Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 Books

Book Synopsis*BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week* Benjamin Zephaniah, who has travelled the world for his art and his humanitarianism, now tells the one story that encompasses it all: the story of his life. In the early 1980s when punks and Rastas were on the streets protesting about unemployment, homelessness and the National Front, Benjamin’s poetry could be heard at demonstrations, outside police stations and on the dance floor. His mission was to take poetry everywhere, and to popularise it by reaching people who didn’t read books. His poetry was political, musical, radical and relevant.  By the early 1990s, Benjamin had performed on every continent in the world (a feat which he achieved in only one year) and he hasn’t stopped performing and touring since. Nelson Mandela, after hearing Benjamin’s tribute to him while he was in prison, requested an introduction to the poet that grew into a lifelong relationship, inspiring BTrade Review'The Life and Rhymes has a performative quality reminiscent of Zephaniah’s poetry – honest, unshowy and ultimately unthreatening. It matches the man.' * The Guardian *'Vivid, frank and to the point, yet bristling with compassion, this is a rousing romp through a life less ordinary and a timely reminder of art’s redemptive force.' * Mojo magazine *‘Compelling and inspiring’ * Scottish Poetry Library *'His singular career has spanned poetry, music and activism, with detours into acting and academia. And he’s really lived a life less ordinary – from teenage jailbird to celebrity role model, embraced by the British Establishment, even if he hasn’t always reciprocated. His scepticism about the necessity of his memoir, The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, is unfounded.' * The Scotsman *'His singular career has spanned poetry, music and activism, with detours into acting and academia. And he’s really lived a life less ordinary – from teenage jailbird to celebrity role model, embraced by the British Establishment, even if he hasn’t always reciprocated. His scepticism about the necessity of his memoir, The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, is unfounded.' * The Scotsman *‘This is a beautifully penned and highly entertaining account of an intriguing life, opening us up not just to Zephaniah's story but to a wide range of topics arising out of it...tackled with down-to-earth honesty and insight, not to mention an element of gentle humour and self-effacement.’ * Morning Star *'The people’s laureate' * Birmingham Mail *‘A celebration of a truly extraordinary life story which remarks upon the power of poetry and the importance of pushing boundaries with the arts.’ * Shropshire Star *'Retaining a humility and humour that belie his extraordinary rise from street gang to cultural touchstone…Zephaniah is one of the rare voices that manages to remain determinedly outside the Establishment (he famously turned down an OBE) yet is embraced by it...a riveting read worthy of a Netflix drama.' * iNews *'Filled with extraordinary moments, taking in his first poetry performance in a church aged 10, his time in borstal and prison, and his stint in a gang when he feared for his life and slept with a gun under his pillow. He was framed by the police for murder, turned his life around to the extent that he developed a friendship with Nelson Mandela – and his words helped usher in freedom in South Africa. But the book is also a searing social history of Britain and a salutary reminder that when it comes to the fight for racial equality, there is no end bell.' * Big Issue North *'Zephaniah pulls no punches when it comes to talking about the racism that has shaped his life or the mischief he got up to in response to it.' * The Spectator *

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Book SynopsisA book length collaboration between two underground legends, Charles Bukowski and Robert Crumb. Bukowski's last journals candidly and humorously reveal the events in the writer's life as death draws inexorably nearer, thereby illuminating our own lives and natures, and to give new meaning to what was once only familiar. Crumb has illustrated the text with 12 full-page drawings and a portrait of Bukowski.

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Book SynopsisThis critical study covers the whole range of Dylan Thomas's writing, both poetry and prose, in an accessible appraisal of the work and achievement of a major and dynamic poet. It interrelates the man and his national-cultural background by defining in detail the Welshness of his poetic temperament and critical attitudes, as both man and poet. At the same time, it illustrates Thomas's wide knowledge of and impact on the long and varied tradition of poetry in English. In that connection, it delineates and delimits Thomas's relationship to surrealism, compares and contrasts his work with that of other poets of the 1930s and 1940s, and shows how its power survives his early death in 1953, in the decade of the 'Movement' poets and beyond. A major aspect of this book is the close textual analysis of the works quoted; it explores anew the recognition due to the man who wrote the work, and helps us to separate the intrinsic achievement of the work from the foisted perceptions of the 'legend'.Trade ReviewWalford Davies's sympathetic introduction to the character and writing of Dylan Thomas, one of the great twentieth-century poets, is illuminating for new or experienced readers. His appraisal and close readings are warmly personal, rooted in Welsh literary and social culture. - Prof. Barbara Hardy, Professor of English Literature Emeritus, University of London Walford Davies displays commendable but misplaced modesty in calling this extensively revised centenary edition of his celebrated study of Dylan Thomas an 'essay'. It is, rather, a sustained, even ecstatic meditation on the meaning of the life and the work of one of the great English language writers of the twentieth century. The book performs a miracle of compression in distilling a lifetime's learning and reflection into manageable space and offering elegant readings not only of Thomas's key writings in poetry, fiction and broadcast media but of his biographical and cultural contexts. The poet's debt to the Welsh-speaking, Non-Conformist milieu of his immediate ancestry is sensitively illuminated, and his place in the British poetry of his time and in the long history of verse in English from Chaucer to Heaney delineated with formidable skill and erudition. The volume is in the best sense a work of advocacy - and one as dapper, witty and unfanatical as it is impassioned. - Prof. Patrick Crotty, University of AberdeenTable of Contents1 'Begin at the beginning': introductory 2 'The sideboard fruit, the ferns': the poet in suburbia 3 'The loud hill of Wales': theWelshness of the work 4 'I'll put them all in a story by and by': aspects of the prose 5 'Now my saying shall be my undoing': the need to change 6 'Criss-cross rhythms': comparisons of earlier and later poems 77 7 'Ann's bard on a raised hearth': towards 'After the funeral (In Memory of Ann Jones)' 8 'Mostly bare I would lie down': a creative decade ends in war 9 'Arc-lamped thrown back upon the cutting flood'; 'This unbelievable lack of wires': wartime, film work, broadcasts 98 10 'We hid our fears in that murdering breath': the war elegies 11 'Parables of sun light': towards 'Poem in October', 'Fern Hill', 'Do not go gentle into that good night' and beyond

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Book SynopsisIs it ever possible to know 'the truth' about Sylvia Plath and her marriage to Ted Hughes, which ended with her suicide? In The Silent Woman, renowned writer Janet Malcolm examines the biographies of Sylvia Plath, with particular focus on Anne Stevenson's Bitter Fame, to discover how Plath became an enigma in literary history. The Silent Woman is a brilliant, elegantly reasoned inquiry into the nature of biography, dispelling our innocence as readers, as well as shedding a light onto why Plath's legend continues to exert such a hold on our imaginations.Trade ReviewOne of the deepest, loveliest, and most problematic things Janet Malcolm has written. It is so subtle, so patiently analytical, and so true that it is difficult to envisage anyone writing again about Plath and Hughes * Guardian *An astonishing writer with a grasp of nuance that can be electric * The Times *Intellectually explosive, morally challenging and enormous fun * Financial Times *Compulsively readable, the best thing Malcolm has ever done * LRB *Superbly written, flowing like a piece of music from theme to theme, recapitulating here, changing key there, always disguising the complexity of its underlying construction * Independent *The best-written and most stirring polemic of the year. Completely brilliant * The Times *The Silent Woman contains some of the best thinking I know on both the practical and the philosophical problems of biography -- Bernard Crick * New Statesman *Of the oceans of words written about Sylvia Plath, these are among the best... a master storyteller and a psychoanalyst rolled into one. Brilliant * Independent *The Silent Woman pioneered a new genre of biography in its exploration of Hughes and Sylvia Plath...The study ends with an exquisite twist that gives this book the urgency of fiction...insightful * Telegraph *The maestro of gripping nonfiction investigation * Sunday Times *Brilliant -- Megan Nolan * New Statesman *A bleakly entertaining j'accuse of biography as a genre * TLS *

