Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800 Books
Hodder And Stoughton Ltd. Grisham J New John Grisham Legal Thriller
Book SynopsisThe new incredible legal thriller from John Grisham.She needs a lawyer. He needs a payday. Simon Latch is a small-town lawyer struggling with debt, gambling issues and an impending divorce. But when Eleanor Barnett, an 85-year-old widow, visits his office to secure a new will, it seems his luck has finally changed: she claims she''s sitting on a $20 million fortune and no one else knows about it. She could be the ticket to his fortune. Once he''s hooked the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar, even from his own assistant. But there are complications: other lawyers are circling his client like vultures. But when she is hospitalised after a car accident, Eleanor''s story begins to crack. Simon realises that nothing is as it seems. And as events spiral out of control, he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn''t commit: murder. The Widow is classic Grisham courtroom drama combined with a confounding murder mystery that will enthral his legion of fans.
£21.60
Spark Othello (No Fear Shakespeare): Volume 9
Book SynopsisRead Shakespeare’s plays in all their brilliance—and understand what every word means! Don’t be intimidated by Shakespeare! These popular guides make the Bard’s plays accessible and enjoyable.Each No Fear guide contains: The complete text of the original play A line-by-line translation that puts the words into everyday language A complete list of characters, with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary
£7.99
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
£10.90
Hodder & Stoughton All That Matters
Book Synopsis
£10.44
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
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.
£7.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC King Lear: Third Series
Book Synopsis'By far the best edition of King Lear - in respect of both textual and other matters - that we now have.'John Lyon, English Language Notes'This volume is a treasure-trove of precise information and stimulating comments on practically every aspect of the Lear-universe. I know of no other edition which I would recommend with such confidence: to students, professional colleagues and also the 'educated public'.'Dieter Mehl, Shakespeare Jahrbuch, vol 134Trade Review'Lear is trapped into a position of anger, having embarked on a game of vanity with his daughters: who loves me most?' * Michael Coveney, The Independent, 8.12.10 *'Of all the Shakespeare roles, King Lear is the actor's Everest... To play this you need to have lived long enough to know or see suffering, madness, and human folly.' * Libby Purves, The Times, 8.12.10 *'King Lear is perhaps the greatest of all Shakespeare's dramas, but it is so harrowing, so despairing, so graphic in its cruelty, that it is also a test of endurance.' * Charles Spencer, The Daily Telagraph, 8.12.10 *'If Shakespeare's plays were mountains, King Lear would be the entire Himalayas.' * Paul Callan, Daily Express, 8.12.10 *'The play - arguably the Bard's greatest' * Paul Callan, Daily Express, 8.12.10 *''Lear' is an undeniably majestic work; * Matt Wolf, The International Herald Tribune, 14.12.10 *
£10.90
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
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
£9.99
Spark Hamlet (No Fear Shakespeare): Volume 3
Book SynopsisRead Shakespeare’s plays in all their brilliance—and understand what every word means! Don’t be intimidated by Shakespeare! These popular guides make the Bard’s plays accessible and enjoyable.Each No Fear guide contains: The complete text of the original play A line-by-line translation that puts Shakespeare into everyday language A complete list of characters with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary
£7.99
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.
£7.99
Spark The Tempest (No Fear Shakespeare): Volume 5
Book SynopsisRead Shakespeare’s plays in all their brilliance—and understand what every word means! Don’t be intimidated by Shakespeare! These popular guides make the Bard’s plays accessible and enjoyable.Each No Fear guide contains: The complete text of the original play A line-by-line translation that puts the words into everyday language A complete list of characters, with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary
£7.59
Penguin Books Ltd The Sonnets and a Lovers Complaint
Book SynopsisPart of the "Clothbound Classics" series, this title collects sonnets of Shakespeare's that deal with eternal subjects such as love and infidelity, memory and mortality, and the destruction wreaked by Time. It also includes the sonnet "A Lover's Complaint", in which a young woman is overheard lamenting her betrayal by a heartless seducer.
