Literary studies: fiction Books

Book SynopsisThe Invisible Man stands out as possessing one of the most complicated heroes, or perhaps anti-heroes, in literature. A thoroughly unlikeable character, the Invisible Man is defined by his arrogance, impulsiveness, rudeness, and, at times, violence. He is, however, a man of great genius; but, his genius is selfish—no one profits from his experiments, not even himself. The Invisible Man is not only a commentary on imagination and the great spirit of invention that elevated the nineteenth century but also a warning against the eugenic and self-interested policies that threatened the twentieth.This edition includes a valuable collection of the nineteenth-century narratives of invisibility that inspired Wells’s novel, as well as excerpts of Wells’s nonfiction writings on education and class. Additional appendices situate the novel in its late-Victorian scientific and technological contexts, including material on radio waves and x-rays. Trade Review“This is a wonderful edition, setting Wells’s text in a number of rich contexts, especially the history of invisibility literature.” — Simon James, Durham University“A marvelously comprehensive edition of an H.G. Wells classic. Editors Nicole Lobdell and Nancee Reeves meticulously reconstruct The Invisible Man from early printed sources, providing readers with both a seamless narrative experience and a fascinating glimpse into Wells’s creative process. The carefully curated appendices provide rich literary and scientific context for this complex and sometimes troubling scientific romance, and the concluding filmography demonstrates The Invisible Man’s enduring appeal to the popular imagination. Highly recommended for scholars, artists, and students alike.” — Lisa Yaszek, Georgia Institute of Technology“From the striking X-ray ‘Self Portrait’ on the front cover to the eloquent blurbs on the back, the university classroom now has a portable, modestly priced edition of The Invisible Man worthy of Wells’s remarkable ‘grotesque romance.’” — Nicholas Ruddick, Science Fiction StudiesTable of Contents Appendix A: The Four Endings of The Invisible Man a) Pearson’s Weekly, August 1897 b) Pearson, First Edition, September 1897 c) Pearson, Second Edition, November 1897 d) Arnold, New York Edition, November 1897 Appendix B: Invisibility in Nineteenth-Century Fiction a) James Dalton. From The Invisible Gentleman. London: Edward Bull, 1833. I: 61-72. b) Fitz-James O’Brien. From “What Was It? A Mystery” Harper’s Magazine (March 1859): 504-9. c) W. S. Gilbert, “The Perils of Invisibility” (1869). More “Bab” Ballads: Much Sound and Little Sense. London: Routledge, 1872. 178-183. d) Edward Page Mitchell. From “The Crystal Man” The Sun (30 January 1881) e) Charles H. Hinton. From “Stella.” Stella and An Unfinished Communication: Studies of the Unseen. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co, 1895. 55-56. f) Katherine Kip. From “My Invisible Friend” The Black Cat (February 1897): 9-21. Appendix C: Reviews of The Invisible Man a) From “Mr. Wells’s New Stories.” Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art (18 September 1897), lxxxiv. 322. b) Arnold Bennett. “The Invisible Man.” [Woman 405 (29 September 1897): 9] Arnold Bennett and H.G. Wells: A Record of a Personal and Literary Friendship. Ed. Harris Wilson. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1960. 258-59. c) Letter from H.G. Wells replying to Arnold Bennett (October 1897) d) Clement Shorter. From “The Invisible Man.” The Bookman [London] (October 1897): 19-20. e) Claudius Clear. From “The Fantastic Fiction; Or, ‘The Invisible Man.’” The Bookman [New York] 6 (November 1897): 250-51. f) “H.G. Wells’s ‘The Invisible Man.’” The New York Times (25 December 1897): BR15. Appendix D: Wells and Friends on The Invisible Man a) Extract from Letter, H.G. Wells to James B. Pinker (Received 16 April 1896). b) Extract from Letter, H.G. Wells to James B. Pinker (Undated). c) H.G. Wells to James B. Pinker (2 May 1897). d) Joseph Conrad to H.G. Wells (4 December 1898). From Joseph Conrad: Life and Letters. Ed. G. Jean-Aubry. New York: Doubleday, 1927. 259-60. Appendix E: Biological Context a) J. Lockhart Gerson, from “On the ‘Invisible Blood Corpuscles’ of Norris.” Journal of Anatomy and Physiology: Normal and Pathological. Macmillan and Co.: London and Cambridge, 1882. b) From W. Robinson, “Notes on Some Albino Birds Presented to the U.S. National Museum, with Some Remarks on Albinism.” Proceedings of The United States National Museum, volume 11, issue 733, 1889. c) From H.G. Wells, “Popular Feeling and the Advancement of Science. Anti-Vivisection.” The Way the World is Going: Guesses and Forecasts of the Years Ahead. London: Ernest Benn, 1928. 222-227. Appendix F: Technology Contexts: Röntgen Rays and Radio Waves a) Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. From “On a New Kind of Rays” Trans. Arthur Stanton. Nature 53 (23 January 1896): 274-276. b) H.J.W. Dam. From “A Wizard of To-Day.” Pearson’s Magazine. 1 (April 1896): 413-19. c) George Griffith, “A Photograph of the Invisible” Pearson’s Magazine 1 (April 1896) 378-80. d) H.J.W. Dam “The New Telegraphy” The Strand Magazine 13 (March 1897): 273-80. Appendix G: Wells on Class and Society a) H.G. Wells. From Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress Upon Human Life and Thought. United Kingdom; Chapman and Hall, 1901: 229-30. b) H.G. Wells. From A Modern Utopia. London: Chapman and Hall, 1905. 265-70. c) H.G. Wells. From “Of the New Reign.” An Englishman Looks at the World: Being a Series of Unrestrained Remarks upon Contemporary Matters. London: Cassel & Co, 1914. 28-32. d) H.G. Wells. From Experiment in Autobiography: Discoveries and Conclusions of A Very Ordinary Brain (since 1866). Philadelphia and New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1934: 556.

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Book SynopsisIf literature has often informed the creation of a national imaginary—a sense of common history and destiny—it has also complicated, even challenged, the unifying vision assumed in the formation of a national literature and sense of nation. National Literature in Multinational States questions the persistent association of literature and nation-states, contrasting this with the reality of multinational and ethnocultural diversity. The contributors to this collection interrogate concepts and manifestations of nationalism in the context of literary production while evaluating the place of national literatures in multinational states at a time when social unity and political agreement have never been more elusive. The volume strives for synoptic analysis via the complementary, multifaceted treatment of literary creation in several geo-cultural contexts: Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, India, and Nigeria. Contributors: Sabujkoli Bandopadhyay, Albert Braz, Matthew Cormier, Doris Hambuch, Clara A.B. Joseph, Paul D. Morris, Asma Sayed, Matthew Tétreault, Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike, Jerry WhiteTable of ContentsIntroduction—Paul D. Morris and Albert Braz, “The Nation and Its Literature(s) – Representing People, Representing a People” Chapter 1—Paul D. Morris (Université de Saint-Boniface), “Reticent Nations: Governor General’s Award-Winning Fiction and the Representation of Canada” Chapter 2—Matthew Cormier (University of Alberta), “Cultural Memory, National Identity: The Changing Paradigms of Acadian Literature” Chapter 3—Matthew Tétreault (University of Alberta), “Literary Resistance: Situating a Métis National Literature” Chapter 4—Sabujkoli Bandopadhyay (University of Regina), “Intersections of Nationhood, Multiculturalism, and Globalization in South Asian Canadian Fiction: A Study of Anita Rau Badami’s Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?” Chapter 5—Asma Sayed (Kwantlen Polytechnic University), “Canadian Literature in Heritage Languages and the Politics of Canon Formation” Chapter 6—Doris Hambuch (United Arab Emirates University), “‘No nation now but the imagination’: No Caribbean Nation without the Dutch Caribbean” Chapter 7—Jerry White (University of Saskatchewan), “Rediscovering the Republic: The Work of Joan Daniel Bezsonoff” Chapter 8—Clara A.B. Joseph (University of Calgary), “A Multinational Narrative in a Case Study of Translating an Eastern Christian Play” Chapter 9—Albert Braz (University of Alberta), “Nigeria’s Other Civil War: Ken Saro-Wiwa and Ogoni Nationalism” Chapter 10—Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike (University of Alberta), “‘Write Only the Truth’: (Re)Contesting the Nigerian Nation in Chimeka Garricks’s Tomorrow Died Yesterday and Helon Habila’s Oil on Water”

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Book SynopsisWhen The Great Gatsby was first published, in 1925, reviews were mixed. H.L. Mencken called it “no more than a glorified anecdote”. L.P. Hartley, author of The Go-Between, thought Fitzgerald deserved “a good shaking”: “The Great Gatsby is evidently not a satire; but one would like to think that Mr Fitzgerald’s heart is not in it, that it is a piece of mere naughtiness.” Yet, gradually the book came to be seen as one of the greatest – if not the greatest – of American novels. Why? What is it that makes this story of a petty hoodlum so compelling? Why has a novel so intimately rooted in its own time “lasted” into ours? What is it that posterity, eight decades later, finds so fascinating in this chronicle of the long-gone “Jazz Age”, flappers, speakeasies and wild parties? It is, after all, scarcely a novel at all, more a long short story. But it has a power out of all proportion to its length. It is beautifully written, making it feel even shorter than it is, and is full of haunting imagery. It is also, perhaps, the most vivid literary evocation of the “Great American Dream”, about which it is profoundly sceptical, as it is about dreams generally. In the end, however, as D.H. Lawrence would put it, it is “on the side of life”. Gatsby’s dream may be impossible, so much so that the book can end in no other way than with his death, but up to a point he is redeemed by it and by the tenacity with which he clings to it. It is this that makes the novel so moving and so haunting. 