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Book SynopsisA travelogue exploring the life and work of George Orwell through the places he lived, worked and wrote Following in the footsteps of his literary hero, researcher and historian Oliver Lewis set out to visit all the places to have inspired and been lived in by George Orwell. Over three years he travelled from Wigan to Catalonia, Paris to Motihari, Marrakesh to Eton, and in each location explored both how Orwell experienced the place, and how the place now remembers him as a literary icon. Beginning in Northern India, where Orwell was born in 1903, and ending in the Oxfordshire village of Sutton Courtenay, where he was laid to rest in 1950, The Orwell Tour offers an accessible and informative new biography of Orwell through the lens of place.Trade ReviewOrwell roamed widely, living in London, Southwold, Henley, Wallington, Hayes and Jura. It's this rootless, restless man that writer Oliver Lewis pursues in his innovative and thorough book, The Orwell Tour. -- Daily TelegraphIf you enjoy Orwell and if you enjoy travelogues, you'll find a lot here to like. -- The Orwell Society

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Book SynopsisThe first complete collection of A. A. Milne's short fiction for grown-ups, including several newly discovered stories

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Book SynopsisHergé's Tintin cartoon adventures have been translated into more than fifty languages and read by tens of millions of children aged, as their publishers like to say, 'from 7 to 77'. Arguing that their characters are as strong and their plots as complex as any dreamt up by the great novelists, Tom McCarthy asks a simple question: is Tintin literature? McCarthy takes a cue from Tintin himself, who spends much of his time tracking down illicit radio signals, entering crypts and decoding puzzles and suggests that we too need to 'tune in' and decode if we want to capture what's going on in Hergé's work. What emerges is a remarkable story of hushed-up royal descent in both Herge's work and his own family history. McCarthy shows how the themes this story generates - expulsion from home, violation of the sacred, the host-guest relationship turned sour and anxieties around questions of forgery and fakeness - are the same that have fuelled and troubled writers from the classical era to the present day. His startling conclusion is that Tintin's ultimate 'secret' is that of literature itself. Appearing on the eve of the release of a major Steven Spielberg Tintin film, Tintin and the Secret of Literature should be avidly devoured by not only Tintin lovers but also by anyone with an interest in literature, philosophy or art.

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Book SynopsisThis richly illustrated book explores the huge creative endeavour behind Tolkien’s enduring popularity. Lavishly illustrated with over 300 images of his manuscripts, drawings, maps and letters, the book traces the creative process behind his most famous literary works – 'The Hobbit', 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Silmarillion' and reproduces personal photographs and private papers,some of which have never been seen before in print. Tolkien drew on his deep knowledge of medieval literature and language to inform his literary imagination. Six introductory essays cover some of the main themes in Tolkien’s life and work including the influence of northern languages and legends on the creation of his own legendarium; his concept of ‘Faërie’ as a literary construct; the central importance of his invented languages in his fantasy writing; his visual imagination and its emergence in his artwork; and the encouragement he derived from the literary group known as the Inklings. This book brings together the largest collection of original Tolkien material ever assembled in a single volume. Drawing on the archives of the Tolkien collections at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, and Marquette University, Milwaukee, as well as private collections, this exquisitely produced catalogue draws together the worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien – scholarly, literary, creative and domestic – offering a rich and detailed understanding and appreciation of this extraordinary author.Trade Review'The excellent catalogue is well worth its £40.' * The Times *'...a splendid collective effort that offers the reader a beautiful, accurate and at times moving portrayal of Tolkien, the man and the author, But, just as importantly, it successfully captures the complexity and depth of Tolkien's literary endeavour, facilitating the reader's approach to a monumental, many-layered palimpsest.' * Cercles Journal *'Enjoyable and quick to read from cover to cover, but it is also a beautiful book that begs to be flipped through. Thankfully, the well-researched information that accompanies each high-quality image makes this sort of a la carte consumption not only possible but also satisfying.' * Western Folklore Journal *'Better than the show itself, with all the things she wanted to include in the show but couldn’t.' -- Melanie McDonagh * The Spectator *'This is a near-perfect collection and an utter delight for those who love Middle-earth.' * Starburst Magazine *'J.R.R. Tolkien fans needs to know about "Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth" … Incredible … A hefty book packed full of gorgeous, fascinating images.' * io9 *'A compelling and extraordinarily rich account of J.R.R. Tolkien's life and literary history interspersed between three hundred images … Really, you should just go and get this … awesome and lore-packed book. 'Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth' is the book beyond the exhibit, which endures even as the other diminishes and sails into the West. It's sure to enrich any fan's appreciation for Tolkien the mortal Man.' * Tor.com *'"Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth" is a pure delight, one that I'll return to many times in the years to come. … I have many more books about Tolkien than I do ones he has written, and this is the best of those about him so far.' * Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine *'The single best, and best value, one-stop-shop for the visual material associated with JRR Tolkien.' * The Notion Club Papers – an Inklings Blog *'I can honestly say it is not just a beautiful and important art book, but a critical biographical publication for study and research too. Well done! … A wonderful, and important, book. Don’t wait to get one if you are on the fence!' * @TolkienGuide *Table of ContentsContents Foreword Note to the Reader 1. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biographical Sketch, by Catherine McIlwaine 2. Tolkien and the Inklings, by John Garth 3. Faërie: Tolkien's Perilous Land, by Verlyn Flieger 4. Inventing Elvish, by Carl F. Hostetter 5. Tolkien and ‘that noble northern spirit’, by Tom Shippey 6. Tolkien’s Visual Art, by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull CATALOGUE Reading Tolkien: ‘to England; to my country’ Childhood: ‘the undarkened heart and mind’ Student Days: ‘Friendship to the Nth power' Sheer Invention: 'new patterns of old colours’ The Silmarillion: ‘myth-woven and elf-patterned’ The Professor at Home: ‘from time already mortgaged’ The Hobbit: ‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit’ The Lord of the Rings: ‘lightning from a clear sky’ Mapping Middle-earth: ‘Not all those who wander are lost’ Further Reading Acknowledgements Contributors Picture credits Index

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Book SynopsisGabriele d'Annunzio (1863-1938), the most influential and controversial Italian poet of the 20th century, published his masterpiece "Halcyon" in 1903. It is a carefully organized sequence of 88 lyrics which, to gain their full effect, must be read as a whole. Halcyon is a "solar diary" of a summer spent in Tuscany, part of the time with the legendary Eleanora Duse. The poems evoke specific times and places; more importantly, they conjure up emotions, memories and myths associated with each place. Beginning in early summer, they move through the seasons, changing in verse-form and mood, always delighting in the sensuous qualities of language. J.G. Nicholls's translation makes the richness and subtlety of d'Annunzio's poetry accessible to the English-speaking reader, and his introduction illuminates the complex themes and structure of the work. He provides a full glossary of places and references.

