ELT & Literary Studies Books

Book SynopsisThis is a book about a poet, about a poem, about a city, and about a world at a point of change. More than a work of literary criticism or literary biography, it is a record of why and how we create and respond to great poetry.This is a book about a poet W. H. Auden, a wunderkind, a victim-beneficiary of a literary cult of personality who became a scapegoat and a poet-expatriate largely excluded from British literary history because he left.About a poem September 1, 1939', his most famous and celebrated, yet one which he tried to rewrite and disown and which has enjoyed or been condemned to a tragic and unexpected afterlife.About a city New York, an island, an emblem of the Future, magnificent, provisional, seamy, and in 1939 about to emerge as the defining twentieth-century cosmopolis, the capital of the world.And about a world at a point of change about 1939, and about our own Age of Anxiety, about the aftermath of September 11, when many American newspapers reprinted Auden's pTrade ReviewPraise for September 1, 1939: ‘Sansom has given us a book in which all serious readers of Auden will find something to value. He has chosen exactly the right poem for our times to anchor his thoughts on this man who came to define a generation’ Literary Review ‘Richly entertaining … explores what goes on in the poem and why it has had such an impact. Shandyesque and magpie-like, scholarly yet frolicsome, the book makes room for all manner of diverse material, to great effect’ Blake Morrison, Guardian Praise for Paper: ‘Engaging and dynamic’ Andrew Martin, Financial Times ‘Wonderfully diverting…Splendidly dense with fact and thought’ Steven Poole, Times Literary Supplement ‘Sansom’s scholarship is prodigious; his enthusiasm inexhaustible…He can make one laugh out loud by his placing of a single word’ Daily Telegraph ‘A collection of ever so erudite, witty, chucklesome essays, rich with digressions and asides, on paper, in many of its guises, that seeks to refute – and does refute – the idea that we are moving towards a paperless world’ Bookmunch

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.All the world''s a stage,And all the men and women merely players.'Featuring Rosalind, one of Shakespeare's most likeable and strong female protagonists, As You Like It is a comedic play centred around concealed identity, love, exile and artifice. Banished from the court by her uncle, Rosalind flees to the forest with her cousin Celia and her jester, joining her already exiled father, and disguising herself as a boy. In the guise of a young man, she instructs her would-be lover Orlando in the ways of love and in doing so allows Shakespeare to explore the dynamics of the city and the country as well as the sexual politics of the time.

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2015 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZEGripping and at times ineffably sad, this book would be poetic even without the poetry. It will be the standard biography of Ted Hughes for a long time to come' Sunday TimesSeldom has the life of a writer rattled along with such furious activity A moving, fascinating biography' The TimesTed Hughes, Poet Laureate, was one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. He is one of Britain's most important poets, a poet of claws and cages: Jaguar, Hawk and Crow. Event and animal are turned to myth in his work. Yet he is also a poet of deep tenderness, of restorative memory steeped in the English literary tradition. A poet of motion and force, of rivers, light and redemption, of beasts in brooding landscapes.With an equal gift for poetry and prose, and with a soul as capacious as any poet who has lived, he was also a prolific children's writer and has been hailed as the greatest English letter-writer since John Keats. With his magnetic persTrade Review‘Remarkable … one of the very best biographies in years’ Joyce Carol Oates ‘I found it as spirited and sympathetic as it is scorching’ Bel Mooney, Books of the Year, Daily Mail ‘A work of head-spinning revelations … Bate offers a complete picture of Hughes: the man, the work and the restless mythologies that prowled his imagination … A moving, fascinating biography’ The Times ‘Comprehensive and definitive … Bate's relaxed prose keeps everything moving anecdotally … underpinning it all is a vast command of archival material … He is also a sure guide to the genesis and reception of each of Hughes's major books’ Daily Telegraph ‘Bate captures the great poet in all his wild complexity … A powerful and clarifying study, richly layered and compelling’ Melyn Bragg, Observer ‘[An] important … ultimately triumphant biography … Bate is obviously suited as a biographer and critic. His standing in his academic profession is eminent’ Financial Times ‘Magisterial … Bate writes with sympathy and perception about Hughes and his poetry. This fine book tells readers as much as they need to know for now’ Economist ‘Bate has read this huge mass of material with a scholar’s ability to date and arrange it … This scrupulous and lucid biography makes it all seem like muddle and self-deception, tormenting to himself and the many who loved him’ Guardian ‘Fascinating’ John Preston, Spectator, Books of the Year ‘Elegantly retells the myth and, occasionally, violence of the story and gives it new flesh’, Philip Hoare, Spectator, Books of the Year ‘The most controversial biography of the year’, Gaby Wood, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year ‘Epic in both scale and voice’ Independent, Books of the Year ‘Manages to illuminate the poet’s lowering literary presence’ Financial Times, Books of the Year ‘A great present idea for the literary fan in your life. Bate’s fascinating biography is a painstaking exploration of Hughes’ Mail on Sunday

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Book SynopsisIn the most famous gothic horror story ever told, Shelley confronts the limitations of science, the nature of human cruelty and the pathway to forgiveness.The rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open'Victor Frankenstein's monster is stitched together from the limbs of the dead, taken from the dissecting room and the slaughter-house'. The result is a grotesque being who, rejected by his maker and starved of human companionship, sets out on a journey to seek his revenge. In the most famous gothic horror story ever told, Shelley confronts the limitations of science, the nature of human cruelty and the pathway to forgiveness.Begun when Mary Shelley was only eighteen years old and published two years later, this chilling tale of a young scientist's desire to create life and the consequences of that creation still resonates today.

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Book SynopsisExam Board: AQALevel: GCSE Grade 9-1Subject: English LiteratureSuitable for the 2024 examsEverything you need to revise for your GCSE 9-1 set text in a snap guideEverything you need to score top marks on your GCSE Grade 9-1 English Literature exam is right at your fingertips! Revise The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon in a snap with this new GCSE Grade 9-1 Snap Revision Text Guide from Collins. Refresh your knowledge of the plot, context, characters and themes and pick up top tips along the way to ace your AQA exam. Each topic is explained in an easy-to-read format so you can get straight to the point. Then, put your skills to the test with plenty of practice questions included in every section. The Snap Text Guides are packed with every quote and extract you need. We've even included examples of how to plan and write your essay responses! This Collins English Literature revision guide contains all the key information you need to practise and pass.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.Written in 1876, this is a novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River.

