Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800 Books
Spark The Taming of the Shrew
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of The Taming of the Shrew on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.
£7.59
Spark Romeo and Juliet (No Fear Shakespeare)
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Romeo and Juliet on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right. Each No Fear Shakespeare contains: The complete text of the original play A line-by-line translation that puts Shakespeare into everyday language A complete list of characters with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary. The famous tale of star-crossed lovers.
£7.99
Oxford University Press Blanks Print Space and Void in English
Book SynopsisBlanks, Print, Space, and Void in English Renaissance Literature is an inquiry into the blank or empty spaces encountered not just on the pages of printed books in c.1500-1700, but in Renaissance culture more generally.Table of ContentsIntroduction: An Archaeology of Absence Landscapes 1: Experiencing the Blank 2: Inky faces and an Empty World: Print, Race, and Cartography 3: Reading the early Modern Page 4: The Social Space of the Page 5: Vacant leaves and Waste Blanks Excavations 6: Reconstructing the Blank Archive 7: Missing Text 8: Poetry and Space in the Seventeenth Century 9: Censored Space 10: Unfinished...
£35.00
Oxford University Press A Midsummer Nights Dream The Oxford Shakespeare
Book SynopsisA Midsummer Night's Dream is perhaps the best loved of Shakespeare's plays. It brings together aristocrats, workers, and fairies in a wood outside Athens, and from there the enchantment begins. In the introduction to this edition, Peter Holland pays particular attention to dreams and dreamers, and to Shakespeare's construction of a world of night and shadows. Both here and in his commentary he explores the play's extensive performance history to illustrate the wide range of interpretations of which it is capable.Trade ReviewThe commentary is admirably lucid and undogmatic on textual variants ... The introduction is of the kind that ponders and explores. Holland's method is to take each aspect or element of the play and consider it in the light of earlier traditions ... his critical position emerges unobtrusively but persuasively from the attested facts. * M.M. Mahoud, YES, 27, 1996 *
£7.59
Oxford University Press The Roaring Girl and Other City Comedies
Book SynopsisThis volume offers excellent value by bringing together four of the most popular, most frequently studied and performed, city comedies by Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton, Ben Jonson and their contemporaries. Each of the plays features tradesmen - a shoemaker, goldsmith, merchant, shop-keepers - and depicts bustling city life.Table of ContentsThe Shoemaker's Holiday ; Eastward Ho ; Every Man In His Humour ; The Roaring Girl
£10.44
CONNELL PUBLISHING LTD The Connell Guide To Shakespeare's Macbeth
Book SynopsisMacbeth may well be the most terrifying play in the English language, but it hasn’t always been seen that way. It has divided critics more deeply than any other Shakespearian tragedy – and the argument, in essence, has been about just how terrifying the play really is and about how we should react, or do react, to Macbeth himself. No Shakespearian tragedy gives as much attention to its hero as Macbeth. With the exception of Lady Macbeth, there is much less emphasis on the figures round the hero than there is in Hamlet or Othello. Unlike King Lear, with its parallel story of Gloucester and his sons, Macbeth has no sub-plot. And its imagery of sharp contrasts – of day and night, light and dark, innocent life and murder – adds to the almost claustrophobic intensity of this most intense of plays. So why are critics so divided about Macbeth? Why is it so disturbing? Why do we feel compelled to admire its hero even as we condemn him? How reassuring is the last scene, when Macbeth is killed and Malcolm becomes king? Do we see this as the intervention of a divine providence, a restoration of goodness after all the evil? Or do we see instead signs that the whole cycle of violence and murder could be about to begin all over again? And what does the play really tell us about good and evil? In this book Graham Bradshaw answers these questions, and shows how it is only in recent years that the extent of Shakespeare’s achievement in Macbeth, and the nature of his vision in the play, has really been grasped.
£8.54
Union Square & Co. King Lear No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student
Book SynopsisShakespeare everyone can understandnow in new DELUXE editions! Why fear Shakespeare? By placing the words of the original play next to line-by-line translations in plain English, these popular guides make Shakespeare accessible to everyone. They introduce Shakespeare's world, significant plot points, and the key players. And now they feature expanded literature guide sections that help students study smarter, along with links to bonus content on the Sparknotes.com website. A Q&A, guided analysis of significant literary devices, and review of the play give students all the tools necessary for understanding, discussing, and writing about King Lear. The expanded content includes:Five Key Questions: Five frequently asked questions about major moments and characters in the play. What Does the Ending Mean?: Is the ending sad, celebratory, ironic . . . or ambivalent? Plot Analysis: What is the play about? How is the story told, and what are the main themes? Why do the characters behav
£9.49
Union Square & Co. Merchant of Venice No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe
Book SynopsisShakespeare everyone can understandnow in new DELUXE editions! Why fear Shakespeare? By placing the words of the original play next to line-by-line translations in plain English, these popular guides make Shakespeare accessible to everyone. They introduce Shakespeare's world, significant plot points, and the key players. And now they feature expanded literature guide sections that help students study smarter, along with links to bonus content on the Sparknotes.com website. A Q&A, guided analysis of significant literary devices, and review of the play give students all the tools necessary for understanding, discussing, and writing about Merchant of Venice. The expanded content includes:Five Key Questions: Five frequently asked questions about major moments and characters in the play. What Does the Ending Mean?: Is the ending sad, celebratory, ironic . . . or ambivalent? Plot Analysis: What is the play about? How is the story told, and what are the main themes? Why do the charact
£9.49
Union Square & Co. Othello No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student
Book SynopsisShakespeare everyone can understandnow in new DELUXE editions! Why fear Shakespeare? By placing the words of the original play next to line-by-line translations in plain English, these popular guides make Shakespeare accessible to everyone. They introduce Shakespeare's world, significant plot points, and the key players. And now they feature expanded literature guide sections that help students study smarter, along with links to bonus content on the Sparknotes.com website. A Q&A, guided analysis of significant literary devices, and review of the play give students all the tools necessary for understanding, discussing, and writing about Othello. The expanded content includes:Five Key Questions: Five frequently asked questions about major moments and characters in the play. What Does the Ending Mean?: Is the ending sad, celebratory, ironic . . . or ambivalent? Plot Analysis: What is the play about? How is the story told, and what are the main themes? Why do the characters behave
£9.49
Oxford University Press Twelfth Night Get Revision with Results Oxford
Book SynopsisEasy to use in the classroom or as a tool for revision, Oxford Literature Companions provide student-friendly analysis of a range of popular A Level set texts. Each book offers a lively, engaging approach to the text, covering characterisation and role, genre, context, language, themes, structure, performance and critical views, whilst also providing a range of varied and in-depth activities to deepen understanding and encourage close work with the text. Each book also includes a comprehensive Skills and Practice section, which provides detailed advice on assessment and a bank of exam-style questions and annotated sample student answers. This guide covers Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, is suitable for all exam boards and for the most recent AS/A level specifications.
