Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 Books
Icon Books The Orwell Tour
Book SynopsisOrwell 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. A 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. AUTHOR: Oliver Lewis was born in Oxf
£10.44
Duckworth Books Two People
Book SynopsisHow well can you ever know another person? Happily married, Reginald and Sylvia seem to lead a perfect, and perfectly quiet, life. They have more than enough money and their own country house. But when success overtakes them, and allure of London life pulls Reginald in, they find parts of themselves they never knew. Where does their happiness really lie? Reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh, this wry, intimate examination of a relationship is a gem of 1930s literature.
£8.99
Pan Macmillan Lady Gregorys Toothbrush
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 *
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd Ulysses Unbound
Book SynopsisUlysses is one of the foundational texts of modern literature, yet has a reputation for complexity and controversy. In Ulysses Unbound, Joyce expert Terence Killeen untangles this seemingly knotty classic to reveal the wonders beneath, in a clear and comprehensive guide which will provide new and vital insights for everyone from students to specialists.In this new edition, published to celebrate the centenary of Ulysses'' first publication in 1922, Killeen seamlessly combines close literary analysis with a broad account of the novel''s fascinating history, from its writing and publication to its long contemporary afterlife. We get under the skin of the text to discover the joys of Joyce''s remarkable range of themes, styles and voices, as Killeen reanimates the real people who inspired many of the characters. Ulysses Unbound is an indispensable, illuminating and entertaining companion to one of the twentieth century''s great works of art.With a foreword by Colm TóibínTrade ReviewKilleen's impulse is to create a commentary on Ulysses that opens the book for anyone to read. He writes clearly; his companion to Ulysses makes the book easier to follow without simplifying anything. His book is not his own insistent interpretation of Ulysses; rather, it is a guide for others that is systematic and supremely helpful. Each reader will have different moments when Ulysses Unbound becomes essential ... it comes to our aid most practically and succinctly. -- Colm TóibínStriking a balance between adequate explication and merciful concision, Killeen's considered, low-key style has already proven illuminating for both academic and general readers. -- Emer Nolan * Times Literary Supplement *
£10.44
Oxford University Press The Necessity of Young Adult Fiction The Literary
Book SynopsisUsing the figure of the monster as an interpretive lens across a wide range of fiction, this book shows how young adult fiction contributes to the cultural conversation by offering new ways of thinking about climate change and definitions of citizenship.Trade ReviewA rich exploration of YA literature as a category of books. * , School Library Journal *offers some provocative nuggets * , Kirkus Reviews *The Necessity of Young Adult Fiction is a strong introduction to some of the most pressing issues in contemporary YA speculative fiction. It is balanced, carefully argued, and unafraid to deal with difficult topics. * Michelle Deininger, International Journal of Young Adult Literature *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Children of the Book 2: Loving the Monsters 3: Making Bridges 4: Reading Harry Potter in Abu Dhabi Conclusion
£16.99
Oxford University Press The Guermantes Way
Book Synopsis''the social kaleidoscope was shifting''The Guermantes Way, the third volume of Marcel Proust''s In Search of Lost Time, provides a transition from the realm of adolescence into the adult social world of Belle Epoque Paris. Its pages buzz with worldly conversations, with bravado and posturing, infatuation, scandal, prejudice, and intrigue. To the fore is Proust''s ear for spoken language and how it provides a stage for human foibles as well as inventiveness and panache. This is a broad canvas studded with amusing anecdotes, surprising vignettes and touching scenes, as well as fascinating characters including the indomitable Duchesse de Guermantes and her enigmatic relation the Baron de Charlus. The Guermantes Way immerses readers into a society in flux, as the old aristocracy cedes to a wealthy, rising bourgeoisie and everyone, regardless of class or standing, must navigate the perilous waters of the Dreyfus Affair. Through these lenses, Proust explores questions of substance and superficiality, and identity and belonging, in highly memorable scenes concerning friendship, love, mortality, and loss. The novel is an extraordinary chronicle of pre-war Paris as well as a vital stepping stone in Proust''s novel, building on the formative, partially learned lessons of the second volume, In the Shadow of Girls in Blossom, and preparing the ground for the portentous challenges of the volumes that lie ahead.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.
£9.89
Penguin Books Ltd Nineteen Eightyfour
Book SynopsisA special student edition of Orwell''s dystopian masterpiece, with an introduction and study notesWinston Smith lives in a world that controls every action and thought of its citizens through the all-seeing eye of Big Brother. Outwardly he seems to be an obedient citizen, yet inwardly he rebels against the system. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with his fellow worker Julia, but soon discovers that the price of freedom is betrayal.This special student edition of George Orwell's timeless dystopia is specifically designed for readers who are studying the text in detail. It has extra-wide margins to leave space for notes, and includes an introduction and notes by Orwell expert Ronald Carter, character sketches, a summary, a chronology, language notes and a selection of questions and topics for discussion and analysis.
