Literary studies: fiction Books
Hippocampus Press A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P.
Book Synopsis
£28.50
Hippocampus Press Dead Reckonings No. 23 (Spring 2018)
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£8.99
University Press of Mississippi Conversations with Percival Everett
Book SynopsisFor the first eighteen years of his career, Percival Everett (b. 1956) managed to fly under the radar of the literary establishment. He followed his artistic vision down a variety of unconventional paths, including his preference for releasing his books through independent publishers. But with the publication of his novel erasure in 2001, his literary talent could no longer be kept under wraps. The author of more than twenty-five books, Everett has established himself as one of America's--and arguably the world's--premier twenty-first-century fiction writers. Among his many honors since 2000 are Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards for erasure and I Am Not Sidney Poitier (2009) and three prominent awards for his 2005 novel Wounded--the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Fiction, France's Prix Lucioles des Libraires, and Italy's Premio Vallombrosa Gregor von Rezzori Prize. Interviews collected in this volume--several of which appear in print or in English translation for the first time--display Everett's abundant wit as well as the independence of thought that has led to his work's being described as ""characteristically uncharacteristic."" At one moment he speaks with great sophistication about the fact that African American authors are forced to overcome constraining expectations about their subject matter that white writers are not. And in the next he talks about training mules or quips about ""Jim Crow,"" a pet bird Everett had on his ranch outside Los Angeles. Everett discusses race and gender, his ecological interests, the real and mythic American West, the eclectic nature of his work, the craft of writing, language and linguistic theory, and much more.
£37.95
Academic Studies Press Companion to Victor Pelevin
Book SynopsisCompanion to Victor Pelevin, a collaborative undertaking by a group of emerging Russianist scholars, focuses on the work of one of the most important and hotly debated post-Soviet writers. It provides a valuable resource to scholars, teachers, and students, including how best to teach Pelevin to university-level students, and which critical debates invite further investigation. The contributors offer new readings of Pelevin texts that cover a broad time span and pay due attention to the philosophical and aesthetic complexities of Pelevin’s oeuvre in its development from the early post-Soviet years to the second decade of the present millennium. Examining all of Pelevin’s major works and all Peleviniana currently available in English, the Companion aims to prompt further inquiry into this author’s intellectually stimulating and socially prescient work.Trade Review“Khagi’s project is intertextual, elucidating both Pelevin’s highly self-referential writing and its relation to Russian literature as a whole. Her holistic approach to Pelevin’s fiction is demonstrated by the extensive footnotes outlining literary theories and politics, and linking to multiple Russian authors, elevating the Companion from a sourcebook on ‘Peleviniana’ to a masterclass in post-Soviet literature. … This concern with intertextuality is embedded within each of the eight essays here, allowing Khagi’s Companion to offer Anglophone readers an invaluable map of the contemporary literary world that Pelevin both creates and critiques.”— Sarah Gear, University of Exeter, Modern Language Review (April 2023: Vol. 118, No. 2)“This companion to Pelevin’s work has two major benefits. It offers some usefully workmanlike analyses of his early texts, with handy plot synopses, some general contextualization and thematically engaging discussions. The Companion also offers some introduction to common critical approaches to the writer. The writing is accessible and succinct (if often rather descriptive), and the illustrations a pleasant touch. … [O]verall this is an excellent, balanced and carefully neutral… study that collects everything the Pelevin initiate needs to begin appreciating his work.”— Sally Dalton-Brown, University of Melbourne, Slavonic and East European Review 100, no. 3 (July 2022)“The new collection is thoughtfully crafted for a specific audience, namely US and European nonspecialists looking to teach Pelevin at the university level. The chapters… treat all the author’s major works, particularly those translated into English, but they also draw in less-known compositions and avoid going into the weeds on topics more relevant to Russianists. … In sum, the Companion’s scope is simultaneously expansive and tightly focused, and it models effective ways to approach Pelevin in the classroom. … Highly recommended.”— B. J, Nieubuurt, University of Michigan, CHOICE (December 2022: Vol. 60, No. 4)“The Companion to Victor Pelevin is a collaborative undertaking by current and recent graduate students from American universities and serves scholarly and pedagogical objectives… Some contributions, like Sofya Khagi’s and Alexander McConell’s, are innovative and explore new avenues in research about Pelevin…”— Clemens Günther, Freie Universität Berlin, Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie 78.2Table of ContentsIntroduction Victor Pelevin: Life, Works, Critical DebatesSofya Khagi, University of MichiganPart One: The Post-Soviet1. The Early Years: Post-Soviet with a Capital “S”Michael Martin, University of MichiganPart Two: Space, Time, History2. Space-Time Poetics in Chapaev and the VoidSofya Khagi, University of Michigan3. Parody of Past and Present in Chapaev and the VoidChristopher Fort, University of Michigan4. Masking the Void, Voiding the Mask: Viktor Pelevin and the Performance of HistoryAlexander McConnell, University of MichiganPart Three: Simulation and Mind Control5. “The Battle for Your Mind”: Transformation of Western Social Theory in Generation ‘П’Dylan Ogden, University of Michigan6. Totalitarian Literature in Generation ‘П’Meghan Vicks, University of Colorado, BoulderPart Four: Metamorphosis and Utopia7. Transformative Reading for Tailless Monkeys: Metamorphoses in The Sacred Book of the WerewolfGrace Mahoney, University of Michigan8. The Mythic and the Utopian: Visions of the Future through the Lens of Victor Pelevin’s S.N.U.F.F. and Love for Three ZuckerbrinsTheodore Trotman, University of ChicagoAppendixSelect Publications by Victor Pelevin in Russian and English
£21.59
Bucknell University Press,U.S. The Art of Time: Levinas, Ethics, and the
Book SynopsisEthics, or the systematized set of inquiries and responses to the question “what should I do?” has infused the history of human narrative for more than two centuries. One of the foremost theorists of ethics during the twentieth century, Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) radicalized the discipline of philosophy by arguing that “the ethical” is the foundational moment for human subjectivity, and that human subjectivity underlies all of Western philosophy. Levinas’s voice is crucial to the resurging global attention to ethics because he grapples with the quintessential problem of alterity or “otherness,” which he conceptualizes as the articulation of, and prior responsibility to, difference in relation to the competing movement toward sameness. Academicians and journalists in Spain and abroad have recently fastened on an emerging cluster of peninsular writers who, they argue, pertain to a discernible literary generation, provisionally referred to as Generación X. These writers are distinct from their predecessors; they and their literary texts are closely related to the specific socio-political and historical circumstances in Spain and their novels relate stories of more and less proximity, more and less responsibility, and more and less temporality. In short, they trace the temporal movement of alterity through narrative. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.Trade Review"The Art of Time is anchored in thorough mastery of primary and secondary work in Levinas studies, and it displays capacious knowledge of 1990's Spanish literature and culture. This study goes beyond earlier work that brings Levinasian ethical philosophy to bear upon literary criticism...and will be an impetus and aspiration for future work by other scholars." -- Donald Wehrs * Auburn University *"Molinaro recuperates underappreciated works, by authors all too easily dismissed as immature or irrelevantly counter-cultural, that speak to us all. As such, this book will be of great interest to anyone interested in ethics in literature or contemporary Spanish literature and culture." * Bulletin of Spanish Studies *"The Art of Time is anchored in thorough mastery of primary and secondary work in Levinas studies, and it displays capacious knowledge of 1990's Spanish literature and culture. This study goes beyond earlier work that brings Levinasian ethical philosophy to bear upon literary criticism...and will be an impetus and aspiration for future work by other scholars." -- Donald Wehrs * Auburn University *"Molinaro recuperates underappreciated works, by authors all too easily dismissed as immature or irrelevantly counter-cultural, that speak to us all. As such, this book will be of great interest to anyone interested in ethics in literature or contemporary Spanish literature and culture." * Bulletin of Spanish Studies *Table of ContentsA Note on Translations ... iv One - Ethics, Alterity, and Levinas ... 1 Two - Spain’s Generación X ... 49 Three - Repeating the Same Violence or the Failure of Synchrony: Veo Veo, El frío, and Mensaka ... 99 Four - The Betrayal of Diachrony: El secreto de Sara, Anatol y dos más, and Tocarnos la cara ... 143 Five - Diachrony and Saying: Arde lo que será, Sentimental, and La fiebre amarilla ... 186 Afterword ... 220 Acknowledgments ... 225 Bibliography ... 227 Index ... 251 About the Author ... 252
£20.99
Papillote Press An A-Z of Neglected Writers of the
Book SynopsisAn A-Z of Neglected Writers from the English-speaking Caribbean makes a major contribution to providing a fuller picture of the region's rich literary history. It both restores our knowledge of writers - such as WG Ogilvie and Claude Thompson - whose lives and work have slipped out of view while heralding others - Edwina Melville and Monica Skeete, for example - whose work has never been properly recognised. Offering a fascinating insight into the worlds of these 'lost' writers, this A-Z also provides future researchers with a comprehensive bibliography of their forgotten works.