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Book Synopsis"I find myself talking to you about all the great joys, all the agonies, all my thoughts..." Letter to Eva Konikova, 1946 Out of the thousands of letters Tove Jansson wrote a cache remains that she addressed to her family, her dearest confidantes, and her lovers, male and female. Into these she spilled her innermost thoughts, defended her ideals and revealed her heart. To read these letters is both an act of startling intimacy and a rare privilege. Penned with grace and humour, Letters from Tove offers an almost seamless commentary on Tove Jansson's life as it unfolds within Helsinki's bohemian circles and her island home. Spanning fifty years between her art studies and the height of Moomin fame, we share with her the bleakness of war; the hopes for love that were dashed and renewed, and her determined attempts to establish herself as an artist. Vivid, inspiring and shining with integrity, Letters from Tove shows precisely how an aspiring and courageous young artist can evolve into a very great one.Trade ReviewTove Jansson was a genius, a woman of profound wisdom and great artistry -- Philip PullmanHer tales of Mominvalley are really only half the story of Jansson's quiet creative genius...her novels, short story collections and memoir writing form an equally shining achievement. -- Ali SmithA unique and authentic voice that speaks to the reader across time and culture, heart to heart -- Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *Tove Jansson is one of the greatest children's writers there has ever been -- Sir Terry PratchettLetters from Tove offers readers the privilege of spending time inside an intelligent, creative, curious, generous, funny, unsentimental mind. Few books have given me as much pure pleasure this year. -- Anna Carey * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisPlants have played key roles in science fiction novels, graphic novels and film. John Wyndham’s triffids, Algernon Blackwood’s willows and Han Kang’s sprouting woman are just a few examples. Plants surround us, sustain us, pique our imaginations and inhabit our metaphors – but in many ways they remain opaque. The scope of their alienation is as broad as their biodiversity. And yet, literary reflections of plant-life are driven, as are many threads of science fictional inquiry, by the concerns of today. Plants in Science Fiction is the first-ever collected volume on plants in science fiction, and its original essays argue that plant-life in SF is transforming our attitudes toward morality, politics, economics and cultural life at large – questioning and shifting our understandings of institutions, nations, borders and boundaries; erecting and dismantling new visions of utopian and dystopian futures.Trade Review“Science fiction teaches us to ‘be-with others better.’ This is the core argument of Plants in Science Fiction, captured in one of its chapters and suffused throughout. Readers will come away with a profound and challenging understanding of what it means to be human, as well as a deep appreciation for the critical function of science fiction in a threatened world.” -- Eric Otto, Florida Gulf Coast University“Plants in Science Fiction demonstrates that science fiction and ecocriticism have much to say to each other. By considering ‘speculative vegetation,’ of course, we learn much about our own lives in the present moment on Earth.’ -- Scott Slovic, Editor-in-Chief, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and EnvironmentTable of ContentsContributors Introduction - Katherine E. Bishop Abjection Weird Flora: Plant Life in the Classic Weird Tale - Jessica George ‘Bloody unnatural brutes’: Anthropomorphism, Colonialism and the Return of the Repressed in John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids - Jerry Määttä Botanical Tentacles and the Chthulucene- Shelley Saguaro Affinity Between the Living and the Dead: Vegetal Afterlives in Evgenii Iufit's and Vladimir Maslov’s Silver Heads - Brittany Roberts Vegetable Love: Desire, Feeling, and Sexuality in Botanical Fiction - T. S. Miller Alternative Reproduction: Plant-time and Human/Arboreal Assemblages in Holdstock and Han - Elizabeth Heckendorn Cook Accord Sunlight as a Photosynthetic Information Technology: Becoming Plant in Tom Robbins’s Jitterbug Perfume - Yogi Hale Hendlin The Question of the Vegetal, the Animal, the Archive in Kathleen Ann Goonan’s Queen City Jazz - Graham J. Murphy Queer Ingestions: Weird, Vegetative Bodies in Jeff VanderMeer’s Fiction - Alison Sperling The Botanical Ekphrastic and Ecological Relocation - Katherine E. Bishop Selected Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisFour popular novelists of the same generation each wrote a novel inspired by a holiday that the author spent in France. In the nineteen-fifties, Rumer Godden based The Greengage Summer on her recollections of her family’s 1923 battlefield-tour manqué in the Champagne region. Margery Sharp’s 1936 holiday in Southern France led to ‘Still Waters’ and The Nutmeg Tree: both the short story and the novel are set in and around the region of Aix-les-Bains. In 1955, Daphne Du Maurier first visited the department of Sarthe to research French family history; the novel The Scapegoat was the immediate result of the holiday. And in 1966, Stella Gibbons’ last trip to the continent took the form of a visit to an old friend in her summer home near Grenoble. The stay is obliquely reflected in The Snow-Woman, in which a similar holiday leads a never-married septuagenarian to experience a renaissance of sorts.Trade Review"This is a very original literary study of the work of four British writers who, though still remembered today, are not as celebrated or read as much as they deserve to be. Through the prism of visits to France in the novels and stories of these writers, Anne Hall explores the delicate and subtle interplay of relations between those two nations in fiction. It is elegantly written, illuminating and informative. There is some fascinating original scholarship here, but, above all, Four French Holidays is highly entertaining and tempts you to go and read for yourself (if you haven’t already) or re-read the works under consideration." Reggie Oliver, nephew and biographer of Stella Gibbons