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe most authoritative, comprehensive, perceptive biography of R. L. Stevenson to date, using for the first time his collected correspondence which has been unavailable to all previous writers.The short life of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) was as adventurous as almost anything in his fiction: his travels, illness, struggles to become a writer, relationships with his volatile wife and step-family, friendships and quarrels have fascinated readers for over a century. In his time he was both engineer and aesthete, dutiful son and reckless lover, Scotsman and South Sea Islander, Covenanter and atheist. Stevenson's books, including Treasure Island', The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' and Kidnapped', have achieved world fame; others The Master of Ballantrae', A Child's Garden of Verses', Travels with a Donkey' remain all-time favourites. His unique gift for storytelling and dramatic characterisation has meant that some of his characters live in the consciousness even of those wTrade Review'Rich and colourful!Harman's book is a delight from beginning to end.' John Carey, Sunday Times 'Excellent!RLS has never been portrayed with such diligence and care!her portraits of Stevenson's nearest and dearest are also unsurpassed.' Independent on Sunday 'Cool, ironic and often funny!appreciative, extremely subtle!lively accessible!compelling.' Financial Times 'A smoothly assembled and readable study which confirms Stevenson as a writer of the first importance.' Independent 'Vivid and engaging!Stevenson emerges from her pages as a vital, courageous, contrary and exhilarating figure.' TLS Praise for 'Fanny Burney': 'A great achievement.' Andrew Marr, Observer 'Excellent.' Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisA clear-sighted and entertaining defence of literary realism, and an account of its key practitionersTrade Review“Typically lively and witty.”—Jake Kerridge, The Telegraph“[A] delightful new book . . . explores what artist fidelity to the ‘real world’ involves.”—Stuart Jeffries, The Telegraph“Expansive, erudite, and instantly engaging, this companionable book has all the hallmarks of a classic Eagleton excursion.”—David James, author of Modernist Futures“Once again, Terry Eagleton pans gold from the cultural stream. This brilliant, sharply drawn, and deeply wise study of literary realism in fiction reveals one of our finest critics writing at the top of his form.”—Jay Parini, author of Borges and Me“Learned, lucid, and often hilarious, Terry Eagleton recovers the central traits of literary realism for a new generation of readers. In a stirring demonstration of the efficacy and pleasure of dialogue with authorities more often cited than questioned, Eagleton celebrates the art of everyday lives, minds, and contexts in a common sense defense of ‘the real thing.’”—Suzanne Keen, author of Empathy and the Novel“The Real Thing condenses a vast amount of knowledge into a remarkably enlightening jaunt across literature and philosophy. With dialectical zest, Eagleton elaborates on the contradictory meanings and complex history of that seemingly straightforward word: realism.”—Rita Felski, author of The Limits of Critique

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Book SynopsisA ground-breaking and intensely revealing examination of the life of the 20th century''s most iconic writer. Ernest Hemingway was an involuntary chameleon, who would shift seamlessly from a self-cultivated image of hero, aesthetic radical, and existential non-conformist to a figure made up at various points of selfishness, hypocrisy, self-delusion, narcissism and arbitrary vindictiveness.Richard Bradford shows that Hemingway''s work is by parts erratic and unique because it was tied into these unpredictable, bizarre features of his personality. Impressionism and subjectivity always play some part in the making of literary works. Some authors try to subdue them while others treat them as the essentials of creativity but they endure as a ubiquitous element of all literature. They are the writer''s private signature, their authorial fingerprint.In this ground-breaking and intensely revealing new biography, including previously unpublished letters from the HemingwTrade ReviewA blistering, rollicking, horribly convincing account of a compelling literary monster ... [a] fascinating book. * The Sunday Times *In a new revisionist biography by Richard Bradford, we learn, from his astute analysis of previously unpublished letters from the Hemingway archive that there is indeed a good deal more to know about this ‘scrapper intellectual’, and ‘role player’. * The Irish Independent *Vivid and pugnacious... it will ruffle a few feathers among those wedded to the image of him as all-American literary hero -- Martin Stannard, author of Muriel Spark: The BiographyTable of ContentsList of Plates List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction 1 The Young Deceiver 2 An American in Paris 3 Key West 4 Conflicts 5 War: With Martha 6 Secrets and Lies 7 Everywhere and Nowhere Epilogue Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF 2024 EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD (BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL BOOK)THE TELEGRAPH'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARSHORTLISTED FOR THE H.R.F KEATING AWARD FOR BEST BIOGRAPHICAL/CRITICAL BOOKAs gripping and twisted as a James Ellroy novel. - Ian RankinA masterpiece of literary biography. - David PeaceThe first critical biography of a titan of American crime fiction. Love Me Fierce In Danger is the story of James Ellroy, one of the most provocative and singular figures in American literature. The so-called Demon Dog of Crime Fiction, Ellroy enjoys a celebrity status and notoriety that few authors can match. However, traumas from the past have shadowed his literary success. When Ellroy was ten years old, his mother was brutally murdered. The crime went unsolved, and her death marked the start of a long and turbulent road for Ellroy that has included struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness, and jail time. In tracing his life and career, Steven Powell reveals how Ellroy's upbriTrade ReviewHere is 'the skinny' (as the subject himself might put it) on one of the most charismatic and complex crime writers on the planet, affording insights into both the man and his craft. It's every bit as gripping and twisted as a James Ellroy novel. Dig it, cats. * Ian Rankin *Powell brings out the conflicting sides of Ellroy’s personality tactfully and sympathetically — without ever taking his eye off the truth … [It] has all the pace, twists and shocks of a good crime novel. -- Mark Sanderson * The Times *A highly enjoyable read … shrewd in its critiques of the work and jargon-free – an academic biography in the best sense. I suspect it will spoil the genre of literary biography for me for a while: can the life of any other living writer be anywhere near as horribly gripping? -- Jake Kerridge * The Daily Telegraph *Steven Powell’s brilliant, unflinching biography reveals how the novelist’s obsessions have their roots in the extraordinary experiences of his childhood and early years … Powell scrupulously chronicles Ellroy’s hectic career: his compulsive womanising; lapses in sobriety; near nervous breakdowns; and attention grabbing performances as the self-styled ‘Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction’… According to his ex-wife, Helen Knode: ‘James lives life like he was shot out of a cannon.’ This gripping, illuminating biography not only throws light on just what she meant by that. It also reveals why he does so. -- Nick Rennison * The Daily Mail *Sober … Powell’s unruffled approach is a shrewd way of tackling Ellroy’s sensational life and imagination. -- Anthony Cummins * Literary Review *[A] stark, revealing account of [Ellroy’s] life. -- Martin Chilton * The Independent *When it comes to James Ellroy, [Powell] is the go-to expert who plays sleuth to the inventor of many an L.A. sleuth. . . . The same obsessive thread that runs through all of Ellroy's work also weaves kinetically through Powell's prose. In this latest book, he reveals nuances of the epic writer’s life and process that only an Ellroy expert can. * Brooklyn Rail *Powell's biography is wonderful, a must-read. . . . It is a testament to him and to his subject. * Hedgehog Review *An essential purchase for anyone interested in modern American crime fiction, couched in prose that is as lively as its uncompromising subject. -- Barry Forshaw * Crime Time *Contributes a wealth of material and insight into Ellroy's private life and personal struggles. . . . Love Me Fierce In Danger is a substantial work of literary scholarship. . . . A must read for fans and scholars of contemporary American crime fiction. * Pulp Curry *Whatever we thought we knew about the Demon Dog of American Literature, we were wrong; Love Me Fierce in Danger is as revelatory as it is compelling, and a masterpiece of literary biography: James Ellroy deserves no less. * David Peace *Unflinching in detailing the life of one of the living greats of crime fiction … As biographies go, this one is quite a ride. -- Ayo Onatade * Shots magazine *Steven Powell’s biography is notably short on longueurs ... Powell has clearly worked hard to do justice to his subject. -- Nicholas Lezard * The Spectator *Provides fascinating revelations about the life of James and his remarkable parents, Jean & Armand. It is amazing how much new information the biography provides—in clear and eloquent fashion. . . . This is a testament to Steven’s rigorous research and his unprecedented access to Mr. Ellroy, his friends, his family, former lovers and former colleagues. * Apocalypse Confidential *Equal parts literary examination of Ellroy’s stylistic and thematic journey and a fulsome exploration of his personal struggles. . . . A rich and sprawling read. * Zoomer Magazine *From countless interviews with friends, family peers, former lovers, literary and film collaborators, as well as extensive interviews with Ellroy himself, author Steven Powell pulls back the curtain on the life of this enigmatic, often bombastic, charismatic and complex author. The tale he reveals is every bit as gripping, twisted, dark and provocative as any of Ellroy's dozen novels. * The Irish Scene *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements James Ellroy Bibliography: List of Key Works 1. In the Shadow of Hollywood - Los Angeles (1948-1958) 2. Murder in El Monte (1958-1965) 3. Down and Out in the City of Angels (1965-1975) 4. Debris by the Sea (1975-1981) 5. The Road to the Dahlia (1981-1985) 6. Sweet Smell of Success (1986-1990) 7. Enter the Borzoi (1990-1993) 8. On the Trail of Swarthy Man (1993-1995) 9. Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction (1995-2000) 10. The Crack-Up (2000-2006) 11. Chasing It: Ellroy’s Return to LA (2005-2009) 12. The Big Hurt (2009-2015) 13. Sanctuary (Denver 2016-2020) Notes Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisChallenging convention with the SF nonconformist Roger Zelazny combined poetic prose with fearless literary ambition to become one of the most influential science fiction writers of the 1960s. Yet many critics found his later novels underachieving and his turn to fantasy a disappointment. F. Brett Cox surveys the landscape of Zelazny's creative life and contradictions. Launched by the classic 1963 short story A Rose for Ecclesiastes, Zelazny soon won the Hugo Award for Best Novel with And Call Me Conrad and two years later won again for Lord of Light. Cox looks at the author's overnight success and follows Zelazny into a period of continued formal experimentation, the commercial triumph of the Amber sword and sorcery novels, and renewed acclaim for Hugo-winning novellas such as Home Is the Hangman and 24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai. Throughout, Cox analyzes aspects of Zelazny's art, from his preference for poetically alienated protagonists to the ways his plots reflected his determiTrade Review"Cox consistently brings great critical acumen to bear on his readings, which are sensitively attuned to Zelazny’s specifics but never lose sight of the broader literary context, and he organizes an imposing array of material in insightful and intuitive ways. He captures the excitement of Zelazny’s work, the thrill of its evolution, the astonishing panache of its heights." --Locus"Well-researched, well-organized, and well-written, this is an exemplary entry in the University of Illinois Press's Modern Masters of Science Fiction series, and it deserves the attention of all fans and scholars of Zealzny's work, and of modern sf generally." --Science Fiction Studies"Zelazny fans will enjoy comparing their opinions of various Zelazny titles with Cox’s opinions, and getting tips from Cox on worthy titles they may have overlooked." --Sandusky Register"Roger Zelazny is a thorough and sympathetic review of the life, career, and work of one of the seminal creators in science fiction and fantasy of the last half of the 20th century. It takes into account the prior work of reviewers, critics, and biographers as well as commentary by his peers and fans, from every period of his sadly shortened life and since." --SFRA Review

