Literary studies: general Books

Book SynopsisIn her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and tricks of the masters to discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humour and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart - to take pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; to look to John le Carre for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue and to Flannery O'Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail; to be inspired by Emily Bronte's structural nuance and Charles Dickens's deceptively simple narrative techniques. Most importantly, Prose cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which all literature is crafted, and reminds us that good writing comes out of good reading.Trade Review"For everyone studying English literature this book should be required reading; it is a wonderful explanation of how writers build their books from the words upwards." -- Daisy Goodwin The Sunday Times "a clarion call for aspiring writers to do that most simple, time-consuming but enjoyable thing: their homework ...Prose's forthright, waspish and often very funny book is a plea to all writers for vigour and clarity, one which encourages them to tend to the details of technique, and the mastery of language, as closely as they tend to their own ambition." -- Louise Doughty The Observer 'astute and enthusiastic commentary for writers and readers' Times Literary Supplement 'a volume that shows how to judge a book not by its cover, or even by its subject matter, but by the quality of its writing' Culture, The Sunday Times 'an essential book for any writer...who purports to take his or herself remotely seriously' The New Review, Observer 'Delightful and edifying...a fabulous book I intend to keep permanently to hand' Bookseller 'informative and inspiring' Good Book Guide

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Book SynopsisA biography of the book that inspired Prince to adopt purple as his signature color, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Richard Powers to become a writer, and countless other creative people to become artists.A primer on the art and design of children''s picture books, renowned children''s literature scholar Philip Nel takes the reader on an illustrated tour through all that made Crockett Johnson''s Harold and the Purple Crayon an astonishing success: from Harold''s clear line, Johnson''s carefully planned improvisation, the Garamond typeface, the real Harolds who inspired the title character, how Johnson overcame his editor''s initially lukewarm reaction, to the role of the book''s three colors (purple, brown, white), and whether or not the tan-hued Harold himself is a child of color. In a series of microhistories that ripple outward from Harold and the Purple Crayon, 30 brief chapters explore the big ideas behind this small book. Johnson''s classic raises questions about the nature of reality; creative expression during the Cold War; the implied audience of children''s literature; abstract art versus representational art; and the color of crayons, ink, and people. All of these questions depend upon how children''s picture books work--in this case, the apparent invisibility of Johnson''s design choices, the limits imposed by the offset color lithography printing process, the history of the crayon, and the book''s circulation into the hands of many real children around the world.This small book explores the pleasures of looking closely. Indeed, picture books are many people''s introduction to looking closely. As a portable gallery, the picture book is a democratic art form, requiring only a library card to view. In modeling the pleasures of sustained attention, this book invites you to look closely at art that interests you--picture books, of course, but any kind of art. When you look, listen, or read closely, what questions does the art invite?

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Book SynopsisA unique collection of Moliere's four greatest verse comedies in new translation: The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, The School for Wives and The Clever Women, plus two short plays, The School for Wives Criticized and The Impromptu at Versailles.Trade ReviewBoth prose and verse translations do full justice to Moliere's wit and ingenuity, and make reading this book highly enjoyable. * TLS 01.09.10 her to produce versions that are much more successful in *Slater completes her impressive achievement by including sparkling versions of the two polemical plays in prose. * TLS *Table of ContentsTHE SCHOOL FOR WIVES; THE SCHOOL FOR WIVES CRITICIZED; THE IMPROMPTU AT VERSAILLES; TARTUFFE; THE MISANTHROPE; THE CLEVER WOMEN