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Book SynopsisFor thirty years, the Oxford C.S. Lewis Society has met weekly in the medieval colleges of the University of Oxford. During that time, it has hosted as speakers nearly all those still living who were associated with the Inklings--the Oxford literary circle led by C.S. Lewis--, as well as authors and thinkers of a prominence that nears Lewis''s own.C.S. Lewis and His Circle offers the reader a chance to join this unique group. Roger White has worked with Society past-presidents Brendan and Judith Wolfe to select the best unpublished talks, which are here made available to the public for the first time. They exemplify the best of traditional academic essays, thoughtful memoirs, and informal reminiscences about C.S. Lewis and his circle. The reader will re-imagine Lewis''s Cosmic Trilogy with former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams; read philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe''s final word on Lewis''s arguments for Christianity; hear the Reverend Peter Bide''s memories of marrying Lewis and Joy Davidman in an Oxford hospital; and learn about Lewis''s Narnia Chronicles from his former secretary.Representing the finest of both personal and scholarly engagement with C.S. Lewis and the Inklings, the talks collected here set a new tone for engagement with this iconic Oxford literary circle--a tone close to Lewis''s own Oxford-bred sharpness and wryness, seasoned with good humor and genuine affection for C.S. Lewis and his circle.Trade ReviewThe quality of the essays is, as you would expect in the context, very high and yet each of them remains accessible to the reader. * Methodist Recorder *You need not be a dedicated Lewis fan to enjoy this collection, though such will welcome it; there is much to interest the general reader and, perhaps, to introduce themes from Lewis' life and work to those who might not expect to find or like them. * The Tablet *rich and varied collection * Theology *It is difficult to say which essays, which memoirs, are most enjoyable * Weekly Standard *C. S. Lewis and His Circle is strongest as a collective memoir and will appeal to those looking for a picture of the man from those who knew him well. Certainly, Narnia enthusiasts will find something here albeit hidden behind texts they might not find as appealing to start with * Concatenation *... this welcome collection ... will have an important place in Lewis studies. * The Glass *incisive essays ... C.S. Lewis and His Circle offers something for every reader * Touchstone *Table of ContentsForeword, Gregory & Suzanne Wolfe (Founders of the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society) ; Preface, Roger White, Judith Wolfe, and Brendan Wolfe ; Author Biographies ; Part I. Essays ; Philosophy & Theology ; C. S. Lewis, Defender of the Faith, Alister McGrath (Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion, University of Oxford) ; C. S. Lewis' Rewrite of Chapter III of 'Miracles', Elizabeth Anscombe (Leading twentieth-century philosopher) ; C. S. Lewis and the Limits of Reason, Stephen Logan (Musician, poet; Principal Supervisor in English, Clare College, Cambridge) ; Sacramentalism in C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams, Kallistos Ware (Metropolitan Bishop of Diocleia; Spalding Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies (Emeritus), University of Oxford) ; Charles Williams and the Problem of Evil, Paul Fiddes (Professor of Systematic Theology, Oxford University) ; Literature ; 'That Hideous Strength': A Reassessment, Rowan Williams (Baron Williams of Oystermouth, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, previously 104th Archbishop of Canterbury) ; Yearning for a Far Off Country, Malcolm Guite (Poet, singer-songwriter; Chaplain at Girton College, Cambridge) ; W. H. Auden and the Inklings, Michael Piret (Dean of Divinity, Magdalen College, Oxford) ; The Lewis Diaries: C. S. Lewis and the English Faculty in the 1920's, Thomas Shippey (Walter J. Ong Chair of Humanities (Emeritus), Saint Louis University) ; It All Began with a Picture: The Making of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, Walter Hooper (Editor and biographer of C. S. Lewis; literary advisor to the C. S. Lewis Estate) ; II. Memoirs ; Memories of C. S. Lewis by his Family and Friends ; The Lewis Family, Joan Murphy (A Lewis Family Cousin) ; Recollections of Lewis, George Sayer (Former student, friend, and biographer of C. S. Lewis) ; Lewis as a Parishioner, Ronald Head (Formerly Vicar of Holy Trinity Church Headington Quarry, where C. S. Lewis attended) ; Marrying C. S. Lewis, Peter Bide (Friend and priest of C. S. Lewis, officiate of Lewis's marriage to Joy Davidman) ; Memories of the Socratic Club, Stella Aldwinckle (Founder of the Oxford Socratic Club) ; Memories of the Inklings ; The Inklings, Walter Hooper (Editor and biographer of C. S. Lewis; literary advisor to the C. S. Lewis Estate) ; Lewis and/or Barfield, Owen Barfield (Friend of C. S. Lewis, Inklings member, solicitor, philosopher, poet) ; Brothers and Friends: The Diaries of W. H. Lewis, John Wain (Friend of C. S. Lewis, Inklings member, poet, novelist) ; Nevill Coghill and Lewis: Two Irishmen at Oxford, John Wain (Friend of C. S. Lewis, Inklings member, poet, novelist) ; Afterword,A Brief History of the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society Michael Ward (Senior Member of the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society) ; Index

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Book SynopsisSylvia Plath is one of the most influential and iconic American writers of the twentieth century, popular with academic and general audiences alike. Plath, who died at age 30, left behind a body of work that changed the direction of modern poetry, and buttressed second-wave feminism. Her poetry and fiction have been especially important to generations of women readers who have found a powerful reflection of their own emotions and experiences in Plath''s art. In this incisive introduction, leading Plath scholar Heather Clark explores the intersections between Plath''s life and work while discussing key themes in Plath''s poetry collections The Colossus and Ariel, her novel The Bell Jar, and short stories Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams, The Wishing Box, and Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom. Clark summarizes the ways in which Plath has been pathologized, and reframes her work within the broader context of poetic confessionalism, biography, feminism, politics, and mental illness.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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Book Synopsis''To Those who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine. Small medieval castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be let For the month of April, above a bay on the Italian Riviera.''Four very different women--the dishevelled and downtrodden Mrs Wilkins, the sad, sweet-faced Mrs Arbuthnot, the formidable widow Mrs Fisher, and the ravishing socialite Lady Caroline Dester--are drawn to the shores of the Mediterranean that April. As each, in turn, blossoms in the warmth of the Italian spring and finds their spirits stirring, quite unexpected changes occur.The Enchanted April (1922) is a deceptive and timely novel immured in a post-war context, a period noted for its wistful and sometimes satiric writings. Von Arnim''s novel is part of this oeuvre and portrays an escape to a carefully described pastoral enclave away from encroaching urbanisation and the spread of new technologies, in an era when the Great War had left many emotionally and physically starved. The journey to San Salvatore by four Trade ReviewAnchored within the lives of four very different women, this overtly potent novel is endemic of the era in which it was written, whilst simultaneously timeless and all transcending. * David Marx: Book Reviews *Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Select Bibliography Chronology THE ENCHANTED APRIL Explanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisJames Joyce''s Ulysses is filled with all sorts of references that can get in the way of many of its readers. This volume, with over 12,000 individual annotations (and more than double the word count of Ulysses itself), explains these references and allusions in a clear and compact manner and is designed to be accessible to novices and scholars alike.The annotations cover the full range of information referenced in Ulysses: a vast array of literary allusions, such as Shakespeare, Aristotle, Dante, Aquinas, slang from various eras and areas, foreign language words and phrases, Hiberno-English expressions, Catholic ritual and theology, Irish histories, Theosophy, Freemasonry, cricket, astronomy, fashion, boxing, heraldry, the symbolism of tattoos, horse racing, advertising slogans, nursery rhymes, superstitions, music-hall songs, references to Dublin topography precise enough for a city directory, and much more besides.The annotations reflect the latest scholarship and have been thoroughly reviewed by an international team of experts. They are designed to be accessible to first-time readers and college students and will also serve as a resource for Joycean specialists. The volume includes contemporaneous maps of Dublin to illustrate the cityscape''s relevance to Joyce''s novel. Unlike previous volumes of annotations, almost every note includes documentation about sources.Trade Reviewcomprehensive, incisive and indispensable * Colm Tóibín, The Irish Times, Best Books of 2022 *One of the best books ever devoted to the classic. This heroically researched [book] is twice as long as its subject text - and well worth it...here at last is a volume that not only explains places but directs the reader to hundreds of further sources. The result is a kind of short story behind most of the footnotes, of a kind which Joyce (I guess)would have approved...simply one of the best [books] ever devoted to Ulysses. * Declan Kiberd, The Irish Times *Among the flurry of publications celebrating the centenary of the publication of Joyce's classic novel, this massive, 1,420-page guide, though hardly portable, is an outstanding addition to the scholarship on Ulysses. * W. Baker, CHOICE *The range of cultural references, encompassing the gamut from popular forms like advertising and general knowledge to Irish history, religion, music and 'high-brow' literature, is as astonishing as the exactitude of urban details relating to Dublin's streets as they existed in 1904 and Annotations records them with intelligence and prudence. * Sean Sheehan, Scottish Left Review *...monumental, exhaustive and thoroughly engrossing volume, edited by an unsurpassed team of scholars...a towering, epochal achievement... * Anne Fogarty, James Joyce Broadsheet *Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses by Sam Slote, Marc Mamigonian and John Turner takes on board all the research and scholarship done since Don Gifford's groundbreaking Notes for Joyce. ... Joyce the untiring chronicler of detail has met his match in the compilers of these annotations * Colm Tóibín, London Review of Books *The new Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses has a great deal to teach to this Joyce buff. The scholarly work here offers insights into Joyce's intentions and tracks the precise movements of his supple, monumentally well-stocked mind. [...] I offer thanks to these gifted scholars for their meticulous research and concise writing. * Robert Seidman, co-author of 'Ulysses' Annotated, James Joyce Quarterly *Even after scores of readings and minute research, I have found that no other literary evocation rewards me as much as Ulysses does... And thank you, informed, insightful, tireless trio-Sam Slote, Marc A. Mamigonian, and John Turner-for the richness of your work. * James Joyce Quarterly 60.4 *Table of ContentsAbbreviations On the Uses and Disadvantages of Annotations for Ulysses A Note on Dublin Topography and Toponyms A Note on Irish History since 1800 A Note on Currency A Note on Annotations Past A Note on Editions of Ulysses A Note on Joyce's Notes and Manuscripts A Note on the Ulysses Schemata A Note on the Title Ulysses A Note on the Present Project and Acknowledgements 1: 'Telemachus' 2: 'Nestor' 3: 'Proteus' 4: 'Calypso' 5: 'Lotus Eaters' 6: 'Hades' 7: 'Aeolus' 8: 'Lestrygonians' 9: 'Scylla and Charybdis' 10: 'Wandering Rocks' 11: 'Sirens' 12: 'Cyclops' 13: 'Nausicaa' 14: 'Oxen of the Sun' 15: 'Circe' 16: 'Eumaeus' 17: 'Ithaca' 18: 'Penelope' Appendix: Paraphrases of the Opening and Closing of 'Oxen of the Sun' Bibliography

