greatest essays . . . a great help to all readers." * CHOICE *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: 1940s 1. An Embryo for God: Tropic of Capricorn 2. The Homosexual in Society 3. What to Do Now 4. Reviewing View, an Attack 5. Poetics of Music: Stravinsky 6. The Poet and Poetry—A Symposium Part II: 1950s 7. Pages from a Notebook 8. From a Notebook 9. Notes on Poetics regarding Olson’s Maximus Part III: 1960s 10. Properties and Our REAL Estate 11. Ideas of the Meaning of Form 12. After For Love 13. Preface: Helen Adam, Ballads 14. Poetry before Language 15. The Lasting Contribution of Ezra Pound 16. The Sweetness and Greatness of Dante’s Divine Comedy 17. Introduction: William Everson, Single Source 18. Towards an Open Universe 19. The Truth and Life of Myth: An Essay in Essential Autobiography 20. A Critical Difference of View 21. Man’s Fulfillment in Order and Strife 22. Jack Spicer, Poet: 1925–1965 Part IV: 1970s 23. Changing Perspectives in Reading Whitman 24. Notes on Grossinger’s Solar Journal: Oecological Sections 25. Iconographical Extensions 26. Of George Herms, His Hermes, and His Hermetic Art 27. From Notes on the Structure of Rime 28. Preface to a Reading of Passages 1–22 29. Kopóltuš 30. Introduction: Allen Upward, The Divine Mystery 31. An Art of Wondering 32. A Reading of Thirty Things 33. As Testimony: Reading Zukofsky These Forty Years 34. Wallace Berman: The Fashioning Spirit 35. In Introduction: John Taggart, Dodeka Part V: 1980s 36. Preface: Jack Spicer, One Night Stand & Other Poems 37. The Adventure of Whitman’s Line 38. The Self in Postmodern Poetry 39. Statement on Jacobus for Borregaard’s Museum 40. Afterword: Beverly Dahlen, The Egyptian Poems 41. The Delirium of Meaning Appendix: List of Uncollected Essays and Other Prose Notes Works Cited in the Essays Acknowledgments of Permissions Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Relentlessly beautiful. . . . Everything seems to be here, laying the groundwork for a major career.” * Publishers Weekly *"Reminds us that [Duncan] wrote some of the most stunningly beautiful lines in postwar American poetry." -- Micah Mattix * Books & Culture *

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Book SynopsisBorn in 1926 in France, Foucault is one of those rare philosophers who has become a cult figure. Over the course of his life he dabbled in drugs, politics, and the Paris SM scene, all whilst striving to understand the deep concepts of identity, knowledge, and power. From aesthetics to the penal system; from madness and civilisation to avant-garde literature, Foucault was happy to reject old models of thinking and replace them with versions that are still widely debated today. A major influence on Queer Theory and gender studies (he was openly gay and died of an AIDS-related illness in 1984), he also wrote on architecture, history, law, medicine, literature, politics, and of course philosophy. In this Very Short Introduction Gary Gutting presents a wide-ranging but non-systematic exploration of some highlights of Foucault''s life and thought. Beginning with a brief biography to set the social and political stage, he then tackles Foucault''s thoughts on literature, in particular the avant-garde scene; his philosophical and historical work; his treatment of knowledge and power in modern society; and his thoughts on sexuality. This new edition includes feminist criticisms of Foucault''s apparently sexist treatment of the Jouy case, as well as a new chapter offering a unified overview of the Collège de France lectures, now a major focus of interest in Foucault. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Table of Contents1: Lives and works 2: Literature 3: Politics 4: Archaeology 5: Genealogy 6: The masked philosopher 7: Madness 8: Crime and punishment 9: Modern sex 10: Ancient sex 11: Foucault after Foucault Further reading Index