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Book Synopsis'York Notes Advanced' offer an accessible approach to English Literature. This series has been completely updated to meet the needs of today's A-level and undergraduate students. Written by established literature experts, 'York Notes Advanced' introduce students to sophisticated analysis, a range of critical perspectives and wider contexts.Table 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 Synopsis'Charlotte Higgins's Red Thread is a masterwork' Ali SmithA thrillingly original, labyrinthine journey through myth, art, literature, history, archaeology and memoir. The tale of how the hero Theseus killed the Minotaur, finding his way out of the labyrinth using Ariadne's ball of red thread, is one of the most intriguing, suggestive and persistent of all myths, and the labyrinth - the beautiful, confounding and terrifying building created for the half-man, half-bull monster - is one of the foundational symbols of human ingenuity and artistry. Charlotte Higgins, author of the Baillie Gifford-shortlisted Under Another Sky, tracks the origins of the story of the labyrinth in the poems of Homer, Catullus, Virgil and Ovid, and with them builds an ingenious edifice of her own. Along the way, she traces the labyrinthine ideas of writers from Dante and Borges to George Eliot and Conan Doyle, and of artists from Titian and Velázquez to Picasso and Eva Hesse. Her intricately constructed narrative asks what it is to be lost, what it is to find one's way, and what it is to travel the confusing and circuitous path of a lived life. Red Thread is, above all, a winding and unpredictable route through the byways of the author's imagination - one that leads the reader on a strange and intriguing journey, full of unexpected connections and surprising pleasures.Trade ReviewCharlotte Higgins's Red Thread is a masterwork, an open-eyed analysis of the everyday mazery we face without even realising it, and an understanding of psychic and narrative architecture that's a pretty crucial piece of equipment for wherever and whenever we find ourselves lost. I read it on the balcony of a hotel in Rome... and it was as if the city itself opened playfully and thoughtfully around the reading experience in its amalgam of pasts and presents, histories and mysteries.Any bookshelf would be graced by the presence of [Red Thread]… [it] ask[s] readers to surrender to the unpredictable pleasures of getting lost… playful and gorgeously written. -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * Guardian *A serious, substantial, scholarly and yet also highly personal book about mazes… Red Thread is a book to admire as much as to enjoy. -- Ian Sansom * Spectator *[Charlotte Higgins] is no ordinary author. Her thrillingly original book – it really is like no other – is itself a sort of maze of facts and thoughts, ancient tales and modern phenomena… on every page there is a sparkling idea or a fascinating piece of information. It is also beautifully written… a beautifully produced volume, full of colour illustrations of sculptures and paintings and tantalising maps of mazes. -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *In this beautifully produced and richly illustrated book… Charlotte Higgins takes us on a fascinating meander through the art and literature of the last 2,500 years… After reading this book you will see labyrinths everywhere. -- Michael O’Loughlin * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisA new edition of this classic from one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century. Features the definitive Clarendon edition of Villette which is sourced from the earliest printings of Brontë's great work. The text is supplemented with a newly commissioned introduction, which gives a thorough and in depth analysis of the context of this fine example of the nineteenth century novel.

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Book Synopsis"York Notes Advanced" aim to help make the study of literature more fulfilling and lead to exam success. They should also be of interest to the general reader, as they cover the widest range of popular literature titles. This title covers "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams.Table 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 Synopsis''I have lately written...a tale, to illustrate an opinion of mine, that a genius will educate itself.''Mary Wollstonecraft is best known for her pioneering views on the rights of women to share equal rights and opportunities with men. Expressed most forcefully in her Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), her forthright opinions also inform her two innovative novels, Mary and The Wrongs of Woman, a fictional sequel to the Vindication. In both novels the heroines have to rely on their own resources to establish their independence and intellectual development. Mary learns to take control of her destiny and become a social philanthropist, while Maria, in The Wrongs of Woman, fights imprisonment and a loveless marriage to claim her rights.Strongly autobiographical, both novels powerfully complement Wollstonecraft''s non-fictional writing, inspired by the French Revolution and the social upheavals that followed. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made ava