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Book Synopsis''If our love is a sin, then heaven must be full of such tender and selfless sinning as ours.''The Well of Loneliness is among the most famous banned books in history. A pioneering work of literature, Radclyffe Hall''s novel charts the development of a ''female sexual invert'', Stephen Gordon, who from childhood feels an innate sense of masculinity and desire for women. After relocating from Malvern to London and then to Paris, Stephen encounters fellow queer characters from all walks of life, from the sapphic salon hostess Valérie Seymour to the ''miserable army'' of outcasts that frequents the ''merciless, drug-dealing, death-dealing'' bars of Montmartre. Although Stephen and her acquaintances, allies, and antagonists are of their time, Hall''s novel has offered support and solidarity to generations of LGBTQ+ readers, and it continues to shape debates about gender and sexuality today.This edition highlights previously overlooked points of influence, inspiration, and connections with other texts as well as situating the novel in historical contexts. In addition, the editors provide vital insights into Hall''s engagement with religion, sexology, literary history, and popular culture.

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Book SynopsisAlongside a selection of photographs and Plath's own line-drawings, the editors masterfully contextualise what the pages disclose.This selection of early correspondence marks the key moments of Plath's adolescence, including childhood hobbies and high school boyfriends;

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Book SynopsisDerick Thomson Ruaraidh MacThòmais was one of the most prolific and influential Scottish Gaelic poets of the twentieth century. His work pushed forward the boundaries of Gaelic poetry, taking it from its traditional heartlands in the Highlands and Islands to Scotland''s Lowland cities, Glasgow in particular. He was the first poet to use free verse consistently in Gaelic, and his poems, both in terms of form and content, had a profound influence on following generations of Gaelic writers.Petra Johana Poncarová's SCOTNOTE examines Thomson's life and work, and his historical, political, cultural and personal influences. It is an ideal introduction for senior school pupils and students of all ages.

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Book SynopsisA tale of murder, loss and romance in the mist of Niagara Falls: it is the crowning achievement of Joyce Carol Oates's career to date.A man climbs over the railings and plunges into Niagara Falls. He''s a newly-wed, and his bride has been left behind in the honeymoon suite the morning after their wedding. For two weeks, Ariah, the deserted bride, waits by the side of the roaring waterfall for news of her husband''s recovered body. During her vigil, an unlikely new love story begins to unfold when she meets a wealthy lawyer who is transfixed by her strange, otherworldly gaze. So it all begins, in the 1950s, with the dark foreboding of the Falls as the sinister background to the tragedy.From this cataclysmic event unfurls a drama of parents and their children; of secrets and sins; of lawsuits, murder and, eventually redemption. As Ariah's children learn that their past is enmeshed with a hushed-up scandal involving radioactive waste materials, they must confront not only their personal history but America's murky past: the despoiling of the American landscape and the corruption and greed of the massive industrial expansion of the 1950s and 1960s.This novel of tremendous sweep and pace is about the American family in crisis but also about America itself in the mid-20th century. This book alone places Joyce Carol Oates definitively in the company of the Great American Novelists.Trade Review'Eminently readable and though full of heart is utterly heartbreaking.' Vogue 'Oates offers a shrewd, often chilling analysis of an unhappy marriage…[she] deftly widens her focus to…Niagara, corrupt and dangerously polluted.' Sunday Times 'If you only read one new novel this autumn, make it this… you'll be hooked within pages' Mail on Sunday '…engaging…compelling…a flair for the minutiae of character…' Guardian 'The Falls is a swirling cataract of invention, and a mesmerising read.' Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisThe Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents the origin stories, seminal tales, and characters of the Marvel Universe to explore Marvel’s transformative and timeless influence on an entire genre of fantasy.   A Penguin Classics Marvel Collection Edition   Collects Captain America Comics #1 (1941); the Captain America stories from Tales of Suspense #59, #63-68, #75-81, #92-95, #110-113 (1964-1969); “Captain America…Commie Smasher” from Captain America #78 (1954). It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few.   Drawing upon multiple comic book series, thisTrade Review“A groundbreaking example of comics representation in literature.”—Publishers Weekly“Penguin provides introductory essays; superb analyses by the series editor, Ben Saunders; and extensive bibliographies.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post“Stories become classics when generations of readers sort through them, talk about them, imitate them, and recommend them. In this case, baby boomers read them when they débuted, Gen X-ers grew up with their sequels, and millennials encountered them through Marvel movies. Each generation of fans—initially fanboys, increasingly fangirls, and these days nonbinary fans, too—found new ways not just to read the comics but to use them. That’s how canons form. Amateurs and professionals, over decades, come to something like consensus about which books matter and why—or else they love to argue about it, and we get to follow the arguments. Canons rise and fall, gain works and lose others, when one generation of people with the power to publish, teach, and edit diverges from the one before ... A top-flight comic by Kirby—or his successor on “Captain America,” Jim Steranko—barely needed words. You could follow the story just by watching the characters act and react. Thankfully, Penguin volumes do justice to these images. They reproduce sixties comics in bright, flat, colorful inks on thick white paper—unlike the dot-based process used on old newsprint, but perhaps truer to their bold, thrill-chasing spirit.”—Stephanie Burt, The New Yorker