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Book SynopsisKing lays bare the background to Moby-Dick by moving through the voyage of the Pequod, exploring topics in marine biology, oceanography, and the science of navigation as Ishmael raises them in the novel.Trade Review"Tired of binge-watching those mind-numbing programs and movies? During this pandemic, we've been warned to exercise regularly and that includes our brain. With extra time for nonessential activities, it's an opportunity to read a few good books--especially venturing into unfamiliar territory. . . . This book is excellent. Even if you haven't read Melville's classic of sea literature, you will be amazed at his command of the environmental world that is its setting. . . . What King says will entertain, inform, amuse and sadden you."--JoAnne Fuerst "The Ellsworth American" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "A unique take on Melville...The book is unquestionably well researched: King blends library research with personal experience and draws on interviews with contemporary 'oceanic' professionals, including maritime-historian colleagues, ocean scientists, and sailors. He also provides scores of photographs and other pertinent illustrations. Anyone interested in Melville will find this rich and insightful study fascinating--but those readers curious enough to see Moby-Dick as an oceanographic encyclopedia will benefit most."--J. W. Miller, Gonzaga University "Choice" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "An exquisitely detailed and gorgeously written book that reminds us of the wonder of Melville's novel and of the natural world in which it takes place. Fascinating accounts and descriptions of whales, swordfish, sharks, giant squid, ambergris, etc., and of the sea itself: then and now. And informed by a writer who has spent years at sea, is now a professor of maritime literature and history at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. King gives an original, loving rereading of Melville's novel. He is himself a master storyteller whose handsomely illustrated book is deeply informed and full of delightful surprises."--Jay Neugeboren "Ploughshares" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "King gives us natural history done Melville-style, looking over a ship's rail, and this ingenious focus neatly weds field science and literary history, yielding a study that is fresh, provocative, and welcome."--William Howarth "American Scholar" "Ultimately, answering these questions involves poetry more than science. Melville has combined the rational, objective, Darwinian perspective with the emotional, poetic, Emersonian perspective, pushing the reader to see nature as both dangerous and damaged. Here is King's main point: that Melville's novel can now be read as an introduction to environmental issues of the twenty-first century."--John P. Loonam "Washington Independent Review of Books" "King uses modern sources and historical texts to take a fresh look at Melville's book--published in the same decade as Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species--with the well-defined brief of assessing its natural history content. The result is a lighthearted and incredibly enjoyable read that manages somehow, at the right moments, to be both broad and narrow in scope. It should be required reading for anyone attempting Moby-Dick. . . . No captive of the library, King is an experienced seaman and an open-minded and intrepid guide. A visiting associate professor of maritime literature and history at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, he is willing to pull on his old Sou'wester and sail into the watery part of the world. . . . King writes ably and in scholarly detail about albatrosses, ambergris, baleen, barnacles, seals, sharks, sperm whale behavior and language, swordfish, typhoons, and all sorts of marine and cetological marginalia. . . . [A] talented and clear-eyed . . . writer."--Christopher J. Kemp "Science" "I'm an easy mark for books like Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of 'Moby-Dick, ' which I've read a perhaps unhealthy number of times, in light of Annie Dillard's opinion that Melville's baggy masterpiece is the 'best book ever written about nature.' Focusing on nineteenth century oceanography, natural history, and, of course, the whalers' understanding of his prey's remarkable intelligence, King's book is a fascinating and rare thing: a vital addition to Melville studies."--Stephen Sparks "LitHub, 12 Books You Should Read This October" "A treasure trove. King situates Melville as a person of his time, writing amid a quickening pace of discoveries about the natural world but, pre-On the Origin of Species, inclined to couch them as further disclosures of God's design."--Stephen Phillips "Spectator" "A rather schematic structure--Ahab's Rolling Sea could be used as a reference book, a zoological concordance to Moby-Dick--is combined with a genuinely gripping retelling of the tale."--Brian Morton "Times Literary Supplement" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Ahab's Rolling Sea highlights our destructiveness as it teases fact from fiction in Moby-Dick, the obsessive hunt for a great white whale. . . . Rigorous. . . . Original."--Chris Simms "New Scientist" "This is a superb work of popular scholarship that rivals the best books of maritime nonfiction currently in print. For any teacher, reader, or aficionado of Melville's magnum opus the present work will be a joy to read; for anyone curious about the current state of the marine environment, this book will be eye-opening."--Dan Brayton, Middlebury College, author of "Shakespeare's Ocean: An Ecocritical Exploration" "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "This examination of Moby-Dick as nature writing could be a sneaky way to get the English majors on your shopping list to read about science."--John P. Loonam "American Scientist" (12/11/2019 12:00:00 AM) "King, a visiting associate professor of maritime literature and history (what a fascinating title this is!), runs after the Leviathan of literary semantics in the most imaginative way: testing what Melville and people of his era knew about their natural environment, maritime ecosystems, birds, cetaceans, and whales before he published Moby-Dick in 1851. . . . King does his best not to be another Ahab seeing his 'White Whale' escaping. And he actually makes it: from the detailed research of the marine fauna to the possible influences of Emerson, Thoreau, Darwin, Bowditch on Melville. This is the retelling of Moby-Dick from an imaginative point of view: from the Pequod towards the cosmos surrounding us in the era of new environmentalism."