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Book SynopsisA novel about a street in an unnamed city whose inhabitants speculate on the life of a mysterious Madam X. It interweaves their endless suppositions into a work that is at once political parable and surreal fantasia.Trade ReviewShortlisted for the 2016 Neustadt International Prize for Literature given by World Literature Today“[Five Spice Street is] an absolutely hilarious, pseudo-journalistic account of a scandalous affair in a small neighborhood in China.”—James Hannaham in a NYTimes.com interview“There’s no other writer in China like Can Xue . . . strange, surreal, and very compelling . . . [and] this novel is probably the best place to start.”—Chad Post, Publishers Weekly -- Chad Post * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisOscar Wilde is best remembered for his longer works, his criticism and journalism, and his eventful life. But nothing distills his brilliance like his short fiction. Published here with facing-page annotations and an informative introduction by Nicholas Frankel, the stories pulse with Wilde’s trademark wit, sharp social critique, and tragic love.Trade ReviewA perfect selection of Oscar Wilde stories, with superb annotations by Nicholas Frankel, who is one of the most astute, perceptive, and knowledgeable writers on Wilde. -- Colm TóibínAlthough Oscar Wilde’s literary reputation rests mainly on his plays and essays, he was also the author of a passel of great short stories, ranging from the acerbic ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ to the delicate and heartbreaking ‘The Happy Prince,’ which brings tears to my eyes every time I read it. Edited with thoughtful precision by Nicholas Frankel and replete with beautiful illustrations, The Short Stories of Oscar Wilde will delight Wilde’s admirers. For those reading his work for the first time, it will prove revelatory. -- David LeavittNicholas Frankel’s Introduction and notes open up new contexts and rich complications that make this new edition of the short stories of Oscar Wilde essential reading—and indeed rereading. -- Kate Hext, University of ExeterThis carefully chosen selection brings together some of Oscar Wilde’s most beautiful and haunting stories. Frankel expertly relates Wilde’s tales to the author’s Irish heritage and to the lively scene of Victorian publishing, providing a fascinating account of the material history of the books and periodicals in which they first appeared. -- Stefano Evangelista, University of OxfordOscar Wilde’s stories continue to delight and challenge us today, just as they did his contemporaries. The pleasure of reading them is further enhanced by Nicholas Frankel’s informative and often fascinating annotations. This is a splendid volume. -- Stephen Arata, University of Virginia

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Kafka’s mistrust of self-scrutiny, and his equal need for it, are nowhere more dazzlingly displayed than in this jewel of twentieth-century literature."---Ben Hutchinson, Times Literary Supplement"[Stach’s] commanding knowledge of Kafka’s life and work richly informs his interpretations of these hitherto generally neglected masterpieces of concentrated thought and quasi-mystical insight. Stach provides invaluable guidance along this shadowy path. The aphorisms are as enigmatic as they are beautiful. . . . Indeed, it could be argued that, for all their brevity and compression, in the aphorisms we find the essential Kafka."---John Banville, Irish Times"Taut translations. . . . Indispensable commentary."---Max Norman, Wall Street Journal"In this newly annotated edition, Reiner Stach—who knows more about Kafka’s life than anyone else alive—provides data-rich, facing-page commentary for each gnomic observation. He is assisted, as usual, by his nonpareil translator, Shelley Frisch. . . . His commentary eschews definitive interpretations but leaves the reader better able to ponder [Kafka's] tantalizing pronouncements."---Michael Dirda, Washington Post"An astute and subtle commentary. . . . The intellectual risks of commenting on the comments of Kafka are enormous, but Stach takes them in his stride, and Shelley Frisch’s English version keeps pace admirably."---Michael Wood, London Review of Books"If you have a serious interest in Kafka’s life and writings, The Aphorisms of Franz Kafka is a necessary port of call. It gives you all the information necessary to approach and understand what is certainly Kafka’s most personal testimony."---Paul Kane, Jildy Sauce"Stach’s introduction and commentaries and a fresh new translation . . . make you feel at home. In addition to excerpts from Kafka’s crossed-out or amended first drafts, there are quotations from the diaries and letters that are often equal if not superior to the aphorisms themselves."---Stuart Mitchner, Town Topics"If you fancy giving yourself food for thought, then The Aphorisms are ideal."---Alexander Adams, Brazen Head"Stach’s analysis, aided by Frisch’s lucid translation, is substantial and useful, and it consistently provides food for further thought for the reader who ruminates on Kafka’s brief and oracular pronouncements. In short, The Aphorisms of Franz Kafka is an indispensable aid for navigating Kafka’s often disorienting but rewarding verbal sallies. . . . An achievement of the first order by two scholars whose knowledge of their subject can only be called intimidating, and it should be received with gratitude. Its place as an essential volume for the study of Kafka in the Anglophone world is already secure."---E.J. Hutchinson, New Criterion"For anyone who loves Kafka’s fiction, this wonderful edition of aphorisms offers a unique insight into his mind at a crucial point in his life. Though often enigmatic and obscure, the commentaries open them up brilliantly, suggesting possible interpretations."---PD Smith, The Guardian

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Book SynopsisMonsters provide a key to understanding the culture that spawned them. So argues the essays in this wide-ranging collection that asks the question, what happens when critical theorists take the study of monsters seriously as a means of examining our culture?Table of ContentsPart 1 Monster theory: Monster culture (seven theses), Jeffrey Jerome Cohen; Beowulf as palimpsest, Ruth Waterhouse; Monstrosity, illegibility, denegation: the martyrology after de Man, David L. Clark. Part 2 Monstrous identity: the odd couple: Gargantua and Tom Thumb, Anne Lake Prescott; America's united siameses brothers: Chang and Eng and nineteenth century ideologies of democracy and domesticity, Allison Pingree; Liberty, equality, monstrosity: revolutionizing the family in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, David Hirsch. Part 3 Monstrous inquiry: No monsters at the resurrection: inside some conjoined twins, Stephen Pender; Representing the cripple: cognition, cripples, and other limp parts, Larry Kritzman; Hermaphrodites newly discovered: the cultural monsters of sixteenth century France, Kathleen Perry Long; Anthropometamorphosis: John Bulwer's monsters of cosmetology, Mary Baine Campbell. Part 4 Monstrous history: Vampire culture, Frank Grady; The alien and the alienated as unquiet dead in the sagas of the Icelanders, Will Sayers; Unthinking the monster: twelfth-century responses to saracen alterity, Michael Uebel; Dinosaurs-R-us: the (un)natural history of Jurassic Park, John O'Neill.