£13.63
Orion Publishing Co Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited
Book Synopsis'Brisk, lively and wonderfully entertaining' John Banville'Excellent ... read this book' Literary Review'The best single-volume life of the author available' Irish TimesThe much mythologised author of Decline and Fall, A Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited was hailed by Graham Greene as 'the greatest novelist of my generation', yet reckoned by Hilaire Belloc to have been possessed by the devil. Evelyn Waugh's literary reputation has continued to rise since Greene's assessment in 1966. Fifty years after his death, Philip Eade draws on extensive unpublished sources to paint a fresh and compelling portrait of this endlessly fascinating man, telling the full story of his dramatic, colourful and frequently bizarre life.Trade ReviewIf you like your Waugh fast, furious and funny, there is much to enjoy in Philip Eade's sparkling Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited ... Waugh's letters are a joy to read, and Eade's coup is his access to a hitherto unpublished cache of them -- Paula Byrne * THE TIMES *Eade isn't a standard literary biographer; he is, by instinct and preference, an entertainer ... He is an assiduous researcher with a considerable narrative gift. He also, crucially, likes his subject. Waugh never much cared what anyone thought of him, but Eade does, and time and again he finds justification for what previous biographers have considered questionable behaviour. He also has a nice, wry turn of phrase ... this is an exemplary piece of work -- Marcus Berkmann * DAILY MAIL Book of the Week *Brisk and entertaining ... intelligent and illuminating ... the best single-volume life of the author available. To read A Life Revisited is to experience a reckoning with a man whose life, like his work, is both a solace and a stimulus -- Matthew Adams * IRISH TIMES *Essential ... Eade's pacey new biography delivers the raw material of Waugh's life ... treat the Waugh aficionado in your life * SUNDAY TIMES Books of the Year *For even more laughs, Philip Eade's Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited demonstrates that Waugh's life, already done by divers hands, really is worth another visit -- John Banville * GUARDIAN Best Books of 2016 *Anyone with the slightest interest in Evelyn Waugh - and who has not been intrigued by his steady return to favour? - should buy, and keep, Philip Eade's Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited. Why? Because it is packed with brand new, fascinating information about Waugh, his family, his friends and lovers. As well, it 'rebalances' a number of entrenched, skewed perceptions of man and soldier. And it is irresistibly readable -- Donat Gallagher, editor of THE ESSAYS, ARTICLES AND REVIEWS OF EVELYN WAUGH[I]t is the force of Waugh's energy - creative, sexual and social - that crackles through the pages of Philip Eade's meticulous and wildly entertaining biography ... Eade supplies an astonishing wealth of detail ... and is sympathetic to Waugh's many failings without being sycophantic -- Martin Townsend * DAILY EXPRESS *Eade's new biography draws on unpublished letters, diaries and memoirs to explore the eccentric larger-than-life story of one of the most acclaimed novelists of the 20th century. Will send readers back to the novels in droves * FINANCIAL TIMES Books of the Year *Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited represents a sort of tipping point: Eade's even-handedness gently but firmly nudges Waugh's work centre stage again ... Eade is excellent on tracing the sources of Waugh's delights and horrors, from his life to his work and back again: the failures, the successes, the disappointments, the endless grist to the authorial mill -- Ian Sansom * LITERARY REVIEW *Philip Eade makes the case that now is the time to revisit Waugh and see if some of the old charges of cynicism, snobbery and emotional cruelty really hold true. The result is a bright, breezy and sympathetic portrait that stops just the right side of sentimental -- Kathryn Hughes * MAIL ON SUNDAY *A gloriously entertaining indulgence. There isn't a single dull page in the whole book, and it could easily be twice as long without overstaying its welcome -- Eilis O'Hanlon * IRISH INDEPENDENT *Philip Eade has written a brisk, lively, and wonderfully entertaining account of the life of a strange, tormented, unique creature. Through page after page one finds oneself laughing aloud yet again at stories that have been told and retold many times. While previous biographers have been respectful (Martin Stannard) or compassionate (Selina Hastings), Eade seems genuinely to like his subject, and takes Waugh largely as he presented himself to the world. In his preface he writes that his intention is not to offer us a reassessment of Waugh the writer, but 'to paint a fresh portrait of the man by revisiting key episodes throughout his life and focusing on his most meaningful relationships. In this admirably modest aim he has happily succeeded -- John Banville * NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS *A splendid treat. Eade's exploration of the most significant episodes in the life of this fearless, deeply melancholic comedian is a most worthwhile addition to the bowing shelf of Waughiana -- Christopher Hirst * iNEWS *Peppered with humour ... Eade's fine biography does a very good job of pinning down the particular puckish charisma that made Waugh so popular -- Violet Hudson * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *The chief delight of this biography is the way it foregrounds Waugh's own voice ... Above all, Eade sends readers back to the books. You'll want to have at least the short stories, Brideshead, A Handful of Dust and the Sword of Honour trilogy to hand after reading this ... Eade shows just how hard-won his effortless brilliance really was -- Suzi Feay * FINANCIAL TIMES *Vastly entertaining ... a Perrier-Jouët book, frothy and fun -- Laura Freeman * STANDPOINT *Fifty years after Evelyn Waugh's death from a heart attack, aged 62, Philip Eade's challenging biography draws on 80 previously unpublished love letters, written by Waugh to the beautiful Teresa 'Baby' Jungman, one of the wildest of the Bright Young Things with whom he was obsessed in the 1930s. It reveals a softer side to his personality, different from the brilliant, acerbic wit that previous biographers have focused on ... A fascinating read -- Rebecca Wallersteiner * THE LADY *Eade's biography is crisp, diligent and sympathetic; his fresh material adds texture to this oft-told story -- James Fergusson * COUNTRY LIFE Book of the Week *Eade's thoughtful and thorough re-examination will not affect Waugh's status as a novelist, but it may well raise his reputation as a man * NEW STATESMAN *This biography, drawing on 80 previously unpublished love letters written by Waugh to Bright Young Thing Teresa 'Baby' Jungman, reveals a softer side to the author of Brideshead Revisited and explores the impact of his complex love life on his novels * THE LADY Christmas Book Guide *For all the value of the newly available sources and the good use to which Mr. Eade has put them, in the end it is his biographical skills and crisp way with words and phrase that make this such a valuable tool for understanding the perplexing figure of Evelyn Waugh -- Martin Rubin * WASHINGTON TIMES *Spurred by the milestone of fifty years since Waugh's death, encouraged by the subject's grandson, Alexander Waugh, and some new material, Eade has launched into this confounding, crowded, complicated life with brio ... [S]ympathetic, well-researched ... Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited will whet the appetite of any Wavian -- Mark McGinness * SYDNEY MORNING HERALD *
£11.69
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Lewis Carroll: The Man and his Circle
Book SynopsisBestselling author, pioneering photographer, mathematical don and writer of nonsense verse, Lewis Carroll remains a source of continuing fascination. Though many have sought to understand this complex man he remains for many an enigma. Now leading international authority, Edward Wakeling, offers his unique appraisal of the man born Charles Dodgson but whom the world knows best as Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. This new biography of Carroll presents a fresh appraisal based upon his social circle. Contrary to the claims of many previous authors, Carroll's circle was not child centred: his correspondence was enormous, numbering almost 100,000 items at the time of his death, and included royalty and many of the leading artists, illustrators, publishers, academics, musicians and composers of the Victorian era. Edward Wakeling draws upon his personal database of nearly 6,000 letters, mostly never before published, to fill the gaps left by earlier biographies and resolve some of the key myths that surround Lewis Carroll, such as his friendships with children and his drug-taking. Meticulously researched and based upon a lifetime's study of the man and his work, this important new work will be essential reading for scholars and admirers of one of the key authors of the Victorian age.Table of ContentsCONTENTS Foreword by Rhona Lewis, Christ Church, Oxford Preface Acknowledgements A Chronology of C. L. Dodgson’s Life 1. The Dodgson Family 2. Teachers and Oxford University Associates 3. Publishers and Printers 4. Illustrators 5. Mathematicians and Logicians 6. Photographers 7. Artists and Musicians 8. Actors and Dramatists 9. Friends and Children 10. Professionals 11. Royalty 12. Famous Acquaintances Epilogue: Full Circle Bibliography Short Titles Notes Index
£57.00
Legenda The Living Death of Modernity: Balzac,
Book Synopsis
£72.00
Anthem Press Thomas Keneally's Career and the Literary Machine
Book SynopsisBooker Prize winner and Living National Treasure, Thomas Keneally still divides critical opinion: he is both a morally challenging stylist and a commercial hack, a wise commentator on society and a garrulous leprechaun. Such judgements are located in the cultural politics of Australia but also linked to ideas about what a literary career should look like. ‘Thomas Keneally’s Career and the Literary Machine’ charts Keneally’s production and reception across his three major markets, noting clashes between national interests and international reach, continuity of themes and variety of topics, settings and genres, the writer’s interests and the publishers’ push to create a brand, celebrity fame and literary reputation, and the tussle around fiction, history, allegory and the middlebrow. Keneally is seen as playing a long game across several events rather than honing one specialist skill, a strategy that has sustained for more than 50 years his ambition to earn a living from writing.Trade Review‘Paul Sharrad skillfully combines insights from biography, literary history, book history and celebrity studies to trace changes in the production and reception of Thomas Keneally’s works both within Australia and internationally.’ —Elizabeth Webby AM FAHA, Professor Emerita, English Department, University of Sydney, Australia‘Paul Sharrad's landmark study of Thomas Keneally examines his writing in its multiple international and Australian contexts. Likely to be the indispensable evaluation of Keneally’s place in Australian culture.’ —Janet Wilson, Professor of English and Postcolonial Studies, University of Northampton, UK‘Paul Sharrad’s thorough and entertaining survey not only tells us much about Keneally we never knew before but also shows that the study of an author’s career can be a new way to measure the stature of a literary artist.’ —Nicholas Birns, Associate Professor, School of Professional Studies, New York University, USA‘In this important contribution to book history, Paul Sharrad applies the lens of the literary career to the prolific though often divisive work of Thomas Keneally, charting a course between literary and commercial fiction, history and fiction, authorship and celebrity, and the opposing frames of national and world literatures.’ —Robert Dixon, Professor of Australian Literature, University of Sydney, AustraliaTable of ContentsAcknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Beginnings; 2. The Collins Years; 3. To the Booker; 4. Afterwards; 5. Republic and Beyond; 6. Histories and Refugees; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