£8.54
Faber & Faber The Waste Land
Book Synopsis** Chosen as a New Statesman, Financial Times, Observer and Sunday Times Book of the Year **A riveting account of the making of T. S. Eliot's celebrated poem The Waste Land on its centenary.A rattling good story' Sunday TelegraphA work of art' Times Literary SupplementThe Waste Land has been called the World's Greatest Poem'. It has been labelled the most truthful poem of its time; it has been branded a masterful fake. More than a century after its publication in 1922, T. S. Eliot's enigmatic masterpiece remains one of the most influential works ever written.In a remarkable feat of biography, Matthew Hollis reconstructs the creation of the poem and brings the material reality of its charged times vividly to life. He reveals the cultural and personal trauma that forged The Waste Land through the lives of its protagonists Ezra Pound, who edited it; Viv
£11.69
Orion Publishing Co The Hedgehog And The Fox
Book Synopsis''Brilliant. Searching and profound'' E.H. Carr, Times Literary Supplement''When reading Isaiah Berlin we breathe an altogether different air'' New York Review of Books''Beautifully written'' W. H. Auden, New Yorker''Ingenious. Exactly what good critical writing should be'' Max Beloff, GuardianThe fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.For Isaiah Berlin, there is a fundamental distinction in mankind: those who are fascinated by the infinite variety of things - foxes - and those who relate everything to a central all-embracing system - hedgehogs. It can be applied to the greatest creative minds: Dante, Ibsen and Proust are hedgehogs, while Shakespeare, Aristotle and Joyce are foxes.Yet when Berlin reaches the case of Tolstoy, he finds a fox by nature, but a hedgehog by conviction; a duality which holds the key to understanding Tolstoy''s Trade ReviewBrilliant ... searching and profound * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *This little book is so entertaining, as well as acute, that the reader hardly notices that it is learned too * OBSERVER *Very readable, with a lively honed down style * SUNDAY MERCURY *The most important study of Tolstoy's thought written in English for a long time * THE LISTENER *Delightful to read * SUNDAY TIMES *[Berlin] has a deep and subtle feeling for the puzzle of Tolstoy's personality, and he writes throughout ... with a wonderful eloquence * NEW YORK TIMES *Beautifully written and suggestive -- W H Auden * NEW YORKER *Berlin's stunning command of the resources of scholarship, his sensitivity to literature and to character, and his eloquence as a writer give this essay the lustre of a virtuoso performance * ATLANTIC *The argument is ingenious and subtle, full of overtones - exactly what good critical writing should be * GUARDIAN *very readable, with a lively honed down style * SUNDAY MERCURY *
£9.49
Liverpool University Press Iris Murdoch
Book SynopsisReviews ‘Anne Rowe, a scrupulous Murdoch scholar of many years’ standing, has written a slim but comprehensive overview of the writer’s career, attending successively to aspects of her output in both genres, encompassing matters intellectual, spiritual, experiential and geographical.’ Stuart Walton, The London MagazineTrade Review'This new overview of Murdoch's life, coming as it does in her centenary year, brings together fresh materials on her life and work and will be a central resource for students, teachers, academics and the general reader. Rowe builds on her vast knowledge of Murdoch – and her earlier published work – to bring out the fullest examination of Murdoch's life and work to date. This is a book by an academic at the height of her powers'.Dr Miles Leeson, Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre, University of Chichester‘The leading Murdoch scholar Anne Rowe, in an effective new critical study, emphasises the relevance to Murdoch’s future reputation of society’s increasing openness to “more complex variations in sexual and psychological make-up”. The old myth that Murdoch only writes about leisured middle-class heterosexuals who live in big houses has in turn bred the more recent myth that nobody could possibly bother reading her nowadays...’ Leo Robson, The New StatesmanTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 Iris Murdoch: A Writing Life 2 Writing the Novel of Ideas: The Philosopher and Public Intellectual3 Writing Sacraments: The Holy Atheist4 Writing A New Vocabulary of Experience5 Writing the Landscape: The Island of Spells and the Sacred CityAfterword
£67.92
Palgrave Macmillan Eileen OShaughnessy in Her Own Words
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£97.49
Penguin Books Ltd Black Panther 3 Penguin Classics Marvel
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
£21.25
Oxford University Press The Collected Peter Pan
Book SynopsisA collection of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan stories--from his first appearance in The Little White Bird to the final version of the Peter Pan play we know today.Table of ContentsThe Little White Bird Anon: A Play Peter and Wendy Scenario for a Proposed Film of Peter Pan Peter Pan Appendix 1: On the Acting of a Fairy Play Appendix 2: When Wendy Grew Up: An Afterthought Appendix 3: The Blot on Peter Pan Appendix 4: Captain Hook at Eton Notes
£7.59
Penguin Books Ltd Captain America 2 Penguin Classics Marvel
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
£32.00
HarperCollins Publishers The Great Gatsby Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.'I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited they went there'Jay Gatsby's Long Island mansion throngs with the bright young things of the Roaring Twenties. But Gatsby himself, young, handsome and mysteriously rich, never appears. He stands apart, yearning for something just out of reach Daisy Buchanan, lost years before to another man. One fateful summer, when the pair finally reunite, their actions set in motion events that will unravel their lives, bringing tragedy to all who surround them.Widely considered F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby is a tale of excess and obsession, and a work of classic twentieth-century American literature.
£7.59
Cambridge University Press The Cambridge Companion to British Literature of
Book SynopsisThe 1930s is frequently seen as a unique moment in British literary history, a decade where writing was shaped by an intense series of political events, aesthetic debates, and emerging literary networks. Yet what is contained under the rubric of 1930s writing has been the subject of competing claims, and therefore this Companion offers the reader an incisive survey covering the decade''s literature and its status in critical debates. Across the chapters, sustained attention is given to writers of growing scholarly interest, to pivotal authors of the period, such as Auden, Orwell, and Woolf, to the development of key literary forms and themes, and to the relationship between this literature and the decade''s pressing social and political contexts. Through this, the reader will gain new insight into 1930s literary history, and an understanding of many of the critical debates that have marked the study of this unique literary era.Trade Review'Brilliantly conceived, constructed and executed, Smith's collection is an outstanding one.' Alistair Davies, Textual PracticeTable of ContentsIntroduction James Smith; 1. Poetry Janet Montefiore; 2. The literary novel Marina MacKay; 3. Drama Claire Warden; 4. Publishing and periodicals Peter Marks; 5. The middlebrow and popular Isobel Maddison; 6. Modernism Tyrus Miller; 7. Communism and the working class John Connor; 8. Empire Judy Suh; 9. Travel Timothy Youngs; 10. The regional and the rural Kristin Bluemel; 11. The queer 1930s Glyn Salton-Cox; 12. Remembering and imagining war Phyllis Lassner; 13. Fascism and anti-fascism Mia Spiro; 14. Fashioning the 1930s Benjamin Kohlmann.
£23.74
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Saved
Book SynopsisA Student Edition of Bond's notorious play set in London in the 1960s reflecting a time of social change. Its subject is the cultural poverty and frustration of a generation of young people on the dole and living on council estate.
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Top Girls
Book SynopsisAt a restaurant party thrown by Marlene of the Top Girls Employment Agency are Isabella Bird, the 19th-century traveller, Lady Nijo, courtesan to a 13th-century Japanese Emperor, Brueghel's Dull Gret, Pope Joan and Patient Griselda, wife of Chaucer's Clerk.Trade Review"Top Girls has a combination of directness and complexity which keeps you both emotionally and intellectually alert. You can smell life, and at the same time feel locked in an argument with an agile and passionate mind." The Sunday Times, John Peter
£10.44
Thomas Nelson Publishers A Hobbit a Wardrobe and a Great War
Book SynopsisThe untold story of how the First World War shaped the lives, faith, and writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Giving an unabashedly Christian vision of hope in a world tortured by doubt and disillusionment, the two writers created works that changed the course of literature and shaped the faith of millions---now in paperback.