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Book SynopsisBridging black feminist theory with disability studies, Sami Schalk traces how black women's speculative fiction complicates the understanding of bodyminds in the context of race, gender, and (dis)ability, showing how the genre's exploration of bodyminds that exist outside of the present open up new social and ethical possibilities.Trade Review"It is now time to bring focus and attention to the works of Black women speculative writers and their subjects. Bodyminds Reimagined becomes the discovery that celebrates these writers and subjects, while challenging the status quo within speculative fiction and (dis)ability studies, and moves them from marginalized objects to realist representations." -- Grace Gipson * Black Perspectives *“Sami Schalk’s highly anticipated Bodyminds Reimagined is the most significant contribution to literary and cultural disability studies in years. Appeals to scholars in critical race studies, queer studies, and social justice activism.” -- Anna L. Hinton * ASAP/Journal *"Sami Schalk’s book is an important bridge between Black women’s science fiction and disability theorizing. Her work requires a reconceptualization of the boundaries of disability studies and African American literature as well." -- Moya Bailey * Feminist Formations *"Bodyminds Reimagined boldly demonstrates the capacity of black speculation and experimentation to generate world-building visions that are inclusive and sustainable for multiply marginalized black subjects." -- Petal Samuel * Public Books *"Bodyminds Reimagined is a compelling critical study . . . simultaneously accessible and complex, exhaustively sourced and fresh in its analysis. . . . Students, scholars, and fans of speculative fiction will be well served to familiarize themselves with this book." -- Angela Rovak * Women's Studies *"Sami Schalk, through Bodyminds Reimagined, takes a revolutionary step in defining the black disabled person’s experience in literature and media by promoting examples of black disabled people in speculative fiction created by women of color; and by re-defining manifestations of intersectionality among disabled people of color." -- Timotheus "T.J." Gordon, Jr. * Ethnic Studies Review *"Bodyminds Reimagined is an important work on theorizing speculative fiction and the ways in which it can change perceptions, actions, and minds. A model for future intersectional scholarship, this book is well written and accessible." -- Joshua Earle * Catalyst *"Wide-reaching. . . . Sami Schalk’s version of intersectionality emphasizes multidimensional entanglements that resist visual charting and static notions of identity. This version of intersectionality serves as a launchpad for new social formations." -- Gabriella Friedman * American Quarterly *"Bodyminds Reimagined encouraged me to check my own privilege, to think differently about identity, and to reimagine my small niche in the world. The book is that good in its confrontation of the status quo, in its analysis of marginalized peoples in estranged worlds. . . . When I refer to Schalk’s Bodyminds Reimagined as groundbreaking, I do not mean this lightly. . . . All libraries should stock this book on their shelves." -- Isiah Lavender III * Science Fiction Studies *"Bodyminds Reimagined will appeal both to scholars and general readers. Schalk’s framework is simplified in a way that makes it digestible for those who may be unfamiliar with crip theory or intersectionality. With a slim frame, and at only four chapters, the book is inviting rather than intimidating. Schalk’s ability to sound both personable and professional is particularly enjoyable." -- Anelise Farris * Extrapolation *Table of ContentsPrologue and Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1. Metaphor and Materiality: Disability and Neo-Slave Narratives 33 2. Whose Reality Is It Anyway? Deconstructing Able-Mindedness 59 3. The Future of Bodyminds, Bodyminds of the Future 85 4. Defamiliarizing (Dis)ability, Race, Gender, and Sexuality 113 Conclusion 137 Notes 147 Bibliography 159 Index 175

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Book SynopsisMaurice Blanchot: a Critical Biography attempts a critical and theoretical biography by drawing on unpublished documents and interviews with those close to the writer. It tracks the life and work of one of the most important novelists and critics of the twentieth century, who influenced many writers, artists, and philosophers, not least those of French theory.Table of ContentsTranslator’s Note ix Preface xi Part I 1907–1923 1. Blanchot of Quain: Genealogy, Birth, Childhood (1907–1918) 3 2. Music and Family Memory: Marguerite Blanchot in Chalon (1920s) 10 3. The Fedora of Death: Illness (1922–1923) 13 Part II 1920s–1940 4. The Walking Stick with the Silver Pommel: The University of Strasbourg (1920s) 21 5. A Flash in the Darkness: Meeting Emmanuel Levinas (1925–1930) 24 6. There Is: Philosophical Apprenticeship (1927–1930) 29 7. Aligning One’s Convictions: Paris and Far-Right Circles (1930s) 34 8. “Mahatma Gandhi”: A First Text by Blanchot (1931) 41 9. Refusal, I. The Revolution of Spirit: La Revue Française, Réaction, and La Revue du Siècle (1931–1934) 44 10. Journalist, Opponent of Hitler, National- Revolutionary: Le Journal des Débats, Le Rempart, Aux Écoutes, and La Revue du Vingtième Siècle (1931–1935) 51 11. The Escalation of Rhetoric: The Launch of Combat (1936) 62 12. Terrorism as a Method of Public Safety: Combat ( July–December 1936) 67 13. Patriotism’s Breaking Point: L’Insurgé (1937) 71 14. These Events Happened to Me in 1937: Death Sentences (1937–1938) 82 15. On the Transformation of Convictions: A Journalist of the Far Right (1930s) 88 16. From Revolution to Literature: Literary Criticism (1930s) 91 17. Murderous Omens of Times to Come—Writing the Récits: “The Last Word” and “The Idyll” (1935–1936) 101 18. Night Freely Recircled, Which Plays Us: Thomas the Obscure (1932–1940) 111 Part III 1940 –1949 19. The Universe Is to Be Found in Night: Resistance (1940–1944) 121 20. Using Vichy against Vichy: Jeune France (1941–1942) 127 21. Admiration and Agreement: Meeting Georges Bataille (1940–1943) 135 22. In the Name of the Other: Literary Chronicles at the Journal des Débats (1941–1944) 145 23. A True Writer Has Appeared: The Publication and Reception of Thomas the Obscure (1941–1942) 160 24. Lift This Fog Which Is Already of the Dawn: The Publication of Aminadab (1942) 163 25. Writers Who Have Given Too Much to the Present: NRF Circles (1941–1942) 170 26. From Anguish to Language: The Publication of Faux pas (1943) 178 27. The Prisoner of the Eyes That Capture Him: Quain (Summer 1944) 182 28. The Disenchantment of the Community: Editorial Activity after Liberation (1944 –1946) 187 29. The Year of Criticism: L’Arche, Les Temps Modernes, and Critique (1946) 192 30. Respecting Scandal: Literary Criticism (1945–1948) 195 31. The Black Stain: Writing The Most High (1946–1947) 208 32. The Passion of Silence: Denise Rollin (1940s) 219 33. The Mediterranean Sojourn: The Writing of the Night (1947) 225 34. Something Inflexible: The Madness of the Day, a New Status for Speech (1947–1949) 229 35. The Turn of the Screw: The Second Version of Thomas the Obscure (1947–1948) 232 36. The Authority of Friendship: The Completion of Death Sentence (1947–1948) 235 37. Quarrels in the Literary World: Publication and Reception (1948–1949) 239 Part IV 1949–1959 38. Invisible Partner: Èze, Withdrawal (1949–1957) 245 39. The Essential Solitude: Writing the Récits (1949–1953) 248 40. The Radiance of a Blind Power: When the Time Comes (1949–1951) 254 41. Are You Writing, Are You Writing Even Now? The One Who Was Standing Apart from Me (1951–1953) 261 42. The Critical Detour: A Few Articles of Literary Criticism (1950–1951) 266 43. The Author in Reverse: The Birth of The Space of Literature (1951–1953) 271 44. Always Already (The Poetic and Political Interruption of Thought): Toward The Book to Come (1953–1958) 280 45. Of an Amazing Lightness: The Last Man (1953–1957) 290 46. Grace, Strength, Gentleness: Meeting Robert Antelme (1958) 297 47. In the Gaze of Fascination: The Return to Paris (1957–1958) 301 48. Refusal, II. In the Name of the Anonymous: The 14 Juillet Project (1958–1959) 303 Part V 1960 –1968 49. Note That I Say “Right” and Not “Duty”: The Declaration on the Right to Insubordination in the Algerian War (1960) 315 50. Invisible Partners: The Project for the International Review (1960–1965) 324 51. Characters in Thought: How Is Friendship Possible? (1958–1971) 336 52. Act in Such a Way That I Can Speak to You: Awaiting Oblivion (1957–1962) 342 53. The Thought of the Neuter: Literary and Philosophical Criticism—the Entretien and the Fragment (1959–1969) 349 54. A First Homage: The Special Issue of Critique (1966) 362 55. Between Two Forms of the Unavowable: The Beaufret Affair (1967–1968) 370 56. The Far Side of Fear: Political Disillusionment (May 1968) 375 Part VI 1969–1997 57. Life Outside: The Step Not Beyond, a Journal Written in the Neuter (1969–1973) 389 58. Friendship in Disaster: Distance, Disappearance (1974 –1978) 403 59. The Last Book: The Writing of the Disaster (1974 –1980) 406 60. Forming the Myth: Readings and Nonreadings (1969–1979) 416 61. Making the Secret Uncomfortable: Blanchot’s Readability and Visibility (1979–1997) 424 62. With This Break in History Stuck in One’s Throat: The Unavowable Community (1982–1983) 435 63. Even a Few Steps Take Time: Literature and Witnessing (1983–1997) 445 Amor: Blanchot since 2003 465 John McKeane Acknowledgments 479 Notes 481 Bibliography 599 Index 605