£76.00
Anthem Press Dream and Literary Creation in Women’s Writings
Book SynopsisThis edited collection deals with dream as a literary trope and as a source of creativity in women’s writings. It gathers essays spanning a time period from the end of the seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, with a strong focus on the Romantic period and particularly on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, in which dreams are at the heart of the writing process but also constitute the diegetic substance of the narrative. The contributions re-examine the oneiric facets of the novel and develop fresh perspectives on dreams and dreaming in Mary Shelley’s fiction and on other female authors (Anne Finch, Ann Radcliffe, Emily and Charlotte Brontë and a few others), re-appraising the textuality of dreams and their link to women’s creativity and creation as a whole.Trade Review“This superb collection of interdisciplinary work on dreams in 18th and 19th century literature is essential reading for students of the period. As a student and teacher of works in the long nineteenth century, I encountered fresh approaches to works I thought I knew well, such as Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre, and I especially appreciate that the collection puts the dreams of 18th and 19th century dreaming into a longer framework that includes scientific approaches to dreams as well as other literary works that include Pilgrim’s Progress and more recent writers: Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Sayers, Irish Murdoch, and Margaret Drabble.” — Carol A. Senf, Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, US“Going beyond an exclusive focus on the gothic, this collection of essays teases out the reader’s ‘hermeneutic task’ in famous and lesser-known literary texts, providing thought-provoking views of narrative strategies constructed around dreams, be they ‘real’ or fictional, from a period not yet under the spell of Freud and Jung.”—Professor Anne Bandry-Scubbi, University of Strasbourg, France.“Dream in women’s writings ? A brilliant idea. This original gendered investigation of literary creativity is based on a wide corpus, from Frances Burney and Mary Shelley to Emily Brontë. The book also includes a fine postscript by Margaret Ann Doody” — Jean Viviès, Professor of British literature, Aix-Marseille University, FranceTable of ContentsAcknowledgements; Notes on Contributors; Introduction; PART I. WOMEN AND DREAMS: AN ONEIRIC FEMININE LITERARY TRADITION; Chapter 1. ‘Delicate Females’ and Psychedelic Creation in the Scientific Experiments of Thomas Beddoes and Humphry Davy, Kimberley Page-Jones; Chapter 2. Treading in Camilla’s Footsteps?: Oneiric Experience and Women’s Voices in Julia De Vienne (by a Lady, 1811) and Tales of Fancy (Sarah Harriet Burney, 1816– 20), Lucy- Anne Katgely; Chapter 3. The Passing on of Dreams: Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley and the Diana Figure, Audrey Souchet; PART II. DREAMS, ALTERITY AND THE DIVINE; Chapter 4. ‘[A]s Sometimes Poets Dream’: Liminality and the Female Writer in the Poetry of Anne Finch, Debapriya Basu; Chapter 5. The Theology of Radcliff e’s Dreams, Holly Hirst; Chapter 6. Providential Thinking: Dreams and the Rhetoric of Romance in The Old English Baron and The Romance of the Forest, Victor Sage; PART III. DREAMING (OF) MONSTERS: DREAMS, CREATIVITY AND AESTHETICS IN MARY SHELLEY’S FICTION; Chapter 7. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Approach to Dreams and Dreaming in Her Fictional Works Frankenstein, Valperga, Matilda and ‘The Dream’, Antonella Braida-Laplace; Chapter 8. The Monster of Their Dreams: The Night- Mare and Sleep Disorders in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and ‘Introduction’ (1831), Mathilde Giret; Chapter 9. Henry Fuseli’s Nightmare(s) in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), Fabien Desset; PART IV. BEYOND FRANKENSTEIN; Chapter 10. Dreaming Up Monsters: The Affective Intensity of Dreams, Nightmares and Delirium in Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights, Anne Nagel; Chapter 11. ‘And This Shall Be My Dream Tonight’: Dream as Narrative in Wuthering Heights, Tricia Ayrton; Chapter 12. Dreams in Jane Eyre, Isabelle Hervouet; Postscript: A Jigsaw of Dreams, Margaret Anne Doody; Index.
£80.00
University of Wales Press Monstrous Textualities: Writing the Other in
Book SynopsisMonstrous textuality emerges when Gothic narratives like Frankenstein reflect the monstrous in their narrative structure to create narratives of resistance, and allows writers to meta-narratively reflect their own poetics and textual production, and reclaim authority over their work under circumstances of systemic cultural oppression and Othering. This book traces the representation of other Others through Black feminist hauntology in Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987) and Love (2003); it explores fat freak embodiment as a feminist resistance strategy in Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus (1984) and Margaret Atwood's Lady Oracle (1976); and it reads Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy (2003-13) and Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl (1995) within a framework of critical posthumanist and cyborg theory. The result is a comprehensive argument about how these texts can be read within a framework of critical posthumanist questioning of knowledge production, and of epistemological exploration, beyond the exclusionary humanist paradigm.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Teratologies Troubling Genealogies: Monstrous Textuality and Narratives of Resistance in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein I: What Moves at the Margin 2 Haunted Narratives 3 Monstrous Narratives II: A Female Monster Larger Than Life Introduction 4 Reframing Narratives 5 Corporeal Discourses 6 'A Female Monster Larger than Life': Fatness and Resistance III: Hideous Progeny Introduction 7 Posthuman Reading Practices 8 Posthuman Writing Practices 9 Posthuman Bodies in/as Narrative Conclusion Conclusion: 'The Promises of Monsters' Notes Bibliography
£63.00
University of Wales Press Penny Dreadfuls and the Gothic: Investigations of
Book SynopsisPenny Dreadfuls and the Gothic breaks new ground in uncovering penny titles which have been hitherto largely neglected from literary discourse revealing the cultural, social and literary significance of these working-class texts. The present volume is a reappraisal of penny dreadfuls, demonstrating their cruciality in both our understanding of working-class Victorian Literature and the Gothic mode. This edited collection of essays provides new insights into the fields of Victorian literature, popular culture and Gothic fiction more broadly; it is divided into three sections, whose titles replicate the dual titles offered by penny publications during the nineteenth century. Sections one and two consist of three chapters, while section three consists of four essays, all of which intertwine to create an in-depth and intertextual exposition of Victorian society, literature, and gothic representations.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Notes on Contributors List of Figures and Illustrations 1. Introduction: Dreadful Beginnings Dr Nicole C. Dittmer and Sophie Raine Section One: The Progression of Pennys; or, Adaptations and Legacies of the Dreadful 2. Penny Pinching: Reassessing the Gothic canon through nineteenth-century reprinting Hannah-Freya Blake and Marie Léger-St-Jean 3. “As long as you are industrious, you will get on very well”: adapting The String of Pearls’ economies of horror Brontë Schiltz 4. “Your lot is wretched, old man”: Anxieties of Industry, Empire and England in George Reynolds’s Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf Dr Hannah Priest Section Two: Victorian Medical Sciences and Penny fiction; or, Dreadful Discourses of the Gothic 5. ‘Embalmed pestilence’, ‘intoxicating poisons’: Rhetoric of contamination, contagion, and the Gothic marginalisation of penny dreadfuls by their contemporary critics Manon Burz-Labrande 6. “A Tale of the Plague”: anti-medical sentiment and epidemic disease in early Victorian popular Gothic fiction Joseph Crawford 7. “Mistress of the broomstick”: Biology, Ecosemiotics, and Monstrous Women in Wizard’s The Wild Witch of the Heath; or the Demon of the Glen Dr Nicole C. Dittmer Section Three: Mode, Genre, and Style; or, Gothic Storytelling and Ideologies 8. A Ventriloquist and a Highwayman Walk into an Inn... Early Penny Bloods and the Politics of Humour in Jack Rann and Valentine Vaux Celine Frohn 9. Gothic Ideology and Religious Politics in James Malcolm Rymer’s Penny Fiction Dr Rebecca Nesvet 10. “Muddling about among the dead”: found manuscripts and metafictional storytelling in James Malcolm Rymer’s Newgate: A Romance Sophie Raine List of Referenced Penny Titles Bibliography Index
£71.25
University of Wales Press Ramsey Campbell
Book SynopsisThis book pays overdue attention to the British writer Ramsey Campbell, a key figure in the post-1970s boom in Anglo-American horror fiction. Despite a huge output and receiving every accolade within his field over a long career, Campbell has not yet been accorded anything like the wider critical recognition given to his contemporary Stephen King. This study concentrates also on Campbell’s neglected novels and novellas, rather than the short stories for which he has been better known. The book Ramsey Campbell establishes the author’s unique prose style, denoted by a haunted self-consciousness about the act of writing and role of readership, and his distinctive mediation of the Gothic tradition: religiously agnostic, politically liberal and ethically humane. For the first time, Campbell’s works are interpreted in the contexts of trends in postmodernist and posthumanist thought and compared explicitly to King’s, and his contribution to both Gothic studies and wider contemporary literature is appraised.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: A Neglected ‘Poet’: Campbell and Gothic Tradition 1. Impractical Magic: Campbell’s Agnostic Gothic 2. Of Bonds and Beings: Campbell’s Gothic Sociopaths 3. Writing with Intensity: Campbell’s Gothic Novellas 4. ‘Ghosts’ from the Machine: Campbell’s Gothic Techno-Fictions Conclusion: ‘Something to Believe in’: Repositioning Campbell in the Gothic – and Beyond Notes Bibliography Index
£63.75
Liverpool University Press Writing and the Revolution: Venezuelan