£13.49
Vintage Deceived With Kindness
Book SynopsisAngelica Garnett may truly be called a child of Bloomsbury. Her Aunt was Virginia Woolf, her mother Vanessa Bell, and her father Duncan Grant, though for many years Angelica believed herself, naturally enough, the daughter of Vanessa''s husband Clive. Her childhood homes, Charleston in Sussex and Gordon Square in London, were both centres of Bloomsbury activity, and she grew up surrounded by the most talked-about writers and artists of the day - Leonard and Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry, the Stracheys, Maynard Keynes, David Garnett (whom she later married), and many others. But Deceived with Kindness is also a record of a young girl''s particular struggle to achieve independence from that extraordinary and intense milieu as a mature and independent woman. With an honesty that is by degrees agonising and uplifting, the author creates a vibrant, poignant picture of her mother, Vanessa Bell, of her own emergent individuality, and of the Bloomsbury era.Trade ReviewPassionate, lucid, risky, rash, hard to put down and impossible to forget -- Hilary Spurling * Observer *Beautifully written and admirably honest... Refreshing and surprising -- Fiona MacCarthy * The Times *
£9.49
Quarto Publishing PLC The Last Englishman: The Life of J.L. Carr
Book Synopsis'A fine biography...Rogers has done a wonderful job' Daily Telegraph J. L. Carr was the most English of Englishmen: headmaster of a Northamptonshire school, cricket enthusiast and campaigner for the conservation of country churches. But he was also the author of half a dozen utterly unique novels, including his masterpiece, A Month in the Country, and a publisher of some of the most eccentric - and smallest - books ever printed. Byron Roger's acclaimed biography reveals an elusive, quixotic and civic-minded individual with an unswerving sympathy for the underdog, who led his schoolchildren through the streets to hymn the beauty of the cherry trees and paved his garden path with the printing plates for his hand-drawn maps, and whose fiction is quite remarkably autobiographical. Much more than the life of a thoroughly decent man, The Last Englishman is a comic and touching anatomy of the best kind of Englishness. 'Conveying the significance of the author of Carr's Dictionary of Extraordinary Cricketers to anyone unfamiliar with his books, or what may now fairly be called his myth, was always going to be difficult. Somehow, Roger's has managed it' D. J. Taylor, Sunday Times 'A great success, and more life-affirming than F. R. Leavis's entire output' Independent on Sunday
£16.20
Cornerstone Georgette Heyer Biography
Book Synopsis_________________________The perfect accompaniment to the definitive new editions of Georgette Heyer''s celebrated novels that are currently being reissued.A remarkable biography of one of Britain''s best-loved and best-selling novelists, ''the queen of Regency romance''.Georgette Heyer remains an enduring international bestseller, read and loved by four generations of readers and extolled by today''s bestselling authors. Despite her enormous popularity she never gave an interview or appeared in public. Georgette Heyer wrote her first novel, The Black Moth, when she was seventeen in order to amuse her convalescent brother. It was published in 1921 to instant success and it has never been out of print. A phenomenon even in her own lifetime, to this day she is the undisputed queen of regency romance. During ten years of research into Georgette Heyer''s life and writing, Jennifer Kloester has had unlimited access toTrade ReviewAn engaging portrait of a novelist beloved of four generations. A must for those wishing to explore the life of the queen of Regency romance. * Daily Express, 4/5 stars *All lovers of the great Heyer, inventor of the Regency Romance, will love this superb biography of a very private woman. * Saga magazine *Jennifer Kloester’s book is an exhaustive and detailed biography which is quite as gripping as The Regency Buck or The Corinthian. Recognition at last. * Country Life *This should be read on creative-writing courses everywhere. * Sunday Times *A compelling study of a fascinating life. Jennifer Kloester has opened the door on one of the most private literary icons of the past century, one whose works made and continue to make a lasting impression on readers worldwide. Meticulously researched and supported, Kloester's study is both sympathetic and exact, and paints a finely detailed portrait of the woman behind the books. An engaging, intriguing, absorbing read - history is rarely this entertaining! -- Stephanie Laurens, #1 New York Times bestselling historical romance author
£11.69
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Fantasy
Book SynopsisOne of the most popular genres of modern times, fantasy literature has as rich a cultural and literary heritage as the magical worlds that so enrapture its readers. In this book, a concise history of the genre, Adam Roberts traces the central forms and influences on fantasy through the centuries to arrive at our understanding of the fantastic today. Pinning the evolution of fantasy on three key moments - the 19th-century resurgence of interest in Arthurian legend, the rise of Christian allegory, and a post-Ossian, post-Grimm emergence of a Norse, Germanic and Old English mythic identity Roberts explores how the logic of the fantastical' feeds through into the sets and trappings of modern fantasy. Tracking the creation of heroic and high fantasy subgenres through antiquarian tradition, through C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien and into the post-Tolkien boom in genre fantasy writing, the book brings the manifestation of the fantastic beyond literature into art, music, film and TV, vid
£17.09
Penguin Books Ltd Nobody Knows My Name
Book Synopsis''These essays ... live and grow in the mind'' James Campbell, IndependentBeing a writer, says James Baldwin in this searing collection of essays, requires ''every ounce of stamina he can summon to attempt to look on himself and the world as they are''. His seminal 1961 follow-up to Notes on a Native Son shows him responding to his times and exploring his role as an artist with biting precision and emotional power: from polemical pieces on racial segregation and a journey to ''the Old Country'' of the Southern states, to reflections on figures such as Ingmar Bergman and André Gide, and on the first great conference of African writers and artists in Paris.''Brilliant...accomplished...strong...vivid...honest...masterly'' The New York Times''A bright and alive book, full of grief, love and anger'' Chicago Tribune
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Avengers
Book SynopsisTrade 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“As before, all three of these volumes re-present Professor Ben Saunders’ learned general series intro which does an excellent job of succinctly explaining the rise of Marvel Comics and the Marvel Method.”—Forces of Geek
£20.00
Oxford University Press Colette
Book SynopsisThe power of Colette''s work comes from its modernist storytelling.Colette was a pioneering, ground-breaking modernist writer, but has not always had her originality and worth recognized in Britain. Her work provocatively uses unstable narratives, gaps, silences, fairytale, mythical tropes, and sensual evocations of childhood, sex, and landscapes. In this book, Michèle Roberts examines how Colette invents new forms to express her unsettling content on desire, perversion, ageing, and different forms of love. Delving into four keys texts, Roberts explores Colette''s willingness to break open taboos about older woman and desire, as well as hidden and forbidden aspects of human longings and pleasures.Through these re-readings, Roberts discovers that Colette''s work is even more entrancing, more disturbing, and more original than she first thought.