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Book SynopsisWe have become suspicious, rightly, of claims for literary greatness, but in Sebald's case the claim was triumphantly justified. He was, he is, the real thing' John Banville, GuardianFrom acclaimed critic, novelist and academic W. G. Sebald, author of Austerlitz and The Rings of Saturn, a collection of essay on the Austrian writers who meant so much to him - appearing for the first time in EnglishAs a German in self-chosen exile from his country of birth, Sebald found a particular affinity with these writers from a neighbouring nation. The traumatic evolution of Austria from vast empire to diminutive Alpine republic, followed by its annexation by Germany, meant that concepts such as home/land', borderland' and exile' occupy a prominent role in its literature, just as they would in Sebald's own.Through a series of remarkable close readings of texts by Bernhard, Stifter, Kafka, Handke, Roth and more, Sebald charts both the pathologies which so often drove their work and the seismic historical forces which shaped them. This sequence of essays will be a revelation to Sebald's English-language readers, tracing as they do so many of the themes which animate his own literary writings, to which these essays form a kind of prelude.''A writer whose life and work has become a wonderful vindication of literary culture in all its subtle and entrancing complexity'' GuardianSebald was probably the greatest intellect and voice of the late twentieth century' Antony Beevor, The TimesTrade ReviewReading him feels like being spoken to in a dream... An extraordinary presence in contemporary literature * New Yorker on *A writer whose life and work has become a wonderful vindication of literary culture in all its subtle and entrancing complexity * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1993. This book explores the process by which individuals reconstruct the meaning and significance of past experience. Drawing on the lives of such notable figures as St Augustine, Helen Keller and Philip Roth as well as on the combined insights of psychology, philosophy and literary theory, the book sheds light on the intricacies and dilemmas of self-interpretation in particular and interpretive psychological enquiry more generally.The author draws upon selected, mainly autobiographical, literary texts in order to examine concretely the process of rewriting the self. Among the issues addressed are the relationship of rewriting the self to the concept of development, the place of language in the construction of selfhood, the difference between living and telling about it, the problem of facts in life history narrative, the significance of the unconscious in interpreting the personal past, and the freedom of the narrative imagination. AlphTable of Contents1. Rewriting the Self 2. The Story of a Life 3. In the Name of the Self 4. Living to Tell About It 5. Fact and Fiction 6. The Primal Scenes of Selfhood 7. Who to Become. Epilogue: Toward a Poetics of Life History

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Book SynopsisFrom William Faulkner's famous reply, 'The writer's only responsibility is to his art,' to James Salter's confession 'What is the ultimate impulse to write? Because all this is going to vanish', the Paris Review has elicited many of the most arresting, illuminating, and revealing discussions of life and craft from the greatest writers of our age. Under its original editor, George Plimpton, the Paris Review is credited with inventing the modern literary interview, and more than half a century later the magazine remains the master of the form. By turns intimate, instructive, gossipy, curmudgeonly, elegant, hilarious, cunning, and consoling, the Paris Review interviews have come to be celebrated as classic literary works in their own right. Now, from the treasure trove of the archives, Paris Review editor Philip Gourevitch has selected twenty of the most essential interviews for the first of a four volume set. The authors are: Dorothy Parker, Truman Capote, Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, Saul Bellow, Jorge Luis Borges, Kurt Vonnegut, James M. Cain, Rebecca West, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Stone, Robert Gottlieb, Richard Price, Billy Wilder, Jack Gilbert and Joan Didion.Trade ReviewNothing is lonelier or riskier than being a writer, and these interviews provide writers at all stages the companionship and guidance they need. -- Edmund WhiteThe Paris Review Interviews, in their old Penguin trade paperback editions, were objects of wonder that formed my first and fiercest impression of what it was to be an author. I still ascribe any vivid remembered quote to their pages, even when it didn't appear there. -- Jonathan LethemI have all the copies of the Review and like the interviews very much. They will make a good book when collected and that will be very good for the Review. -- Ernest Hemingway