Book SynopsisIn contrast to recent theories of the ‘global’ Latin American novel, this book reveals the enduring importance of the national in contemporary Venezuelan fiction, arguing that the novels studied respond to both the nationalist and populist cultural policies of the Bolivarian Revolution and Venezuela’s literary isolation. The latter results from factors including the legacy of the Boom and historically low levels of emigration from Venezuela. Grounded in theories of metafiction and intertextuality, the book provides a close reading of eight novels published between 2004 (the year in which the first Minister for Culture was appointed) and 2012 (the last full year of President Chávez’s life), relating these novels to the context of their production. Each chapter explores a way in which these novels reflect on writing, from the protagonists as readers and writers in different contexts, through appearances from real life writers, to experiments with style and popular culture, and finally questioning the boundaries between fiction and reality. This literary analysis complements overarching studies of the Bolivarian Revolution by offering an insight into how Bolivarian policies and practices affect people on an individual, emotional and creative level. In this context, self-reflexive narratives afford their writers a form of political agency.Trade Review'Katie Brown’s monograph explores the intrinsic aesthetic value of literature; how it can be instrumentalized to serve political purposes; and the impact that said instrumentalization has on literary production, access to markets, as well as the creative autonomy and artistic integrity of Venezuelan writers. [...] This monograph is a timely and significant contribution to understanding the effect of Bolivarian cultural policy, and its inherent contradictions, on the ‘minor’ contemporary literature produced by Venezuelans, both within the country and in exile.'Penelope Plaza, Modern Language ReviewTable of ContentsIntroductionChapter 1: Writing for the StateChapter 2: Writing and DistinctionChapter 3: Challenging the National NarrativeChapter 4: Making Literary ConnectionsChapter 5: Form and Popular CultureChapter 6: Fiction and RealityConclusionReferencesAcknowledgements
£82.12
MX Publishing Hounded: My lifelong obsession with Sherlock Holmes And The Hound of The Baskervilles
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£9.99
Vintage Publishing George Orwell: A Life
Book SynopsisThe authoritative biography of George Orwell, written with the cooperation of Orwell's widow.‘In its thoroughness, and its mastery of a considerable volume of material, this is the definitive biography of Orwell.’ Sunday Times‘It is hardly worth using up space to declare just how good it is. Different readers will come away from its seventeen pungent and packed chapters with diverse memories of its excellence.’ GuardianTrade ReviewBernard Crick’s book is a triumph of the first order. It is an absorbing, scrupulous, original record… -- Michael Foot * New Standard *It is hardly worth using up space to declare just how good it is. Different readers will come away from its seventeen pungent and packed chapters with diverse memories of its excellence. -- Peter Sedgwick * Guardian *No one interested in its great subject, or indeed the social, political and cultural fate of this country from 1903 to 1950 and beyond, will fail to enjoy most of it very much indeed. -- Michael Ratcliffe * The Times *He has built up a personality – seen, yes, resolutely from ‘outside’, but still close up – which other, more interpretative or internal, methods could not give so convincingly. -- Richard Hoggart * Listener *In its thoroughness, and its mastery of a considerable volume of material, this is the definitive biography of Orwell. -- Julian Symons * Sunday Times *Crick’s analytical mind, combined with his mastery of the historical background and context, make him the ideal guide… -- Arthur Koestler * Observer *One finishes the book thinking more highly of him, not less, as with so many contemporary biographies. The overall picture strikes me as being remarkably true. -- Anthony Powell * Daily Telegraph *
£16.19
Liverpool University Press E. T. A. Hoffmann: Transgressive Romanticism
Book SynopsisThis collection of essays addresses a very broad range of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s most significant works, examining them through the lens of “transgression.” Transgression bears relevance to Hoffmann’s life and professions in three ways. First, his official career path was that of jurisprudence; he was active as a lawyer, a judge and eventually as one of the most important magistrates in Berlin. Second, his personal life was marked by numerous conflicts with political and social authorities. Seemingly no matter where he went, he experienced much chaos, grief and impoverishment in leading his always precarious existence. Third, his works explore characters and concepts beyond the boundaries of what was considered aesthetically acceptable. “Normal” bourgeois existence was often juxtaposed to the lives of criminals, sinners, and other deviants, both within the spaces of the known world as well as in supernatural realms. He, perhaps more than any other author of the German Romantic movement, regularly portrayed the dark side of existence in his works, including unconscious psychological phenomena, nightmares, somnambulism, vampirism, mesmerism, Doppelgänger, and other forms of transgressive behavior. It is the intention of this volume to provide a new look at Hoffmann’s very diverse body of work from numerous perspectives, stimulating interest in Hoffmann in English language audiences.Trade ReviewReviews'This new resource is both enjoyable and thoroughly thought-provoking—and so is well worth consultation by faculty and students.'Seán Williams, European Romantic Review'Transgressive Romanticism engages its central spatial metaphor to make Hoffmann’s complex potential as a protorealist clear: expertly attuned to the forms of life and literature with which he was familiar, while always ready to subvert and think beyond them.'Polly Dickson, German Studies ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction --- Christopher R. Clason, Oakland UniversityI. Transgression and Institutions1. “A poor, imprisoned animal.” Persons, Property, and the Unnatural Nature of the Law in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “Das Majorat.” --- Alexander Schlutz, John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center2. Vergiftete Gaben: Violating the Laws of Hospitality in E. T. A. Hoffmann’s “Das Fräulein von Scuderi” --- Peter Erickson, Colorado State University 3. Transgressive Science in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Fantastic Tales --- Paola Mayer, University of GuelphII. Transgression and the Arts4. E. T. A. Hoffmann and the Bamberg Theater --- Frederick Burwick, University of California, Los Angeles5. Transitions and Slippages of Mimesis in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “Der goldene Topf,” “Die Fermate,” and “Das öde Haus.” --- Beate Allert, Purdue University6. Transgressions: On the (De-)Figuration of the Vampire in E. T. A. Hoffmann’s “Vampyrism" --- Nicole Sütterlin, Harvard UniversityIII. Transgression in the Märchen 7. Transgressive Play and Uncanny Toys in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “Das fremde Kind” --- Christina Weiler, Purdue University8. Attending to the Everyday: Idiosyncrasy in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “The Golden Pot” --- Ruth Kellar, University of Wisconsin, Madison9. Prinzessin Brambilla: The Aesthetic between Public and Private --- Howard Pollack-Millgate, DePauw UniversityIV. Transgression of Reception in Kater Murr10. Hoffmann’s “Two Worlds” and the Problem of Life-Writing --- Julian Knox, Georgia College11. “Real Humor Cannot Be Captured in a Novel”: Kierkegaard Reading E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Lebens-Ansichten des Katers Murr --- James Rasmussen, United States Air Force AcademyWorks CitedIndex
£31.81
Kulturalis The Age of Johnson in the Library of Loren and Frances Rothschild
Book SynopsisThe library recorded in this book represents the result of fifty years of collecting the works of British writers of the Age of Samuel Johnson.
£85.00
Anthem Press Gothic Appalachian Literature
Book SynopsisGothic Appalachian Literature examines the ways contemporary Appalachian authors utilize gothic tropes to explore the complex history and contemporary problems of the region, particularly in terms of their representation of economic and environmental concerns. It argues that across Appalachian fiction, the plight of characters to save their homes, land and way of life from the destructive forces of extractive industries brings sharply to bare the histories of colonization and slavery that problematize questions of belonging, ownership and possession.Robertson extensively considers contemporary manifestations of the gothic in Appalachian literature, arguing that gothic tropes abound in fiction that focuses on the impacts of extractive industries that connect this micro-region with other parts of the Global North and Global South where the devastating impacts of extractive industries are also experienced socially, economically and environmentally.
£19.94
Little, Brown Book Group In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination
Book SynopsisFrom her days as a child reader in the 1940s, through her time at Harvard, where she studied the Victorian ancestors of the form, and later as a writer and reviewer, Margaret Atwood has always been fascinated with science fiction. Here she brings together three Ellmann lectures: 'Flying Rabbits' begins with her early rabbit superhero creations, and goes on to speculate about masks, capes, weakling alter egos and Things with Wings; 'Burning Bushes' travels into Victorian otherlands and beyond; and 'Dire Cartographies' investigates Utopias and Dystopias, including Atwood's own ventures into those constructions. In further essays Atwood explores and critiques the form, and elucidates the differences - as she sees them - between 'science fiction' proper, and 'speculative fiction', not to mention 'sword and sorcery', 'fantasy' and 'slipstream fiction'. In Other Worlds is a must.Trade ReviewEminently readable and accessible ... The lectures are insightful and cogently argued with a neat comic turn of phrase ... Her enthusiasm and level of intellectual engagement are second to none -- James Lovegrove Financial Times
£10.44
Four Courts Press Ltd The History of Arsaces, Prince of Betlis
£47.50
Amberley Publishing A Life of Emily Brontë
Book SynopsisBiographical material on Emily Brontë is scarce. In the past, biographers have taken this as an excuse to portray intuition as fact, creating a confused and inaccurate image of the author of Wuthering Heights. In A Life of Emily Brontë, Edward Chitham searches diligently for the truth. He describes his book as an 'investigative biography', delving into Emily's childhood, her relationships with her family, her father's Irish roots, and the influences of her friends and acquaintances. Using material neglected by other biographers, Chitham makes an illuminating and scholarly study of the events and characters that shaped Emily's inspiration - a puzzle that has confounded many and made her, up to this point, an enigmatic and misrepresented figure.