£9.99
CONNELL PUBLISHING LTD The Connell Guide To Shakespeare's Othello
Book Synopsis
£13.64
Oxford University Press The Female Quixote
Book SynopsisThe Female Quixote (1752), a parody of the style of Cervantes and much praised by Fielding, Richardson and Dr. Johnson, tells of the misadventures of the aristocratic Arabella, a devoted reader of romantic fiction.
£10.44
Spark As You Like It
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of As You Like It on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.
£7.59
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Poems: Third Series
Book SynopsisIn 1593 Shakespeare awoke and found himself famous. Lines from his comic, erotic, tragic poem Venus and Adonis were on everyone's lips.The appearance in 1594 of the darkly reflective and richly descriptive Rape of Lucrece confirmed his fame as 'Sweet Master Shakespeare', Elizabethan England's most brilliant non-dramatic poet. Shorter poems in this volume testify further to Shakespeare's versatility and to his poetic fame. Some, like the much-debated 'Phoenix and Turtle', pose problems of meaning; others raise questions about authorship and authenticity. Detailed annotation and a full Introduction seek to resolve such difficulties while also locating Shakespeare's poems in their literary context, which includes his own career as a playwright.Trade Review'Shakespeare scholars will be indebted to the editors not only for fine textual and editorial work but also for a number of astute interpretations.' Project Muse (2009)
£9.99
Oxford University Press Othello The Oxford Shakespeare
Book SynopsisThe Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor: Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers- A new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- Extensive introduction gives full attention to the play''s bold treatment of racial themes, gender, and social relations- Detailed performance history designed to meet the needs of theatre professionals- On-page commentary and notes explain language, word-play, and staging- Appendices on music in the play and a full translation of the Italian novella from which the story derives- Illustrated with production photographs and related art- Full index to introduction and commentary- Durable sewn binding for lasting use''not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.'' ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made avTrade Review...For the wealth of helpful material and stimulating ideas this is surely the most valuable edition of Shakespeare's disturbing and controversial tragedy available today. * Dieter Mehl, Archiv *The text of this edition is close to perfect * Eric Rasmussen *
£7.59
Spark King Lear (No Fear Shakespeare): Volume 6
Book SynopsisRead Shakespeare’s plays in all their brilliance—and understand what every word means! Don’t be intimidated by Shakespeare! These popular guides make the Bard’s plays accessible and enjoyable.Each No Fear guide contains: The complete text of the original play A line-by-line translation that puts the words into everyday language A complete list of characters, with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary
£7.59
Spark Much Ado About Nothing
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Much Ado About Nothing on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.
£7.59
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC King Richard III: Third Series
Book SynopsisRichard III is one of the great Shakespearean characters and roles. James R Siemon examines the attraction of this villain to audiences and focuses on how beguiling, even funny, he can be, especially in the earlier parts of the play. Siemon also places King Richard III in its historical context; as Elizabeth I had no heirs the issue of succession was a very real one for Shakespeare's audience. The introduction is well-illustrated and provides a comprehensive account of the play and of critical approaches to it. The edition also provides a clear and authoritative playtext, edited to the most rigorous standards of scholarship, with detailed notes and commentary on the same page. With a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary the Arden Shakespeare is the finest edition of Shakespeare you can find, giving a deeper understanding and appreciation of his work.Trade Review'There is much to admire about Siemon's labours here, and taken in its own edition is a fine resource for those wanting to read a well annotated text of the play or to go deeply into the performance and textual histories of the play...' Shakespeare Bookshop Newsletter (December 2009)
£9.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Volpone Or The Fox
Book SynopsisVolpone, Or, The Fox is Ben Jonson's great parable of greed, self-interest and inheritance. Using animal fable to satirize the wealthy and the greedy, it remains one of his most distinctive and compelling dramatic works.Jonson wrote the play for performance in 1606, and orchestrated its publication the following year. In it, the wealthy Venetian Volpone pretends to be on his deathbed, encouraging Voltore, Corbaccio and Corvinothe vulture, raven and crowto compete for his fortune. With unflinching harshness and biting humour, Jonson portrays a society damningly hollowed out by over-monetization.This edition has been prepared by leading textual expert, John Jowett. With incisive scholarship, he explores the play's craftsmanship and examines how theatre practitioners and critics engage with it. Detailed notes explicate an authoritative text and breathe new life into it for readers today.Arden Early Modern Drama editions offer the best in contempora
£16.14
Oxford University Press From Tudor to Stuart
Book SynopsisFrom Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I tells the story of the troubled accession of England''s first Scottish king and the transition from the age of the Tudors to the age of the Stuarts at the dawn of the seventeenth century.From Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I tells the story of the dramatic accession and first decade of the reign of James I and the transition from the Elizabethan to the Jacobean era, using a huge range of sources, from state papers and letters to drama, masques, poetry, and a host of material objects.The Virgin Queen was a hard act to follow for a Scottish newcomer who faced a host of problems in his first years as king: not only the ghost of his predecessor and her legacy but also unrest in Ireland, serious questions about his legitimacy on the English throne, and even plots to remove him (most famously the Gunpowder Plot of 1605). Contrary to traditional assumptions, James''s accession was by no means a s