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Book SynopsisConsiders how comics display our everyday stuffjunk drawers, bookshelves, atticsas a way into understanding how we represent ourselves nowFor most of their history, comics were widely understood as disposableyou read them and discarded them, and the pulp paper they were printed on decomposed over time. Today, comic books have been rebranded as graphic novelsclothbound high-gloss volumes that can be purchased in bookstores, checked out of libraries, and displayed proudly on bookshelves. They are reviewed by serious critics and studied in university classrooms. A medium once considered trash has been transformed into a respectable, if not elite, genre. While the American comics of the past were about hyperbolic battles between good and evil, most of today's graphic novels focus on everyday personal experiences. Contemporary culture is awash with stuff. They give vivid expression to a culture preoccupied with the processes of circulation and appraisal, accumulation and possession. By deTrade ReviewAs the American vernacular art of comics cements its cultural and academic respectability, other areas of cultural studies are being brought to bear on the form. That project yields interesting and illuminating results in University of Southern California communications professor Henry Jenkins' new book, Comics and Stuff. * Reason Magazine *I cannot recommend this book more for those of us who love to study the medium that is comic books. This book needs to sit right next to Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and Will Eisner’s Comics and Sequential Art as a must have resource to truly understand all that comic books can be. ... Thanks to Henry Jenkins I also know I’m far from alone and feel like I understand myself better at the end of this book than I did before. * Masked Library *A major book from a major contemporary thinker. Comics and Stuff models a rigorous but supple interdisciplinarity that the hybrid form of comics itself inspires; its range is wide and enlivening. A lucid, brilliant, and important book. -- Hillary Chute, author of Why Comics? From Underground to EverywhereJenkins examines graphic novels with regard to patterns and values in material culture. His broad view of 'stuff' encompasses possessions and objects and also cultural icons. ... Including color illustrations and extensive references, this compelling exploration of comics will inspire readers to think about stuff. * Choice *For nearly a century, comic books have been an integral part of ‘the stuff’ of our collective fantasies, both a wildly successful form of entertainment and a visual archive of our developing identities. In Henry Jenkins’s Comics and Stuff, one of our greatest cultural critics offers an expansive and exuberant study of the ways that contemporary comics and graphic novels document the material life of American culture, from collecting to artistic curation and hoarding to archiving. Jenkins introduces readers to aesthetically innovative, yet largely understudied, comics and graphic novels to show us how this enduring medium provides a visual map of our most cherished object worlds. -- Ramzi Fawaz, author of The New Mutants: Superheroes and the Radical Imagination of American ComicsJenkins characterizes comics as communicating a series of rituals and personal agendas ... His grasp of comics as a cornucopia of contemporary/past cultures is far reaching. * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisMarvel Comics in the 1970s explores a forgotten chapter in the story of the rise of comics as an art form. Bridging Marvel''s dizzying innovations and the birth of the underground comics scene in the 1960s and the rise of the prestige graphic novel and postmodern superheroics in the 1980s, Eliot Borenstein reveals a generation of comic book writers whose work at Marvel in the 1970s established their own authorial voice within the strictures of corporate comics.Through a diverse cast of heroes (and the occasional antihero)Black Panther, Shang-Chi, Deathlok, Dracula, Killraven, Man-Thing, and Howard the Duckwriters such as Steve Gerber, Doug Moench, and Don McGregor made unprecedented strides in exploring their characters'' inner lives. Visually, dynamic action was still essential, but the real excitement was taking place inside their heroes'' heads. Marvel Comics in the 1970s highlights the brilliant and sometimes gloriously imperfect creations thatTrade ReviewMarvel Comics in the 1970s is a detailed, wonky examination of a significant period in the history of Marvel Comics for die-hard comics fans and scholars of the graphic novel. * Kirkus Reviews *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Best Marvel Comic of the 1970s 1. Inside Out: Stan Lee and the Drama of the Visible Self 2. Everyday Transcendence: Steve Englehart and the Quest for Selfhood 3. Crouching Tiger, Running Commentary: Doug Moench on the Margins of Marvel 4. Blood Will Tell: Marv Wolfman's Tomb of Dracula 5. Bodies and Words: Don McGregor's Tortured Romantic Individualism 6. Subjectivity and Its Discontents: Steve Gerber and the Uses of Disenchantment Coda: Claremont Rising

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisFrom The Hobbit to Harry Potter, how fantasy harnesses the cultural power of magic, medievalism, and childhood to re-enchant the modern world Why are so many people drawn to fantasy set in medieval, British-looking lands? This question has immediate significance for millions around the world: from fans of Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones to those who avoid fantasy because of the racist, sexist, and escapist tendencies they have found there. Drawing on the history and power of children’s fantasy literature, Re-Enchanted argues that magic, medievalism, and childhood hold the paradoxical ability to re-enchant modern life.Focusing on works by authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Susan Cooper, Philip Pullman, J. K. Rowling, and Nnedi Okorafor, Re-Enchanted uncovers a new genealogy for medievalist fantasy—one that reveals the genre to be as important to the history of English studies and literary modernism as it is to shaping beliefs across geographies and generations. Maria Sachiko Cecire follows children’s fantasy as it transforms over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries—including the rise of diverse counternarratives and fantasy’s move into “high-brow” literary fiction. Grounded in a combination of archival scholarship and literary and cultural analysis, Re-Enchanted argues that medievalist fantasy has become a psychologized landscape for contemporary explorations of what it means to grow up, live well, and belong. The influential “Oxford School” of children’s fantasy connects to key issues throughout this book, from the legacies of empire and racial exclusion in children’s literature to what Christmas magic tells us about the roles of childhood and enchantment in Anglo-American culture.Re-Enchanted engages with critical debates around what constitutes high and low culture during moments of crisis in the humanities, political and affective uses of childhood and the mythological past, the anxieties of modernity, and the social impact of racially charged origin stories.Trade Review"Re-Enchanted is essential for the study of the fantastic. While other recent critical studies have focused on fantasy’s origins before 1900 or the genre’s place in the contemporary literary landscape, Maria Sachiko Cecire focuses the reader on the influence of the Oxford School fantasists, also known as the ‘Inklings,’ who mapped the world of story through perspectives influenced by their times. Thus, fantasy was left behind while the rest of the world changed. Re-Enchanted reminds us of the ways that English-language fantasy is, was, and can continue to be an instrument of empire. Engaging, thorough, and absolutely necessary."—Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, author of The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games"Full of revelatory scholarship on J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Phillip Pullman, and their heirs, Re-Enchanted makes the case for scholarship itself at the heart of fantasy. No one will read The Lord of the Rings or His Dark Materials again without realizing just how much Oxford itself—its libraries and its landscape—scripted their imaginations and how its syllabi inspire, to this day, Harry Potter, The Magicians, and beyond."—Seth Lerer, author of Children's Literature: A Reader's History, from Aesop to Harry Potter"In the twenty-first century, fantasy has become a way of speaking, in fiction (adults or children's) and outside it. Here Maria Sachiko Cecire interrogates the Oxford roots of something that has become, like wallpaper, part of our world, and helps us to see the landscape of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, of Diana Wynne Jones and Philip Pullman, and understand how that landscape became universal, the ways it buoys us up and the ways that it fails us."—Neil Gaiman "Cecire calls upon readers to acknowledge the dangers of the Oxford School’s project while recognizing the cultural power its members harnessed. She encourages us to embrace and explore new ways of expanding the scope of the tropes of children’s fantasy to become more inclusive in the ways it reaches into the past to find magic in a difficult contemporary world."—Medievally Speaking"Effectively, Cecire proves that in terms of modern children’s fantasy literature, all roads lead to the Oxford School."—CHOICE"Cecire illustrates brilliantly how Tolkien and Lewis took the building blocks of medieval literature and historical linguistics and created alternative worlds."—Times Literary Supplement"An important and endlessly engaging book that will provoke much further thought and discussion."—Mythlore"A compelling case both for training our critical attention on medieval and medievalist literature and for expanding the texts we read, teach, study, and share."—The Medieval Review"Re-Enchanted reveals how magic mystifies ideologies, embedding antimodernist, nationalist, colonialist ideas in children’s fantasy, concealing them in an invisibility cloak of (white) childhood innocence. It’s an essential book for anyone who wants to unlearn the hidden assumptions of our own childhood reading and find better stories for the next generation. "—ALH Online Review

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Book Synopsis“A man is the sum of his misfortunes.” —William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

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Book SynopsisA memoir of a young boy's unusual travels with his mother. The author recreates his boyhood experiences, relating how he and his mother travelled throughout the United States, and tracing his experiences and changes from young boy to manhood against the background of a violent and wildly optimistic America.