£17.09
Bodleian Library Great Literary Friendships
Book SynopsisClose friendships are a heart-warming feature of many of our best-loved works of fiction. From Jane Eyre and Helen Burns’ poignant schoolgirl relationship to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn’s adventures on the Mississippi, fictional friends have supported, guided, comforted, nursed and at times betrayed the heroes and heroines of our popular and influential plays and novels. This book explores twenty-four literary friendships and, together with character studies and publication history, describes how each key relationship influences character, determines plot, promotes or disguises romance, preserves a reputation, sometimes results in betrayal, or underlines the theme of each literary work. It shows how authors from William Shakespeare to Elena Ferrante have by turns celebrated, lamented or transformed friendships throughout the ages, and how some friends – Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Holmes and Watson or even Bridget Jones and pals – have taken on creative lives beyond the bounds of their original narrative. Including a broad scope of literature spanning a period of 400 years from writers as diverse as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Evelyn Waugh, John Steinbeck and Alice Walker, this book is the ideal gift for your literature-loving friend.Trade Review'A few pages in you feel you are in the company of a sprightly, charming, well-read friend . . . a masterful story-teller, her short essays on pivotal friendships feel like entering sunlight from thick fog, you'll see and hear what you never noticed on first reading.' * Country Life Magazine *Table of ContentsContents Introduction Childhood Soulmates: Jane and Helen - Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847) Liberty and Conformity: Tom and Huck; Huck and Jim - Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) Bosom Pals: Anne and Diana - L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908) Competitive Companions: Pooh and Piglet - A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) Mad Bad Girls: Meena and Anita - Meera Syal, Anita and Me (1996) Housemates: Harry, Ron and Hermione - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter series (1997–2007) Students and Apprentices Prince and Philosopher: Hamlet and Horatio - William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600) Career Advice: Pip and Herbert - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1861) A Bystander’s Elegy: Charles and Sebastian - Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited (1945) Crème de la Crème: Sandy, Jenny, Eunice, Mary, Monica, Rose and Miss Brodie - Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) Campus Collusion: Richard, Bunny, Henry, Francis, Camilla and Charles - Donna Tartt, The Secret History (1992) Heart to Heart Inseparable: Rosalind and Celia - William Shakespeare, As You Like It (1599) Reserve and Recklessness: Jane and Emma - Jane Austen, Emma (1815) Light and Shade: Lucy and Maggie - George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860) Three Cheers for the Singletons: Bridget, Shazzer, Jude and Tom - Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) Adventure Bickering and Bonhomie: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605) Partners in Crime: Holmes and Watson - Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes series (1887–1903) Host and Guest: Ratty and Mole - Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (1908) Heroes of Middle-earth: Frodo and Sam - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (1954) Hard Times Loneliest in the World: George and Lennie - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men (1937) Kinship: Okonkwo and Obierika - Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958) Amazon Sisters: Miss Celie, Shug and Sofia - Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982) Undercover Allies: Moira and Offred - Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) For Better, For Worse: Lina and Elena - Elena Ferrante, The Neapolitan Novels (2011–2014) Notes Further Reading Acknowledgements Index
£15.29
Taylor & Francis Ltd Charles Lamb, Elia and the London Magazine: Metropolitan Muse
Book SynopsisThe inherent 'metropolitanism' of writing for a Romantic-era periodical is here explored through the Elia articles that Charles Lamb wrote for the London Magazine.Trade Review'This is an extraordinary study that covers an impressive body of often overlooked literature with subtlety, skill and aplomb ... It is a must-read for for readers of Lamb, Cockneyism and writings of the city.' The Charles Lamb Bulletin 'Simon Hull's book is an especially welcome reevaluation of Lamb's essay writing.' New Books Online 19Table of ContentsIntroduction, Simon P. Hull; Chapter 1 Consuming the Periodical Text: Hunt, Hazlitt and the Anxiety of Cockneyism, Simon P. Hull; Chapter 2 Domesticating the Flaneur: Coleridge, De Quincey and the Forms of Metropolitanism, Simon P. Hull; Chapter 3 The Great Wen and the Rural Gothic, Simon P. Hull; Chapter 4 Utility and Pity: Wordsworth, Blake and Egan, and the Act of Charity, Simon P. Hull; Chapter 5 Lamb, Theatricality and the Fool, Simon P. Hull; Chapter 102 Conclusion, Simon P. Hull;
£133.00
Boydell & Brewer Ltd The Spiritual Consciousness of Carmen Martín
Book SynopsisAn exploration of Spanish writer Carmen Martín Gaite's religious outlook through the inner journeys of five female characters. For Martín Gaite, a truly religious, or spiritual, perspective requires conscious attention to the products of the unconscious (dreams, images, memories, premonitions), followed by reflection and action, as well as a similar attentiveness and responsiveness to external events both large and small. This reconnection of the supernatural and day-to-day worlds also involves descent to the unconscious - the way to wholeness - as depicted in so many myths and fairy tales, including those which Martín Gaite used to retell or enhance the works analysed in this book: Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Amor and Psyche, Demeter and Persephone, and the Descent of the Goddess Inanna. Looking at the extent to which these female characters attend to, reflect on, and respond to their dreams, images, memories and events, the analysis suggests that Martín Gaite uses her stories to try to communicate both the road to her own enlightenment and warnings about paths that lead away from this.Table of ContentsChapter 1: In Spirit and Truth Chapter 2: The Link has Broken: Matilde's Dream in El balneario Chapter 3: When the Meaning is Lost: Death and Life in Lo raro es vivir and Irse de casa Chapter 4: ¡Oh Inanna! No investigues los ritos del mundo inferior: Mariana's Descent to the Underworld in Nubosidad variable Chapter 5: Looking for the Lost Daughter: Sofía's Search in Nubosidad variable Conclusion Bibliography Index
£66.50
Spinifex Press St Suniti and the Dragon
Book SynopsisOnce she had reconciled herself to the view that a garden snake, however beautiful, was not evil, Suniti decided to set about the matter in a more businesslike way. She put an ad in the paper: ‘Elderly gentlewoman seeks to make a bargain with the devil’. Where are good and evil to be found? What is the path to sainthood? Is it through poetry or good deeds? St Suniti talks to angels and flowers, dragons, saints and ordinary people in her quest. Suniti Namjoshi has original imagination full of surprises encompassing saints and wolves, Beowulf and Bangladesh, Grendel and Star Trek.‘It’s hilarious, witty, elegantly written, hugely inventive, fantastic, energetic, up to the minute, analytic, touching…
£10.40
Connell Publishing Jane Austens Mansfield Park
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Solis Press The House of Memory: Stories by Jewish Women
Book Synopsis
£20.66
UEA Publishing Project Dear Knausgaard
Book SynopsisIn a series of warm and often funny letters, Kim Adrian delivers a compelling feminist critique of the 6-volume autobiographical novel My Struggle, by Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard.Trade Review‘Kim Adrian’s loving struggle with Knausgaard is the kind of criticism I most enjoy - personal, wonderfully engaged, intense but somehow simultaneously light-footed, and extremely intelligent. The brilliance of her feminist critique is that it acutely exposes vulnerabilities in Knausgaard’s male universalism while affectionately acknowledging the scope and appeal of his inevitably gendered voice. A delight from start to finish.’ James Wood, literary critic ‘On display is a rigorous mind, a fiery intellect, a curious and engaged reader. Adrian brings lofty ideas - questions of attention and meaning, of the troubling permeability between inside and outside, of reality itself - down to the meat-and-feeling human level.’ Boston Globe
£11.69
Sansom & Co Walking Talking on the here and elsewhere
Book SynopsisWalking & Talkingon the Here and Elsewhere explores what we do while we walk, be it talking or thinking, and how the act of walking has inspired writers.