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Book SynopsisThe Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents the origin stories, seminal tales, and characters of the Marvel Universe to explore Marvel’s transformative and timeless influence on an entire genre of fantasy.   A Penguin Classics Marvel Collection Edition   Collects Fantastic Four #52-53 (1966); Jungle Action #6-21 (1973-1976). It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few.   The Black Panther is not just a super hero; as King T’Challa, he is also the monarch of the hidden African nation of Wakanda. Combining the strength and stealth of his namesake with a creative scientific Trade Review“A groundbreaking example of comics representation in literature.”—Publishers Weekly“Penguin provides introductory essays; superb analyses by the series editor, Ben Saunders; and extensive bibliographies.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post“Stories become classics when generations of readers sort through them, talk about them, imitate them, and recommend them. In this case, baby boomers read them when they débuted, Gen X-ers grew up with their sequels, and millennials encountered them through Marvel movies. Each generation of fans—initially fanboys, increasingly fangirls, and these days nonbinary fans, too—found new ways not just to read the comics but to use them. That’s how canons form. Amateurs and professionals, over decades, come to something like consensus about which books matter and why—or else they love to argue about it, and we get to follow the arguments. Canons rise and fall, gain works and lose others, when one generation of people with the power to publish, teach, and edit diverges from the one before ... A top-flight comic by Kirby—or his successor on “Captain America,” Jim Steranko—barely needed words. You could follow the story just by watching the characters act and react. Thankfully, Penguin volumes do justice to these images. They reproduce sixties comics in bright, flat, colorful inks on thick white paper—unlike the dot-based process used on old newsprint, but perhaps truer to their bold, thrill-chasing spirit.”—Stephanie Burt, The New Yorker

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Book SynopsisFocusing on the most recent triad of Italian poetic genius--Umberto Saba, Giuseppe Ungaretti, and Eugenio Montale--Joseph Cary guides us through the first few decades of twentieth-century Italy.

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Book SynopsisSituating literature and anthropology in mutual interrogation, Miller's...book actually performs what so many of us only call for. Nowhere have all the crucial issues been brought together with the sort of critical sophistication it displays. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. . . . a superb cross-disciplinary analysis. Y. Mudimbe

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Book SynopsisExplores a new development in contemporary poetry: the repurposing of other people's words in order to make new works, by framing, citing, and recycling already existing phrases, sentences, and even full texts. This book concludes with a discussion of Kenneth Goldsmith's conceptualist book "Traffic".

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Book SynopsisOffers a fresh and nuanced account of the rise of Jewish nationalism and the subsequent creation of Israel. Following Marcel Proust's heirs, Beckett and Genet, and a host of Middle Eastern writers, artists, and filmmakers, this title traces the shifting dynamic of memory and identity across the crucial cultural links between Europe and Palestine.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOdd Girls reverberates with the powerful voices of people speaking for themselves... Faderman empowers her subject; instead of allowing lesbian lifestyles to be defined from the outside, her voice and those of other women transcend destructive stereotypes and misconceptions. Odd Girls offers a lucidly written and moving narrative of lesbian culture and community during its formative years. The Village Voice Fascinating... poignant and moving... Odd Girls is full of facts and wonderful details that readers may not have encountered, things that are a pleasure to learn and that seem valuable to know. Los Angeles Times Book Review One has to respect the tenacity of Lillian Faderman for making sense of the evolution of lesbian life in twentieth-century America... This is a remarkable social history... Her study attains the depth and evenhandedness of a scholarly classic. -- Susan Brownmiller The Washington Post Book World An important and challenging work for lesbians and heterosexuals alike... Odd Girls is a key work, the point of reference which all subsequent studies of twentieth-century lesbian life in the United States will begin. San Francisco Examiner Faderman's sweeping, mesmerizing prose accentuates the magnificent scholarship in this definitive account of lesbian life in the past 100 years... Faderman has combined her talent and experience to accomplish this wonder. -- Barbara Grier Lambda Book Report Nothing odd about Odd Girls--it combines clear prose with meticulous research. This book is an important contribution to understanding America and its people in our time. -- Rita Mae Brown, author of Rubyfruit Jungle A grand narrative synthesis of the cultural, social, and political history of lesbian life since the late nineteenth century... Engaging and deeply moving stories. New York Times Book Review A splendid, uplifting achievement. The IndependentTable of ContentsContents Introduction 1. "The Loves of Women for Each Other": "Romantic Friends" in the Twentieth Century 2. A Worm in the Bud: The Early Sexologists and Love Between Women 3. Lesbian Chic: Experimentation and Repression in the 1920s 4. Wastelands and Oases: The 1930s 5. "Naked Amazons and Queer Damozels": World War II and Its Aftermath 6. The Love that Dares Not Speak Its Name: McCarthyism and Its Legacy 7. Butches, Femmes, and Kikis: Creating Lesbian Subcultures in the 1950s and '60s 8. "Not a Public Relations Movement": Lesbian Revolutions in the 1960s Through '70s 9. Lesbian Nation: Creating a Women-Identified-Women Community in the 1970s 10. Lesbian Sex Wars in the 1980s 11. From Tower of Babel to Community: Lesbian Life in the 1980s Epilogue: Social Constructions and the Metamorphoses of Love Between Women Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewCarroll's outstanding study is both a scholarly and an engaging reading of this appealing French-Algerian thinker. Library Journal [A] timely study of Camus' writings. -- Lewis Jones Financial Times Weekend Magazine [Carroll's] re-reading of Camus is not only insightful and provocative, but also reminds us of the enduring relevance of Camus's voice. -- Susan Tarrow Modern & Contemporary France An exceptional book. -- Ralph Schoolcraft III South Central Review Carroll's study will surely become the definitive work on Camus for years to come. -- Janice Gross French ReviewTable of ContentsPreface. A Voice from the Past Acknowledgments Introduction. "The Algerian" in Camus 1. The Place of the Other 2. Colonial Borders 3. Exile 4. Justice or Death? 5. Terror 6. Anguish 7. Last Words Conclusion. Terrorism and Torture: From Algeria to Iraq Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThere is a grain of truth in almost everything [Logan] writes. -- Jordan Davis Times Literary Supplement Logan's prose is polished, witty, authoritative, and courageous... Highly recommended. Choice The latest installment in William Logan's prolonged and rambunctious assault on the state of American poetry. -- Mark Ford New York Times Book Review One of the wittiest and most astute poet-critics of our-or any-generation... A work of devilish wit, arrogance, insight, and intellect.The Dark Horse -- Rory Waterman The Dark Horse Who's the Best Poetry Critic in America? His name I can mention. William Logan. -- James Wolcott Arguably the most industrious and notorious poet-critic to brandish that hyphen like a knife between his teeth since his acknowledged master Randall Jarrell... He often comes off as nothing so much as the Dirty Harry of the poetry beat. -- David Barber, New York Times Book ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments The Bowl of Diogenes; or, The End of Criticism Verse Chronicle: Out on the Lawn Verse Chronicle: Stouthearted Men The Most Contemptible Moth: Lowell in Letters Forward Into the Past: Reading the New Critics Verse Chronicle: One If by Land Verse Chronicle: The Great American Desert The State with the Prettiest Name Elizabeth Bishop Unfinished Elizabeth Bishop's Sullen Art Verse Chronicle: Jumping the Shark Verse Chronicle: Victoria's Secret Attack of the Anthologists The Lost World of Lawrence Durrell Hart Crane Overboard On Reviewing Hart Crane The Endless Ocean of Derek Walcott The Civil Power of Geoffrey Hill Verse Chronicle: God's Chatter Verse Chronicle: Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Luff Pynchon in the Poetic Back to the Future (Thomas Pynchon ) Verse Chronicle: The World Is Too Much with Us Verse Chronicle: Valentine's Day Massacre The Forgotten Masterpiece of John Townsend Trowbridge Frost at Midnight Interview by Garrick Davis Permissions Books Under Review Index of Authors Reviewed