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Book Synopsis''He loved all mankind; for fortune prevented him from knowing there were rascals.''Oliver Goldsmith''s hugely successful novel of 1766 remained for generations one of the most highly regarded and beloved works of eighteenth-century fiction. It depicts the fall and rise of the Primrose family, presided over by the benevolent vicar, the narrator of a fairy-tale plot of impersonation and deception, the abduction of a beautiful heroine and the machinations of an aristocratic villain. By turns comic and sentimental, the novel''s popularity owes much to its recognizable depiction of domestic life and loving family relationships.Regarded by some as a straightforward and well-intentioned novel of sentiment, and by others as a satire on the very literary conventions and morality it seems to embody, The Vicar of Wakefield contains, in the figure of the vicar himself, one of the most harmlessly simply and unsophisticated yet also ironically complex narrators ever to appear in English fiction. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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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 SynopsisPerhaps the most accomplished of Jane Austen’s novels, Emma is also, after Pride and Prejudice, her most popular. Film and television adaptations testify to the world’s enduring affection for headstrong, often misguided Emma Woodhouse and her romantic schemes. This is an illuminating gift edition that will be treasured by readers.Trade ReviewIts large size and heavy weight, complemented by thick, wood-textured endpapers, acid-free cream-vellum paper, generous margins and woven bindings suggest an object important in its own right, an object and a form that will not go quietly into the good night. Its rich illustrations range from frontispieces and portraits to caricatures and Regency fashion plates, including a fine one for the Beaver Hat. Tandon’s explanatory notes are similarly comprehensive and serve to link Austen not only to contemporaries such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Mary Wollstonecraft and Charles Lamb, but also to lexical and thematic lines that run backwards, from Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding to Seneca, and forwards to James Joyce and the contemporary novelist Edward St Aubyn… Tandon’s notes often function as brief scholarly and historic articles in their own right, and the combined effect of these notes and illustrations is an edition of almost Talmudic ambition, but one that carries its erudition without sacrificing readability… Tandon’s notes are superb… One of the great merits of Tandon’s edition is that, without breaking the spell of Austen’s fiction, he presents her work as so very much of her time, whether that be in her conceptual relation to moralists such as Samuel Johnson, or in the social resonances of foodstuffs, clothing and card games. -- Jonathan Sachs * Times Literary Supplement *Scholar and critic Bharat Tandon, who has previously written Jane Austen and the Morality of Conversation, now delivers an enriching set of footnotes to one of the most cherished novels of English literature. Praised for both his lightness of touch and depth of scholarship, Tandon provides, along with copious marginal glosses, a stimulating introduction and a fine selection of illustrations to heighten the reader’s involvement and understanding. * Barnes & Noble Review *I literally swooned when I received a review copy of Emma: An Annotated Edition edited by Bharat Tandon. Readers of this blog know how much I have cherished this annotated series of Jane Austen’s novels by Harvard University Press… Foremost, the books are lushly illustrated, beautifully produced, and well-researched by known Jane Austen scholars. Emma: An Annotated Edition is no exception… Annotated books are such treasures for the serious reader of Jane Austen’s novels, explaining her words and old-fashioned idioms and making long dead customs come alive. This generously illustrated annotation from Harvard University Press both instructs and entertains with its running commentary along the margins, enhancing our enjoyment of one of Jane Austen’s most perfectly realized novels… Emma: An Annotated Edition is well worth the purchase. -- Vic Sanborn * Jane Austen’s World *The latest gorgeous entry in the Belknap Press’ growing library of annotated Jane Austen novels arrives, this time the mighty Emma under the exactingly careful guidance of Bharat Tandon of the University of East Anglia. Belknap has once again done its end of the job superbly: the book is a physical treat—luxuriantly over-sized, heavy with quality paper and solid binding, decked out in a beautiful cover and dozens of well-chosen illustrations throughout. This is one of the prettiest Jane Austen volumes available in bookstores…this season. -- Steve Donoghue * Open Letters Monthly *This lovely edition includes images related to the text as well as notes by Tandon. -- Molly Driscoll * Christian Science Monitor *Austenites can rejoice over this striking new annotated edition of Emma. * Entertainment Weekly *For die-hard fans of Emma, this annotated edition is a must-have. For readers new to Jane Austen’s work, it’s the perfect way to start what might likely turn out to be a lifelong love affair with her work… A highly readable, wonderfully illustrated and remarkably enlightening annotation of Emma. -- Roni K. Devlin * Shelf Awareness *Emma remains one of Austen’s most popular works, and in this annotated edition (the third in Harvard’s annotated series after Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion), readers will find the charming story enhanced by color illustrations and well-crafted annotations. In his introduction, Tandon places Austen in literary and historical context before moving on to a discussion of Emma in particular. The novel follows, with the annotations arranged in the oversized book’s margins. The annotations, addressing topics from the mundane to the esoteric, comment on the prose itself and on the styles and etiquette of the times… Tandon’s annotations will appeal to readers of all levels, and his effort to increase appreciation of Emma should meet with success. This carefully prepared edition is sure to meet the needs of Austen lovers and scholars alike. -- Catherine Gilmore * Library Journal *A superb new edition which combines weighty scholarship with exemplary lightness of touch. Bharat Tandon contributes not only a sparkling introduction, but also a bold set of notes that work like little keyholes, allowing us to peer into the most distant corners of Austen’s world. Many of the novel’s most subtle touches have been muffled by the passage of time; this edition brings them back to life. Suddenly a novel we thought we knew looks as fresh as it did on its first appearance almost 200 years ago. -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, University of OxfordBharat Tandon’s edition of Emma is a delight to read, as pleasurable as it is thought-provoking. He captures both the delights of Austen’s novel and the way that those delights are shadowed by darker intimations. -- Deidre Lynch, University of TorontoBharat Tandon brings Emma to life like no previous editor. His extensive and engaging annotation throws searching new light on even its most familiar moments, while his splendid choice of illustrations reveals the world of the novel—its people, musical instruments, dresses, dances, games, furniture, food, carriages, books, and beautiful rural landscapes—in unmatched detail and immediacy. -- Robert Morrison, Queen’s University

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Book Synopsis''You shall see nothing, hear nothing, think of nothing but Svengali, Svengali, Svengali!'' First published in 1894, the story of the diva Trilby O''Ferrall and her mesmeric mentor, Svengali, has entered the mythology of the time alongside Dracula and Sherlock Holmes. Immensely popular for a number of years, the novel led to a hit play, a series of popular films, and the trilby hat. The setting of the story reflects the author''s bohemian years as an art student in Paris; indeed James McNeill Whistler was to recognize himself in one of the early serialized instalments. George Du Maurier was a celebrated caricaturist for Punch magazine and his drawings for the novel form part of its appeal - this edition includes his most significant illustrations. 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 Trade ReviewA captivating, strange and evocative story that brings to life 1850s bohemian Paris. * The Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisWhat happened when Jane Austen's heroines and heroes were finally wed?

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Book SynopsisAn evocative blend of travel writing, politics and literature, offers a window into the contemporary Palestinian literary scene.Trade Review'A masterful work. Di Cintio weaves together history with a sense of place, character and dialogue infused with humour, to produce a contemporary portrait of a people who continue to resist both occupation and simple categorisation.' Selma Dabbagh; 'Di Cintio's lucid account of present-day Palestine is the inspired portrait of a nation in dialogue with its ghosts past and future affirming its right to be. This is a necessary book for our bewildered times.' Alberto Manguel; 'A powerful journey through Palestine's contemporary culture, where silenced authors defend themselves, female writers speak loudly and stolen private libraries are restored.' Atef Abu Saif; 'One of the best travel writers of his generation ... Marcello Di Cintio tells compelling and engrossing stories with his customary mix of vivid detail, a strong sense of history, a lovely sense of humour and, above all, a fascination with the human race in all its contradictions.' Margaret MacMillan, author of Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World; 'What [Di Cintio] does do, bravely and forcefully, and with impressive commitment, is to bear witness to the suffering of people.' The Guardian; '[Di Cintio] writes well, unpicking some of the world's trouble spots in spare and lucid prose.' Literary Review; `Di Cintio writes with clarity and grace, [and] portrays the writers with modesty and empathy ... Even for a reader familiar with Palestinian literature, Pay No Heed to the Rockets uncovers stories from the past with emotional vivacity and brings to life the lengths to which prisoners went in order to educate themselves and others, and to write ... Di Cintio weaves together history with a sense of place and infuses character with dialogue and humour to produce a contemporary portrait of a people who continue to resist both occupation and simple categorisation in this masterful work.' Electronic Intifada; 'With humility, respect, and great sensitivity, [Di Cintio] seeks out writers, people skilled at telling stories, and asks them to narrate their own situations. The result is a document that captures not only the manifold sorrows and injustices of Palestinian life but something of its beauty, its joys, and its yearning.' Ben Ehrenreich, author of The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine; `A compelling read ... forces awareness in the reader of a Palestine beyond our limited imagination.' Middle East Monitor; `Interweaving history and politics, the book introduces Western readers to the modern Palestinian literary scene while celebrating the rich diversity of voices that comprise it. Illuminating reading from a highly engaged author.' Kirkus Reviews; `Traveling through the West Bank, into Jerusalem, across Israel, and into Gaza, Di Cintio reveals life in contemporary Palestinian territories through the lens of its authors, books, and literature. He meets writer Maya Abu-Alhayyat at Cafe Ramallah, smoking a nargileh under a poster of Elvis. He finds the cultural hub of Gaza at the Gallery Cafe, where he chats with theater impresario Jamal Abu al-Qumsan. Throughout he finds "no life undarkened...by conflict" but also "no life wholly defined" by it either.' National Geographic