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Book SynopsisExam Board: SQALevel: N5/Higher Subject: EnglishNeed extra help with English Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation? Revise National 5 and Higher English in a snap with Leckie SNAP Revision! Revise and review your understanding of sentence structure, word choice, close reading and language skills with this handy RUAE guide. First, different SQA-type questions are broken down so that you know exactly what to expect on the day of your exam. Next, exam topics and techniques such as understanding, language, written answers and grammar are detailed clearly and concisely, with colourful sections that are easy-to-read. Finally, put your knowledge to the test with plenty of exam practice, followed by model answers that allow you to check your understanding. With lots of top tips included throughout, this SQA English revision guide has all the tools you need to get a top mark! Revise SQA Poetry in a snap with Leckie SNAP Revision: Poetry by Norman MacCaig (9780008306670) and Carol Ann Duffy (9780008306687).

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Book SynopsisExam Board: EdexcelLevel: GCSE Grade 9-1Subject: English LiteratureSuitable for the 2025 examsEverything you need to revise for your GCSE 9-1 set text in a snap guideEverything you need to score top marks on your GCSE Grade 9-1 English Literature exam is right at your fingertips! Revise Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson in a snap with this new GCSE Grade 9-1 Snap Revision Text Guide from Collins. Refresh your knowledge of the plot, context, characters and themes and pick up top tips along the way to ace your Edexcel exam. Each topic is explained in an easy-to-read format so you can get straight to the point. Then, put your skills to the test with plenty of practice questions included in every section. The Snap Text Guides are packed with every quote and extract you need. We've even included examples of how to plan and write your essay responses! This Collins English Literature revision guide contains all the key information you need to practise and pass.

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Book SynopsisExam Board: EdexcelLevel: GCSE Grade 9-1Subject: English LiteratureSuitable for the 2024 examsEverything you need to revise for your GCSE 9-1 set text in a snap guideEverything you need to score top marks on your GCSE Grade English Literature exam is right at your fingertips! Revise Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare in a snap with this new GCSE Grade 9-1 Snap Revision Text Guide from Collins. Refresh your knowledge of the plot, context, characters and themes and pick up top tips along the way to ace your Edexcel exam. Each topic is explained in an easy-to-read format so you can get straight to the point. Then, put your skills to the test with plenty of practice questions included in every section. The Snap Text Guides are packed with every quote and extract you need. We've even included examples of how to plan and write your essay responses! For more revision on Shakespeare, check out our Snap Revision Text Guide on Macbeth (9780008353025).

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Book SynopsisExam board: EdexcelLevel: A-level Year 2Subject: MathsSuitable for the 2024 examsComplete revision and practice to fully prepare for the A-level exam Discover how to banish ineffective revision and use study skills that will help you to do brilliantly in your A Level exams Understand what really successful students do to help them towards top grades in A Level English Literature Implement practice methods that actually improve your memoryRead this book to find out more!Chapter 1. Effective revision for English examsChapter 2. Organising your notes and annotationsChapter 3. Building up a bank of killer quotesChapter 4. Exploding your quotesChapter 5. Applying critical viewpointsChapter 6. Using context successfullyChapter 7. Developing your academic styleChapter 8. Improving practice essaysChapter 9. Getting ready for the unseen textsChapter 10. Taking care of yourself and coping with examsTrade Review‘This new guide to revision focusses on helping students maximise their potential and their time, as well as showing them how to stretch themselves and achieve success in A Level English Literature. Roberts’ practical strategies are presented in an accessible, concise format, making this volume useful for both students and teachers alike…’ – Amy Smith Literature

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.Why, sometimes I''ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'?When Alice follows the White Rabbit down a?magical?tunnel, her world is changed forever.??In Wonderland, a place where nothing is quite as it seems, Alice meets the Cheshire Cat,?who can disappear at will; the Mad Hatter, who has a fondness for riddles;?and the terrifying Queen?of Hearts, who enjoys nothing more than chopping off people's heads.?Introducing some of the most iconic characters in literature, mad tea parties and games of?flamingo?croquet, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass have captured the hearts and imaginations of readers for over 150 years.?

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.She wished to find out about this hazardous business of passing, this breaking away from all that was familiar and friendly to take one's chance in another environment'The elegant Clare Kendry glides through New York's high-society circles with ease, until the day she is reacquainted with her childhood friend, Irene. Clare chooses to pass' as white, hiding her African American heritage from her bigoted husband, while Irene leads a life that embraces it. As both women observe the other, a relationship of mutual fascination, obsession and secrets begins, one that will end in devastating circumstances.Published in 1929, Nella Larsen's Passing lays bare the complexities of identity, race, class and gender. The novella established Larsen as one of the most important female authors in American literature and is considered a literary masterpiece of the Harlem Renaissance era.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.In a moment I was clutched by several hands, and there was no mistaking that they were trying to haul me back . . . You can scarce imagine how nauseatingly inhuman they looked those pale chinless faces and great, lidless, pinkish-grey eyes!An English scientist regales his dinner guests with the tale of his travels to the year 802,701, where he discovers that the human race has evolved into two distinct societies. The Eloi, elegant and peaceful, yet lacking spirit, are terrorised by the sinister, light-fearing Morlocks, who live underground, surrounded by industry. And when his time machine mysteriously vanishes, the scientist must descend to the realm of the Morlocks in order to find his only hope of escape . . .H. G. Wells is considered a founding father of modern science fiction, coining the term time machine' and popularising the idea of time travel in literature.