--Dimitris Doulgeridis "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "King reflects on what we have learned and lost from the oceans since Melville's time. He answers questions many readers surely ponder. . . . Naturally, the book is full of spoilers. Read Moby-Dick, read this, then read Moby-Dick again."--John P. Loonam "BBC Wildlife" (12/11/2019 12:00:00 AM) "King decisively settles any lingering questions about Moby-Dick, nineteenth-century whales and whaling, and all lore and literature of the sea. More than establishing a factual basis for Ishmael's fiction-making, King writes passionately on climate change, economic pressures on sea creatures, and the future Melville confronts in his marvelous encounter with the 'wonder-world' of whaling. King's deep knowledge grounds lively storytelling, keen observations drawn from years of sailing, and an eye for details that will make Melville's book come alive. But even if you haven't read Moby-Dick, you will revel in this storehouse of fascinating tales and arcana, from Ambergris to Zeuglodon. A treasure for library, classroom, or bedside table."--Wyn Kelley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, author of Melville's City: Literary and Urban Form in Nineteenth-Century New York and Herman Melville: An Introduction "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "It took me decades to appreciate that Melville's messy, uncontainable, surging Moby-Dick is perhaps the greatest book ever written about the sea, and about the human relationship with the living world, and perhaps the only book sufficiently un-jaded by mercantilism and modernity to be worthy of the actual ocean itself in all its raw, uncontrollable, surging majesty. But if you don't want to wait decades for Melville's magnificence to be revealed, you can cheat and read King's book. Ahab's Rolling Sea is a marvelous guide to the magic and mystery that was Melville's gift to us, for King reveals the deep, deep backstory of the making of Moby-Dick, the vast pots of experience and information that Melville simmered down, and even the missing ingredients of his age, that made Moby-Dick the richest bouillabaisse in all of literature. Oh, and about Melville's missing ingredients--they're here, in King's terrific book."--Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas and Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Herman Melville's sprawling masterpiece Moby-Dick is a fictional feat studded with empirical evidence, reveals maritime historian King in this invigorating study. King traces references to ethology, meteorology, marine microbiota and the oceans to Melville's sailing experience in the Pacific and wranglings with the works of scientists William Scoresby, Louis Agassiz and others. Moby-Dick, King boldly avers, is a 'proto-Darwinian fable'--and its beleaguered narrator, Ishmael, an early environmentalist."--John P. Loonam "Nature" "Anyone who loves Moby-Dick should read this book."--Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the National Book Award-winning In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex and Why Read 'Moby-Dick'? "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Ahab's Rolling Sea is a wide-ranging, highly personal, richly eclectic, and extremely well-researched book whose style and humor, combined with its rigor, suggest the potential for popularity even beyond the fascinations of this self-confessed whalehead. Who could not warm to a chapter titled 'Gulls, Sea-Ravens, and Albatrosses' or 'Sword-Fish and Lively Grounds, ' or be intrigued by 'Phosphorescence'? There's a Melvillean romance here, and it sits especially well with King's love and empathy for human as well as natural history. A contemporary, witty, almost postmodern field guide."--Philip Hoare, author of RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR, The Sea Inside, The Whale, and Leviathan "TA NEA (Greece)" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Depending on who you are, reading Moby-Dick, first published in 1851, could be a sleep-inducing slog or a stellar sea yarn of man versus whale. But the book has (sea) legs, and since its release has proved to be one of the most enduring books of American fiction. Its literary merits have been discussed and debated, but King, a professor of maritime literature and history, examines the book as a work of nature writing . . . He does extensive reporting, delving into everything from the rigging of whaleships to the diet of sperm whales."--J. W. Miller, Gonzaga University "Hakai Magazine" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Are you? a Moby-Dickhead? If so, are you enough of a Moby-Dickhead to have visited the Phallological Museum in Iceland to inspect a sperm whale's penis? This is one of the many intrepid expeditions undertaken by King in the course of researching Ahab's Rolling Sea. His book, like Moby-Dick itself, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about whales but were too ashamed to ask. The fact that the sperm whale's penis, or 'grandissimus', is four and a half feet long is just one of its juicier details. . . . It turns out that, with due allowance for the state of knowledge in the 1850s, Melville got a surprising amount right about whales: their size, their bone structure, their mass, even their emotional lives. . . . Anyone who isn't completely turned off by sea creatures will enjoy surfing the waves of information that roll genially from this book. Ahab's Rolling Sea also has a big thesis. King argues that Moby-Dick offers a 'proto-Darwinian decentring of the human and the elevation of the whale.' . . . It would be hard to fault either the motives or the facts underlying King's ecological zeal."--JoAnne Fuerst "London Review of Books" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Simply breathtaking, in that it takes one's breath away and refills the lungs with a gust of salty sea breeze...Ahab's Rolling Sea collects accounts from literary criticism, theory, climate activism, and natural history for a deep dive into one of the most popular maritime novels around--Herman Melville's Moby-Dick...The relatability and readability of Ahab's Rolling Sea, at a time when the sea has much receded from daily life, is a testament to King's pedagogical, sailorly, and descriptive mastery. King invites us to stand aloft with him and Ishmael, and look out toward the wonderful, ever-rolling sea. Maybe, if we look close enough, we will even get to see a whale."--Alison Maas "H-Environment" (1/17/2020 12:00:00 AM)