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Book SynopsisPacked full of analysis and interpretation, historical background, discussions and commentaries, York Notes will help you get right to the heart of the text you're studying, whether it's poetry, a play or a novel. You'll learn all about the historical context of the piece; find detailed discussions of key passages and characters; learn interesting facts about the text; and discover structures, patterns and themes that you may never have known existed. In the Advanced Notes, specific sections on critical thinking, and advice on how to read critically yourself, enable you to engage with the text in new and different ways. Full glossaries, self-test questions and suggested reading lists will help you fully prepare for your exam, while internet links and references to film, TV, theatre and the arts combine to fully immerse you in your chosen text. York Notes offer an exciting and accessible key to your text, enabling you to develop your ideas and transform your stu

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Book SynopsisUlrika Maude s Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Bristol, where she also directs the Centre for Health, Humanities and Science. Her publications include Beckett, Technology and the Body (2009), Beckett and Phenomenology (2009) and The Cambridge Companion to the Body in Literature (2015).Mark Nixon is Associate Professor in Modern Literature at the University of Reading, UK. He is Co-Director of the Beckett International Foundation, Editor in Chief of the Journal of Beckett Studies and Co-Director of the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project.Trade ReviewIn the short but excellent ‘Resources’ section, Alex Pestell and Sean Pryor cover key terms from ‘avant-garde’ to ‘vers libre’ - and include valuable summaries of how concepts such as ‘fascism’, ‘primitivism’, ‘race’ and ‘high modernism’ shape how we think about modernist literature - while an extensive annotated bibliography of major works of criticism provides a good grounding for students wishing to explore the subject further. * Times Literary Supplement *The Bloomsbury Companion to Modernist Literature, edited by Ulrika Maude and Mark Nixon, provides fresh insights. By viewing Modernist Literature through the prism of seemingly unrelated disciplines, such as economics, the Theory of Relativity, and neurology, the Bloomsbury Companion … reveals research synergies and provides opportunities for discovery … While geared towards the more advanced researcher, this book would certainly assist those less familiar with Modernist Literature when taking those first steps from casual readership into research. The Bloomsbury Companion to Modernist Literature makes it new and keeps it real. * American Reference Books Annual *[These] assembled essays and resources comprise an impressive array of frequently challenging, illuminating scholarship … [This] Companion does not settle for simply being a guide to existing knowledge, but instead blazes exciting new trails for the rest of us to follow. * Modern Language Review *The book as a whole illustrates superbly what Emily Hayman and Pericles Lewis refer to as “the persistence of modernism". * Recherche Littéraire *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Contributors 1. Introduction, Ulrika Maude Part I: Defining the Field and Research Issues The Modernist Everyday 2. Anything but a Clean Relationship: Modernism and the Everyday, Scott McCracken 3. Geographies of Modernism, Andrew Thacker 4. Modernism and Language Scepticism, Shane Weller 5. Modernism and Emotion, Kirsty Martin 6. Myth and Religion in Modernist Literature, Michael Bell The Arts and Cultures of Modernism 7. Modernism and Music, Tim Armstrong 8. Modernism and the Visual Arts: Kant, Bergson, Beckett, Conor Carville 9. Modernist Literature and Film, Laura Marcus 10. Modernism and Popular Culture, Lawrence Rainey 11. Modernist Magazines, Faith Binckes 12. Minding Manuscripts: Modernism, Genetic Criticism and Intertextual Cognition, Dirk Van Hulle The Sciences and Technologies of Modernism 13. Einstein, Relativity and Literary Modernism, Paul Sheehan 14. Modernism, Sexuality and Gender, Jana Funke 15. Modernism, Neurology and the Invention of Psychoanalysis Ulrika Maude 16. Modernism, Psychoanalysis and other Psychologies, Laura Salisbury 17. Modernism and Technology, Julian Murphet The Geopolitics and Economics of Modernism 18. Can there be a Global Modernism? Emily Hayman and Pericles Lewis 19. A Departure from Modernism: Stylistic Strategies in Modern Peripheral Literatures as Symptom, Mediation and Critique of Modernity, Benita Parry 20. Modernist Literature and Politics, Tyrus Miller 21. A New Sense of Value: Modernism and Economics, Ronald Schleifer Part II: Resources 22. A to Z of Key Words, Alex Pestell and Sean Pryor 23. Annotated Bibliography, Alexander Howard Chronology Index

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Book SynopsisNo modern Japanese writer was more idolized than Shiga Naoya. This work showcases the art of this writer who is often called "the god of the Japanese short story."Trade Review[Shiga wrote] a number of short stories that are nearly perfect in their simplicity, directness, and mastery of subject matter. -- Hiraoki Sato The New York Times

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Book SynopsisNow issued for the first time in paperback with a new introduction by the author, this is a study of those narratives which were written and widely read in England during the first forty years of the eighteenth century, but which have been hitherto neglected or despised by historians of the novel. The author makes no claims for these works as literary achievements. They are seen, rather, as vigorous and highly successful commercial exploitations of enduring stereotypes such as the criminal, the traveller-merchant, the persecuted maiden, and the aristocratic seducer. Placing them against the background of the age, the book sets out to account for the attractiveness of such figures and their characteristic adventures, and to evaluate the importance of these narratives in providing a set of conventional and meaningful characters and situations for the mid-eighteenth century masters of the novel such as Richardson and Fielding.Trade Review`excellent and intelligent book' Times Literary Supplement`a real book, a good book. He is thoughtful and he makes you think. He sees the inherent triviality of his material, but sees in this a far from trivial question, "What is the use of bad art?" To raise the question at all is to give the book substance. It tells us that the material is going to be handled intelligently.' Review of English StudiesTable of ContentsThe rise of the novel reconsidered; rogues and whores - heroes and anti-heroes; travellers, priates and pilgrims - the pirate, Faustian ruffian, Crusoe and after; "as long as Atalantis shall be read" - the scandal chronicles of Mrs Manley and Mrs Haywood; Mrs haywood and the Novella - the erotic and the pathetic; the novel as pious polemic - Mrs Aubin and Mrs Barker, Mrs Elizabeth Rowe; the relevance of the unreadable.

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Book SynopsisThe most supportive, easy-to-use and focussed literature guides to help your students understand the texts they are studying at GCSE and A LevelTable of Contents Part 1: Introduction Part 2: The Text Part 3: Critical Approaches Part 4: Critical History Part 5: Background Further Reading Literacy Terms

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Book SynopsisThe Byzantine Sinbad collects The Book of Syntipas the Philosopher, originally a Persian story, and the sixty-two tales of The Fables of Syntipas—both translated from Syriac in the late eleventh century by Michael Andreopoulos. This volume is the first English translation to include these texts alongside the Byzantine Greek originals.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.A good essay must have this permanent quality about it; it must draw its curtain round us, but it must be a curtain that shuts us in not out'In the first volume of her critical essays, Virginia Woolf discusses the greatest authors of the literary canon Jane Austen, George Eliot and Geoffrey Chaucer among others with the everyday, common reader' in mind. With wit and insight, Woolf also revisits classic novels and examines scholarly subjects, from the Greek language to the Modern Essay, to the Brontë's Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.First published in 1925, The Common Reader is a stunning work from one of the most perceptive minds of the twentieth century, a collection which continues to nurture the joys of literature and reading to this day.