£21.25
Springer International Publishing AG Listening to Iris Murdoch: Music, Sounds, and
Book SynopsisWhen we think of Iris Murdoch’s relationship with art forms, the visual arts come most readily to mind. However, music and other sounds are equally important. Soundscapes – music and other types of sound – contribute to the richly textured atmosphere and moral tenor of Murdoch’s novels. This book will help readers to appreciate anew the sensuous nature of Iris Murdoch’s prose, and to listen for all kinds of music, sounds and silences in her novels, opening up a new sub-field in Murdoch studies in line with the emerging field of Word and Music Studies. This study is supported by close readings of selected novels exemplifying the subtle variety of ways she deploys music, sounds and silence in her fiction. It also covers Murdoch’s knowledge of music and her allusions to music throughout her work, and includes a survey of musical settings of her words by various composers.Trade Review“This book is also a rare example of appendices being as fascinating and as impressive as the main text. … Both scholarly and entertaining, it will be accessible to a general reader, although it is most likely to be of interest to those already reasonably familiar with Murdoch’s fiction who will surely find they hear things in the novels which they have never heard before.” (Janfarie Skinner, Iris Murdoch Review, 2022)Table of Contents1. Chapter 1 Listening to Iris Murdoch.Introduction.Music and sound in fiction: a review of the field.Music in Murdoch’s life.Discussions of music in Murdoch’s philosophy.The sound-worlds in Murdoch’s fiction.Part I – Music.2. Chapter 2 ‘The music is too painful’: Music as character and atmosphere.Introduction.‘Awaken, my blackbird’: Music in The unicorn.‘Like a breathless enchanted girl’: Music in The red and the green.The swan princess: Music in The time of the angels.‘The concourse of sweet sounds’: Music in The nice and the good.Conclusion.3. Chapter 3 ‘The point at which flesh and spirit most joyfully meet’: Singers and singing.Introduction.‘Che cosa e amor?’: Singing in The sea, the sea.Singing as exclusion in The message to the planet.‘Never to sing again? Never?’: Singing in The philosopher’s pupil (1983).Conclusion.4. Chapter 4 Musical women and unmusical men.Introduction: ‘Of course they never let the women sing.’.Quiet women: The good apprentice.Silent pianos.No women composers.Opera, intimacy, sexuality and androgyny in A fairly honourable defeat.Conclusion.Part II – Silence and sound.5. Chapter 5 ‘Different voices, different discourses’: Voices and other human sounds.Introduction: Serious noticing.‘The long search for words’: Something special.‘The quiet sound of voices’: The sandcastle.‘Intolerable with menace’: Henry and Cato.‘A mechanical litany’: The good apprentice.Conclusion.6. Chapter 6 ‘Like a clarity under a mist’: Ambient noise and silence, dreamscapes and atmosphere.Introduction.The sacred and profane love machine: The drama of silence.The black prince and Under the net: Silence and art.Bruno’s dream: Synaesthesia and perception.Nuns and soldiers.Conclusion.Part III – Settings.7. Chapter 7 ‘Just bring me the composers’: Musical settings of Iris Murdoch’s words.Introduction.The servants – opera: music by William Mathias, libretto by Iris Murdoch.The round horizon, cantata in five parts: music by Christopher Bochmann, words by Iris Murdoch.The one alone: Radio play with music by Gary Carpenter.A year of birds: Song cycle for soprano and orchestra by Malcolm Williamson.Forgive me. In memoriam Iris Murdoch, 1919-1999, for unaccompanied vocal ensemble (SATB) by Paul Crabtree.Inspired by Iris: Paul Hullah and Kent Wennman.Paul Hullah, All the names under the sun and Home.Kent Wennman, A Jerusalem conversation and The thinker and the feeling one.Conclusion: Iris Murdoch set to music.Coda Sound, music, silence and listening.Part IV – The music.Appendix 1 Music mentioned in Murdoch’s fiction.Classical composers.Vocal music.Chronological list of music mentioned in Murdoch’s fiction.Appendix 2 Items in Iris Murdoch’s Oxford music collection held at Kingston University Library.Iris Murdoch’s manuscript notebooks of songs.Anthologies, collections, scores etc.Single works.
£56.99
Springer International Publishing AG A Narratological Approach to Lists in Detective
Book SynopsisThis open access book examines how the form of the list features as a tool for meaning-making in the genre of detective fiction from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. The book analyzes how both readers and detectives rely on listing as an ordering and structuring tool, and highlights the crucial role that lists assume in the reading process. It extends the boundaries of an emerging field dedicated to the study of lists in literature and caters to a newly revived interest in form and New Formalist approaches in narratological research. The central aim of this book is to show how detective fiction makes use of lists in order to frame various conceptions of knowledge. The frames created by these lists are crucial to decoding the texts, and they can be used to demonstrate how readers can be engaged in the act of detection or manipulated into accepting certain propositions in the text.Table of Contents1. Introduction: Reading Lists, Listing Clues.- 2. Defining Detective Fiction.- 3. Dossier Novels: The Reader as Detective.- 4. Manipulating Readers: The Novels of Agatha Christie.- 5. Excursus: The Thorndyke Novels and the Language of Science.- 6. Lists and Knowledge.- 7. Conclusion: Models of Knowledge in Detective Fiction.
£26.24
Karolinum,Nakladatelstvi Univerzity Karlovy,Czech Republic Malvina, or Spoken Word in the Novel
Book SynopsisIn this book-length study, Ewa Szary-Matywiecka examines Maria Wirtemberska’s Malvina, or the Heart’s Intuition, an international success upon its publication in 1816 that is now widely considered to be Poland’s first psychological novel. Applying structuralist methods, Szary-Matywiecka situates Wirtemberska among other literary luminaries of her day, including Rousseau and Goethe, and explores how the nineteenth-century salon culture formed the concerns and themes of her novel. Malvina’s obsession with language games recall the vocabulary quizzes and semantic puzzles popular in the European salons frequented by Wirtemberska. Szary-Matywiecka also argues that the novel’s motif of twins and twinned characters emerges from both the theatrical preoccupations of salons, as well as how Wirtemberska seemingly splits her voice between traditional narration and a more intrusive authorial style, helping shape her novel’s innovative narrative method. Malvina, or Spoken Word in the Novel is an insightful deconstruction of a female-penned classic of European literature. Table of ContentsIntroductionPart I: In and Beyond the SalonPart II: Heart and ThoughtsPart III: Malvina, or the Heart’s IntuitionPart IV: Malvina and the Salon
£15.20
Rupa Publications India Pvt Ltd. TARA'S TRUCE
Book SynopsisDo we mean anything? Tara questioned hopelessly. Are our desires, our dreams relevant to the course of destiny at all?'' Tara. Vali''s wife; Sugriv''s queen; the woman behind Rama''s curse. A person of extraordinary intellect, foresight and determination, Tara is a master stateswoman, both before and after she marries Vali and is crowned the queen of Kishkindh. But her wisdom and stature cannot stand in the way of destiny. Tara finds herself caught in a battle of egos between the two brothers and reduced to the victor''s trophy. However, in this time of conflict, she resourcefully restores peace and prosperity in the kingdom she helped build, even if it means sacrificing everything. Kavita KanÃ, in heratest recounting of the Ramayana, narrates the tale of Tara''s trucethe compromises Tara made to fulfil her divinely ordained purpose, including marrying her husband''s killer.
£13.99
Double 9 Books The Palace Of Darkened Windows
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£13.49
HarperCollins Publishers India Pride and Prejudice
Book Synopsis
£9.26
HarperCollins Publishers India Sense and Sensibility
Book Synopsis
£9.81
HarperCollins Publishers India Our Friends in Good Houses
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£18.89
Rupa Publications India Pvt Ltd. ANOTHER TIME ANOTHER PLACE
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£12.00
The Chinese University Press Fictional Authors, Imaginary Audiences: Modern Chinese Literature in the Twentieth Century
Book SynopsisThe authors and audiences for twentieth century Chinese literature, especially fiction, are examined in a fresh light in this book. While modern Chinese fictions are imaginary in that they do not constitute reliable portraits of Chinese life, they can reveal fascinating insights into the writers themselves and their implied audiences. The book also includes substantial reference to poetry, drama, film, and the visual arts as well as to the political and social context in which they appear.
£21.21
Pony Press OBJECT of affection
Book Synopsis
£14.25
Broadview Press Ltd The Odd Women
Book SynopsisGeorge Gissing’s The Odd Women dramatizes key issues relating to class and gender in late-Victorian culture: the changing relationship between the sexes, the social impact of ‘odd’ or ‘redundant’ women, the cultural impact of ‘the new woman,’ and the opportunities for and conditions of employment in the expanding service sector of the economy. At the heart of these issues as many late Victorians saw them was a problem of the imbalance in the ratio of men to women in the population. There were more females than males, which meant that more and more women would be left unmarried; they would be ‘odd’ or ‘redundant,’ and would be forced to be independent and to find work to support themselves. In the Broadview edition, Gissing’s text is carefully annotated and accompanied by a range of documents from the period that help to lay out the context in which the book was written.In Gissing’s story, Virginia Madden and her two sisters are confronted upon the death of their father with sudden impoverishment. Without training for employment, and desperate to maintain middle-class respectability, they face a daunting struggle. In Rhoda Nunn, a strong feminist, Gissing also presents a strong character who draws attention overtly to the issues behind the novel. The Odd Women is one of the most important social novels of the late nineteenth century.Trade Review“When it comes to the complexities of everyday life in late-Victorian London, there is no better guide than Gissing and no better Gissing than The Odd Women. And now, in Arlene Young’s carefully edited and annotated edition, we have the definitive guide to Gissing’s novel. Students will also find the historical documents gathered in this volume an invaluable resource in the study of the “woman question” and the sociology of work in the 1890s.” — Stephen Arata, University of Virginia“Broadview’s enterprise is especially welcome in the case of The Odd Women, Gissing’s second most commonly studied novel. [This edition] deserves to become the text of choice for teachers—especially given its modest price.” — The Gissing JournalTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionA Note on the TextGeorge Gissing: A Brief ChronologyThe Odd WomenAppendix A: Contemporary Reviews Glasgow Herald 20 April 1893 Saturday