£18.99
Oxford University Press Broken Hierarchies
Book SynopsisBroken Hierarchies collects twenty books of poems by Geoffrey Hill, written over sixty years, and presents them in their definitive form. Four of these books (Ludo, Expostulations on the Volcano, Liber Illustrium Virorum, and Al Tempo de'' Tremuoti) have never before appeared in print, and three of them (Hymns to Our Lady of Chartres, Pindarics, and Clavics) have been greatly revised and expanded.Trade ReviewVivid clarity ... intense lyric beauty. This is work of the first importance. * Paul Batchelor, Book of the Year 2014, Times Literary Supplement *The scale and consistency of this volume, meticulously edited by Kenneth Haynes, and handsomely, if rather minutely, set out, with plenty of white space around poems and a jacket bearing an image from Kokoschka, give it a monumental air ... At the vital, latter end of the book there are huge achievements and intricate exercises, experimental in their rigour. Hill's scraggy apple tree is indeed an emblem of his stupendous late-spring flowering. * John Kerrigan, Times Literary Supplement *Broken Hierarchies possesses a magisterial intellectual sweep and sense of literary high ambition which is perhaps unique in contemporary English poetry. * Terry Kelly, London Magazine *Hill has for 40-odd years kept his language as close-textured, tough, knotted and lyrical as poetry can be. If he makes old Eliot seem by comparison an easy read it is not for mere show; these poems are as beautiful, hard, compressed and granular as the rocks and stones and trees from which they are made. * Fred Inglis, The Times Higher Education Supplement *If the phrase "greatest living poet in the English language" has any meaning, then we should use it to describe Hill. * Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian *He can rival the best. * Jeremy Noel-Tod, The Sunday Times *Table of ContentsFOR THE UNFALLEN (1959); KING LOG (1968); MERCIAN HYMNS (1971); TENEBRAE (1978); THE MYSTERY OF THE CHARITY OF CHARLES PEGUY (1983); HYMNS TO OUR LADY OF CHARTRES (1982 2012); CANAAN (1996); THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE (1998); SPEECH! SPEECH! (2000); THE ORCHARDS OF SYON (2002); SCENES FROM COMUS (2005); WITHOUT TITLE (2006); PINDARICS (2005 2012); A TREATISE OF CIVIL POWER (2007); LUDO (2011); THE DAYBOOKS (2007 2012)
£32.29
Oxford University Press Major Political Writings
Book SynopsisA new collection of Shaw's major political writings which reflect on his long career and influential role as a public intellectual. These essays reveal significant shifts in his positions and beliefs from the Victorian era to the aftermath of World War II.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: A Manifesto 2: Jevonian Criticism of Marx 3: Bluffing the Value Theory 4: Economics from Fabian Essays 5: What Socialism Is 6: Fabian Society - What it has done and how it has done it 7: Vote! Vote!! Vote!!! 8: The Impossibilities of Anarchism 9: Illusions of Socialism 10: Women as Councillors 11: Fabianism and the Empire 12: Socialism for Millionaires 13: Common Sense about the War 14: How to Settle the Irish Question 15: The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism 16: Socialism: Principles and Outlook 17: In Praise of Guy Fawkes 18: Everybody's Political What's What 19: The Unavoidable Subject Bibliography Note on the Text
£9.49
Oxford University Press The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Book Synopsis''The present system means joyless drudgery, semi-starvation, rags and premature death; and they vote for it and uphold it. Let them have what they vote for! Let them drudge and let them starve!''There is no other novel quite like The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. George Orwell called it ''a wonderful book''; its readers have become a living part of its remarkable history.Tressell''s novel is about survival on the underside of the Edwardian Twilight, about exploitative employment when the only safety nets are charity, workhouse, and grave. Following the fortunes of a group of painters and decorators and their families, and the attempts to rouse their political will by the Socialist visionary Frank Owen, the book is both a highly entertaining story and a passionate appeal for a fairer way of life. It asks questions that are still being asked today: why do your wages bear no relation to the value of your work? Why do fat cats get richer when you don''t? Tressell''s answers are ''The
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Black Box
Book SynopsisA foundational reckoning with how Black Americans have used the written word to define and redefine themselves over the course of the country''s history.Distilled over many years from Henry Louis Gates Jr''s legendary Harvard course in African American Studies, The Black Box: Writing the Race is the story of Black self-definition in America through the prism of the writers who have led the way. From Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, to Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, these writers used words to create a liveable world a home for Black people destined to live in a bitterly racist society.This is a community that defined and transformed itself in defiance of oppression and lies; a collective act of resistance and transcendence that is at the heart of its self-definition. Out of that contested ground has flowered a resilient, creative, powerful, diverse culture formed b
£21.25
Little, Brown Book Group One Pair of Feet
Book SynopsisINTRODUCED BY LISSA EVANS''I envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens. She''s beady eyed, big hearted and blissfully funny'' NINA STIBBE '' Humorous, moving and fascinating'' CLARE MACKINTOSH Considering herself unsuitable for any other contribution to the war effort, Monica Dickens opts for nursing, imagining herself gliding through the wards, serene in a pure white halo cap. On enrolment, however, she is promptly stripped of all illusions. Intelligent and headstrong, Monica struggles to submit to the iron rule of the Matron and toils over the mountains of menial work that are a trainee''s lot. But there are friends among the staff and patients, night-time escapades to dances with dashing army men and her secret writing project to keep her going.One Pair of Feet is a witty and brilliantly observed autobiographical novel, based upon Monica Dickens''s own trials and tribulations as a wartime nurse.''Monica''Trade ReviewHumorous, moving and fascinating -- Clare MackintoshI envy anyone yet to discover the joy of Monica Dickens. She's beady eyed, big hearted and blissfully funny -- Nina StibbeOne of the most affectionate and humorous observers of the English scene -- John BetjemanMonica's naked curiosity and general bolshiness are easy to identify with, and as a narrator she always tells us what we're longing to know - it's like listening to a friend's anecdote, and egging them on -- Lissa EvansOne Pair of Feet is not just a spirited and entertaining account of a hospital nurse in wartime, but a fascinating glimpse into a time and a culture so recent and yet so utterly changed -- Marina LewyckaA brilliantly funny account -- Elizabeth Bowen
£9.49
Faber & Faber Poems and Shorter Writings
Book SynopsisThis collection brings together all the poems published by James Joyce in his lifetime, most notably Chamber Music and Pomes Penyeach. It also includes a large body of his satiric or humorous occasional verse, much of which is fugitive and little known to the general reader.