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Against our contemporary mania for growth, Campion positions poetry's particular contribution to a human understanding of the last hundred years of history as a form of cunning motility. The last line of this book proclaims, "We'll know the sincere poem by the way it moves," and the essays within move deftly with the poems themselves, capturing both spirit and form. American poetry, in Campion's story, doesn't celebrate freedoms preserved but acknowledges reality changed. I remember some of these essays, when they first appeared in the best journals, as vitally acerbic and fiercely challenging. And they remain so--but the raw material of the necessary book that collects them, Radical as Reality, is revealed to be wonder rather than judgment. Here, poet-critic Campion celebrates the spaciousness and splendor of a found family of American poets, less fathered by the great men of Modernism and their heir, Robert Lowell, than fostered in their own diverse practices."--Katie Peterson, author of A Piece of Good News and editor of Robert Lowell's New Selected Poems "Peter Campion's Radical as Reality returns poetry reviewing to its central place in American literary culture. His muscular prose is addressed to the reader looking for the pulse of America as it beats in the passions and rhythms of our best poets."--Bonnie Costello, author of The Plural of Us: Poetry and Community in Auden and Others

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Book SynopsisGeoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain—the earliest book to detail the legendary foundation of Britain and life of King Arthur—was widely read during the Middle Ages. This volume presents the first English translation of what may have been his source, the anonymous First Variant Version, attested in just a handful of manuscripts.

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Book SynopsisVictorian Liberalism and Material Culture assesses the unexplored links between Victorian material culture and political theory.

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Book SynopsisThe new edition of the Great Writing series provides clear explanations, extensive models of academic writing and practice to help learners write great sentences, paragraphs, and essays. With expanded vocabulary instruction, sentence-level practice, and National Geographic content to spark ideas, students have the tools they need to become confident writers. Updated in this Edition:Clearly organized units offer the practice students need to become effective independent writers. Each unit includes: Part 1: Elements of Great Writing teaches the fundamentals of organized writing, accurate grammar, and precise mechanics.Part 2: Building Better Vocabulary provides practice with carefully-selected, level-appropriate academic words. Part 3: Building Better Sentences helps writers develop longer and more complex sentences. Part 4: Writing activities allow students to apply what they have learned by guiding them through writing, editing, and revising. Part 5: New Test Prep section gives a test-taking tip and timed task to prepare for high-stakes standardized tests, including IELTs and TOEFL. The new guided online writing activity takes students through the entire writing process with clear models for reference each step of the way.

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Book SynopsisOffers the most comprehensive assessment yet of Lawrence?s relationship with the arts Places Lawrence in the context of the latest developments in fields including life writing, posthumanism, queer theory, and technology studiesConsiders Lawrence''s continued reception in other people''s art, and the nature of his relevance todayThis book includes twenty-eight innovative chapters by specialists from across the arts, reassessing Lawrence?s relationship to aesthetic categories and specific art forms in their historical and critical contexts. A new picture of Lawrence as an artist emerges, expanding from traditional areas of enquiry in prose and poetry into the fields of drama, painting, sculpture, music, architecture, dance, historiography, life writing and queer aesthetics. The Companion presents original research on topics such as Lawrence?s politics in his art, his representations of technology, his practice of revising and rewriting, and the relationship between his criticism and creation of prose, poetry and painting. This interdisciplinary Companion also makes a strong case for Lawrence?s continuing relevance and aesthetic power, as represented by case studies of his afterlives in biofiction, cinema, musical settings and portraiture.

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