£15.29
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Macbeth
Book SynopsisMacbeth is one of Shakespeare's most performed and studied tragedies. This major new Arden edition offers students detailed on-page commentary notes highlighting meaning and theatrical ideas and themes, as well as an illustrated, lengthy introduction setting the play in its historical, theatrical and critical context and outlining the recent debates about Middleton's possible co-authorship of some scenes. A comprehensive and informative edition ideal for students and teachers seeking to explore the play in depth, whether in the classroom or on the stage.Trade ReviewThis is a splendid edition: it incorporates the most recent modern scholarship ... and it does so within a compass and format that is both readable and usable. -- Neil Rhodes, University of St. Andrews, UK * Around the Globe *A much needed third series edition of Macbeth, which provides the reader with a breath of fresh scholarship after over 30 years. * Jarrod DePrado, Sacred Heart University, USA *Table of ContentsPreface List of Illustrations Introduction Macbeth Appendices Further Reading Index
£10.90
Oxford University Press Gullivers Travels
Book Synopsis
£5.99
Penguin Books Ltd Shakespeares Sonnets
Book Synopsis''Shall I compare thee to a summer''s day?Thou art more lovelyand more temperate . . .''Shakespeare''s 154 sonnets contain some of the most exquisite and haunting poetry ever written, dealing with eternal themes such as love and infidelity, memory and mortality, and the destruction wreaked by time. This new edition collects them in a pocket-sized volume, perfect for gifting. William Shakespeare was born some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon and died in 1616. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world''s pre-eminent dramatist.
£6.99
Oxford University Press Twelfth Night or What You Will The Oxford
Book SynopsisTwelfth Night is one of the most popular of Shakespeare's plays in performance, and this edition emphasizes its theatrical qualities in both the introduction and the full and detailed commentary. Where the original music has not survived, James Walker has composed settings compatible with the surviving originals, freshly edited, so that this edition, uniquely, offers all the music required to perform the play.Trade ReviewThe commentary on Twelfth Night is alive with the editors' feeling for the play in performance. * M.M. Mahoud, University of Kent, YES, 27, 1996 *
£7.59
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Shakespeare is Hard but so is Life
Book SynopsisThe works of Shakespeare have become staples of literature. They are everywhere, from our early schooling to the lecture rooms of academia, from classic theatre to modern adaptations on stage and screen. But how well do we really know his plays?In this witty, iconoclastic book, the bestselling author Fintan O'Toole examines four of Shakespeare's most enduring tragedies: Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear. He shows how their tragic heroes have been over-simplified and moulded to fit restrictive, conservative values, and restores the true heart and spirit of the classics. 'I've never read a book like this before: it's challenging, irreverent and funny.' Roddy Doyle
£9.49
Cambridge University Press Hamlet
Book SynopsisThe third edition of Hamlet offers a completely new introduction to this rich, mysterious play, examining Shakespeare''s transformation of an ancient Nordic legend into a drama whose philosophical, psychological, political, and spiritual complexities have captivated audiences world-wide for over 400 years. Focusing on the ways in which Shakespeare re-imagined the revenge plot and its capacity to investigate the human experiences of love, grief, obligation, and memory, Heather Hirschfeld explores the play''s cultural and theatrical contexts, its intricate textual issues, its vibrant critical traditions and controversies, and its history of performance and adaptation by celebrated directors, actors, and authors. Supplemented by an updated reading list, extensive illustrationsand helpful appendices, this editionalso features revised commentary notes explicitly designed for the student reader, offering the verybest in contemporary criticism of this great tragedy.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Note on the text; List of characters; The play; Reading list; Appendices.
£12.29
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
£7.99
Oxford University Press The Merchant of Venice The Oxford Shakespeare
Book SynopsisWhat was Shakespeare''s attitude to Semitism? The Introduction to this edition of The Merchant of Venice opens by addressing this vital issue raised by the play, and goes on to study the sources, background, and date, includuing a discussion of Sigmund Freud''s essay on ''The Three Caskets''. Professor Halio interprets the play''s contradictions, inconsistencies, and complementarities, especially as these relate to the overarching theme of bonds and bondage. A survey of the play''s stage history ranges from discussions of its early staging to important twentieth-century productions and performances outside England, particularly in Israel.The text, based on a fresh examination of the early editions, is presented in modernized spelling and punctuation. Unfailingly lucid and helpful, this is an ideal edition for students, actors, and the general reader. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewThe annotation, generally proficient, is admirably frank in rendering sexual doubles entendres and is frequently illuminating in its references to modes of staging ... As in the other volumes of this Oxford Shakespeare series, there is a good range of pictorial material and a very useful index ... this edition of The Merchant of Venice is creditable, lucid, and practical. * Cedric Watts, University of Sussex, Review of English Studies, Vol. 47, No. 186, May '96 *
£7.99
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
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)
£11.67
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Merchant Of Venice
Book SynopsisThe Merchant of Venice is perhaps most associated not with its titular hero, Antonio, but with the complex figure of the money lender, Shylock. The play was described as a comedy in the First Folio but its modern audiences find it more problematic to categorise. The vilification of Shylock 'the Jew' can be very uncomfortable for a post-holocaust audience and debates continue as to whether Shakespeare's portrayal of this complex man is sympathetic or anti-semitic. John Drakakis' comprehensive introduction traces the stage history of the figure of the Jew and looks boldly at twenty-first century issues surrounding it. He also explores other themes of the play such as father/daughter relations, the power of money and the forceful character of Portia, to offer readers an energetic, original and revelatory reading of this challenging play.