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Book SynopsisThe acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Smash Cut, Flannery, and City Poet delivers the first popular biography of Rumi, the thirteenth-century Persian poet revered by contemporary Western readers.Ecstatic love poems of Rumi, a Persian poet and Sufi mystic born over eight centuries ago, are beloved by millions of readers in America as well as around the world. He has been compared to Shakespeare for his outpouring of creativity and to Saint Francis of Assisi for his spiritual wisdom. Yet his life has long remained the stuff of legend rather than intimate knowledge. In this breakthrough biography, Brad Gooch brilliantly brings to life the man and puts a face to the name Rumi, vividly coloring in his time and place—a world as rife with conflict as our own. The map of Rumi’s life stretched over 2,500 miles. Gooch traces this epic journey from Central Asia, where Rumi was born in 1207, traveling with his family, displaced bTrade Review“A dazzling feat of scholarship…the book restores Rumi to the glories and hardships of his momentous age.” — Washington Post “Profound, important….flows with the ease of good fiction….Rumi’s Secret offers an expanded view of the 13th – century poet.” — Christian Science Monitor “Gooch’s biography brings the political and intellectual tumult of the early medieval era to life, producing vivid characters and memorable portraits of urban experience…a sensitive and passionate introduction.” — New York Times Book Review “A biography that is painstaking enough to withstand scholarly scrutiny without losing the compelling storyline.” — Lion’s Roar “Their friendship transformed Rumi’s life, and transports this biography into an exquisite, joyous realm.” — New Yorker “Brad Gooch brilliantly pins both the life of the spirit and the magic of the poet to the page in this intimate, entrancing, sumptuous biography. Flutes play, goldsmiths hammer, silver bells jingle in camel ears -- and Rumi’s lush music washes over the reader. “Everyone is born once. I have been born many times,” wrote the Persian poet. Never before like this.” — Stacy Schiff, Author of The Witches and Cleopatra “Extraordinary… Brad Gooch’s fine, searching biography, “Rumi’s Secret,” will fascinate his subject’s many admirers. We will never fully know Rumi, but thanks to Mr. Gooch, we know him better.” — The Wall Street Journal “An excellent and accessible introduction to the profound and generous mystical vision of Rumi that will give Western readers a much needed insight into the true spirituality of Islam.” — Karen Armstrong, Author of A History of God and Muhammad “Rumi’s life in this telling is as compelling as his poetry. Rumi’s Secret is a beautiful and relevant book.” — Reza Aslan, author of No god but God and Zealot “…a wondrous groundbreaking book….Never have we known Rumi this intimately or understood the life behind the verse so well. Brad Gooch moves elegantly between storytelling, the psychologies of relationships, and evocative criticism….His graceful prose is charged with luminous details: the sounds, the sights, the very feel of these worlds, and how they generated Rumi’s ecstatic yet practical verse. With Rumi’s Secret, Gooch has not only set another high-water mark in literary biography, he has given the fullness of Rumi to us at a moment when we need him more than ever.” — Harvard Review “Brad Gooch unfolds the secret of Rumi’s art, mapping the transformation of Rumi’s life-experiences into his poems. Friendship, poetry, and spirituality intertwine into a felt experience for readers. Before we know it, Rumi has caught us up in his own experience and we are changed.” — Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, chairman of The Cordoba Initiative “This is a monumental book, an illumination, an achievement worthy of Rumi’s remarkable journey and lasting influence. May it dance its way to a wide audience, changing lives and bridging cultures, as Mevlana himself did.” — Eboo Patel, author of Acts of Faith “Suffice it to say, it’s Brad Gooch who holds the key to Rumi’s Secret.” — Vanity Fair: Hot Type “In these deeply divisive times, it matters more than ever to deepen our understanding of the roots of sacred Islam, and this deeply researched and highly literary biography of Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic, is at once prescriptive and enlivening.” — Chicago Tribune

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Book SynopsisSartre''s powerful political passions were united with a memorable literary gift, placing him foremost among the novelists, as well as the philosophers, of our time. Iris Murdoch''s pioneering study analyses and evaluates the different strands of Sartre''s rich and complex oeurve. Combining the objectivity of the scholar with a profound interest in contemporary problems, Iris Murdoch discusses the tradition of philosophical, political and aesthetic thought that gives historical authenticity to Satre''s achievement, while showing the ambiguities and dangers inherent in his position.Trade ReviewA penetrating introduction to the romantic rationalist, novelist and penseur * The Times *Iris Murdoch's concise study... reads as clear and logical as it did in 1953, and remains one of the best friends to anyone who wants to understand what existentialism was all about * Evening Standard *With a cool and luminous introduction...Sartre: Romantic Rationalist is all about the thinker, about his philosophy and his novels... Her fair if unflattering book is the best way in to what finally matters to Sartre * Observer *A remarkably intelligent and penetrating introduction to Sartre * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisWith superb skill and feeling, Graham Greene retraces the experiences and encounters of his extraordinary life. His restlessness is legendary; as if seeking out danger, Greene travelled to Haiti during the nightmare rule of Papa Doc, Vietnam in the last days of the French, Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion. With ironic delight he recalls his time in the British Secret Service in Africa, and his brief involvement in Hollywood. He writes, as only he can, about people and places, about faith, doubt, fear and, not least, the trials and craft of writing.Trade ReviewInspiring...provides the best possible introduction to the novels but also the portrait of a dedicated artist * Observer *Ways of Escape is as good as the best of its kind...marvellously rich -- William Trevor * Guardian *Excellent reading...wonderfully good * Sunday Telegraph *The writing is suffused with melancholy regret, not for what he writes, one feels, but for what he has left out * Independent *Greene is unrivalled in his ability to evoke location and the human condition -- Carol Drinkwater * Daily Express *

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Book SynopsisPhilip Roth is the voice of our times.In a sequence of intimate conversations with some of the most influential and insightful writers of the twentieth century, Roth explores the importance of region, politics and history in their work and that of their predecessors.What qualities helped Primo Levi survive the demented laboratory of Auschwitz? What does Milan Kundera make of being denounced as a subversive writer in communist Czechoslovakia? What does Edna O''Brien think drove generations of Irish writers into exile?Between colleagues and friends there is a startling candour seldom found in formal interviews, a sense that the guard is dropped, the ideas unbounded, as the conversations crackle with an urgency of ideas. Shop Talk is a literary symposium of the highest calibre, profoundly revelatory and consistently enlightening.Trade ReviewRiveting * Sunday Times *Roth brings out something adamantine and irreducible about each of his interlocutors... Rings with what his readers will recognise as Rothian intelligence * New York Times *The questions are serious, respectful and intelligent, and the interviewees respond in kind * Times Literary Supplement *Roth manages to tease from his subjects the convictions that fuel their work and the vulnerabilities that make them human... Yet another example of [his] clarity of purpose and singular intelligence * New York Times Book Review *Fascinating glimpses of some of the deans of postwar literature [and] a working diagram of the very engine that makes Roth run * Los Angeles Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisPeter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet and broadcaster. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers London: The Biography, Thames: Sacred River and London Under; biographies of figures including Charles Dickens, William Blake, Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock; and a multi-volume history of England. He has won the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature's William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and the South Bank Prize for Literature. He holds a CBE for services to literature.Trade ReviewI can do no more than praise, recommend, insist that you buy and read this book.It supersedes all other Dickens biographies * Anthony Burgess, Independent *A truly magnificent biography.This is the complete, the nonesuch, the definitive Dickens * Sheridan Morley *A breathtaking feat of scholarship * The Times *Landmark biography… fascinating and colourful detail… first rate * Daily Express *Can't imagine a better introduction to the life and work of the quintessential English novelist than Peter Ackroyd's superb biography -- Simon Shaw * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisHilary Spurling won the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize for The Early Life of Ivy Compton-Burnett 1884-1919, and the Duff Cooper Prize and Heinemann Award for Secrets of a Woman's Heart: The Later Life of Ivy Compton-Burnett 1920-1969. She is also the author of Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book, Paper Spirits and The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell. She has been Arts and Literary Editor of the Spectator, and a regular reviewer for the Observer, the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph.Trade ReviewHilary Spurling's exhaustive analysis of the novel's characters supplies a master-key for the reader -- Anthony Powell