£24.00
Penguin Books Ltd The Penguin Classics Book
Book Synopsis**Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year**The Penguin Classics Book is a reader''s companion to the largest library of classic literature in the world.Spanning 4,000 years from the legends of Ancient Mesopotamia to the poetry of the First World War, with Greek tragedies, Icelandic sagas, Japanese epics and much more in between, it encompasses 500 authors and 1,200 books, bringing these to life with lively descriptions, literary connections and beautiful cover designs.Trade ReviewBeautifully designed and lovingly compiled * The Spectator *Smartly illustrated with original cover artwork-ideal for glancing over dearly loved literary companions, as well as for discovering gaps to fill . . . This is a fascinating survey of how our nation's literary tastes have altered over the years and makes us wonder anew at what constitutes a 'classic'. -- Emily Rhodes * Country Life *The perfect gift for bibliophiles * The Arts Society UK *I can't imagine a better or more beautifully presented reference for a book-lover -- Waterstones.com review
£27.00
Princeton University Press The Plum in the Golden Vase or Chin Ping Mei
Book SynopsisProvides a complete and annotated translation of the famous "Chin P'ing Mei", an anonymous sixteenth-century Chinese novel that focuses on the domestic life of Hsi-men Ch'ing, a corrupt, upwardly mobile merchant in a provincial town, who maintains a harem of six wives and concubines.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1994 "[A] book of manners for the debauched. Its readers in the late Ming period likely hid it under their bedcovers."--Amy Tan, New York Times Book Review "[I]t is time to remind ourselves that The Plum in the Golden Vase is not just about sex, whether the numerous descriptions of sexual acts throughout the novel be viewed as titillating, harshly realistic, or, in Mr. Roy's words, intended 'to express in the most powerful metaphor available to him the author's contempt for the sort of persons who indulge in them.' The novel is a sprawling panorama of life and times in urban China, allegedly set safely in the Sung dynasty, but transparently contemporary to the author's late sixteenth-century world, as scores of internal references demonstrate. The eight hundred or so men, women, and children who appear in the book cover a breath-taking variety of human types, and encompass pretty much every imaginable mood and genre--from sadism to tenderness, from light humor to philosophical musings, from acute social commentary to outrageous satire."--Jonathan Spence, New York Review of Books "David Tod Roy enters with zest into the spirit and the letter of the original, quite surpassing ... other earlier versions."--Paul St. John Mackintosh, Literary Review "Reading Roy's translation is a remarkable experience."--Robert Chatain, Chicago Tribune Review of Books "What Roy has already accomplished [in this volume] is enough to establish his translation as definitive... A tremendous achievement."--Charles Horner, CommentaryTable of Contents*Frontmatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. vii*List of Illustrations, pg. xi*Acknowledgments, pg. xiii*Introduction, pg. xvii*Cast of Characters, pg. xlix*Preface to the Chin P'ing Mei tz'u-hua, pg. 1*Preface to the Chin P'ing Mei, pg. 6*Colophon, pg. 7*Four Lyrics to the Tune "Burning Incense", pg. 8*Lyrics on the Four Vices to the Tune "Partridge Sky", pg. 10*CHAPTER 1. Wu Sung Fights a Tiger on Ching-yang Ridge; P'an Chin-lien Disdains Her Mate and Plays the Coquette, pg. 12*CHAPTER 2. Beneath the Blind Hsi-men Ch'ing Meets Chin-lien; Inspired by Greed Dame Wang Speaks of Romance, pg. 43*CHAPTER 3. Dame Wang Proposes a Ten-part Plan for "Garnering the Glow" Hsi-men Ch'ing Flirts with Chin-lien in the Teahouse, pg. 62*CHAPTER 4. The Hussy Commits Adultery behind Wu the Elder's Back; Yun-ko in His Anger Raises a Rumpus in the Teashop, pg. 82*CHAPTER 5. Yun-ko Lends a Hand by Cursing Dame Wang; The Hussy Administers Poison to Wu the Elder, pg. 96*CHAPTER 6. Hsi-men Ch'ing Suborns Ho the Ninth; Dame Wang Fetches Wine and Encounters a Downpour, pg. 111*CHAPTER 7. Auntie Hsueh Proposes a Match with Meng Yu-lou; Aunt Yang Angrily Curses Chang the Fourth, pg. 125*CHAPTER 8. All Night Long P'an Chin-lien Yearns for Hsi-men Ch'ing; During the Tablet-burning Monks Overhear Sounds of Venery, pg. 147*CHAPTER 9. Hsi-men Ch'ing Conspires to Marry P'an Chin-lien; Captain Wu Mistakenly Assaults Li Wai-ch'uan, pg. 170*CHAPTER 10. Wu the Second Is Condemned to Exile in Meng-chou; Hsi-men and His Harem Revel in the Hibiscus Pavilion, pg. 188*CHAPTER 11. P'an Chin-lien Instigates the Beating of Sun Hsueh-o Hsi-men Ch'ing Decides to Deflower Li Kuei-chieh, pg. 205*CHAPTER 12. P'an Chin-lien Suffers Ignominy for Adultery with a Servant; Stargazer Liu Purveys Black Magic in Pursuit of Gain, pg. 224*CHAPTER 13. Li P'ing-erh Makes a Secret Tryst over the Garden Wall; The Maid Ying-ch'un Peeks through a Crack and Gets an Eyeful, pg. 253*CHAPTER 14. Hua Tzu-hsu Succumbs to Chagrin and Loses His Life; Li P'ing-erh Invites Seduction and Attends a Party, pg. 274*CHAPTER 15. Beauties Enjoy the Sights in the Lantern-viewing Belvedere; Hangers-on Abet Debauchery in the Verdant Spring Bordello, pg. 298*CHAPTER 16. Hsi-men Ch'ing Is Inspired by Greed to Contemplate Matrimony; Ying Po-chueh Steals a March in Anticipation of the Ceremony, pg. 316*CHAPTER 17. Censor Yu-wen Impeaches Commander Yang; Li P'ing-erh Takes Chiang Chu-shan as Mate, pg. 337*CHAPTER 18. Lai-pao Takes Care of Things in the Eastern Capital; Ch'en Ching-chi Supervises the Work in the Flower Garden, pg. 356*CHAPTER 19. Snake-in-the-grass Shakes Down Chiang Chu-shan; Li P'ing-erh's Feelings Touch Hsi-men Ch'ing, pg. 376*CHAPTER 20. Meng Yu-lou High-mindedly Intercedes with Wu Yueh-niang; Hsi-men Ch'ing Wreaks Havoc in the Verdant Spring Bordello, pg. 401*APPENDIX I. Translator's Commentary on the Prologue, pg. 429*APPENDIX II. Translations of Supplementary Material, pg. 437*NOTES, pg. 449*BIBLIOGRAPHY, pg. 543*INDEX, pg. 573
£31.50
Oxford University Press The Vicar of Wakefield