£11.67
Cornerstone Romantic Outlaws
Book Synopsis***AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4***NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER'A gripping account of the heartbreaks and triumphs of two of history's most formidable female intellectuals, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley.Trade Review[A] unique double biography... An excellent and poignant book whose heroines breathe in its pages. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *A mother and daughter who changed not only the way we think, but the way we are… extraordinary women, a dozen decades ahead of their time… Romantic Outlaws enables readers to compare the different ways in which these two remarkable women confronted their tragically different destinies… [A] thoughtful, intelligent, deeply-felt book’ -- Miranda Seymour * Sunday Times *A gripping account of the heartbreaks and triumphs of two of history's most formidable female intellectuals, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. Gordon has reunited mother and daughter through biography, beautifully weaving their narratives for the first time. -- Amanda Foreman * author of A World on Fire *Full of enriching paradox… Charlotte Gordon has managed to produce that rare thing, a work of genuinely popular history... It works beautifully. -- Melissa Benn * New Statesman *Wollstonecraft and Shelley were extraordinary women who led sensational lives. They were Romantic revolutionaries… retelling their story cannot fail to captivate and provoke. * Spectator *Unique... Marvellous, passionate stuff. -- David Aaronovitch * Books of the Year, Times *An exceptional achievement -- Michael Morpugo * Daily Telegraph *Read and be seriously inspired. * Stylist *An innovative dual biography that foregrounds the writing of two women who disregarded the moral codes of their eras and shaped their own destinies. Gordon’s parallel mapping of their lives reveals fascinating similarities in the ways writing sustained, and sometimes saved, them both. * Financial Times *Mother and daughter shadow and reveal each other. The retelling emphasises the extent to which Shelley’s life was shaped by her mother’s legacy but here is underlined in thought-provoking ways... In Gordon’s narrative, [Wollstonecraft and Shelley] appear at their best and bravest. * Observer *
£10.44
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Shakespeares Sonnets
Book SynopsisA revised edition of this acclaimed and best-selling edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets and updated throughout to take account of recent scholarship since its first publication in 1997.Trade Review"... this must now be the edition of first resort." Paul Hammond, Review of English Studies
£11.67
Oxford University Press Indiana
Book SynopsisIndiana (1831) is an absorbing and vivid romantic novel, set partly in provincial France, partly in Paris, and partly on a tropical island. It tells the story of a beautiful and innocent young woman, married at sixteen to a much older man.