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Book SynopsisJohn Crace''s ''Digested Read'' column in the Guardian has rightly acquired a cult following. Each week fans avidly devour his latest razor-sharp literary assassination, while authors turn tremblingly to the appropriate page of the review section, fearful that it may be their turn to be mercilessly sent up.Now he turns his critical eye on the classics of the last century, offering bite-sized pastiches of everything from Mrs Dalloway to Trainspotting via Lolita and The Great Gatsby. Those who have never quite got around to reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man will be delighted to find its essence distilled into a handful of paragraphs. Those who have never really enjoyed Lord of the Flies will be pleased to find it hilariously parodied in an easily swallowable 982 words. And those who find all such works a little highbrow will be relieved to discover, between the covers of this book, John Crace''s take on the likes of Ian Fleming, P. G. Wodehouse and the Highway Code.Witty and sharp, this is essential reading both for those who genuinely love literature and for those who merely want to appear ridiculously well read.Trade ReviewA swift kick up the backside to some of modern literature's most iconic works. Accurate, merciless and very, very funny -- Sarah WatersI've read all these books at least twice - and now I've read John Crace's digested versions I wonder why I bothered -- Will SelfA genius and a madman. The meanest, funniest parodist alive -- Joanna BriscoeFor the last 10 years [Crace's] 'Digested Reads' have been reason enough to buy the Guardian. Taking a well-known novel, he gives a brief distillation of the plot while capturing - often perfectly - the tone of its author. At the same time, he jabs a sharpened elbow into their pomposities and limitations * Spectator *Beautifully observed and poisonously cruel ... laugh-out-loud funny * The Lady *

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Book SynopsisJohn Cheever was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1912, and he went to school at Thayer Academy in South Braintree. He is the author of seven collections of stories and five novels. His first novel, The Wapshot Chronicle, won the 1958 National Book Award. In 1965 he received the Howells Medal for Fiction from the National Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1978 he won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Shortly before his death in 1982 he was awarded the National Medal for Literature.Trade ReviewOne of the most compelling and intimate books you'll ever read * Independent *Beautifully written, lyrically spiritual, sexually candid memoirs * Mail on Sunday *Cheever's journals include the struggle for recognition, the problem-drinking and covert homosexuality of a public figure and, finally, cancer. His intelligence and honesty powerfully communicate the sense of life as an urgent predicament * Sunday Times *These diaries are so painfully personal...that they were not published until after his death. But they also concentrate the true essence of what made his short stories great * Sunday Express *John Cheever understood fallibility and that made for the greatness in his writing * The Times *

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Book SynopsisIn these extraordinary poems, using multiple viewpoints - from Darwin himself, to his beloved wife Emma, and even, at one point, the orangutang at London Zoo - Ruth Padel illuminates the development of Darwin''s thought, the drama of the discovery of evolution, and the fluctuating emotions of Darwin the husband, the naturalist and the tender father, in a powerful tribute to her famous ancestor.Shortlisted for the 2009 Costa Poetry Award.Trade ReviewExquisite, precise and moving poems... Once I started reading I could not put it down until I had reached the end, and then I turned back for the pleasure of reading again -- Claire TomalinA fascinating, very rich book... With sympathy and grace, Padel moves deftly between between science, love and family; between the vast processes of evolution and a personal life -- Sean O'BrienDaring and exciting, brilliant and subtle, stunning and deeply impressive... a lesson to biographers and poets alike -- Colm ToibinAmbitious... shows her extraordinary talent * Observer *Moments of Darwin's life captured with an economy and fluency that prosaic biographers might envy * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisDavid Lodge (CBE)'s novels include Changing Places, Small World and Nice Work (shortlisted for the Booker) and, most recently, A Man of Parts. He has also written plays and screenplays, and several books of literary criticism. His works have been translated into more than thirty languages. He is Emeritus Professor of English Literature at Birmingham, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and is a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.Trade ReviewThe professor, the critic and the novelist work in harmony to provide a valuable tutorial on modern fiction * Observer *A fascinating survey of how novels convey our thoughts * Guardian *The abandonment of civilized talk about literature by the ‘theory’ fraternity would leave us very short if it were not for the likes of Lodge, the quality of whose prose and insights, not least because they both come matured from the casks of his own vocation, is a high treat. Leave consciousness to the neurophysiologists and philosophers, and explore human experience and selfhood with Lodge and the novelists, and enjoy -- A. C. Grayling * Financial Times *Lodge is a clear writer, wise about things and a careful reader and in general kind even to people who plainly irritate him -- Sam Leith * Spectator *He excels when he writes about books. His wide learning and through understanding of critical trends give confidence and enthusiasm to his work * Sunday Times *Lodge’s animating spark is his sedulousness, his ability to marshal the facts, pronounce a judgement and then subtly qualify it -- D. J. Taylor * Independent on Sunday *Consciousness and the Novel makes a bright, instructive introduction to David Lodge – as critic and novelist – for anyone who does not know his work * San Francisco Chronicle *Most other critics would make heavy weather of such topics, but Lodge always scintillates * Boston Globe *

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Book SynopsisThis is the story of Christopher Isherwood's parents their meeting in 1895, marriage in 1903 after his father had returned from the Boer War, and his father's death in an assault on Ypres in 1915, which left his mother a widow until her own death in 1960. As well as a family memoir, it is a social history of a period of striking change, and a portrait of the world which shaped Isherwood and which he rejected.Trade ReviewShows a deeper understanding of much that he had once rebelled against * Guardian *A moving account of his parents' marriage based on their letters and diaries * Independent *A social history of the first half of the twentieth century and a study of artistic megalomania... Christopher writes about Christopher with fine, clear, cool precision * Spectator *There emerge from this book three remarkable characters, two highly edifying, one a writer of compelling talent * Catholic Herald *