Book Synopsis''He loved all mankind; for fortune prevented him from knowing there were rascals.''Oliver Goldsmith''s hugely successful novel of 1766 remained for generations one of the most highly regarded and beloved works of eighteenth-century fiction. It depicts the fall and rise of the Primrose family, presided over by the benevolent vicar, the narrator of a fairy-tale plot of impersonation and deception, the abduction of a beautiful heroine and the machinations of an aristocratic villain. By turns comic and sentimental, the novel''s popularity owes much to its recognizable depiction of domestic life and loving family relationships.Regarded by some as a straightforward and well-intentioned novel of sentiment, and by others as a satire on the very literary conventions and morality it seems to embody, The Vicar of Wakefield contains, in the figure of the vicar himself, one of the most harmlessly simply and unsophisticated yet also ironically complex narrators ever to appear in English fiction. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
£8.99
Penguin Books Ltd Faust Part I
Book SynopsisTrade Review" One of those great works of literature into which a writer has been able to combine his ranging preoccupations and understanding as he worked." -A. S. Byatt, from the Preface
£9.49
Oxford University Press Tom Jones
Book SynopsisFielding''s comic masterpiece of 1749 was immediately attacked as `A motley history of bastardism, fornication, and adultery''. Indeed, his populous novel overflows with a marvellous assortment of prudes, whores, libertines, bumpkins, misanthropes, hypocrites, scoundrels, virgins, and all too fallible humanitarians. At the centre of one of the most ingenious plots in English fiction stands a hero whose actions were, in 1749, as shocking as they are funny today. Expelled from Mr Allworthy''s country estate for his wild temper and sexual conquests, the good-hearted foundling Tom Jones loses his money, joins the army, and pursues his beloved across Britain to London, where he becomes a kept lover and confronts the possibility of incest. Tom Jones is rightly regarded as Fielding''s greatest work, and one of the first and most influential of English novels. This carefully modernized edition is based on Fielding''s emended fourth edition text and offers the most thorough notes, maps, and bibliography. The introduction uses the latest scholarship to examine how Tom Jones exemplifies the role of the novel in the emerging eighteenth-century public sphere. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade Reviewwith each volume having an introduction by an acknowledged expert, and exhaustive notes, the World's Classics are surely the most desirable series and, all-round, the best value for money * Oxford Times *well-produced edition. * Daily Telegraph Arts & Books section, 5 July 1997 *
£9.49
Oxford University Press The Complete Sonnets and Poems The Oxford
Book SynopsisThe Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the works for modern readers- a new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- on-page and facing-page commentary and notes explain language and allusions- detailed introductions consider the sonnets'' biographical and literary background, how the poems relate to the plays, dating and textual matters, and the mysteries of ''Mr W. H.'' and the ''Dark Lady''- includes poems attributed to Shakespeare in the seventeenth century- full index to introductions and commentary- durable sewn binding for lasting use''not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.'' Times Literary Supplement ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewA long and detailed critique, which ends with excellent praise 'This Complete Sonnets and Poems is a distinguished addition to a distinguished series. It will repay comtinuing study, and act as a valuable point of reference for readers concerned more generally with Shakespeare's art and language. Colin Burrow's good sense, tact and balance as an editor are deeply impressive.' * H.R.Woudhuysen, TLS *
£8.54
Oxford University Press Collected Maxims and Other Reflections
Book Synopsis''Our virtues are, most often, only vices in disguise.''Deceptively brief and insidiously easy to read, La Rochefoucauld''s shrewd, unflattering analyses of human behaviour have influenced writers, thinkers, and public figures as various as Voltaire, Proust, de Gaulle, Nietzsche, and Conan Doyle. The author gave himself the following advice: ''The reader''s best policy is to assume that none of these maxims is directed at him, and that he is the sole exception...After that, I guarantee that he will be the first to subscribe to them.''This is the fullest collection of La Rochefoucauld''s writings ever published in English, and includes the first complete translation of the Réflexions diverses (Miscellaneous Reflections). A table of alternative maxim numbers and an index of topics help the reader to locate any maxim quickly and to appreciate the full range of La Rochefoucauld''s thought on any of his favourite themes, such as self-love, vice and virtue, love and jealousy, friendship and self-interest, passion and pride. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewThis superb publication of La Rouchefoucauld's seminal 'Maxims' combines the erudition and comprehensiveness of a scholarly edition with the welcoming accessibility of a first-class textbook. * Kevin De Ornellas, University of Ulster *
£10.44
Oxford University Press Richard II The Oxford Shakespeare
Book SynopsisThis new edition of Richard II in the acclaimed Oxford Shakespeare series features a freshly edited version of the text, extensive commentary, lively illustrations, and a wide-ranging introduction covering the play's historical contexts, political significance, language, and stage history.Trade Reviewinvigorating and essential new edition * Times Literary Supplement *
£10.45
HarperCollins Publishers The Prince and the Pauper
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.When I am king, they shall not have bread and shelter only, but also teachings out of books; for a full belly is little worth where the mind is starved, and the heart.'Set in 16th-Century England and following the lives of two young boys, The Prince and the Pauper is a classic and timeless tale. Tom Canty, the lowly pauper is almost identical in appearance to Edward Tudor, a prince. Unbeknownst to those around them, the boys strike up an unlikely friendship and soon realise that with their similar looks they could easily pass for one another.When the Prince's father dies, some of the more underhand court officials persuade the pauper to act as the Prince in order to reap the benefits of the mistake' and there follows a tale of friendship and growing up in one of Mark Twain's most infamous works.