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Book Synopsis''I tender these tales of the Jazz Age into the hands of those who read as they run and run as they read.'' Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) was Fitzgerald''s second collection of short stories, and it contains some of the best examples of his talent as a writer of short fiction. Often overshadowed by his major novels, Fitzgerald''s short stories demonstrate the same originality and inventive range, as he chronicles with wry and astute observation the temper of the hedonistic 1920s. In ''May Day'' and ''The Diamond as Big as the Ritz'', two of his greatest stories, he conjures up the spirit of the age; in other stories he adopts a variety of forms - parody, a one-act play, fantasy - with unrivalled versatility. ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'', a tale of a man living his life backwards, features among the ''Fantasies'' in Fitzgerald''s self-deprecatory Table of Contents, alongside the groupings ''My Last Flappers'' and ''Unclassified Masterpieces''.Fitzgerald chose the stories for hTable of ContentsA Table of Contents The Jelly-Bean The Camel's Back May Day Porcelain and Pink The Diamond as Big as the Ritz The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Tarquin of Cheapside "O Russet Witch!" The Lees of Happiness Mr. Icky Jemima, the Mountain Girl

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Book SynopsisPhilosophically analyzing the work of one of the twentieth century’s most popular, and peculiar, science fiction authors Despite his enduring popularity, Philip K. Dick (1928–1982)—whose short stories and novels were adapted into or influenced many major films and television shows, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, The Truman Show, and The Man in the High Castle—has long been a marginal figure in American literature, even in the science fiction genre he helped revolutionize. Here, an influential French philosopher offers a major new perspective on an author who was known as much for his eccentricities and excesses as for his writing. For David Lapoujade, it is precisely the many ways in which Dick’s works seem to hover on the brink of losing all touch with reality that make him such a singular figure, both as a sci-fi author and as a thinker of contemporary life. In Worlds Built to Fall Apart, Lapo

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Book SynopsisFrom The Long Walk to The Outsider, Stephen King's output reflects the major political concerns of the previous fifty years. This book, Stephen King and American Politics, is the first sustained study of the complex ways in which King's texts speak to their unique political moments. By exploring this aspect of the author's popular works, readers might better understand the numerous crises that Americans currently face in a book that surveys King's corpus to address a wide range of issues - including the spread of neoliberalism, the Bush-Cheney doctrine, and the chaos of the populist present. Although his fiction outwardly declares itself to be anti-political - thus reflecting a widespread shift away from democracy in the aftermath of the 1960s - political energies persist just beneath the surface. Given the possibility of a political resurgence that haunts so many of his page-turners, Stephen King produces horror and hope in equal measure.Trade Review“Stephen King and American Politics provides the key for unlocking the political importance of Stephen King’s fiction. Through Michael Blouin’s perceptive analysis, this ostensibly apolitical fiction becomes the site for a completely unforeseen form of fictional politics that embraces the impossibility of its aims. This groundbreaking new book shows the possibility for reconceiving the politics of aesthetics through attention to how King’s narratives deploy the variegations of desire.” -- Todd McGowan, University of Vermont, author of Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets“At a time when political partisanship has America in lockdown, Blouin argues the persistence of ambivalence in American culture—he conjures our usual demons and shows us how they refuse to be exorcised. This book is required reading not just for Stephen King’s politics, but for the contemporary Gothic altogether.” -- Steven Bruhm, Western University“King studies has evolved into a field that grows ever more populated and sophisticated because of work by young scholars such as Blouin, who reminds us that over five decades Stephen King has become so much more than America’s horrormeister. With this book, Blouin enters into the highest echelon of King’s critical interpreters.” -- Tony Magistrale, University of VermontTable of Contents1. Prelude: The (Im)possible Politics of Stephen King's Fiction 2. The Bachman Books and America's Death Drive 3. King's Cars and the Grinding Gears of Post-Fordism 4. Firestarter; Or, the Smelting of a Neoliberal Subject 5. IT, Individualism, and the Idea of Community 6. Interlude: The Langoliers and the Political Event 7. Human Capital in Rose Madder 8. Under the Dome and the Deteriorating Demos 9. The Outsider and the Shifting Shapes of Trumpism 10. Postlude: Revolutions of The Stand

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Book SynopsisAn in-depth look into the life of Romantic essayist Charles Lamb and the legacy of his workTrade Review“Eric G. Wilson’s excellent Dream-Child, the first full-length biography since [E. V.] Lucas’s in 1905, marks an important staging post on [Lamb’s] road back to respectability.”—Clare Bucknell, New York Review of BooksNamed by the New Yorker as a Best Book of 2022“[An] electrifying portrait of Charles Lamb.”—New Yorker“A literary life in the fullest sense . . . this biography is alive all over . . . a huge and eloquent book.”—Australian Book Review“A narrative rich in complexity and nuance. . . . One of the strengths of Wilson’s work is that he makes Lamb unfamiliar, as he constantly recurs to the unstable explorations of authorship and identity that run through Lamb’s work. . . . [Wilson] is a superb reader of Lamb. . . . Dream-Child brings Lamb’s mind alive through his own words and is at its best when it cleaves closely to Lamb’s writing.”—Daisy Hay, Times Literary Supplement“[Wilson] pins Lamb down by becoming Lamb-like himself. His biography is important because it is written in this spirit of becoming; it goes therefore a little headlong, almost beyond the genre; and it urges us, in sum, to explore for ourselves the twilit streets of the London of Lamb’s spirit, bedimmed with the dark shapes of sanity, and the softer shadows of insanity that stalk his peculiar but enduring genius.”—Adam Neikirk, Review 19“Needle by needle, point by point, Wilson uncovers the social scaffolding of Lamb’s literary genius.”—Madoc Cairns, The Tablet“While this book is based on rigorous scholarship, it does not assume extensive prior knowledge. Instead, it serves as a good introduction for non-specialists and will hopefully encourage more to seek out Lamb’s works. . . . For all his subject’s evasiveness, Wilson helps us see behind the mask, capturing Lamb’s authentic and somewhat tortured character.”—Edward Weech, Literary Review“An engagingly detailed investigation of Charles Lamb’s remarkable life.”—Mark Jones, Albion Magazine “Wilson combines shrewd analysis with original insights and discoveries to provide a valuable addition to the existing corpus of Lamb criticism.”—Duncan Wu, Georgetown University“A highly evocative and deeply informed life—the first for a century—of one of the most complex and sympathetic literary personalities of his time and one of the greatest English essayists of any age.”—Seamus Perry, University of Oxford“We have waited a long time for the definitive full-scale scholarly biography of Charles Lamb—master of the witty and winding essay—but now it has arrived. Eric Wilson’s Dream-Child is not only a labor of love for a lovable figure, but also a vivid and skillful placing of Lamb in the context of Romanticism and early nineteenth-century London life.”—Sir Jonathan Bate, author of Radical Wordsworth

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Book SynopsisJames Joyce was one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. This book explores his novels and short stories, and analyses the literary traditions and social factors influencing his distinctive complex style. Interweaving Joyce's life and history with his books, it also shows how Joyce celebrated his own experiences in Dublin.Table of Contents1: Story and sound 2: Dubliners 3: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 4: Ulysses 5: Finnegans Wake 6: Conclusion: Elite past or democratic future? Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisA book which should appeal to both literary theorists and to readers of the novel, this study invites the reader to consider how the plot reflects the patterns of human destiny and seeks to impose a new meaning on life.Trade ReviewPeter Brooks has delivered a major contribution to narrative theory and critical practice in a book remarkable for its lucidity and theoretical adventurousness. -- Terry Eagleton * Literature and History *What is…gratifying about Brooks’s approach is his insistence that plot elements must survive even the most radical postmodern consciousness… As he so eloquently confirms, so long as there is self-conscious life on earth, there will be narrative plotting in some form or another. To expect us to give it up would be like asking us to give up breathing. -- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt * New York Times *A major book by a major critic. It will appeal both to literary theorists and to readers of the novel, and it is likely to be seen as an important point of reference for many years to come. -- Terence Cave * Times Literary Supplement *A brilliant study… The author goes beyond what he considers the too static approach of the structuralist literary critics to probe the dynamics of narrative and show how they answer our psychic needs… Reading for the Plot is a stimulating, ground-breaking book that invites us to consider anew how plotting both reflects the patterns of human destiny and seeks to impose meaning on life. * Publishers Weekly *Table of ContentsPreface 1. Reading for the Plot 2. Narrative Desire 3. The Novel and the Guillotine, or Fathers and Sons in Le Rouge et le noir 4. Freud's Masterplot: A Model for Narrative 5. Repetition, Repression, and Return: The Plotting of Great Expectations 6. The Mark of the Beast: Prostitution, Serialization, and Narrative 7. Retrospective Lust, or Flaubert's Perversities 8. Narrative Transaction and Transference 9. An Unreadable Report: Conrad's Heart of Darkness 10. Fictions of the Wolf Man: Freud and Narrative Understanding 11. Incredulous Narration: Absalom, Absalom! In Conclusion: Endgames and the Study of Plot Notes

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

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Book SynopsisPeeling the Onion is a searingly honest account of Grass'' modest upbringing in Danzig, his time as a boy soldier fighting the Russians, and the writing of his masterpiece, The Tin Drum, in Paris.It is a remarkable autobiography and, without question, one of Günter Grass'' finest works.By the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Tin Drum.Trade ReviewAn exquisitely constructed narrative... Peeling the Onion is a genuine masterpiece * Independent on Sunday *A memoir of rare literary beauty * New Yorker *As a writer, his influence still looms large, and Peeling the Onion is a reminder why. It has that same imaginative accuracy that made The Tin Drum a bestseller * The Times *An ingenious but treacherous text that glides constantly between past and present, first and third person, memory and imagination * Evening Standard *This subtle and expertly written book is really a memoir about forgetting -- Sebastian Faulks * Sunday Times *

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