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Book SynopsisDuring the early fifties, Kenya was a country in turmoil. While Ngugi enjoys scouting trips, chess tournaments and reading about Biggles at the prestigious Alliance School near Nairobi, things are changing at home. He arrives back for his first visit since starting school to find his house razed to the ground and the entire village moved up the road closer to a guard checkpoint. Later, his brother, Good Wallace, who fights for the rebels, is captured by the British and taken to a concentration camp. Finally, Ngugi himself comes into conflict with the forces of colonialism when he is victimised by a police officer on a bus journey and thrown in prison for six days. This fascinating memoir charts the development of a significant voice in international literature, as well as standing as a record of the struggles of a nation to free itself.Trade ReviewGrowing up in Kenya in the 1950s, the future novelist went to an elite school run by a Briton just as the Mau Mau uprising swept his family into the revolt against colonial rule. This powerful memoir depicts a youth torn between these separate worlds * i *This is a book about a young boy’s fear, not just of letting his mother down or failing to fulfill his potential, but some of the worst political violence that Africa endured in the colonial period -- Tim Butcher * Mail on Sunday *No writer alive today has more complex experience to draw upon or greater resource to convey it -- Brian Morton * Glasgow Herald *The only thing more amazing than identifying the themes of your life is using them to create deceptively simple literature about it. Such labor is child’s play for the Kenyan novelist and playwright Ngugi wa Thiong'o... [With] echoes of Barack Obama’s own Dreams... [Thiong’o] easily keeps the balance between the whimsical, political, spiritual and personal -- Todd Steven Burroughs * Ebony *Eloquently telegraphs the complicated experience of being simultaneously oppressed and enlightened at the hands of a colonial regime * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisWITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY RACHEL COOKEReading Shaking a Leg is like spending time with the funniest, wisest friend you've ever had; a person whose breadth of interest ranges from food to feminism to science fiction, and everything in between; a person with an entirely unpredictable train of thought but whose exuberance, knowledge and insight sweeps you along. Bursting with ideas, culturally astute and sparklingly witty, this comprehensive volume of Angela Carter's journalism is the most down-to-earth and entertaining companion to latter twentieth-century thought you'll ever need.Trade ReviewShaking a Leg reveals a stunning range of interests that marks her out not just as one of our greatest novelists and short story writers but as one of our best literary and cultural critics... If you would like better to understand the workings of the second half of our century, then this is the book -- Ali Smith * Scotsman *Reading Shaking a Leg is like sitting down with a friend who is clever, funny, outrageous, compassionate, anecdotal and sociologically aware; someone with a great memory and a quirky, associative train of thought; someone who can make you laugh and say "yes" out loud before you turn the page to devour her next paragraph, whether it be about Hollywood or Venice, her dotty parents or her favourite writers. Carter is endlessly entertaining, endearing and down-to-earth in this admirably comprehensive collection * Irish Times *It is her journalism, collected in the 1997 volume 'Shaking a Leg', to which I find myself returning again and again, struck freshly by its forthrightness, its imagination, its unpredictability - and by the sheer range of subjects on which she was fluent -- Susannah Clapp * Guardian *The range of her interests is quite dazzling. She is the voice of an entire generation * Washington Post *Shocking, willful, extravagant - every cut and quip at the same time reveals a striking intellectual acuity * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisTells the story of Ian Fleming at Goldeneye in Jamaica, where all his novels and stories on James Bond were written. This book includes interviews with Ian's family, his Jamaican lover Blanche Blackwell and many other islanders. It deals with Ian Fleming's life and work.Trade ReviewSupremely enjoyable... Matthew Parker has created a completely new picture of Ian, Bond and the role of Jamaica in the making of the legend -- John Pearson, author of THE LIFE OF IAN FLEMINGThe book that James Bond obsessives have been waiting for – a beautiful, brilliant history of Ian Fleming at home at Goldeneye, all of sun-drenched, gin-soaked, bed-hopping colonial Jamaica outside the window and 007 at the moment of his creation. This is the big bang of Bond books. -- Tony Parsons[Here are] the glowing sea, the teeming life beneath the waves, and the warm black nights, all of which made their way into the Bond novels... [But] Parker’s highly readable account of Fleming’s Jamaican life is less Thunderball and more Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea. Bond himself might have been a touch jealous. -- Sinclair McKay * Daily Telegraph *A superb account of Fleming’s Jamaica… well-researched, excellently written… Without Jamaica, it is safe to say, there would have been no Agent 007. * Financial Times *Matthew Parker's brilliant book Goldeneye is indispensable for anyone interested in the inner life of the enigmatic Ian Fleming and the whole James Bond phenomenon he created. -- Nicholas Rankin * author of Ian Fleming's Commandos *