£8.54
Manchester University Press John Hall, Master of Physicke: A Casebook from
Book SynopsisThis is the first complete edition and English translation of John Hall’s Little Book of Cures, a fascinating medical casebook composed in Latin around 1634–5. John Hall (1575–1635) was Shakespeare’s son-in-law (Hall married Susanna Shakespeare in 1607), and based his medical practice in Stratford-upon-Avon. Readers have never before had access to a complete English translation of John Hall’s casebook, which contains fascinating details about his treatment of patients in and around Stratford.Until Wells’s edition, our knowledge of Hall and his practice has had to rely only on a partial, seventeenth-century edition (produced by James Cooke in 1657 and 1679, and re-printed with annotation by Joan Lane as recently as 1996). Cooke’s edition significantly misrepresents Hall by abridging his manuscript (Cooke removed Hall’s conversations with his patients), by errors of translation, and by combining Hall’s work with examples from Cooke’s own medical practice.Trade Review‘a remarkable piece of scholarship that goes beyond quaintness and unintended humour (no pun intended) to offer a convincing composite portrait of a society pitched between atavism and modernity.’Brian Morton, TLS -- .Table of ContentsForeword by Professor Sir Stanley Wells C.B.E.1. Introducing John Hall, Master of Physicke2. Recreating John Hall’s library3. John Hall’s manuscript4. Textual introduction5. John Hall’s Little Book of CuresAppendix 1 John Hall’s working library (a list of his regular, medical sources)Appendix 2 Glossary of medical and pharmaceutical termsIndex
£19.00
Oxford University Press Much Ado About Nothing The Oxford Shakespeare
Book SynopsisSparkling with the witty dialogue between Beatrice and Benedicts, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare''s most enjoyable and theatrically successful comedies.This edition offers a newly edited text and an exceptionally helpful and critically aware introduction. Paying particular attention to analysis of the play''s minor characters, Sheldon P Zitner discusses Shakespeare''s transformation of his source material. He rethinks the attitudes to gender relations that underlie the comedy and determine its view of marriage.Allowing for the play''s openness to reinterpretation by successive generations of readers and peformers, Zitner provides a socially analytic stage history, advancing new views for the actor as much as for the critic. 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 o
£7.59
Oxford University Press Oxford Literature Companions King Lear
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 wtih 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 King Lear by William Shakespeare, is suitable for all exam boards and for the most recent AS/A level specifications.
£11.67
Penguin Books Ltd Metaphysical Poetry
Book SynopsisIncludes tightly argued lyrics, erotic and libertine considerations of love, divine poems and elegies of lament by such great figures as John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell and John Milton, alongside pieces from many other less well known but equally poets of the age, such as Anne Bradstreet, Katherine Philips and Thomas Traherne.
£10.44
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 Oxford Student Texts John Milton Paradise Lost
Book SynopsisOne of a series designed to motivate and encourage students who may be working on certain writers for the first time. Each text includes notes to explain literary and historical allusions, tasks to help students explore themes and issues, and suggestions for further reading.
£999.99
Oxford University Press Utopia
Book SynopsisA new edition of Thomas More's Utopia—a 16th century socio-political critique made through a satirical account of an idealised fictional society. This edition is based on the first English translation of the text and provides novel insights into More's context and intentions, as well as the influence of the translator.
£8.54
Hodder Education AS/A-level English Literature Workbook: Othello
Book SynopsisExam board: AQA A, AQA B, Edexcel, CCEALevel: A-levelSubject: EnglishFirst teaching: September 2015First exams: Summer 2016 (AS); Summer 2017 (A-level)Check, reinforce and improve critical skills and textual understanding to give students the best chance of success in their AS/A-level English Literature exams.Containing over 150 ready-made activities for Othello - with comprehensive answers provided online - this write-in Workbook:- Actively develops knowledge and skills as students practise questions that cover plot and structure, themes, characterisation, form and language, contexts and critical approaches- Ensures that every student achieves real progress with activities that gradually build in difficulty, plus additional 'Challenge yourself' tasks to target the top grades- Helps students make the transition from GCSE to AS/A-level, with guidance from experienced examiners and teachers on higher-level skills, such as analysing structure and using literary terminology- Focuses on exam skills with a separate section that includes practice essay questions and advice on: question types; essay planning; writing about extracts and whole texts; using evidence and context- Encourages independent learning as students use their Workbook at home or in class, throughout the course or for revision and exam preparation- Supports the AQA A, AQA B, Edexcel and CCEA AS/A-level English Literature specifications through a wide range of activities suitable for every exam board
£12.62
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Twelfth Night: Third Series
Book SynopsisCritically acclaimed as one of Shakespeare's most complex and intriguing plays, Twelfth Night is a classic romantic comedy of mistaken identities. In recent years it has returned to the centre of critical debate surrounding gender and sexuality. The Introduction explores the multiple factors that make up the play's rich textual, theatrical, critical and cultural history. Keir Elam surveys the play's production and reception, emphasizing the role of the spectator both within the comedy and the playhouse.Trade Review'Brings together into one volume a wealth of textual, bibliographical, and critical scholarship...emplifies scholarly achievement...' Shakespeare Quarterly (2009)
£10.90
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
£8.99
Oxford University Press Shakespeare Made Easy Macbeth
Book SynopsisThe Shakespeare Made Easy series aims to take the fear out of Shakespeare. By having Shakespearean and Modern English facing each other, pupils will find it easier to comprehend the text. Through discussion of the life, work and theatre of Shakespeare pupils can gain a more rounded understanding of these classic works.