£17.09
Faber & Faber The Dyers Hand
Book SynopsisIn the early 1950s the author began planning a prose volume that would bring together some of his published essays, lectures, and reviews, together with freshly-written notes and aphorisms. This book combines earlier material with revised versions of many of his Oxford lectures.
£17.00
John Wiley & Sons Inc The Origins of Tolkiens Middleearth For Dummies
Book SynopsisA basic guide to some of the possible linguistic and mythological origins of Middle earth, and a rudimentary analysis of its many themes and lessons for our world. It includes topics that explore the main themes in Tolkien's works, including immortality and death; the heroic quest; love; fate and free will; and faith and redemption.Trade Review"...a great book...helps readers make sense of the creatures, language, geography and richly-detailed history of Middle earth..." (Shields Gazette, Dec 03) "...a mine of information?a must-have for anyone interested in exploring the epic tales of the four ages of Middle earth..." (Dundee Evening Telegraph and Post, Dec 03)Table of ContentsForeword xvii Introduction 1 Part I: The Geography of Middle-earth 7 Chapter 1: The Worlds of Middle-earth 9 Chapter 2: The Lands of Middle-earth and Beyond 21 Part II: The Beings of Middle-earth 45 Chapter 3: The Divine Ainur 47 Chapter 4: The Fair Race of Elves 57 Chapter 5: The Mortal Race of Men 73 Chapter 6: The Hardy Race of Dwarves 95 Chapter 7: Those Homespun Hobbits 109 Chapter 8: The Wily Wizards 129 Chapter 9: Beorn, Tom Bombadil, and Treebeard 139 Chapter 10: The Enemy and His Minions 149 Part III: The History of Middle-earth 167 Chapter 11: The Valarian Ages 169 Chapter 12: The First Three Ages and Then Some 177 Part IV: The Languages of Middle-earth 187 Chapter 13: Tolkien and Language 189 Chapter 14: The Tongues of Tolkien 199 Part V: The Themes and Mythology of Middle-earth 211 Chapter 15: The Struggle Between Good and Evil 213 Chapter 16: Immortality and Death 219 Chapter 17: The Heroic Quest 233 Chapter 18: Chivalry and True Love 247 Chapter 19: Fate and Free Will 257 Chapter 20: Faith and Redemption 269 Chapter 21: Ring-related Myths 277 Chapter 22: Ecological Themes 287 Chapter 23: Sex and Gender 293 Part VI: The Part of Tens 301 Chapter 24: Top Ten Battles in the War of the Ring 303 Chapter 25: Top Ten Online Middle-earth Resources 309 Chapter 26: Top Ten Ways The Lord of the Rings Books Differ from the Movies 313 Index 319
£13.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Burning Man
Book Synopsis**LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2021****SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE 2021** **SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE****FINALIST FOR THE 2022 PLUTARCH AWARD**D. H. Lawrence is no longer censored, but he is still on trial and the jury is still out on the verdict. Delving into the memoirs of those who both loved and loathed him, Burning Man follows Lawrence from the peninsular underworld of Cornwall in 1915 to post-war Italy to the mountains of New Mexico, and traces the author's footsteps through the pages of his lesser-known work. Wilson presents a complex, courageous and often comic fugitive, careering around a world in the grip of apocalypse, in search of utopia; and, in bringing the true Lawrence into sharp focus, shows how he speaks to us now more than ever. ''A work of art in its own right'' OBSERVER ''Utterly enthralling'' GEOFF DYER ''Brilliantly unconventional'' RICHARD HOLMES ''A red-hot, pTrade ReviewWilson’s Dantesque excursion detracts only marginally from the brilliance of her book. Her great strength is the aliveness of her writing, which constantly interweaves glowing phrases from Lawrence into its fabric -- JOHN CAREY * SUNDAY TIMES *D. H. Lawrence’s reputation has plummeted in recent decades. This defiantly positive biography sets out to rescue him from his critics and place him back on a literary pedestal * THE TIMES, 100 Best Books for Summer 2022 *[A] brilliant biography * THE TIMES, Best Paperbacks of 2022 *I cannot remember the last time one left me feeling so exhilarated, so challenged and absorbed ... Burning Man is a work of art in its own right, as wanton and as magnificently flawed as anything Lawrence ever wrote … The chorus of voices builds and builds. Sometimes ecstatic and sometimes shrill, it brings Lawrence alive in all his derangement: his ridiculousness as well as his glory; his perspicacity and his blindness … Wilson writes so brilliantly, and with such conviction. If you believe, as I do, that to live life well is to fail in ways that may be unimaginably huge, this strange and confounding book is for you -- RACHEL COOKE * OBSERVER *Not only does Frances Wilson revive her subject, she lifts the whole genre. Biography of this calibre is rare ... Our most original biographer * NEW STATESMAN *[Wilson] gives it to you straight … and leaves you to decide for yourself … This is a red-hot, propulsive book. The impression it leaves is of Lawrence not so much as a phoenix (his chosen personal emblem) rising from the flames, but of a moth coming too close to a candle and, singed and frantic, flying into and into and into the wick * THE TIMES *DH Lawrence’s reputation has plummeted in recent decades. This defiantly positive biography sets out to rescue him from his critics and place him back on a literary pedestal. “Her great strength,” John Carey said in his review of Wilson’s book, “is the aliveness of her writing" * THE TIMES, 100 Best Books for Summer 2022 *The challenge for any biographer of one Lawrence is to come to terms with his many contradictions - his rage, impotence, silliness and genius. This elegantly written, intelligent and witty account lays them all bare with admirable skill * EVENING STANDARD *Wilson tells the story well. It was a period of uncertainty, of bonds being shed and reforged; of the immense growth of Lawrence’s reputation -- PHILIP HENSHER * SPECTATOR *Wilson’s Guilty Thing, her life of Thomas De Quincey, is one of the finest recent literary biographies ... Burning Man is in the same league. … This is a book that performs a rare and laudable task: of saving a writer, posthumously, from himself. We are all beneficiaries of Wilson’s articulate and persuasive advocacy -- David Wheatley * Literary Review *Heady, entrancing, comedic… Outstanding … Without condoning Lawrence’s temper at all – quite the opposite, indeed – Wilson reveals an achingly flawed, ultimately sympathetic human being, who wrote mostly imperfect novels, but whose immense contribution to the twentieth-century literary scene is worth both acknowledging and commemorating. And whatever you have thought of Lawrence, or will think after reading this book, Frances Wilson’s Burning Man is a virtuoso performance in the art of biography-writing -- Gerri Kimber * TLS *A brilliantly unconventional biography, passionately researched and written with a wild, playful energy. Above all Frances Wilson’s great achievement is to liberate Lawrence from the old, heavy, moth-eaten “priest of love” mythology, instead breathing new life into his big novels as contemporary “autofiction”, and lovingly stoking the furious fires in his letters, poetry and short stories. A new Lawrence emerges: a thinker, travel