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Book SynopsisAn extraordinary book of real passionate research' Edmund de WaalIn 1945, Ezra Pound was due to stand trial for treason for his broadcasts in Fascist Italy during the Second World War. But before the trial could take place Pound was pronounced insane. Escaping a potential death sentence he was shipped off to St Elizabeths Hospital near Washington, DC, where he was held for over a decade. At the hospital, Pound was at his most contradictory and most controversial: a genius writer The most important living poet in the English language' according to T. S. Eliot but also a traitor and now, seemingly, a madman. But he remained a magnetic figure. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell and John Berryman all went to visit him at what was perhaps the world's most unorthodox literary salon: convened by a fascist and held in a lunatic asylum. Told through the eyes of his illustrious visitors, The Bughouse captures the essence of Pound the artistic flaiTrade ReviewIt is Swift’s considerable achievement sympathetically to examine an extraordinary, often troubling, tale...an enthralling narrative -- Robert McCrum * Observer *An extraordinary book of real passionate research which keeps surprising and illuminating by turns. -- Edmund de WaalLively and searching… He has an engaging authorial presence and his own hesitations and uncertainties about Ezra Pound, both as poet and personality, lend a certain tension and a pleasing piquancy to his narrative -- Eric Ormsby * Times Literary Supplement *Swift is a sensitive and thoughtful reader of both poetry and human psychology... The Bughouse is also a kind of immersive adventure journalism, in which he retraces Pound's steps and tries to unearth new details about his life -- Adam Kirsch * New Statesman *To understand an artist as compromised by circumstances – and by his own many contradictions – as Ezra Pound, we have to trace a complex path through a maze of half-truths, myth, and simplification. The Bughouse does so with supreme care, critical acumen, and humanity, shedding a whole new light not only on Pound the man, but also on the shape and character of The Cantos, one of the most seriously flawed and truly brilliant artworks of the twentieth century -- John BurnsideA wonderful portrait of Ezra Pound in all his moods - mad, bad and blindingly sane. -- A. AlvarezSwift does a fine job of allowing Pound’s many contradictions to stay in place and reminds us, too, that 45 years after his death there are plenty of contradictions left in the people who admire him -- James Walton * Daily Mail *It is a tribute to the brightness of The Bughouse that Swift has revived my interest in the old monster -- Roger Lewis * The Times *Swift’s strength is his refusal to separate Pound’s writings from the issues of Fascism and insanity... Sharp-eyed and pacey...it highlights memorably the tangled relations between lunatic, lover and poet -- Robert Crawford * Literary Review *[A] remarkable study of [Ezra Pound’s] fertile afterlife -- Suzi Feay * Financial Times *At the heart of this books lies a fascinating debate about poets and society -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *A powerful and very talented writer…dashing and arresting…the greatness in his subject shines through every dark corner -- Peter Craven * Sydney Review of Books *Swift admits that he cannot pin his elusive subject down, but there is no need. By following his instinct he has allowed the poet, with his ‘shifting self-narration’, to lead the way in this marvellous evocation. -- Philippa Williams * The Lady *American poet Ezra Pound… proves an elusive but fascinating subject in this non-linear, impressionistic biography -- Juanita Coulson * Lady *

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Book SynopsisThe final volume of the definitive authorised biography of one of the greatest American writers.A moving testament to one of the last century's greatest writers' Sunday TimesAt forty-nine, Saul Bellow was at the pinnacle of American letters he was rich, famous and critically acclaimed, with the best yet to come: Mr Sammler's Planet, Humboldt's Gift, all his best stories. He went on to win two more National Book Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and the Nobel Prize. However, away from his desk, Bellow''s life was set to become embroiled in controversy: over foreign affairs, race, religion, education, social policy, the state of culture, the fate of the novel. From the women he pursued and his turbulent family relations, to his struggles with cultural relativism and the perceived excesses of civil rights movements, this second and final volume of Zachary Leader''s monumental Life of Saul Bellow charts Bellow''s heroic energy and will throughout his life, right to the end - where his immense achievements and their costs, to himself and others, became ever more apparent.''Brilliant'' Spectator''Compelling'' Times Literary Supplement''Riveting'' New Statesman''Superb'' New York TimesTrade ReviewLeader is our hyper-sensitive ammeter, charting the myriad effects of all this fame on his difficult, brilliant subject. A great feat of scholarship and, at the end, a moving testament to one of the last century’s greatest writers. -- Claire Lowdon * Sunday Times, **Literary Book of the Year** *This will stand as the definitive account. Leader talked to the surviving three wives and drew on the memories of Bellow’s three sons, as well as more than 100 friends (and one or two enemies) and devout literary progeny including Martin Amis and the critic James Wood. -- Tim Adams * Observer *This second volume of biography perfectly captures the spirit of a complex genius… Bellow calls for a sensitive balance between censure and understanding, to avoid overshadowing his genius, and it is hard to imagine anyone doing it better [than Zachary Leader]. -- George Walden * Evening Standard *Book of the Week* *Zachary Leader’s monumental biography of Saul Bellow…[is] minutely researched and clear-eyed… Leader is wholly steeped in Bellow’s oeuvre and able to find all the fictional equivalents of the real people who filled his life. -- John Mullan * Guardian *Leader’s portrait manages to be both subtle and even-handed… Leader’s two-volume biography is an astonishingly detailed and thoughtful record of an important life. -- Benjamin Markovits * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisDreams are the currency of Okri''s writing, particularly in this first book of poems, An African Elegy, but also in his books of short stories and prize-winning novel The Famished Road. Okri''s dreams are made on the stuff of Africa''s colossal economic and political problems, and reading the poems is to experience a constant succession of metaphors of resolution in both senses of the word. Virtually every poem contains an exhortation to climb out of the African miasma, and virtually every poem harvests the dream of itself with an upbeat restorative ending'' - Giles Foden, Times Literary SupplementTrade ReviewAuthenticity shines out of these poems in the way it does from some East European and Russian poets * Times Literary Supplement *Accessible and affecting... Born of a big spirit that one cannot ignore -- Gillian Ferguson * Scotland on Sunday *A kaleidoscope of tersely condensed implications, with pregnant shifts of mood, tone and meaning brought to bear in the space of each line break... Most of Okri's writing is best understood as poetry, even when not laid out in broken lines -- Michael Horovitz

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Book SynopsisRobin Lane Fox''s Travelling Heroes: Greeks and their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer proposes a new way of thinking about ancient Greeks, showing how real-life journeys shaped their mythical tales. The tales of the ancient Greeks have inspired us for thousands of years. But where did they originate? Esteemed classicist Robin Lane Fox draws on a lifetime''s knowledge of the ancient world, and on his own travels, to open up the age of Homer. His acclaimed history explores how the intrepid seafarers of eighth-century Greece sailed around the Mediterranean, encountering strange new sights - volcanic mountains, vaporous springs, huge prehistoric bones - and weaving them into the myths of gods, monsters and heroes that would become the cornerstone of Western civilization: the Odyssey and the Iliad. ''A beautiful evocation of a tantalizing world ... Travelling Heroes is a tour de force''  R

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Book SynopsisJackie Wullschlager is Deputy Literary Editor of the FT, and one of their principal reviewers. Her last book was INVENTING WONDERLAND: THE LIVES AND FANTASIES OF LEWIS CARROLL, EDWARD LEAR, JM BARRIE.Table of ContentsIntroduction: life stories. The country, 1805-12; master comedy-player, 1812-19; the city, 1819-22; Aladdin at school, 1822-7; fantasies, 1827-31; my time belongs to the heart, 1831-3; Italy, 1833-5; first fairy tale, 1835; walking on knives, 1836-7; le Poete, c'est moi! 1837-40; I belong to the world, 1840-43; Jenny, 1843-4; Winter's Tales, 1844-6; the princess'poet, 1845-6; the shadow, 1846-7; lion of London, 1847; between the wars, 1848-51; Weimar revisited, 1851-6; Dickens, 1856-7; experiments, 1858-9; kiss of the muse, 1860-65; Aladdin's palace of the present, 1865-9; so great a love of life, 1869-75.