£17.33
Manchester University Press As You Like it
Book SynopsisThis book examines the modern performance history of one of Shakespeare's best-loved and most enduring comedies, and one that has given opportunities for generations of theatre-makers and theatre-goers to explore the pleasures of pastoral, gender masquerade and sexual ambiguity. Powered by Shakespeare's greatest female comic role, the play invites us into a deeply English woodland that has also been richly imagined as a space of dreams. The study retrieves the untold stories of stage productions in Britain, France and Germany, which include Royal Shakespeare Company productions starring Vanessa Redgrave, Eileen Atkins and Juliet Stevenson, the ground-breaking all-male productions at the National Theatre in 1967 and by Cheek by Jowl in 1992, and the versions directed by Jacques Copeau in Paris in 1934, and by Peter Stein in Berlin in 1977. It also addresses the four major screen versions of the play, ranging from Paul Czinner's 1936 film to Kenneth Branagh's seventy years later.Table of ContentsIntroduction: this strange, eventful history 1 Play, parts and players 2 Hunting for Arden in Warwickshire 3 Materials of performance: denim and silk 4 Between France and Germany 5 At all points like a man 6 Woeful pageants 7 As we like it Appendix: Major actors and staff for productions discussed in this volume Index
£21.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Romeo and Juliet
Book SynopsisThis major new edition of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy of love argues that that play is ultimately Juliet's. The play text is expertly edited and the on-page commentary notes discuss issues of staging, theme, meaning and Shakespeare's use of his sources to give the reader deep and engaging insights into the play. The richly illustrated introduction looks at the play's exceptionally beautiful and complex language and focuses on the figure of Juliet as being at its centre. René Weis discusses the play's critical, stage and film history, including West Side Story and Baz Luhrmann's seminal film Romeo + Juliet. This is an authoritative edition from a leading scholar, giving the reader a penetrating and wide-ranging insight into this ever popular play.Trade ReviewRomeo and Juliet continues to be a perennial favourite in the English classroom. As well as offering students a clear and spacious text to read and annotate, the latest Arden edition provides a wealth of critical and contextual material - so crucial to today's study of Shakespeare. Ideal for teachers looking to refresh and update their reading of the text, René Weis's introduction combines close attention to dramatic language with a comprehensive overview of the history of the play in performance. However familiar a reader might be with Romeo and Juliet, this new edition will bring a range of fresh perspectives, dispelling some oft-repeated myths along the way. * Dr Jenny Stevens, Teacher and Lecturer in English *... this new Arden is a thoroughly usable edition... Both introduction and commentary are sensitive, sharp-eyed and clear. Weis's account of the play's performance history brings out the excitement of modern productions by Michael Bogdanov and Tim Carroll, and the innovations of Baz Luhrmann's film... this Romeo and Juliet will serve well. -- Duncan Salkeld * Times Literary Supplement *If you are looking for something for your A-level students, particularly to start off study for Edexcel's unit four for A level, this is the perfect edition. The notes are detailed and scholarly, and there are many essays and appendices which students would find useful, including a look at playing the love scenes through the ages and some reflection on the various adaptations and original setting for Romeo and Juliet over the centuries. * Teaching Drama *Rene Weis’s Romeo and Juliet lives up to the high standards of the Arden Shakespeare, with an extensive introduction, expansive editorial glosses, and even a facsimile reproduction of Q1 in an appendix. -- Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr., Rice University * Studies in English Literature, Vol. 53, No. 2 *Prof. Weis' edition of Romeo and Juliet implements a number of important updates from the second Arden edition of the test. With a comprehensive introduction, and in-depth textual notations, it has easily become the definitive edition of the play. * Jarrod DePrado, Sacred Heart University, USA *
£10.90
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 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 *
£8.99
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 Mary and The Wrongs of Woman
Book Synopsis''I have lately written...a tale, to illustrate an opinion of mine, that a genius will educate itself.''Mary Wollstonecraft is best known for her pioneering views on the rights of women to share equal rights and opportunities with men. Expressed most forcefully in her Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), her forthright opinions also inform her two innovative novels, Mary and The Wrongs of Woman, a fictional sequel to the Vindication. In both novels the heroines have to rely on their own resources to establish their independence and intellectual development. Mary learns to take control of her destiny and become a social philanthropist, while Maria, in The Wrongs of Woman, fights imprisonment and a loveless marriage to claim her rights.Strongly autobiographical, both novels powerfully complement Wollstonecraft''s non-fictional writing, inspired by the French Revolution and the social upheavals that followed. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made ava