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Book SynopsisA Place in the Country is a window into the brilliant mind of W. G. Sebald''The greatest writer of our time'' Peter CareyWhen W. G. Sebald travelled to Manchester in 1966, he packed in his bags certain literary favourites which would remain central to him throughout the rest of his life and during the years when he was settled in England. In A Place in the Country, he reflects on six of the figures who shaped him as a person and as a writer, from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Jan Peter Tripp. Fusing biography and essay, and finding, as ever, inspiration in place - as when he journeys to the Ile St. Pierre, the tiny, lonely Swiss island where Jean-Jacques Rousseau found solace and inspiration - Sebald lovingly brings his subjects to life in his distinctive, inimitable voice.''A fascinating volume that confirms Sebald as one of Europe''s most mysterious and best-loved literary imaginations'' Evening Standard''SebalTrade ReviewA fascinating volume that confirms Sebald as one of Europe's most mysterious and best-loved literary imaginations * Evening Standard *Sebald was in possession of the uncanny ability to make his own intellectual obsessions, immediately, compulsively his reader's * Observer *Shows a writer at his most inquisitive, gazing deeply under the surface of things * Financial Times *Irresistible . . . an intimate anatomy of the pathos, absurdity and perverse splendour of trying to find patterns in the chaos of the world * Independent *Erudite, truthful, moving * The Times *A beautiful book . . . about the crazy quest for meaning, and how we persist with it despite the shadows that slide towards us -- Joanna Kavenna * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisEasy to use in the classroom or as a tool for revision, Oxford Literature Companions provide student-friendly analysis of a range of popular A Level set texts. Each book offers a lively, engaging approach to the text, covering characterisation and role, genre, context, language, themes, structure, performance and critical views, whilst also providing a range of varied and in-depth activities to deepen understanding and encourage close work with the text. Each book also includes a comprehensive Skills and Practice section, which provides detailed advice on assessment and a bank of exam-style questions and annotated sample student answers. This guide covers The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster and is suitable for the most recent AS/A level specifications.

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Book SynopsisGerman writers, from Luther and Goethe to Heine, Brecht, and Günter Grass, have had a profound influence on the modern world. This Very Short Introduction presents an engrossing tour of the course of German literature from the late Middle Ages to the present, focussing especially on the last 250 years. Emphasizing the economic and religious context of many masterpieces of German literature, it highlights how they can be interpreted as responses to social and political changes within an often violent and tragic history. The result is a new and clear perspective which illuminates the power of German literature and the German intellectual tradition, and its impact on the wider cultural world. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade ReviewBoyle has a sure touch and an obvious authority...this is a balanced and lively introduction to German literature. * Ben Hutchinson, TLS *highly impressive... Professor Boyle concentrates on creating a lucid, wide-ranging historical background against which each of the five periods is brought to life, with a challenging choice of examples * Forum for Modern Language Studies *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Bourgeois and the Official: A Historical Overview ; 2. The Laying of the Foundations (to 1781) ; 3. The Age of Idealism (1781-1832) ; 4. The Age of Materialism (1832 to 1914) ; 5. Traumas and Memories (1914-) ; Further Reading & References ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe Lives of the Poets is one of the greatest works of English criticism, but also one of the most diverting. This is the only one-volume paperback edition to make available Johnson's most substantial Lives in unabridged form. Texts are drawn from Roger Lonsdale's authoritative complete edition, and introduced by John Mullan.Trade ReviewIt's fascinating...a mightily entertaining survey of literature and literati. * Sunday Telegraph *The 'Lives of the Poets', combining mournfully droll biography with brilliant literary criticism, is as enjoyable as anything he wrote. * John Mullan, Saturday Guardian *Table of ContentsCowley ; Milton ; Rochester ; Dryden ; Congreve ; Gay ; Savage ; Swift ; Pope ; Gray

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Book SynopsisThis volume offers John Webster''s two great Jacobean tragedies, The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, together with his brilliant tragicomedy, The Devil''s Law-Case, and the comedy written with William Rowley, A Cure for a Cuckold. Webster is a radically and creatively experimental dramatist. His tragedies deploy shifting dramatic perspectives which counteract and challenge conventional moral judgements, while the predominantly gentler tone of his comedies and tragicomedies responds inventively to contemporary changes in dramatic taste and fashion. All four plays display the provocative intelligence of a profoundly original playwright. Under the General Editorship of Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is detailed annotation, a glossary, and a critical introduction which traces Webster''s artistic development, defends him against charges of over-indulgence in violence, and explores his sophisticated staging and scenic forms. 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.Table of ContentsThe White Devil ; The Duchess of Malfi ; The Devil's Law-Case ; A Cure for a Cuckhold