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Book SynopsisThe true biography of Shakespeare - and the only one we really need to care about - is in the plays. Sir Frank Kermode, Britain''s most distinguished literary critic, has been thinking about them all his life. This book is a distillation of that lifetime''s thinking. The great English tragedies were all written in the first decade of the seventeenth century. They are often in language that is difficult to us, and must have been hard even for contemporaries. How and why did Shakespeare''s language develop as it did? Kermode argues that the resources of English underwent major change around 1600. The originality of Kermodes''s writing, and the intelligence of his discussion, make this book a landmark.

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Book SynopsisDante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265. At about twenty he married Gemma Donati, with whom he has three children. He first met Beatrice Portinari in 1274, and when she died in 1290 he sought distraction by studying philosophy and theology and by writing the VITA NUOVA. During this time he became involved in the strife between the Guelfs and the Ghibelines; he became a prominent White Guelf and when the Black Guelfs came to power in 1302 Dante, during an absence from Florence, was condemned to exile. He took refuge first in Verona and after wandering from place to place, he settled in Ravenna. While there he completed THE DIVINE COMEDY, which he had begun in 1308. He died in Ravenna in 1321.Eric Griffiths is Fellow in English at Trinity College, Cambridge and works principally on English poetry from the Restoration to the present day; with an interest in comparative literature (French, German, and Italian) and in philosophical and theological aspects of writing (he

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Book SynopsisVolume two of Le Morte D''Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory''s powerful and elegaic version of the Arthurian legend, recounts the adventures of Sir Tristram de Liones and the treachery of Sir Mordred, and follows Sir Launcelot''s quest for The Holy Grail, his fatally divided loyalties, and his great, forbidden love for the beautiful Queen Guenever. Culminating in an account of Arthur''s final battle against the scheming, deceitful Mordred, this is the definitive re-telling of the Arthurian myth, weaving a story of adultery, treachery and ultimately - in its tragic finale - death. Edited and published by William Caxton in 1485, Malory''s moving prose romance looks back to an idealised Medieval age of chivalry, drawing on French and English verse sources to create an epic masterpiece of passion, enchantment, war and betrayal.

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Book SynopsisOh thou savage-hearted monster! What work hast thou made in one guilty hour, for a whole age of repentance!Pressured by her unscrupulous family to marry a wealthy man she detests, the young Clarissa Harlowe is tricked into fleeing with the witty and debonair Robert Lovelace and places herself under his protection. Lovelace, however, proves himself to be an untrustworthy rake whose vague promises of marriage are accompanied by unwelcome and increasingly brutal sexual advances. And yet, Clarissa finds his charm alluring, her scrupulous sense of virtue tinged with unconfessed desire. Told through a complex series of interweaving letters, Clarissa is a richly ambiguous study of a fatally attracted couple and a work of astonishing power and immediacy. A huge success when it first appeared in 1747, and translated into French and German, it remains one of the greatest of all European novels.In his introduction, Angus Ross examines characterization, the epistTrade Review“Harrowing, unforgiving and extreme . . . A graphic study of the pathologies endemic to a culture that treats women as property. It’s also a passionate celebration of female friendship and of the written word—storytelling as means of power and transcendence.” —Jennifer Egan, Lit Hub

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Book SynopsisWilliam Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He wrote about 38 plays (the precise number is uncertain), a collection of sonnets and a variety of other poems.

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Book SynopsisAn enchanting story that has inspired generations of writers, including Boccaccio, Shakespeare, Cervantes and Keats Written towards the end of the second century AD, The Golden Ass tells the story of the many adventures of a young man whose fascination with witchcraft leads him to be transformed into a donkey. The bewitched Lucius passes from owner to owner - encountering a desperate gang of robbers and being forced to perform lewd 'human' tricks on stage - until the Goddess Isis finally breaks the spell and initiates Lucius into her cult. It has long been disputed whether Apuleius meant this last-minute conversion seriously or as a final comic surprise, and the challenge of interpretation continues to keep readers fascinated. Apuleius' enchanting story has inspired generations of writers such as Boccaccio, Shakespeare, Cervantes and Keats with its dazzling combination of allegory, satire, bawdiness and sheer exuberance, and The Golden Ass remains the

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Book SynopsisIn The War with Hannibal, Livy (59 BC-AD 17) chronicles the events of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage, until the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. He vividly recreates the immense armies of Hannibal, complete with elephants, crossing the Alps; the panic as they approached the gates of Rome; and the decimation of the Roman army at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. Yet it is also the clash of personalities that fascinates Livy, from great debates in the Senate to the historic meeting between Scipio and Hannibal before the decisive battle. Livy never hesitates to introduce both intense drama and moral lessons into his work, and here he brings a turbulent episode in history powerfully to life.Table of ContentsThe War with Hannibal - Livy Translated by Aubrey de Selincourt and Edited with an Introduction by Betty RadiceIntroductionBook XXIBook XXIIBook XXIIIBook XXIVBook XXVBook XXVIBook XXVIIBook XXVIIIBook XXIXBook XXXMapsChronological IndexIndex

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Book SynopsisBased on the legends used in Greek drama, Seneca's plays are notable for the exuberant ruthlessness with which disastrous events are foretold and then pursued to their tragic and often bloodthirsty ends. Thyestes depicts the menace of an ancestral curse hanging over two feuding brothers, while Phaedra portrays a woman tormented by fatal passion for her stepson. In The Trojan Women, the widowed Hecuba and Andromache await their fates at the hands of the conquering Greeks, and Oedipus follows the downfall of the royal House of Thebes. Octavia is a grim commentary on Nero's tyrannical rule and the execution of his wife, with Seneca himself appearing as an ineffective counsellor attempting to curb the atrocities of the emperor.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 throTable of ContentsSeneca: Four Tragedies And OctaviaIntroductionAcknowledgementThyestesPhaedra (or Hippolytus)The Trojan WomenOedipusOctaviaAppendix I. Elizabethan translations and imitationsAppendix II. Passages from Seneca's prose

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Book SynopsisTowards the end of his life, Cicero turned away from his oratorical and political career and looked instead to matters of philosophy and religion. The dialogue The Nature of the Gods both explores his own views on these subjects, as a monotheist and member of the Academic School, and considers the opinion of other philosophical schools of the Hellenistic age through the figures of Velleius the Epicurean and Balbus the Stoic. Eloquent, clearly argued and surprisingly modern, it focuses upon a series of fundamental religious questions including: is there a God? If so, does he answer prayers, or intervene in human affairs? Does he know the future? Does morality need the support of religion? Profoundly influential on later thinkers, such as Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, this is a fascinating consideration of fundamental issues of faith and philosophical thought.