writer and essayist of strange, absurd, irrepressible genius -- RICHARD HOLMES‘"How can biography do justice to Lawrence's complexities?" asks this book. Frances Wilson shows us exactly how. Hers is the most original voice in life-writing today -- LUCASTA MILLER, author of KeatsNo biography of Lawrence that I have read comes close to Burning Man in getting across both his unquenchable fire and his appalling ruthlessness. After reading almost every page, you think "what a monster!" but then at the same time "what an eye!" - for people, landscape, birds, the whole world really. It’s a wonderful book -- FERDINAND MOUNT, author of Kiss Myself GoodbyeDare we hope that Lawrence might soon assume his rightful place – neither messiah nor pariah – as a writer of boundless freshness, originality and breadth? If so Frances Wilson’s stimulating and utterly enthralling book will be seen to play a vital role in the long-awaited rehabilitation of the man who, in the words of poet Tony Hoagland, “burned like an acetylene torch/ from one end to the other of his life” -- GEOFF DYER[An] engrossing, entertaining and illuminating biography … Wilson, whose previous books include a compelling life of Thomas de Quincey, eloquently makes the case for Lawrence’s genius and the need for his revaluation -- Rosemary Goring * HERALD *This is in many ways a superb biography … Her writing about him is gloriously vivid * THE WEEK, Book of the Week *Meticulously researched and energetic … She converts this seemingly incendiary and unapologetic radical into a patron saint of passionate intensity … It is a job well done in illuminating Lawrence’s many complexities -- Nicholas Opfermann * REACTION, Books Digest *Wilson captures the ferocity and aggression of this driven author … Burning Man presents a rounded, empathetic portrait of Lawrence -- Martin Chilton * INDEPENDENT, Books of the Month *Beautifully written * THE TIMES *A vivid picture of a complex, difficult, haunted man whose art was driven by conflict * BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE *Thrillingly unusual ... If you want a cool, dispassionate biography, this is not it ... At times she seems to be almost channelling Lawrence, especially in her landscape descriptions, which are as good as Lawrence’s own. * DAILY TELEGRAPH *[A] witty and rigorous reappraisal of this divisive, divided figure * STANDPOINT *Frances Wilson's spirited defence of D. H. Lawrence is a work of art in its own right ... Burning Man is a work of both non-fiction and imagination, impeccably handled by a writer in command of her craft * NEW ZEALAND LISTENER *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing All Sorts of Lives: Katherine Mansfield and the
Book Synopsis** The Sunday Times Best Literary Book of 2023**** A Waterstones Best Book of 2023**'All Sorts of Lives is a beautiful, fastidiously researched and fascinating exploration of Mansfield's life and work' A.L. KENNEDYRestless outsider, masher-up of form and convention, Katherine Mansfield’s career was short but dazzling. She was the only writer Virginia Woolf admitted being jealous of, yet by the 1950s was so undervalued that Elizabeth Bowen was moved to ask, 'Where is she – our missing contemporary?'In this inventive and intimate study, Claire Harman takes a fresh look at Mansfield’s life and achievements, through the form she did so much to revolutionise: the short story. Exploring ten pivotal works, we watch how Mansfield’s desire to grow as a writer pushed her art into unknown territory, and how illness sharpened her extraordinary vitality: ‘Would you not like to try all sorts of lives – one is so very small.’‘What a gift to the biographer, this life of adventure and sickness and sex and celebrity… Brilliant’ Sunday Times‘A searching, incisive and compulsive book. A lesson in how to read and connect and understand’ Sunjeev SahotaTrade ReviewAll Sorts of Lives is a beautiful, fastidiously researched and fascinating exploration of Mansfield's life and work. This is great as an introduction to an unjustly neglected author and a joy for those of us who already love her writingIn this sensitive and comprehensive biography, Claire Harman uncovers some steamy new details about Mansfield’s bisexuality, but doesn’t let the life distract from the blisteringly intense stories * The Times, *Books of the Year* *What a gift to the biographer, this life of adventure and sickness and sex and celebrity - and that's before you start on Mansfield as a leading modernist . . . It's hard to imagine a more compelling advocate for Mansfield's fiction, or a better introduction to it . . . brilliant -- Claire Lowdon * Sunday Times *A wonderful book to mark the centenary of Mansfield's death . . . [her] clever insistence on placing the life and work side by side allows her to give brief but powerful accounts of Mansfield's relations with other writers -- Ruth Scurr * Spectator *Harman combines literary criticism with uncovering the life of the influential modernist writer, via chapters linked to individual short stories. The best literary biographies make you want to go back to the subject’s work with renewed passion, and Harman more than succeeds. In fact, her enthusiasm goes some way into bringing Mansfield’s own vitality to the page * Independent, Books of the Year *A kind of masterclass on the short story, taking the ideal practitioner as its focus . . . a valuable reminder of why - a hundred years after her death - we should still be reading and marvelling at Katherine Mansfield's stories -- Sarah Watling * Daily Telegraph *A worthy addition to the corpus of Mansfield interpretation . . . Like all the best writer biographies, All Sorts of Lives makes you reach again for the works -- Catherine Taylor * Financial Times *Step aside, Virginia Woolf - it was Katherine Mansfield who ushered in the modern age -- Frances Wilson * Daily Telegraph *An excellent, sensitively written introduction -- Miranda Seymour * The Times *An engaging, perceptive critical work, that is inseparable from the rich expanse of Mansfield biography. What the book so insists on, and so compellingly brings home, is Mansfield's utter commitment to the demands of writing -- Vincent O'Sullivan * Newsroom *What a searching, incisive and compulsive book. A lesson in how to read and connect and understand, it achieves a beautiful synthesis between Mansfield's stories, her life and our apprehension of both these things -- Sunjeev SahotaSensitive and comprehensive -- Susie Goldsbrough * The Times *Harman's book does that thing that all good literary biographies do. It sends us straight back into the delicate, exhilarating, risking world of Mansfield's fiction -- Kirsty Gunn * The Times Literary Supplement *[A] lucent biography * Tablet *This biography, graced by Harman's deep understanding as a reader, allows the work and the life to unfold side by side, a pairing designed for maximum impact... puts art - the beating heart of a writer's life - centre stage -- Lyndall Gordon * New Statesman *
£10.44
Verso Books Edward Said: His Thought as a Novel