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Book SynopsisOne of Shakespeare's later plays, best described as a tragi-comedy, the play falls into two distinct parts. In the first Leontes is thrown into a jealous rage by his suspicions of his wife Hermione and his best-friend, and imprisons her and orders that her new born daughter be left to perish. The second half is a pastoral comedy with the "lost" daughter Perdita having been rescued by shepherds and now in love with a young prince. The play ends with former lovers and friends reunited after the apparently miraculous resurrection of Hermione. John Pitcher's lively introduction and commentary explores the extraordinary merging of theatrical forms in the play and its success in performance. As the recent Sam Mendes production at the Old Vic shows, this is a play that can work a kind of magic in the theatre.Trade Review'a play where miracles do happen and redemption does eventually come, but at a terrible price' Lyn Gardner, Guardian, 22.9.09 'Like all of Shakespeare's later plays, this is a realistic fairy tale' John Peter, Sunday Times, 20.9.09

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Book SynopsisThe Jew of Malta, written around 1590, can present a challenge for modern audiences. Hugely popular in its day, the play swings wildly and rapidly in genre, from pointed satire, to bloody revenge tragedy, to melodramatic intrigue, to dark farce and grotesque comedy. Although set in the Mediterranean island of Malta, the play evokes contemporary Elizabethan social tensions, especially the highly charged issue of London's much-resented community of resident merchant foreigners. Barabas, the enormously wealthy Jew of the play's title, appears initially victimized by Malta's Christian Governor, who quotes scripture to support the demand that Jews cede their wealth to pay Malta's tribute to the Turks. When he protests, Barabas is deprived of his wealth, his means of livelihood, and his house, which is converted to a nunnery. In response to this hypocritical extortion, Barabas launches a horrific (and sometimes hilarious) course of violence that goes well beyond revenge, using murderous tactics that include everything from deadly soup to poisoned flowers. The play's sometimes complex treatment of anti-Semitism and its relationship to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice remain matters of continuing scholarly reflection. This new edition is expertly edited with an accompanying introduction that addresses issues of performance, cultural and historical context, interpretation and the key themes explored by the play. Arden Early Modern Drama editions offer the best in contemporary scholarship, providing a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary and guiding the reader to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the play. This edition provides: A clear and authoritative text Detailed on-page commentary notes A comprehensive, illustrated introduction to the play’s historical, cultural and performance contexts A bibliography of references and further readingTrade ReviewA farce of terribly serious, even savage comic humour. * T.S Eliot *Table of ContentsIntroduction List of Illustrations The Jew of Malta Appendices Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics.''It''s a poor sort of memory that only works backward.''In Carroll''s sequel to Alice''s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice once again finds herself in a bizarre and nonsensical place when she passes through a mirror and enters a looking-glass world where nothing is quite as it seems. From her guest appearance as a pawn in a chess match to her meeting with Humpty Dumpty, Through the Looking Glass follows Alice on her curious adventure and shows Carroll''s great skill at creating an imaginary world full of the fantastical and extraordinary.

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Book SynopsisThree extraordinary characters caught in a web of fatal obsession are at the centre of Hugo's novel. The grotesque hunchback Quasimodo, bell-ringer of Notre-Dame, owes his life to the austere archdeacon, Claude Frollo, who in turn is bound by a hopeless passion to the gypsy dancer Esmeralda. She, meanwhile, is bewitched by a handsome, empty-headed officer, but by an unthinking act of kindness wins Quasimodo's selfless devotion. Behind the central figures moves apageant of picturesque characters, ranging from the cruel, superstitious king, Louis XI, to the underworld of beggars and petty criminals. These disreputable truands' night-time assault on the cathedral is one of the most spectacular set-pieces of Romantic literature. Hugo vividly depicts medieval Paris, where all life is dominated by the massive cathedral. His passionate enthusiasm for Gothic architecture is set within the context of an epic view of mankind's history, to which he attaches even more importance than to the novelTrade ReviewAlban Krailsheimer's fluent new translation more than does justice to a great romantic classic. * Max Davidson, Weekend Telegraph *