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Book SynopsisStates of Disconnect examines the breakdown of transnationalism through readings of literary texts that express aversion to pairing ideas of China and India. Adhira Mangalagiri proposes the concept of “disconnect”: a crisis of transnationalism perceptible in moments when a connection is severed, interrupted, or disavowed.Trade ReviewHow does one reckon with the conditions of comparison in the act of comparison? Reading twentieth-century Chinese and Hindi texts side by side or against each other, this book offers a fascinating account of literary relations between China and India with invaluable insights on rupture, repulsion, and crisis of understanding. A bold experiment in method. -- Lydia Liu, Columbia UniversityThis deeply inspiring and important book explores the gray zones of literary relations. States of Disconnect subjects the easy pair of India and China to stringent scrutiny and in the process offers a new vocabulary and critical tools for comparative literature in a world full of tension and strife. -- Francesca Orsini, SOAS, University of LondonStates of Disconnect offers a novel approach by exploring how conditions of war, diplomatic breakdown, and international friction factor non-comparability into cross-cultural interpretation and genres of transnational literacy. Mangalagiri puts the brakes on forms of borderless criticism that homogenize distinct knowledge worlds and globalize literary learning without sufficient attention to the politics of difference. -- Emily Apter, New York UniversityDaring to step into a territory where few humanist scholars of China-India relations have tread, Mangalagiri focuses on the ‘disconnect’ and negativity that characterizes a great deal of this relationship in the modern literary realm. She demonstrates persuasively that the first step in literature is to confront and understand the disconnect and imagine the ethical possibilities of the relationship from this fuller understanding. -- Prasenjit Duara, Duke UniversityIn States of Disconnect, Mangalagiri portrays how China and India encountered each other against the global background of war and peace, imperialism and nationalism, and, above all, transculturation and its disavowal. Working against the grain of conventional modernity studies, States of Disconnect probes the ways in which circulation falls short and connectivity stumbles, as well as the options of alternative modernities arising therefrom. -- David Der-wei Wang, Harvard UniversityStates of Disconnect is a pioneering work of scholarship. It shifts the gaze to cultural production and emphasizes the ways in which the acts of writing and reading in both countries, and the views each developed of the other in these cultural practices, did not necessarily follow the prevailing political vicissitudes of the transnational relationship. -- Laura Brueck, author of Writing Resistance: The Rhetorical Imagination of Hindi Dalit LiteratureStates of Disconnect aims at no less than reshaping the paradigm of comparison and supplying a critical vocabulary for a new ethics of transnational relation. * MCLC Resource Center *Deeply serious in its disciplinary-cum-ethical commitments and confident in the possibilities afforded by critical reading [. . .], States of Disconnect is ultimately as inspiring as it is generative. * Critical Inquiry *Table of ContentsNote on Transliteration and TranslationIntroduction1. Anatomy of Antagonism: The Indian Policeman in Chinese Literature2. Revolution Redux: Agyeya’s China Stories3. Dialogue and Its Discontents: 1950s Cultural Diplomacy Untold4. Word and World in Crisis: Hindi Texts of 19625. On Correspondence: Lu Xun and PremchandConclusion: A Comparatist’s Guide to DisconnectAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisAn esteemed literary critic shares his final musings on books, his children, and his own impending deathTrade Review"The literary judgments in Latest Readings are as a sound as ever . . . [James’s] credo: 'The critic should write to say not "look how much I’ve read" but "look at this, it’s wonderful."' I submit: reader, look at this book, it’s wonderful."—Philip Collins, Times"Pick up Latest Readings. It’s wonderful."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post"This is the kind of writing we have always appreciated him for: perceptive, acerbic, laconic, witty . . . There is so much to enjoy here, so many infectious enthusiasms."—Sue Gaisford, The Tablet"His qualities are his capacious intelligence, sardonic voice and fondness for wordplay and paradox . . . James has approached the time of his vanishing with grace and good humour, not sentimentality or anger. These essays and poems are death-haunted but radiant with the felt experience of what it means to be alive, even when mortally sick, especially when mortally sick."—Jason Cowley, Financial Times"For those who prefer something more literary, this year’s collection of Clive James’s essays on a variety of literary topics, Latest Readings, is an eye-opener. Mr. James is terminally ill. This is sanity, humor and acuity in the face of death."—Mary Beard, Wall Street Journal"Latest Readings is a plain demonstration that Mr. James remains as learned and as funny as any critic on earth."—Dwight Garner, New York Times“If the [Nobel Prize in Literature] were ever to go to a critic, I’d give it to Clive James. He has so much erudition and high-stepping passion. He writes excellent poems and even better memoirs. He has delivered very good books of translation. He is a polymath. He is also very funny.”—Dwight Garner, New York Times"A collection of beautifully thought-out, piquant essays, some only a few pages, that survey what [James] has been reading with the clock ticking. The results are entirely free of self-pity, and emanate vitality and invention . . . James relishes the limited reading time he has and makes no bones about it, providing sparkling commentary on his old favorites and new discoveries."—Publishers Weekly"With James, one hopes fervently that the finale is only just beginning."—Evening Standard"The author delivers a sign-off of substance . . . The unadulterated love of literature proves infectious and a little humbling."—James Kidd, the Independent"Of one military history [James] observes: 'The text is full of observation, judgement and accurate detail, and those things are always new.' The same might be said of this book."—Daniel Swift, The Spectator". . . there is nothing boastful about James’s insatiable consumption . . . His observations on individual books are acute and sometimes challenging."—Rosemary Goring, Glasgow Herald"His amused, unpretentious, loving commentaries on the books he continues to enjoy are heart-warming and comforting. The volume is a ringing endorsement of the solace of good literature."—Eilis Ni Dhuibhne, Irish Times"As a reader and writer confronting death, Clive James has all the creative energy and charm of a man discovering life. These thoughtful essays are immensely appealing, their tone is beautifully judged. Cleverly, he re-reads in order to measure the past. With this and his recent poetry, he could outlive us all."—Ian McEwan"Clive James is perhaps the most original and distinctive literary-critical voice of the last half-century."—Martin Amis"Clive James, brilliant to the (near) end, turns his readings and re-readings of everyone and everything from Hemingway and Conrad to Patrick O'Brian and Game of Thrones into sharp, funny meditations on—among much else—class, beauty, mimicry, memory, manhood, death (other people's), and life (his own). Long may his dazzling, long farewell continue."—Salman Rushdie"In these farewell marginal notes to a life of bookishness, enthusiasm and playful dissent, Clive James disdains to go gentle or regretfully into Dylan Thomas's good night. He retains his energetic piquancy as he makes one more round of the garden of literary delights. The comparison of one old favourite to a Cord automobile is a signature flourish entirely, typically, his own. We shall miss him, but that rare tone of voice will stay with us."—Frederic Raphael"Clive James's inevitable humor, sanity, erudition, enthusiasm, and crystal keenness are everywhere evident in Latest Readings, but perhaps its greatest grace is the opportunity it gives to feel as if you're spending time in his company, listening and learning for at least a little while longer. If its mini essays (and some not so mini) seem to float from James's mind into yours, it is only because a lifetime of reading, thinking, feeling, and formulating has gone into them, registering the pure, responsive authority of a writer with nothing left to prove but so much left to say."—James Wolcott

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Book SynopsisColm Tóibín's Lady Gregory's Toothbrush is a beautiful insight into the life of outspoken Irishwoman, Augusta Gregory.A remarkable figure in Celtic history, she was married to an MP and land-owner, yet retained an unprecedented independence of both thought and deed, actively championing causes close to her heart. At once conservative and radical in her beliefs, she saw no conflict in idealizing and mythologizing the Irish peasantry, for example, while her landlord husband introduced legislation that would, in part, lead to the widespread misery, poverty and starvation of the Great Famine. Nevertheless, as founder of the Abbey Theatre, an outspoken opponent of censorship, and mentor, muse, and mother-figure to W. B. Yeats, Augusta Gregory played a pivotal role in shaping Irish literary and dramatic history. Moreover, despite her parents’ early predictions of spinsterhood, she was no matronly figure, engaging in a passionate affair while Trade ReviewBiographical portraits are too often nowadays smudged in a surfeit of words . . . this one is a brilliant illumination. * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisThe first truly continentally representative collection of modern African drama in any language, this Norton Critical Edition includes plays from Egypt, Algeria, the Republic of South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Kenya.