Review 29 April 1893 Athenaeum 27 May 1893 Pall Mall Gazette 29 May 1893 Nation (New York) 13 July 1893 Illustrated London News (Clementia Black) 5 August 1893 Appendix B: Attitudes Towards Women and Marriage in Victorian Culture Sarah Ellis, from The Daughters of England (1842) Alfred Lord Tennyson, from The Princess (1847) Coventry Patmore, from The Angel in the House: “The Rose of the World” (1854) Thomas Henry Huxley, from “Emancipation—Black and White,” Reader (20 May 1865) John Ruskin, from “Of Queens’ Gardens,” in Sesame and Lilies (1865) John Stuart Mill, from The Subjection of Women (1869) Mona Caird, from “Marriage,” Westminster Review (1888) Appendix C: Debate over the “Woman Question” Grant Allen, from “Plain Words on the Woman Question,” Fortnightly Review (October 1889) Bernard Shaw, from “The Womanly Woman,” The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891) Eliza Lynn Linton, from “The Wild Women: As Politicians,” Nineteenth Century (July 1891) Eliza Lynn Linton, from “The Wild Women: As Insurgents,” Nineteenth Century (October 1891) Mona Caird, “A Defense of the So-Called ‘Wild Women’,” Nineteenth Century (May 1891) From “Character Note: The New Woman” Cornhill Magazine (October 1894) Nat Arling, “What is the Role of the ‘New Woman?’” Westminster Review (November 1898) Appendix D: Women and Paid Employment: The Limitations of Aspirations and the Actualities Charlotte Brontë, from Shirley (1849) From “The Disputed Question,” English Woman’s Journal (August 1858) Evelyn March Phillips, from “The Working Lady in London,” Fortnightly Review (August 1892) Clara Collet, from “The Employment of Women,” Report to the Royal Commission on Labour (1893) Frances H. Low, from “How Poor Ladies Live,” Nineteenth Century (March 1897) Eliza Orme, from “How Poor Ladies Live: A Reply,” Nineteenth Century (April 1897) Appendix E: Conditions of Work for Men in the White-Collar Sector James Fitzjames Stephen, from “Gentlemen” Cornhill Magazine (March 1862) B.O. Orchard, from The Clerks of Liverpool (1871) Charles Edward Parsons, from Clerks: their Position and Advancement (1876) Thomas Sutherst, from Death and Disease Behind the Counter (1884) H.G. Wells, from Kipps (1905) H.G. Wells, from Experiment in Autobiography (1934) Appendix F: Map of London (1892)Selected Bibliography
£22.75
Broadview Press Ltd Letters of a Hindu Rajah
Book SynopsisIn Translation of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah, Elizabeth Hamilton engages directly with the major issues of her day, from colonialism and the “New Philosophy” to the present state of literature and female education. Satirizing British society and incorporating material from a wide range of the orientalists’ new translations of Indian writing, Hamilton’s book is a key document in the debates which raged in England over the British role in India. It remains one of the most interesting political novels of the 18th century.Trade Review“This edition is an important contribution to scholarship in the long eighteenth century. The text itself richly rewards even a casual reading, providing a broad exploration of Anglo-Indian relations as well as lively portraits of eighteenth-century British life, from debates surrounding the education of women to the constitution of coffee houses and theatres. The explanatory notes in themselves provide an education about India in the eighteenth century and the introduction deftly compresses a massive amount of research on how Britons saw themselves in relation to Empire, and manages, by the way, to raise large questions about domestic class structures, and the role of the ‘Oriental tale’ in establishing British identity.” — Tara Ghoshal Wallace, George Washington University“By bringing her Hindoo narrator to England, Elizabeth Hamilton offers a telling critique of British gender formation, educational institutions and politics in the 1790s from the perspective of the ‘outsider.’ This fascinating novel, here expertly edited by Pamela Perkins and Shannon Russell, should be read and taught by anyone interested in post-colonial theory and gender studies, the literary representation of British imperialism in India and at home, the jacobin and anti-jacobin debates of the 1790s, the function of religion in women’s writing or the development of the political novel.” — Anne K. Mellor, UCLATable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionWorks CitedElizabeth Hamilton: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextTranslation of the Letters of a Hindoo RajahAppendix A: Select Contemporary Reviews The Critical Review, vol 17 (July 1796) The British Critic, vol 8 (Sept. 1796) Monthly Review, vol 21, second series (Oct. 1796) The Analytical Review, vol 24 (Oct. 1796) Scots Magazine, vol 59 (Jan. 1797) Appendix B: Major Revisions in the Second EditionAppendix C: Sir William Jones, Hymn to CamdeoAppendix D: Obituary attributed to Maria EdgeworthAppendix E: Selections from Letters
£26.55
Broadview Press Ltd Treasure Island (1883)
Book SynopsisThe adventure story told in Treasure Island has become a part of popular folklore. John Sutherland discusses the novel’s place in Stevenson's biography and oeuvre in his learned and lively critical introduction to this new edition. Exploring the novel's genesis in Stevenson's "plundering" of other writers, his writer's block, and the surprisingly disturbing and complex nature of what was meant to be a children's story, Sutherland argues for the enduring vitality and appeal of Stevenson's first novel.Appendices include Stevenson's writing about the novel, contemporary reviews, and sources on which Stevenson drew (or from which he borrowed) when writing Treasure Island.Trade Review“Easily accessible, bottom-of-the-page notes provide outstanding illumination of the text’s literary and historical contexts, particularly biblical and nautical references that might otherwise elude modern readers. No other edition provides a better insight into the (sometimes murky) compositional processes behind this classic work of fiction. For fans of Sutherland’s unique detective-style readings, the appendix of ‘puzzles and conundrums’ will prove an added bonus.” — Roslyn Jolly, University of New South Wales“Broadview’s new edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island is an excellent teaching text because of its detailed textual annotations, which help guide readers through the book’s nineteenth-century context. As a historian, I appreciate how these annotations, along with the five appendices, place Stevenson’s fantasy in context with popular seventeenth- and eighteenth-century textual influences on pirate mythology. John Sutherland finishes the edition with a series of ‘puzzles and conundrums’ raised by the story; these are bound to stimulate discussion in a seminar setting.” — Mark Hanna, University of California, San DiegoTable of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Robert Louis Stevenson: A Brief Chronology A Note on the Text Treasure Island Appendix A: Reviews of Treasure Island Appendix B: Robert Louis Stevenson, “My First Book” (1894) Appendix C: Treasure Island and Washington Irving’s Tales of a Traveller (1824) Appendix D: Treasure Island and Charles E. Pearce’s Billy Bo’swain (1873) Appendix E: Puzzles and Conundrums Select Bibliography
£15.95
Broadview Press Ltd A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder
Book SynopsisDrifting on a sailing boat off the Canary Islands, four British gentlemen take turns reading a manuscript that they find inside a copper cylinder discovered floating in the Atlantic Ocean. The manuscript recounts Adam More’s adventures after being lost at sea during an Antarctic voyage in 1844 and his life with the Kosekin, a lost civilization living at the South Pole. The values of the Kosekin are opposed to the civilized norm—they love death, abjection, and poverty. Their society may be well suited to their particular evolution, but it is profoundly disconcerting to the narrator, and it is radically contentious to the Victorian gentlemen who read and debate More’s account.This Broadview edition of James De Mille’s classic recreates the format of the posthumous 1888 Harper’s Weekly serial, including 18 original illustrations by Gilbert Gaul. The appendices allow the novel to be seen in terms of other satirical and scientific romance, Antarctic exploration, and contemporary geology. The introduction and notes tap into recent scholarship to bring to life De Mille’s genre innovations and his use of Orientalist and colonialist discourses.Trade Review“Daniel Burgoyne’s Broadview edition of A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder is a refreshing, re-energised insight into an old classic. It is both scholarly and accessible, bringing important scholarship, key graphics, and of course the work itself, into fresh perspective. What I especially value is the way the volume will appeal to both general readers and critics, and the way that more recent scholarship on the novel has been updated and synthesized to produce new understandings of this unusual Canadian phenomenon.” — Gerry Turcotte, President, St. Mary’s University College, Calgary, AlbertaTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionJames De Mille: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextA Kosekin GlossaryA Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper CylinderAppendix A: Antarctic ExplorationAntarctica Exploration Timeline From James Cook and Tobias Furneaux, A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World (1777) Book 1, Chapters 2-3, January 1773 Book 2, Chapter 6, January 1774 From Charles Wilkes, Synopsis of the Cruise of the .S. Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838-1842(1842) From Captain Sir James Clark Ross, A Voyage of Discovery in the Southern and Antarctic Regions (During the Years 1839-43) (1847) Volume 1, Chapter VII, 10 January 1841 Volume 1, Chapter VII, 27 January 1841 Volume 1, Chapter VIII, 28 January 1841 Appendix B: Nineteenth-Century Geology and Paleontology From Richard Owen, Geology and the Inhabitants of the Ancient World (1854) Pterodactyle Iguanodon Hylaeosaurus Megalosaurus Teleosaurus Enaliosauria (Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus) Labyrinthodon From Louis Figuier, The World Before the Deluge (1866) “whale of the saurians” Ideal Landscapes Coal Period Vegetation: From Louis Figuier, The World Before the Deluge (1866) From Elijah H. Burritt, Atlas Designed to Illustrate the Geography of the Heavens (1845) Appendix C: Savages and Cannibals From James Cook, A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World (1777) Volume 1, Book 2, Chapter 5, November 1773, Queen Charlotte’s Sound, New Zealand Volume 2, Book 3, Chapter 5, August 1774, Vanuatu Archipelago From Charles Darwin, Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle (1846) Appendix D: Historical Mythology: Caves and Troglodytes From Plato, The Republic of Plato (c. 380 BCE): The Allegory of the Cave From Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1843) From Thomas Hodgkin, “On the Ancient Inhabitants of the Canary Islands” (1848) Appendix E: Scientific Romance and Lost Worlds From John Cleves Symmes Jr., Symzonia; Voyage of Discovery (1820) From Edgar Allan Poe, “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym” (1838) Preface A History of Antarctic Exploration From Edward Bulwer Lytton, The Coming Race: or The New Utopia (1871) Orientalism Gender From Jules Verne, A Journey into the Interior of the Earth (1877) From Samuel Butler, Erewhon or Over the Range (1880) From Jonathan Swift, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver (1726) Appendix F: Reviews New York Times, 21 May 1888 Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 3 June 1888 The Week, July 1888 The Athenaeum, 15 December 1888 Works Cited and Recommended Reading