£5.68
Princeton University Press The Plum in the Golden Vase or Chin Ping Mei
Book SynopsisProvides an annotated translation of the famous "Chin P'ing Mei", an anonymous sixteenth-century Chinese novel that focuses on the domestic life of His-men Ch'ing, a corrupt, upwardly mobile merchant who maintains a harem of six wives and concubines.Trade Review"[A] book of manners for the debauched. Its readers in the late Ming period likely hid it under their bedcovers."--Amy Tan, New York Times Book Review Praise for the previous volumes: "[I]t is time to remind ourselves that The Plum in the Golden Vase is not just about sex, whether the numerous descriptions of sexual acts throughout the novel be viewed as titillating, harshly realistic, or, in Mr. Roy's words, intended 'to express in the most powerful metaphor available to him the author's contempt for the sort of persons who indulge in them.' The novel is a sprawling panorama of life and times in urban China, allegedly set safely in the Sung dynasty, but transparently contemporary to the author's late sixteenth-century world, as scores of internal references demonstrate. The eight hundred or so men, women, and children who appear in the book cover a breath-taking variety of human types, and encompass pretty much every imaginable mood and genre--from sadism to tenderness, from light humor to philosophical musings, from acute social commentary to outrageous satire."--Jonathan Spence, New York Review of Books "Clearly David Roy is the greatest scholar-translator in the field of premodern vernacular Chinese fiction... The puns and various other kinds of word plays that abound in the Chin P'ing Mei are so difficult to translate that I can't help 'slapping the table in amazement' each time I see evidence of Roy's masterful rendition of them... I recommend this book, in the strongest possible terms, to anyone interested in the novel form in general, in Chinese literature in particular, or in the translation of Chinese literature."--Shuhui Yang, Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, and Reviews "Racy, colloquial, and robustly scatalogical, [this translation] could only have been done now, when our literary language has finally shed its Victorian values. David Tod Roy enters with zest into the spirit and the letter of the original, quite surpassing ... earlier versions."--Paul St. John Mackintosh, Literary Review "Reading Roy's translation is a remarkable experience."--Robert Chatain, Chicago Tribune Review of Books "[B]y virtue of both Roy's decision to translate the cihua version of the novel, and his manner of doing so, we have here an invaluable insight into the material and popular literary world of the late-Ming that will serve as a wonderful resource for students of the various aspects of this fascinating and rapidly changing period of late imperial Chinese history for many years to come."--Duncan Campbell, New Zealand Journal of Asian StudiesTable of ContentsLIST OF I LLUSTRATIONS ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi CAST OF CHARACTERS xiii CHAPTER 41: Hsi-men Ch'ing Forms a Marriage Alliance with Ch'iao Hung; P'an Chin-lien Engages in a Quarrel with Li P'ing-erh 1 CHAPTER 42: APowerful Family Blocks Its Gate in Order to Enjoy Fireworks; Distinguished Guests in a High Chamber Appreciate the Lanterns 19 CHAPTER 43: Because of the Missing Gold Hsi-men Ch'ing Curses Chin-lien; As a Result of the Betrothal Yueh-niang Meets Madame Ch'iao 40 CHAPTER 44: Wu Yueh-niang Detains Li Kuei-chieh Overnight; Hsi-men Ch'ing Drunkenly Interrogates Hsia-hua 65 CHAPTER 45: Li Kuei-chieh Requests the Retention of Hsia-hua; Wu Yueh-niang in a Fit of Anger Curses at Tai-an 81 CHAPTER 46: Rain and Snow Interrupt a Walk during the Lantern Festival; Wife and Concubines Laughingly Consult the Tortoise Oracle 97 CHAPTER 47: Wang Liu-erh Peddles Influence in Pursuit of Profit; Hsi-men Ch'ing Accepts a Bribe and Subverts the Law 129 CHAPTER 48: Investigating Censor Tseng Impeaches the Judicial Commissioners; Grand Preceptor Ts'ai Submits a Memorial Regarding Seven Matters 147 CHAPTER 49: Hsi-men Ch'ing Welcomes Investigating Censor Sung Ch'iao-nien; In the Temple of Eternal Felicity He Encounters an Indian Monk 171 CHAPTER 50: Ch'in-t'ung Eavesdrops on the Joys of Lovemaking; Tai-an Enjoys a Pleasing Ramble in Butterfly Lane 203 CHAPTER 51: Yueh-niang Listens to the Exposition Of The Diamond Sutra; Li Kuei-chieh Seeks Refuge in the Hsi-men Ch'ing Household 221 CHAPTER 52: Ying Po-chueh Intrudes on a Spring Beauty in the Grotto; P'an Chin-lien Inspects a Mushroom in the Flower Garden 255 CHAPTER 53: Wu Yueh-niang Engages in Coition in Quest of Male Progeny; Li P'ing-erh Fulfills a Vow in Order to Safeguard Her Son 289 CHAPTER 54: Ying Po-chueh Convenes His Friends in a Suburban Garden; Jen Hou-ch'i Diagnoses an Illness for a Powerful Family 320 CHAPTER 55: Hsi-men Ch'ing Observes a Birthday in the Eastern Capital; Squire Miao from Yang-chou Sends a Present of Singing Boys 346 CHAPTER 56: Hsi-men Ch'ing Assists Ch'ang Shih-chieh; Ying Po-chueh Recommends Licentiate Shui 374 CHAPTER 57: Abbot Tao Solicits Funds to Repair the Temple of Eternal Felicity; Nun Hsueh Enjoins Paying for the Distribution of the Dharan Sutra 394 CHAPTER 58: Inspired by a Fit of Jealousy Chin-lien Beats Ch'iu-chu; Begging Cured Pork the Mirror Polisher Tells a Sob Story 420 CHAPTER 59: Hsi-men Ch'ing Dashes "Snow Lion" to Death; Li P'ing-erh Cries Out in Pain for Kuan-ko 453 CHAPTER 60: Li P'ing-erh Becomes Ill Because of Suppressed Anger; Hsi-men Ch'ing's Silk Goods Store Opens for Business 489 NOTES 507 BIBLIOGRAPHY 639 INDEX 673
£31.50
Spark Henry IV Parts One and Two
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Henry IV Part One and Two on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.