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Book SynopsisContains eighteen original essays by leading Joyce scholars on the eighteen separate chapters of "Ulysses". This book attempts to explore the richness of Joyce's extraordinary novel. It covers Joyce's habit of using, when writing each chapter in "Ulysses", a particular style, tone, point of view, and narrative structure.Trade Review"A landmark in interpretation. . . . Never have Joyce's polytropic techniques been explicated with such thoroughness, sensitivity, and sympathy. The result is an achievement of new perspectives. . . . These writers have achieved the seemingly impossible feat of reading Ulysses afresh. * James Joyce Quarterly *"Some of the best scholars in the field take a fresh look at Joyce's novel. . . . The collection offers much to evoke the interest of even the most jaded Joyce devotee. It should not be overlooked by any serious scholar of Ulysses." * Virginia Quarterly Review *"The essays are remarkably uniform in quality, and consistently reflect a determined effort to move beyond mere explication and develop general notions about the art and meaning of Ulysses through close examination of specific passages within individual chapters. A well planned, effectively executed 'appreciation' in the best sense of the term, this important volume should prove a very valuable addition to any collection serving serious readers of Joyce." * Library Journal *Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Abbreviations and Conventions Telemachus by Bernard Benstock Nestor by E. L. Epstein Proteus by J. Mitchell Morse Calypso by Adaline Glasheen Lotus Eaters by Phillip F. Herring Hades by R. M. Adams Aeolus by M. J. C. Hodgart Lestrygonians by Melvin J. Friedman Scylla and Charybdis by Robert Kellogg Wandering Rocks by Clive Hart Sirens by Jackson I. Cope Cyclops by David Hayman Nausicaa by Fritz Senn The Oxen of the Sun by J. S. Atherton Circe by Hugh Kenner Eumaeus by Gerald L. Bruns Ithaca by A. Walton Litz Penelope by Fr. Robert Boyle, S. J.

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Book SynopsisThis work brings together the three volumes of Olson's long poem (originally published in 1960, 1968 and 1975 respectively) in one book.

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Book SynopsisIn North Seamus Heaney found a myth which allowed him to articulate a vision of Ireland - its people, history and landscape. Here the Irish experience is refracted through images drawn from different parts of the Northern European experience, and the idea of the north allows the poet to contemplate the violence on his home ground in relation to memories of the Scandinavian and English invasions which have marked Irish history so indelibly.

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Book SynopsisThis is a revised and enlarged edition. It is designed to help the reader of Eliot's Selected Poems by identifying and explaining the wide and often baffling range of quotations, allusions and references, literary, factual and historical.

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Book SynopsisHe has an affinity with the violence, the balance, the ritual, the grace and the power. He is indestructible.Beautiful Burnout is about the soul-sapping three-minutes when men become gods and gods, mere men. It''s about the second when the guard drops, that moment when the eyes blink and miss the incoming hammer blow.Beautiful Burnout premiered at the Pleasance Forth as part of the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2010 before touring the UK in a co-production between Frantic Assembly and the National Theatre of Scotland.

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Book SynopsisI love fire. Fire is the colour of genius.In this audacious new work, Edna O'Brien gives voice to the women who were central to the life of James Joyce.James Joyce had been my ultimate hero for sixty years, but to paint the canvas of his life was daunting. Therefore I decided to depict him as seen by the key figures in his life - Mother, Wife, Mistress of a fleeting moment, his patron Harriet Weaver and his beloved Daughter Lucia, of whom he said her mind was but a transparent leaf away from his.'Written to celebrate the centenary of Ulysses, Joyce's Women premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in September 2022. This revised edition includes changes made by the author during rehearsals and previews of the play''s first production.

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Book SynopsisMorrison brings her genius to this personal inquiry into the significance of African-Americans in the American literary imagination. Through her investigation of black characters, narrative strategies, and idiom in the fiction of white American writers, Morrison provides a perspective sure to alter conventional notions about American literature.Trade ReviewThis is a major work by a major American author… It is an exuberant exercise, conducted by a writer in her prime who knows that her own work makes steady inroads on the unspeakable. -- Diane Middlebrook * Los Angeles Times *In Playing in the Dark, Morrison explores how the temptation to enslave others instead of embracing freedom has shaded our national literature, and how an acceptance of this truth will enable us to see that literature’s struggles and fears, and so better understand its exuberance… Her wisdom is to locate strength in what appears to be weakness. -- Jane Mendelsohn * Voice Literary Supplement *In this beautifully written, immensely quotable study, Morrison attempts to overturn pervasive critical agendas that ignore racial representations in white texts and thus impoverish literary studies… Morrison’s interest is not to designate texts as ‘racist’ but to read the ways that the ‘racial’ operates. -- Linda Krumholz * Signs *Morrison’s delivery of the distinguished Massey lectures at Harvard in 1990 showed off her prowess as critic, for she brings the indomitable spirit of her fiction to her feelings about literature. In Playing in the Dark, the published lectures, Morrison argues that a black, or Africanist, presence exists throughout the history of American literature, and its understanding is essential to any body of criticism. Identifying what she calls ‘the rhetoric of dread and desire,’ then tracing its manifestations through works by Poe, Cather and Hemingway, Morrison believes that to ignore the presence of race in literature is to rob fiction of its power… But the most telling test of any critical argument, at least for those of us who prefer passion to theory, is whether such speculation will send you back to primary sources. By the time I’d finished Playing in the Dark, the floor around me was littered with Huck Finn and James Baldwin and Faulkner. -- Gail Caldwell * Boston Globe *In three compact and skillful essays, Morrison explores and illumines the gaggle of literary devices—conceits, tropes, metaphors—that have been mostly unconsciously deployed by white writers to refract the rays of blackness through the prism of literary silence, repression or avoidance. Morrison ably applies her therapeutic textual intervention to make these rays visible and to imaginatively envision how an Africanist presence was essential in forming and extending an American national literature… [This is her] impressive debut as a critical intellectual. -- Michael Eric Dyson * Chicago Tribune *A brief and compelling dissection of U.S. fiction. -- Paul Skenazy * San Francisco Chronicle *[Her] thesis is an engaging one, and it becomes more so in a sequence of a few compressed but inspired readings of American works, Cather’s Sapphira and the Slave Girl, Poe’s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not, and Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. -- Mark Edmundson * Washington Post Book World *Table of Contents1. black matters 2. romancing the shadow 3. disturbing nurses and the kindness of sharks

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Book Synopsis

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