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Sonnets and a Lovers Complaint
Book SynopsisWilliam Shakespeare is a global icon for his plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, but his poetic meditations on love are among the most powerful and evocative poems ever written. This Penguin Classics edition of Sonnets and A Lover''s Complaint is edited by John Kerrigan.''Shall I compare thee to a summer''s day?''The language of Shakespeare''s sonnets has become inseparable from the language of love in English; but the force and tenderness of these poems is undiminished by age. When this volume of Shakespeare''s poems first appeared in 1609, he had already written most of the great plays that made him famous. The 154 sonnets - all but two of which are addressed to a beautiful young man, ''Mr W.H.'', or a treacherous ''dark lady'' - contain some of the most exquisite and haunting poetry ever written, and deal with eternal subjects such as love and infidelity, memory and mortality, and the destruction wreaked by Time. Also in
£8.99
Vintage Publishing Will In The World: How Shakespeare Became
Book SynopsisStephen Greenblatt's Will in the World is widely recognised to be the fullest and most brilliant account ever written of Shakespeare's life, his work and his age.Shakespeare was a man of his time, constantly engaging with his audience's deepest desires and fears, and by reconnecting with this historic reality we are able to experience the true character of the playwright himself. Greenblatt traces Shakespeare's unfolding imaginative generosity - his ability to inhabit others, to confer upon them his own strength of spirit, to make them truly live as independent beings as no other artist has ever done.Digging deep into the vital links between the playwright and his world, Will in the World provides the fullest account ever written of the living, breathing man behind the masterpieces.Trade ReviewA vast shelf of biographies of the Bard exists, but this is the book I would take with me to a desert island -- Jay Parini * Guardian *A work of wonderful erudition that can be read as an accessible introduction to the social and political milieu from which Shakespeare emerged, and as an elegant guide to the astonishing poems and plays themselves * New Statesman *Both insightful literary criticism and a gripping piece of psychological detective work … Stephen Greenblatt has few equals as a Shakespeare scholar * Metro *A delight, full of new insights and infused with a rich understanding of precisely why Shakespeare’s writing gives us such lasting pleasure … quite superb -- John Simpson * Sunday Times 'Books of the Year' *Thought-provoking … full of unexpected touches … beautifully written -- Andrew Marr * Daily Telegraph *Riveting * Independent *Really gives a sense of being in touch with the man. Greenblatt’s knowledge of the plays and the times in which they were written is so encyclopaedic that he can assemble a convincing portrait of Shakespeare without resorting to smoke and mirrors * Sunday Times *The most complexly intelligent and sophisticated, and yet the most keenly enthusiastic, study of the life and work taken together that I have ever read -- Adam Gopnik * New Yorker *One of the finest recent Shakespeare biographies -- Robert McCrum * Guardian *Greenblatt’s fantastically readable biography of our greatest writer paints a riveting portrait of Elizabethan England * Daily Telegraph *Compulsively readable and deeply imaginative -- Stanley WellsAt last, the book Shakespeare has deserved: a brilliant book written by a virtual eyewitness who understands how a playwright takes the stuff of his life and his world and makes it into theatre -- Charles MeeA tour de force … a book for artists and ordinary people as well as scholars and students -- Tina PackerA wonderful piece of work -- Simon Russell Beale
£17.00
Oxford University Press Alls Well That Ends Well
Book Synopsis
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers The Scarlet Letter Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is pround to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.''Ah, but let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart.''A tale of sin, punishment and atonement, The Scarlet Letter exposes the moral rigidity of a 17th-Century Puritan New England community when faced with the illegitimate child of a young mother. Regarded as the first real heroine of American fiction, it is Hester Prynne''s strength of character that resonates with the reader when her harsh sentence is cast. It is in her refusal to reveal the identity of the father in the face of her accusers that Hawthorne champions his heroine and berates the weakness of Society for attacking the innocent.
£5.62