£7.59
Spark Sonnets
Book SynopsisRead Shakespeare's sonnets in all their brillianceand understand what every word means! Don't be intimidated by Shakespeare! These popular guides make the Bard's sonnets accessible and enjoyable. This No Fear guide contains:The complete original textAline-by-line translation that puts the words into everyday languagePlenty of helpful commentary
£10.14
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Hamlet
Book SynopsisThis Arden edition of Hamlet, arguably Shakespeare''s greatest tragedy, presents an authoritative, modernized text based on the Second Quarto text with a new introductory essay covering key productions and criticism in the decade since its first publication. A timely up-date in the 400th anniversary year of Shakespeare''s death which will ensure the Arden edition continues to offer students a comprehensive and current critical account of the play, alongside the most reliable and fully-annotated text available.Trade Review[Thompson and Taylor] give us a text quite different from the edited versions that shaped debate for much of the past 400 years ... There is intellectual consistency to [their] position. * Times Literary Supplement *The editors’ 168 pages of introduction and 103 pages worth of appendices provide an unprecedented level of contextualization on matters cultural, textual, and theatrical. * Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *The scholarship … remains at the high standard expected from the Arden Series … Probably one of the most ambitious scholarly editions of the play to be published in the past century or so, if only for its attempt to present the textual complexities of the relationships between quartos and folio by printing all three early authoritative versions. * Sixteenth Century Journal *Table of ContentsIntroduction to the Revised Edition Introduction Hamlet Appendices Index
£10.63
Oxford University Press The Italian
Book Synopsis''Among his associates no one loved him, many disliked him, and more feared him.'' Father Schedoni is enlisted by the imperious Marchesa di Vivaldi to prevent her son from marrying the beautiful Ellena. Schedoni has no scruples in kidnapping Ellena and in undertaking whatever villainy will further his own ends. His menacing presence dominates a gripping tale of love and betrayal, abduction and assassination, and incarceration in the dreadful dungeons of the Inquisition. Uncertainty and doubt lie everywhere, in Radcliffe''s last and most unnerving novel. Ann Radcliffe defined the ''terror'' genre of writing and helped to establish the Gothic novel, thrilling readers with her mysterious plots and eerie effects. In The Italian she rejects the rational certainties of the Enlightenment for a more ambiguous and unsettling account of what it is to be an individual - particularly a woman - in a culture haunted by history and dominated by institutional power. This new edition includes RadcliffeTable of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography Chronology The Italian Explanatory Notes
£9.49
Spark Henry V
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Henry V on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.
£7.59
Cambridge University Press All the Sonnets of Shakespeare
Book SynopsisIntended for all readers of Shakespeare, this beautiful and ground-breaking book arranges Shakespeare's sonnets printed in 1609 in chronological order and intersperses the sonnets from the plays among them. A lively introduction provides essential background, while explanatory notes and modern English paraphrases illuminate the sonnets' meanings.Trade Review'What a fresh and lovely idea! I've been speaking the sonnets for most of my life. They are such wonderful training for an actor, and the notes and paraphrases in this book are just what we all need to guide us through them.' Judi Dench'This new arrangement of Shakespeare's sonnets is a revelation. Paul Edmondson, and Stanley Wells have truly illuminated the author's themes, preoccupations and obsessions. In so doing the poems have a fresh, and startlingly clear narrative progression. Thanks to their scholarship I found myself experiencing this work as never before. There is a directness, simplicity, and humanity, which shines from the page. It was an honour to read them in this form. I hope a large audience will enjoy seeing (and hearing), this new light shone on a great literary treasure.' Kenneth Branagh'Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells have done something daring, controversial, and richly illuminating. To the 154 poems collected in the celebrated volume of Shakespeare's Sonnets they have conjoined the sonnets that appear in the plays – such as the famous lines shared by Romeo and Juliet. To these they have added a number of passages from the plays that are in effect close relations to the conventional sonnet form. The result is to break down the walls and set Shakespeare's famous sequence in a much expanded field of poetic making. But that is not all: jettisoning the order in which the sonnets first appeared in print, Edmondson and Wells arrange them in what they take to be their chronological order of composition. The result is something radical and unsettling. To make these deeply familiar poems seem unexpected and new is a significant achievement.' Stephen Greenblatt, Author of Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics and The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve'A marvellously refreshing new look at Shakespeare's devotion to the sonnet form, expanding our understanding of the published sonnets by adding those he included in the plays. The single sentence description of each sonnet is also immensely useful and helpful to even the most seasoned reader.' Gregory Doran, Royal Shakespeare Company, Artistic Director'This is a book of clarity and love which shadows the mind in time of Shakespeare the poet and in so doing brings us closer than ever before to his own awareness of the reach of his genius.' Carol Ann Duffy'All the Sonnets of Shakespeare presents a wealth of valuable material and compelling interpretations in a clear, comprehensible, and convincing style that will hold appeal not only for Shakespeare scholars and students, but for all devotees of 'the supreme poet-dramatist' and his work.' Deb Miller, DC Metro Theater Arts'A valuable project, and one which achieves what Shakespeare editions so often promise but so rarely deliver: which is to prompt a genuinely new way of looking at these familiar works.' Daniel Swift, The Spectator'What Edmondson and Wells have done is both groundbreaking and profoundly significant … whether dipping in for a brief encounter or wanting to fully immerse oneself in the entire Sonnet canon, with scholarly explication and guidance, All the Sonnets of Shakespeare is a one volume tour de force. 400 years after his death, Edmondson and Wells have breathed new life into our engagement with his poetic output and a revised understanding of the man, his motives and his responses to creative muses … I strongly recommend grabbing a copy of their book and rediscovering the Sonnets for yourself! The casual reader will be both enlightened and entertained and the scholar will be academically stimulated.' Paul Spalding-Mulcock, Yorkshire Times'… a model of editing, which scraps the conventional sentimentalities and lets us read the Sonnets as poems - explorations into worlds of possible feeling, speech and thought, rather than coded memoirs.' Rowan Williams, New Statesman, Books of the Year 2020'In putting Shakespeare's dramatic sonnets alongside the 1609 group, this edition exhibits the breadth with which he handles the form.' Molly Clark, Times Literary Supplement'This book is a gift to scholars and students … This study will prove valuable to all who specialize in Shakespearean topics.' M. H. Kealy, Choice'Exploring the sonnets hidden in some of Shakespeare's most revered plays gives a new flavour and dynamic to those characters. It draws our attention to the author's intention in each play, where he makes a character unexpectedly speak in poetry. It illuminates that moment and poses new questions. The detailed and extremely in-depth introduction strongly supports the original works and allows us to examine all of Shakespeare's sonnets in a new, exciting and precise way. I learned a lot from reading this. I hope you do too.' Lolita Chakrabarti'… this is a volume into which one can dip suggestively, creatively and repeatedly to find things new. It is, frankly, the most exciting reconception of the Sonnets since John Benson's Poems in 1640, and the same motive of making them 'serene, clear and elegantly plain' serves to intensify their drama, their diversity and their brilliance.' Jane Kingsley-Smith, Shakespeare SurveyTable of ContentsIntroduction Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells; About this Volume; Sonnets; Textual Notes, All the Sonnets of Shakespeare: Literal Paraphrases, Numerical Index of Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609), Index of First Lines.