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Book SynopsisWhereas the place for prejudice is a public meeting, a court of law is the adobe of truth.   Cicero was still in his twenties when he got Sextus Roscius off a charge of murdering his father and nearly sixty when he defended King Deiotarus, accused of trying to murder Caesar. In between (with, among others, his speeches for Cluentius and Rabirius), he built a reputation as the greatest orator of his time.   Cicero defended his practice partly on moral or compassionate grounds of human decency -  sentiments with which we today would agree. His clients generally went free. And in vindicating men - who sometimes did not deserve it - he left us a mass of detail about Roman life, law and history and, in two of the speeches, graphic pictures of the gun-law of small provincial towns.   For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Table of ContentsMurder Trials IntroductionI. In Defence of Sextus Roscius of Ameria1. The Innocence of Sextus Roscius2. The Guilt of Magnus and Capito3. Chrysogonus: the Criminal behind the ScenesII. In Defence of Aulus Cluentius Habitus1. The Trial and Crimes of Oppianicus2. Previous Verdicts Quoted AGainst Cluentius3. The Innocence of CluentiusIII. In Defence of Gaius RabiriusIV. Note on the Speeches in Defence of Caelius and MiloV. In Defence of King DeiotarusAppendix A: List of TermsAppendix B: Genealogical TablesAppendix C: Table of DatesAppendix D: Further ReadingMapsIndex

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Book SynopsisThis work is a sampling of the Hippocratic Corpus, a collection of ancient Greek medical works. At the beginning, and interspersed throughout, there are discussions on the philosophy of being a physician. There is a large section about how to treat limb fractures, and the section called The Nature of Man describes the physiological theories of the time. The book ends with a discussion of embryology and a brief anatomical description of the heart.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Table of ContentsHippocratic Writings - Edited with an Introduction by G. E. R. Lloyd Preface IntroductionMedicineTranslated by J. Chadwick and W. N. MannTranslators' IntroductionThe OathThe CanonTradition in MedicineEpidemics, Book IEpidemics, Book IIIThe Science of MedicineAirs, Waters, PlacesPrognosisRegimen in Acute DiseasesAphorismsThe Sacred DiseaseDreams (Regimen IV)The Nature of ManA Regimen for HealthSurgeryTranslated by E. T. WithingtonFracturesEmbryology and AnatomyTranslated by I. M. LonieThe Seed and The Nature of the ChildThe HeartNotes on the Translation of Some Hippocratic TermsBibliographyGlossary of NamesIndices

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Book SynopsisGerard de Nerval (1805-55) was an inveterate traveller, and made many contributions of travel literature to various periodicals. He was also a prolific poet and wrote many tales including 'Sylvie' (1853), his most read work.Richard Sieburth is Professor of French at New York University. He has translated Walter Benjamin's 'Moscow Diary' and Michel Leiris' 'Nights as Day/Days as Night'.

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Book SynopsisThis anthology brings together core classical texts for understanding literature. The selections from Plato illustrate the poetic philosopher's surprising exclusion of poets from his ideal republic. In his response, Poetics, Aristotle draws on the works of the great Greek playwrights to defend the value of the art. Horace's The Art of Poetry is a vivid practitioner's guide that promotes a style of poetic craftsmanship rooted in wisdom, ethical insight, and decorum. Longinus's On the Sublime explores the nature of inspiration in poetry and prose. This volume is a work of great value and interest to classicists, students, and writers.In her Introduction, Penelope Murray compares and contrasts the viewpoints of these formidable critics as well as their impact on the Western tradition. This edition also includes a new bibliography and chronology and comprehensive notes to each of the texts.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisTable of ContentsIntroduction1. Homer and the Early Greek Poets2. Aristophanes3. Gorgias and the Sophists4. Plato5. Aristotle6. The Alexandrians7. Horace8. Longinus9. EpilogueFurther ReadingLiterary ChronologyPlatoIonRepublic 2Republic 3Republic 10AristotlePoeticsHoraceThe Art of PoetryLonginusOn the SublimeNotes

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Book SynopsisOf all the ancient Greek tragedians, Euripides was the most sensitive to the lives of women and other outcasts in Athenian society, and Electra and Other Plays collects five plays demonstrating his talent for bringing to life their plight. This Penguin Classics edition is translated by John Davie with an introduction and notes by Richard Rutherford.Written during a period overshadowed by the fierce struggle for supremacy between Sparta and Euripides'' native Athens, these five plays are haunted by the shadow of war - and in particular its impact on women. In Electra the children of Agamemnon take bloody revenge on their mother for murdering their father after his return from Troy, and Suppliant Women depicts the grieving mothers of those killed in battle. The other plays deal with the aftermath of the Trojan War for the defeated survivors, as Andromache shows Hector''s widow as a trophy of war in the house of her Greek captor, and Hecabe portrays a defeated queen avenging the murder of her last-remaining son, while Trojan Women tells of the plight of the city''s women in the hands of their victors.John Davie''s compelling translations are accompanied by an introduction by Richard Rutherford describing the tragic genre and Euripides innovations, along with a chronology, prefaces to each play, notes, a bibliography and a glossary of names.Euripides (c.485-07 BC) was an Athenian born into a family of considerable rank. Disdaining the public duties expected of him, Euripides spent a life of quiet introspection, spending much of his life in a cave on Salamis. Late in life he voluntarily exiled himself to the court of Archelaus, King of Macedon, where he wrote The Bacchae, regarded by many as his greatest work. Euripides is thought to have written 92 plays, only 18 of which survive.If you enjoyed Electra and Other Plays, you might like Euripides'' Medea and Other Plays, also available in Penguin Classics.''The most intensely tragic of all the poets''AristotleTable of ContentsElectra and Other PlaysGeneral IntroductionNote on the TextChronological TableTranslator's NotePreface to AndromacheAndromachePreface to HecabeHecabePreface to Suppliant WomenSuppliant WomenPreface to ElectraElectraPreface to Trojan WomenTrojan WomenNotesBibliographyGlossary of Mythological and Geographical Names

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