£24.26
Broadview Press Ltd Travels Through France and Italy (1766)
Book SynopsisTobias Smollett travelled through Europe with his wife in 1763-65 in a journey designed to recover his mental and physical health after the death of their daughter. The resulting travel narrative provoked controversy and anger in the eighteenth century, when it was often negatively compared to Laurence Sterne’s fictional European travels in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Unlike Sterne’s sensitive hero, Smollett is argumentative, acerbic, and often contemptuous of local customs.In addition to a critical introduction, this edition provides extensive annotation and appendices with material on Smollett’s correspondence, the book’s reception in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, related travel writing, and Smollett’s infamous satirization as “Smelfungus” in Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey.Trade Review“Acrimonious and ill-humored, acutely observed and shrewdly expressed, behold the notorious Travels of Tobias Smollett. A less sentimental traveler the world has hardly seen, whose life and opinions during an eighteen-month ramble through France and Italy stand confessed on the page in all the majesty of his spleen and intellect. The Travels are here rescued from the long shade cast upon them by Laurence Sterne, who sarcastically dismissed them as the philistine grousing of ‘Smelfungus.’ Editor Frank Felsenstein, who produced this classroom-ready volume for Broadview based on his definitive Oxford edition, has done a masterful job of relocating Smollett’s work in its contemporary contexts and critical tradition. With judicious notes, and a truly learned set of appendices that abridge two and a half centuries of reviews and responses, Felsenstein has brought into sharp focus the polarizing writer whose unstinting account of a less-than-grand tour is here made relevant and relatable to contemporary students of eighteenth-century life.” — Al Coppola, Assistant Professor of English, John Jay College, City University of New York, and Chair of the Columbia University Seminar in Eighteenth-Century European Culture“Frank Felsenstein has updated and enriched for the twenty-first century his excellent Oxford edition of Tobias Smollett’s irascibly entertaining Travels. Although Laurence Sterne, another great novelist and satirist, portrayed Smollett as the bad-tempered Smelfungus in his Sentimental Journey, published two years later, these non-fictional letters have some of the joys of Smollett’s fictional creation, the splenetic Matt Bramble, in his greatest novel, Humphry Clinker. The fresh material on offer here includes eighteenth- and nineteenth-century reader reception, select relevant passages from Smollett’s correspondence, art criticism of the time, information about the grand tour, and even the advertisement of a bookseller who sold Smollett’s volume to tourists on their way to France. Felsenstein’s Introduction and annotation are written with a high order of intelligence, clarity, and knowledge. This will be a welcome edition for students and the general reader.” — Robert Folkenflik, Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professor of English, University of California, Irvine“Authoritative and affordable, Mr. Felsenstein’s edition of Travels through France and Italy will become a favourite textbook for those who teach eighteenth-century travel writing and literary nonfiction … Mr. Felsenstein’s new edition—thoughtfully constructed, responsibility edited, carefully annotated—is welcome and timely.” — Christopher Johnson, The Scriblerian“I have always wanted a solidly researched and well annotated paperback edition of the letters, with notes at the bottom of the page (rather than those cumbersome endnotes), a good introduction, and a wide-ranging bibliography. Not only does this edition have these, it offers an excellent apparatus that includes a chronology of events related to the life of Montagu, and more than one hundred pages of addition information, ranging from selections of other letters by her, to a discussion of her role in the history of smallpox inoculation, and brief excerpts illustrating European views of Islam … I will use it in my courses.” — Nabil Matar, The ScriblerianTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionTobias Smollett: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextTravels through France and ItalyAppendix A: Selections from Smollett’s Correspondence To Richard Smith Esq. (8 May 1763) To Dr. William Hunter (14 June 1763) To Dr. William Hunter (11 July 1763) To Francis Seymour Conway, Earl of Hertford (11 July 1763) List of Books Prepared by Smollett and Sent with the Letter to Lord Hertford To Alexander Reid (3 August 1763) To Dr. William Hunter (11 August 1763) To Dr. William Hunter (6 February 1764) To Dr. John Moore (15 July 1765) To Dr. John Moore (13 November 1765) Appendix B: Contemporary Reviews From the St. James’s Chronicle (8 May 1766) From The Critical Review (May 1766) From The Monthly Review (June 1766) From The Royal Magazine (May 1766) From The London Magazine (May 1766) From the Journal Encyclopédique (August/September1766) From the Gazette Littéraire de l’Europe (15 February1766) From the Bibliothèque des Sciences et des Beaux Arts(1766) Appendix C: The Malevolent Philip Thicknesse From Philip Thicknesse, Observations on the Customs and Manners of the French Nation (1766) From the Notice of Thicknesse’s Observations on the Customs and Manners of the French Nation,The Critical Review (December 1766) From Philip Thicknesse, Useful Hints to Those Who Make the Tour of France (1768) From Philip Thicknesse, A Year’s Journey through France, and Part of Spain (1777) Appendix D: Laurence Sterne and “the learned Smelfungus” From [Laurence Sterne], A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768) From Letters of Laurence Sterne To Lady D[acre?] (9 July 1762) To Robert Foley (14 August 1762) To Robert Hay Drummond (7 May 1763) To Mrs. F[enton?] (1 February 1764) Appendix E: From Samuel Sharp, Letters from Italy (1766) Cicisbei Italian Inns The Arts of Rome Italian Gardens The English on the Grand Tour Appendix F: Late-Eighteenth-Century Responses to Smollett From Thomas McMahon, The Candor and Good-Nature of Englishmen Exemplified (1777) From Alexander Jardine, Letters from Barbary, France, Spain, Portugal, &c. (1788) From Francis Garden, Travelling Memorandums (1791) From Sir James Edward Smith, A Sketch of a Tour on the Continent (1793) Appendix G: Nineteenth-Century Responses to Smollett From The Port-Folio (November 1811) From Leigh Hunt, Correspondence (1862) From Sir Walter Scott, “Prefatory Memoir to Smollett” (1 September 1824) From W.J. Prowse, “Smollett at Nice” (April 1870) From Thomas Seccombe, “Smelfungus Goes South” (August 1901) Appendix H: Contexts Extract of a letter from Paris, Public Advertiser (1 November 1763) From Dodsley’s Annual Register (1762) Letter from George Bassmore to The London Magazine (September 1766) Extract of a letter from a “Plain Englishman,” The Gentleman’s Magazine (1787) Appendix I: The Venus de’ Medici in ContextAppendix J: A Bookseller in SittingbourneSelect BibliographyIndex
£26.96
Broadview Press Ltd The Story of Little Dombey and Other Performance
Book SynopsisIt is widely known that Charles Dickens gave public readings of his works, and that those readings were enormously popular. Far less well known are the stories themselves; these were not, as is the modern fashion, taken verbatim from the published novels. Instead, Dickens trimmed, reworded, and re-shaped material from the novels to create stories that would be self-contained artistic entities. These concise “performance fictions,” shaped in every way to be accessible to a broad audience, are in many ways an ideal introduction to Dickens’s work for the modern reader.Four of the most successful of these short works have been selected for this volume, including “The Story of Little Dombey” (perhaps the most emotionally affecting of all the readings, and described by Dickens as his “greatest triumph everywhere”) and the violent and suspenseful “Sikes and Nancy” (Dickens’s overpowering performances of which were said to have contributed to his death). Provided in the contextual materials is a selection of reviews and contemporary descriptions that comment on Dickens’s manner of performance and audience reception. A brief excerpt from Dombey and Son is also included, illustrating the extensive revision process that led to “The Story of Little Dombey.” Trade Review“The deftness with which Dickens crafts … self-contained stories is particularly striking. … Broadview volumes [such as these] provide valuable and accessible introductions.” — Times Literary Supplement“The compact narratives used by Dickens for his dramatic platform performances extract the essence of his comic and pathetic genius and always make for a great read. But in the Broadview edition you also get a wealth of well-considered commentary and contextual material that can bring them into sharp intellectual focus for any college class concerned with the Victorian era.” — Graham Law, Waseda University“This concise but helpfully contextualized selection from the public readings will give students a fuller sense of Dickens—not just the writer but the performer, celebrity, and public figure.” — Leah Price, Harvard University“This outstanding collection of Dickens’s public readings includes a helpful introduction, which very usefully places his performance fictions in the context of his personal life and literary career. The introduction and contextual documents contain illuminating material about Dickens’s process of editing and revising his novels for his public readings. Of particular interest are the contemporary reviews and descriptions of Dickens’s performances, which give readers an exceptional illustration of Dickens as performer.” — Sarah Alexander, University of VermontTable of ContentsIntroductionPerformance FictionsA Note on the TextThe Story of Little DombeyMrs. GampDavid CopperfieldSikes and NancyIn Context: The Readings of Charles Dickens From Novel to Performance Fiction from Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son (1846–48)from Charles Dickens, “The Story of Little Dombey” (1858) Reviews “Mr. Charles Dickens’s Readings,” The Era (13 June 1858)from “Mr. Charles Dickens’s Readings,” The Belfast News-Letter (30 August 1858)from “Charles Dickens in Derby,” The Derby Mercury (27 October 1858)“Mr. Charles Dickens,” The Times (8 January 1859)from “Mr. Dickens’s First Reading,” The New York Times (10 December 1867)from “Mr. Dickens as a Reader,” The New York Times (16 December 1867)Mark Twain, “Charles Dickens,” The Alta California (5 February 1868) Descriptions from Kate Field, Pen Photographs of Charles Dickens’s Readings (1868)from Charles Kent, Charles Dickens as a Reader (1872)
£15.15