£15.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC A New Jane Austen
Book SynopsisCompleting Juliette Wells' groundbreaking trio of books on Austen's readers, this latest volume revolutionizes our understanding of how Austen came to be viewed as the world's greatest novelist. Wells shows that Austen's global reputation was established not by British scholars, as is commonly believed, but by visionary American writers and collectors, working largely outside academia.Drawing on extensive research, Wells weaves together colorful, compelling case studies of men and women who, from the 1880s to the 1980s, helped readers appreciate Austen's novels, persuasively advocated for her place in the literary canon, and preserved artifacts vital to her legacy.Engagingly written and abundantly illustrated, A New Jane Austen will inform and delight scholars and Austen fans alike.Trade ReviewWells's recovery and championship of these American enthusiasts is descriptive, laudatory and accessible in style ... She gives space and a second hearing to voices and approaches whose love for all things Austen, she believes, has much to teach us. * Times Literary Supplement *If you thought you knew how Jane Austen came to be viewed as the world’s greatest novelist, think again. Wells’s meticulously researched and beautifully written book introduces a fascinating group of individuals whose contributions to Austen studies have long been obscure. After reading this book, I came to care as much about Alberta Burke and Oscar Fay Adams as I do about many of Austen’s characters. -- Professor Jennie Batchelor, University of Kent, UKAn insightful, illuminating and meticulously researched book. Wells animates her subjects with skill, energy and affection in a study that significantly deepens our understanding of early Austen experts and enthusiasts and their contribution to the field. * Lizzie Dunford, Director, Jane Austen's House, UK *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Austen for Americans, and for the world: Oscar Fay Adams, critical editor and biographer Chapter 2: Canonizing “the giant Jane”: William Dean Howells, interpreter and advocate Chapter 3: Topaz crosses plus treasures of another kind: Charles Beecher Hogan, collector and keeper of reading journals Chapter 4: A labor of love and friendship: Alberta H. Burke, Averil G. Hassall, and the building of a transatlantic Austen archive Afterword: Jane Austen Anew Bibliography
£17.09
Nick Hern Books Freeing Shakespeare's Voice: The Actor's Guide to
Book SynopsisA practical approach to breaking through the barriers of restraint and incomprehension when faced with Shakespeare. Taking many of the techniques explored in her international bestseller Freeing The Natural Voice, in this companion volume Kristin Linklater shows how to apply them to the exploration and speaking of Shakespeare’s language. Beginning with exercises designed to break long-held habits and allow an emotional rather than intellectual relationship to Elizabethan language, she analyses Shakespeare's strategies for creating character, story and meaning through figures of speech, iambic pentameter, rhyme and the alternation of verse and prose. Using copious examples from the plays, Linklater offers her readers the tools to increase understanding and make Shakespeare's words their own.
£15.29
Oxford University Press Thomas Browne
Book SynopsisThis volume in the 21st Century Oxford Authors series offers students and readers an authoritative, comprehensive selection of the work of Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682). Accompanied by full scholarly apparatus, the edition demonstrates the breadth of the author of some of the most brilliant and delirious prose in English Literature. Lauded by writers ranging from Coleridge to Virginia Woolf, from Borges to W.G. Sebald, Browne''s distinct style and the musicality of his phrasing have long been seen as a pinnacle of early modern prose. However, it is Browne''s range of subject matter that makes him truly distinct. His writings include the hauntingly meditative Urn-Burial, and the elaborate The Garden of Cyrus, a work that borders on a madness of infinite pattern. Religio Medici, probably Browne''s most famous work, is at once autobiography, intricate religious-scientific paradox, and a monument of tolerance in the era of the English civil war. This volume also includes his Pseudodoxia EpTrade ReviewKilleen's edition is a heartily welcome single-volume Browne that gives us a generous vista of this most expansive writer. Its very generous annotations, in particular, will help introduce new readers and clarify his complex subtleties for specialists. * Claire Preston, Queen Mary University of London *Kevin Killeen's superb one-volume edition of Thomas Browne's major works provides students, scholars, and instructors with clear, lightly modernized texts and generous supporting glosses that enable and enrich access to the author's original voice, ideas, and learning without ever overwhelming or overburdening the reader. Killeen's literary and biographical introductions amply prepare us for the complex interplay between forms and genres exhibited throughout Browne's writings, and for the remarkable conjunction of natural philosophy, religion, antiquarianism, and classical scholarship represented by the author himself. * Matthew Woodcock, University of East Anglia *Kevin Killeen offers a generous selection of freshly edited texts richly contextualized in their bibliographical and cultural context. Teachers and scholars of Browne will welcome this much needed one-volume edition of this important seventeenth-century savant. * Brent Nelson, University of Saskatchewan *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of illustrations Introduction Notes on Text and Annotation Religio Medici (1643) Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) Hydriotaphia or Urn-Burial (1658) The Garden of Cyrus (1658) Certain Miscellany Tracts (1683) Letter to a Friend (1690) Christian Morals (1716) Notes
£24.29
University of Wales Press The Bard is a Very Singular Character
Book SynopsisA cunning and successful literary forger, Iolo Morganwg has been a controversial figure within Welsh literary history since his death in 1826. During his lifetime, however, he was largely a figure on the margins of Welsh literary society, who found the task of getting his work into the coveted sphere of print culture a gargantuan one.