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Book Synopsis`It will be the biggest fiasco of the year - but I don''t care a damn! It will be something nobody has ever done before, and I shall have said what I had to say.'' As Joris -Karl Huysmans announced in 1884, Against Nature was fated to be a novel like no other. Resisting the models of classic nineteenth-century fiction, it focuses on the attempts of its anti-hero, the hypersensitive neurotic and aesthete, Des Esseintes, to escape Paris and the vulgarity of modern life. Holed up in his private museum of high taste, he offers Huysmans''s readers a treasure trove of cultural delights which anticipates many of the strains of modernism in its appreciation of Baudelaire, Moreau, Redon, Mallarmé and Poe. This new translation is supplemented by indispensable notes which enhance the understanding of a highly allusive work. 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''

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Part of the fun of the book is the way in which Eagleton prompts, provokes and at times infuriates. How to read How to Read Literature? . . . as an ideal introductory guide to critical analysis, and a thoroughly enjoyable reminder of Eagleton’s own skill and subtlety as a reader."—Felicity James, Times Higher Education Supplement"A pleasingly readable overview of what we talk about when we talk about books. . . . Incisive and honest."—Michael Washburn, Boston Globe"How to Read Literature is a lively and engaging primer on basic strategies for appreciating literature, a kind of English 101 in a book."—Washington Post"This is Eagleton at his most charming and an excellent guide for literature students early in their education or those seeking a refresher course."—Publishers Weekly"This book is seriously good fun. Teachers should pounce on it with glee, especially if they have tried for weary years to tell students, daunted by having to comment on great literary works, that poems and novels are not alarming, for they are composed only of words. Of course students themselves may not read the book, students being what they are, but those entrusted with their education should rejoice. It is, says Terry Eagleton in his preface, a guide for beginners. But it is much more than that. Like fireworks over Sydney harbour, it fizzes and explodes with ideas. You don’t have to be either teacher or beginner to relish it: Eagleton is so full of enthusiasm that you just need to be able to read. His canvas is broad. He is unafraid of tackling anything, from “Baa Baa Black Sheep” to “Lycidas”, and he is splendidly unpompous."—Sue Gaisford, Tablet"Eagleton is alive to the complexity of literature and to a commonsense clarity. . . . In a cheering way, Eagleton believes in literary value and thinks an inability to recognise it would be as absurd as someone who is into single-malt whisky not being willing to admit a great one when he tasted it. . . . This is as brilliant as an absolutely sensible book about literature could be. Anyone intrigued by the subject, as well as quite a few who have long been bemused by it, will read it with intense pleasure."—Peter Craven, The Sydney Morning Herald"This is not only an entertaining book, it's an important one. What Eagleton refers to as "slow reading", after Nietzsche, seems horribly endangered as a human activity. He draws us back to basics here, in a sequence of sharp analyses, taking into account the essential aspects of intelligent reading. I love his breezy style, so accessible and concrete; yet he never sacrifices nuance or subtlety. This is a book for every reader, not only beginners, yet it will prove immensely useful in the classroom."—Jay Parini, author of Why Poetry Matters

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Book SynopsisExam Board: Cambridge Assessment International EducationLevel & Subject: Cambridge International AS & A Level Literature in EnglishFirst teaching: September 2019 First examination: from 2021The Student's Book introduces the key concepts and skills in the Cambridge International syllabus, with a focus on developing effective writing from the start, to give students a toolkit for responding to unseen texts and exploring the set texts in depth.Develops effective writing throughout with dedicated activities and exemplar student writing to model different ways of responding to texts.Structured to help students make progress: each unit offers a clear, step-by-step learning sequence, moving from exploration to supported analysis to independent writing, and building towards examination-style tasks at the end of each chapter.Supports and challenges all learners. The first chapter of the book introduces the fundamental skills and concepts for the course, building learners' confidence and support

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Book SynopsisYork Notes Advanced offer a fresh and accessible approach to English Literature. This market-leading series has been completely updated to meet the needs of today's A-level and undergraduate students. Written by established literature experts, York Notes Advanced intorduce students to more sophisticated analysis, a range of critical perspectives and wider contexts.