Book SynopsisIn this personal portrait of Edward Said written by a close friend, Dominique Eddé offers a fascinating and fresh presentation of his oeuvre from his earliest writings on Joseph Conrad to his most famous texts, Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism. Eddé weaves together accounts of the genesis and content of Said's work, his intellectual development, and her own reflections and personal recollections of their friendship, which began in 1979 and lasted until Said's death in 2003. Throughout, she traces the connection between personal history and theoretical options, illuminating the evolution of Said's thought. Both specialists of Said's work and newcomers will find much to learn in this rich portrait of one of the twentieth century's most important intellectuals.Trade ReviewPraise for Kamal Jann:A beautiful book, beautifully written with a pen dipped in line accuracy, the accuracy of the look, the talent of the sketch, without sacrificing the complexity of thought that underlies. This powerful fresco exposes the relationship between power and family, corruption and repression, sheds new light on what was believed to [be known of] Syria and the Middle East. * Huffington Post *Praise for Kamal Jann:This novel is masterfully impressive. * Marie-Claire *Praise for Kamal Jann:Beautifully written. * Times Literary Supplement *Praise for The Crime of Jean Genet:Eddé's book is an intelligent but not reverential account of the way in which Jean Genet fascinated and intimidated her. * Times Literary Supplement *
£17.09
Penguin Books Ltd The Black Box
Book SynopsisDistilled over many years from Henry Louis Gates Jr's legendary Harvard course in African American Studies, The Black Box: Writing the Race is the story of Black self-definition in America through the prism of the writers who have led the way. From Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, to Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, these writers used words to create a liveable world a home for Black people destined to live in a bitterly racist society. This is a community that defined and transformed itself in defiance of oppression and lies; a collective act of resistance and transcendence that is at the heart of its self-definition. Out of that contested ground has flowered a resilient, creative, powerful, diverse culture formed by people who have often disagreed markedly about what it means to be 'Black', and about how best to shape a usable past out of the materials at hand, to call into being a more just and equitable future. This is the epic story of how, through essays and speeches, novels, plays and poems, a long line of creative thinkers has unveiled the contours of and resisted confinement in the black box that this nation within a nation has been assigned, from its founding to today. It is a book that records the compelling saga of the creation of a people.
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
Book SynopsisElizabeth Smart's passionate fictional account of her intense love-affair with the poet George Barker, described by Angela Carter as Like MADAME BOVARY blasted by lightning A masterpiece'.One day, while browsing in a London bookshop, Elizabeth Smart chanced upon a slim volume of poetry by George Barker and fell passionately in love with him through the printed word. Eventually they communicated directly and, as a result of Barker's impecunious circumstances, Elizabeth Smart flew both him and his wife from Japan, where he was teaching, to join her in the United States. Thus began one of the most extraordinary, intense and ultimately tragic love affairs of our time. They never married but Elizabeth bore George Barker four children and their relationship provided the impassioned inspiration for one of the most moving and immediate chronicles of a love affair ever written By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept'.Originally published in 1945, this remarkable book is now widely identTrade Review‘Like Madame Bovary blasted by lightening … A masterpiece.’ Angela Carter ‘At some point every good reader comes across “By Grand Central Station I sat Down and Wept”. And he or she recognises an emotion essential and permanent to us.’ Michael Ondaatje ‘A revelation…This short, powerful work has a profound influence on me and was one of the factors that made me want to be a writer.’ Beryl Bainbridge ‘I doubt if there are more than half a dozen such masterpieces of poetic prose in the world.’ Brigid Brophy ‘Explores a passion between a man and two women, one of them his wife – a love despairing and triumphant upon which the reader may gaze, awed, appalled, or even, perhaps, envious.’ The Times ‘Few writers have ever captured the full honesty of what passion means as shockingly and as piercingly as Smart. Today, its force still strikes us hard in the face, a beautiful and bloody blow.’ Lesley McDowell, Independent on Sunday ‘Constructed as a single, sustained climax, it is like a cry of ecstasy which, without changing volume or pitch, becomes a cry of agony.’ Spectator ‘The emotion, the truth and abject affliction comes through…to move the reader, and even to awe him.’ London Review of Books
£10.44
Pan Macmillan How Proust Can Change Your Life
Book SynopsisWith an introduction by comedian and novelist David BaddielA novel in seven volumes, Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time is considered a major literary work of the twentieth century. And even more crucially, one that you should have read by now. However, as one of its most distinguishing features is its staggering length, many of us feel intimidated and perhaps, even, fatigued at the thought of diving in. Alain de Botton’s hilarious and unexpected Proustian manual, is then, the perfect antidote to this problem.In How Proust Can Change Your Life, de Botton masterfully distils what Proust says about friendship, reading, being alive and taking your time, and mixes it with his own, no less nourishing commentary. As de Botton rereads Proust for our collective benefit, we see the continued relevance of his work and the rich and varied insights he can offer us, from how to reinvigorate your relationship to being a good host. This is Proust as you’ve never seen him before. He may even change your life.Trade ReviewIt contains more human interest and play of fancy than most fiction . . . de Botton, in emphasizing Proust's healing, advisory aspects, does us the service of rereading him on our behalf, providing of that vast sacred lake a sweet and lucid distillation -- John Updike * New Yorker *
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers The Great Gatsby
Book SynopsisThe Great American Novel of love and betrayal in the Jazz Age is now a major film.I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. Peoplewere not invited they went there.'Jay Gatsby's opulent Long Island mansion throngs with the bright young things of the Roaring Twenties. But Gatsby himself, young, handsome and mysteriously rich, never appearsto his guests. He stands apart from the crowd, yearning for something just out of reach Daisy Buchanan, lost years before to another man. One fateful summer, when the pair finally reunite, their actions set in motion a series of events that will unravel their lives, bringing tragedy to all who surround them.Widely considered F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby is a tale of excess and obsession, and a work of classictwentieth-century American literature.