£7.99
Oxford University Press The New Oxford Shakespeare Modern Critical
Book SynopsisThe Complete Works: Modern Critical Edition is part of the landmark New Oxford Shakespeare--an entirely new consideration of all of Shakespeare''s works, edited afresh from all the surviving original versions of his work, and drawing on the latest literary, textual, and theatrical scholarship. In one attractive volume, the Modern Critical Edition gives today''s students and playgoers the very best resources they need to understand and enjoy all Shakespeare''s works. The authoritative text is accompanied by extensive explanatory and performance notes, and innovative introductory materials which lead the reader into exploring questions about interpretation, textual variants, literary criticism, and performance, for themselves.The Modern Critical Edition presents the plays and poetry in the order in which Shakespeare wrote them, so that readers can follow the development of his imagination, his engagement with a rapidly evolving culture and theatre, and his relationship to his literary contemporaries.The New Oxford Shakespeare consists of four interconnected publications: the Modern Critical Edition (with modern spelling), the Critical Reference Edition (with original spelling), a companion volume on Authorship, and an online version integrating all of this material on OUP''s high-powered scholarly editions platform. Together, they provide the perfect resource for the future of Shakespeare studies.Table of ContentsTHE COMPLETE WORKS
£47.60
Oxford University Press Memoirs of Emma Courtney
Book SynopsisFirst published in the turbulent decade following the French Revolution, Memoirs of Emma Courtney is based on Mary Hays'' own passionate struggle with romance and Enlightenment philosophy. A feminist and ardent disciple of Mary Wollstonecraft, Hays reveals the lamentable gap between `what women are'' and `what woment ought to be''. The novel is one of the most articulate and detailed expressions of the yearnings and frustrations of a woman living in late eighteenth-century English society. It questions marital arrangements and courtship rituals by depicting a woman who actively pursues the man she loves. The novel explores the links between sexuality, desire, and economic and social freedom, suggesting the need for improvement in the laws of society which `have enslaved, enervated, and degraded woman''. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitTrade Reviewthe editions deserve great credit for the enthusiasm of their approach ... The introductions by eminent scholars put the thoughts of the author and the history of the time into clear perspective. Oxford should be given credit for making the classics accessible for all rather than just crib notes for students. * Jonathan Copeland, Lincolnshire Echo *
£9.49
Oxford University Press The Taming of the Shrew
Book SynopsisAudiences have always delighted in the robust comedy and verbal inventiveness of The Taming of the Shrew. It has survived many adaptations ranging from, probably, the play printed in 1594 as The Taming of the Shrew through several eighteenth-century versions to modern-dress productions and transformations into ballet, musical, film, and opera.Introducing this new edition, H.J. Oliver pays attention to the play''s theatrical virtues while also providing a deeply considered study of its textual problems, structural complexities, and interpretive challenges. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade Review'Stanley Wells' OUP Complete Works of Shakespeare is now eight years old and has spawned a new Oxford Shakespeare which appears now in splendidly affordable volumes in that nonpareil of libraries of good reading The World's Classics.' The Oxford Times
£7.59
Oxford University Press Alls Well That Ends Well
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Spark Richard III
Book SynopsisNo Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Richard III on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.
£7.59
Faber & Faber 1606
Book Synopsis1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear traces Shakespeare''s life and times from the autumn of 1605, when he took an old and anonymous Elizabethan play, The Chronicle History of King Leir, and transformed it into his most searing tragedy, King Lear.1606 proved to be an especially grim year for England, which witnessed the bloody aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, divisions over the Union of England and Scotland, and an outbreak of plague. But it turned out to be an exceptional one for Shakespeare, unrivalled at identifying the fault-lines of his cultural moment, who before the year was out went on to complete two other great Jacobean tragedies that spoke directly to these fraught times: Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.Following the biographical style of 1599, a way of thinking and writing that Shapiro has made his own, 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear promises to be one of the most significant and accessible works on Shakespeare in the decade to come
£12.34
Oxford University Press The Oxford English Literary History
Book SynopsisThe Oxford English Literary History is the new century''s definitive account of a rich and diverse literary heritage that stretches back for a millennium and more. Each of these thirteen groundbreaking volumes offers a leading scholar''s considered assessment of the authors, works, cultural traditions, events, and ideas that shaped the literary voices of their age. The series will enlighten and inspire not only everyone studying, teaching, and researching in English Literature, but all serious readers. This volume surveys the rich English literary tradition, 1603-1660, in the context of the eventful decades between the accession of James I and the restoration of Charles II. The first Part describes the ''social rules of writing.'' Who could become a writer in the early seventeenth century? How could a literary career be pursued? How was literary work disseminated? And how did those practices change between 1603 and 1660? The second Part discusses the period''s most innovative and important literary genres including satiric city comedy, country house poetry, chorography, masque, tragedy, tragicomedy, religious poetry, epic, the poetry of love and friendship, and a variety of prose.
£35.00
Oxford University Press The Misfortunes of Virtue and Other Early Tales
Book SynopsisThe name of the Marquis de Sade is synonymous with the blackest corners of the human soul, a byword for all that is foulest in human conduct. In his bleak, claustrophobic universe, there is no God, no morality, no human affection, and no hope. Power is given to the strong, and the strong are murderers, torturers, and tyrants. No quarter is given; compassion is the virtue of the weak. Yet Sade was a man of savage intelligence who carried the philosophy of the French Enlightenment to its logical extreme. His writings effectively release the individual from all social and moral constraint: for many, Sade is the Great Libertarian. The Victorians considered him `Divine' and Apollinaire called him `the freest spirit'; the Surrealists recognised him as a founding father, and he is a key figure in the history of modernism and post-modernism. With Freud and Marx, Sade has been oneof the crucial shaping influences on this century, and reactions to him continue to be extreme. But he has always bTable of ContentsThe Misfortunes of Virtue; Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man; The Successful Ruse; The Pimp Well Served; The Windbags of Provence; An Inexplicable Affair; The Prude; Émile de Tourville; Augustine de Villeblanche; The Law of Talion; The Self-Made Cuckold; The Husband who Said Mass; The Lady of the Manor of Longeville; The Confidence Men
£8.99