£7.59
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Silence of the Sea Le Silence de la Mer
Book SynopsisThis first bilingual edition of France''s most enduring wartime novel introduces Vercors''s famous tale to a generation without personal experience of World War II who may not be able to read it in its original language. Now available in paperback, readers are assisted with a historical and literary introduction, explanatory notes, a glossary of French terms and a select bibliography.Trade ReviewNot only a distinguished piece of fiction but also a brilliant piece of reporting on French resistance.' Life'Saying something new about such a work was the central challenge faced by Brown and Stokes. To my surprise, they have succeeded in meeting this challenge. * French Review *
£14.99
Allen & Unwin Manderley Forever: The Life of Daphne du Maurier
Book SynopsisBestselling novelist Tatiana de Rosnay pays homage to Daphne du Maurier, the writer who influenced her deeply, in this startling and immersive new biography. A portrait of one writer by another, Manderley Forever meticulously recounts a life as mysterious and dramatic as the work it produced, and highlights du Maurier's consuming passion for Cornwall.De Rosnay seamlessly recreates Daphne's childhood, rebellious teens and early years as a writer before exploring the complexities of her marriage and, finally, her cantankerous old age. With a rhythm and intimacy to its prose characteristic of all de Rosnay's works, Manderley Forever is a vividly compelling portrait and celebration of an intriguing, hugely popular and (in her time) critically underrated writer.Trade ReviewVivid, dreamlike...the strength of de Rosnay's biography is that it makes me want to visit (or revisit) her subject's books. * Daily Mail *Ms. de Rosnay has written a biography that does justice to its heroine. * Wall Street Journal *immersive, as thrilling as any of du Maurier's plots...brilliant * Irish Independent *Clever and highly original...insightful and endearing * The Lady *It's impressive how Tatiana was able to recreate the personality of my mother, including her sense of humour. It is very well written and very moving. I'm sure my mother would have loved this book. * Tessa Montgomery d’Alamein, daughter of Daphne du Maurier *A fascinating, in-depth portrait...Through de Rosnay's novel-like narrative, exhaustive research and unbridled imagination, du Maurier's spirit comes alive on the page. * Publishers Weekly *
£11.69
Faber & Faber The Complete Poems of Philip Larkin
Book SynopsisThis entirely new edition brings together all of Philip Larkin''s poems. In addition to those in Collected Poems (1988), and in the Early Poems and Juvenilia (2005), some unpublished pieces from Larkin''s typescripts and workbooks are included, as well as verse (by turns scurrilous, satirical, affectionate, and sentimental) tucked away in his letters. The manuscript and printed sources have been scrutinized afresh; more detailed accounts than hitherto available of the sources of the text and of dates of composition are provided; and previous accounts of composition dates have been corrected. Variant wordings from Larkin''s typescripts and the early printings are recorded.For the first time, the poems are given a comprehensive commentary. This draws critically upon, and substantially extends, the accumulated scholarship on Larkin, and covers closely relevant historical contexts, persons and places, allusions and echoes, and linguistic usage. Due pro
£21.25
Faber & Faber Joyces Women
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.
£9.49
Granta Books And When Did You Last See Your Father?
Book SynopsisADAPTED INTO A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, STARRING JIM BROADBENT "A painful, funny, frightening, moving, marvellous book ... everybody should read it" - Nick Hornby And when did you last see your father? Was it when they burnt the coffin? Put the lid on it? When he exhaled his last breath? When he last sat up and said something? When he last recognized me? When he last smiled? Blake Morrison's memoir is a candid, profoundly moving reflection on his relationship with his father, Arthur. Following Arthur's cancer diagnosis, Blake witnesses the slow erosion of the man he once knew. As his father's battle with the disease unfurls, Blake reflects on growing up with Arthur in Yorkshire and their relationship in the years since he left home. From Arthur's penchant for saving money - and the lengths he'd go to do so - to his wayward behavior on family holidays, Blake's fearless account resists an unwavering celebration of his father, showing him to be outlandish and recalcitrant, as well as capturing his humorous and caring qualities. The result is a rich, nuanced portrait of their relationship, capturing the accommodations and resentments that lie cloistered within familial love. And When Did You Last See Your Father? is a classic of the confessional memoir genre; a raw and shimmering interrogation of father-son relationships, masculinity, selfhood and pride. "This luminous tribute to a beloved dad made me laugh until I cried and cry till my nostrils were raw. A masterpiece - one of those books that you treasure forever" - Val HennessyTrade ReviewA painful, funny, frightening, moving, marvellous book ... everybody should read it -- Nick HornbyTender, honest, angry, loyal, this extraordinary book balances the life, illness and death of a forceful father with the feelings of his independent son * The Times *This luminous tribute to a beloved dad made me laugh until I cried and cry till my nostrils were raw. A masterpiece - one of those books that you treasure forever -- Val HennessyA marvellous piece of family literature. He says much about death and dying and more about life and living. Sometimes harrowing, sometimes funny, above all, unforgettably humane * Sydney Morning Herald *A splendid book ... it leaps with life * Irish Times *More than any novel could be, And when did you last see your father? is the once-only, all-or-nothing book of a poet: the life held up so close to one's face that one can smell it, touch it, marvel at the power of words to unlock and unravel, then pour helter-skelter over our heads this magical brainstorm of memories * Spectator *Joy and pain are both imminent and distant as the book rocks back and forth between life and death and, while it lasts, it is visceral and real * Observer *Wonderful, eternally moving... I don't think anyone has ever written better about the relationship between fathers and sons -- Tony Parsons * Mail on Sunday *
£9.50
HarperCollins Publishers The CaseBook of Sherlock Holmes
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.Featuring the last 12 stories ever written about the infamous detective, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes contains some of Conan Doyle's most villainous and unusual characters.The 1920s was a disenchanting era, and the darker mood of many of these stories reflects the environment at the time. Some even felt that the stories showed Conan Doyle exploring Spiritualism as it was an area he was interested in at the time and the mental derangement and physical disfigurements that crop up in many of the stories allude to the horrors of the First World War.The collection includes The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire', The Adventure of the Creeping Man' and The Adventure of the Lion's Mane'.
£5.62
Vintage Publishing The Orientalist
Book SynopsisBorn in 1964, Tom Reiss is an American author and journalist who lives in New York. He is the author of The Orientalist, an acclaimed biography of Lev Nussimbaum (aka Kurban Said) which was shortlisted for the 2006 Samuel Johnson Prize; and The Black Count, a book about the real Count of Monte Christo.Trade ReviewWonderfully compelling... Deeply moving * Sunday Times *A wonderous tale, beautifully told...mesmerising, poignant and almost incredible * New York Times *Meticulous and fascinating... Inspiring reading * Spectator *Extraordinary on many counts... It has taken the tireless detective work of Tom Reiss to uncover the real Lev Nussimbaum * Sunday Times *A highly entertaining biography of a very unusual person * Literary Review *
£13.49