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Book SynopsisThis Roman play is one of Shakespeare's last tragedies, best known for its political and military themes. Its hero, Coriolanus, is a proud General who does not hesitate to show his arrogant and outspoken contempt of the Roman rabble. The Tribunes banish him and he raises an army to take his revenge on Rome. He finally concedes to the pleas of his mother to spare the city and leaves only to be publicly killed by his former allies. Peter Holland is a former Director of the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford upon Avon and President of the Shakespeare Association of America. He is a pre-eminent international scholar. His comprehensive Introduction and commentary notes open up the language, themes and ideas in this complex yet richly rewarding play for the student and teacher. The play is discussed in its historical and critical contexts and its theatrical history is analysed too.Trade ReviewThis is a mighty powerhouse of a work: passionately outward-looking in its engagement with the play's afterlife in theatre, poetry and film ... Holland's style is delightfully engaging and inclusive ... This is a remarkable piece of scholarship, and an indispensable work for anyone wishing to understand Coriolanus better. -- Jane Kingsley-Smith, Roehampton University, UK * Around the Globe *Holland’s edition offers an idiosyncratic and entertaining version of Coriolanus that is suited to a play that poses relatively few textual problems, demonstrating that even a play that only exists in one early witness is reproduced differently in each edition, performance and re-reading ... The edition is a triumph of careful work, and testament to the importance of aligning theatrical, linguistic and historical approaches in the careful preparation of an edition. -- Peter Kirwan, UK * Editionen in der Kritik *This is a rich and creatively suggestive Coriolanus edition that does justice to the play as product of a complex social, stage, and literary history and as an equally complex cultural performance text. -- Barbara Correll, Cornell University, USA * Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen *Great introduction - strong on political context and topicality, and great treatment of the new Fiennes movie adaptation. The best modern edition of Coriolanus on the market. -- Matthew Woodcock, University of East Anglia, UKTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION Coriolanus in the 1930s Beginnings Reading Dating: Writing and Performance Voting and Citizenship Coriolanus and Early Modern Politics Shaping the Play Coriolanus Rethought: Brecht, Osborne, Grass Filming Coriolanus (2011) THE PLAY Longer Notes Textual Analysis Appendices: 1. Coriolanus in Performance: A Skeletal History 2. Casting Coriolanus Abbreviations and References Index

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Book SynopsisThis handsomely produced publication is the first of a two volume set exploring an outstanding collection of leaves and miniatures from medieval manuscripts. Brimming with beautiful illustrations, this welcome contribution to medieval scholarship covers a period from the late 9th to the late 15th centuries and incorporates new discoveries in this still growing field.The turbulent times when Napoleon’s troops were sweeping over Europe under the banner of secularization, seeking to suppress ecclesiastical influence within the sphere of political power, had disastrous consequences especially for ecclesiastical libraries, which were broken up and looted. The Italian religious houses had their cultural treasures destroyed or moved out of context and spread all over the world to satisfy a growing market for medieval art. These fatal years (1796–99) coincide with a major interest in early Italian painting, when French and English connoisseurs joined their Italian colleagues in a systematic study of early Italian art, producing fundamental studies on the subject.Essentially the deplorable practice of breaking up manuscripts and liturgical books was not all that different from the inglorious process of dismembering giant medieval altarpieces, whose single pieces were made available to a growing market and, consequently, dispersed among different collections. Thus, in the present day, one of the major tasks of the art historian is the attempt to reassemble these fragments and present them in virtual reconstructions, reconstituting their original context. By doing this, scholars create the foundation for any further art-historical analysis of a work of art. This task is one of the important objectives in cataloguing the present collection.The miniatures and single leaves in the McCarthy collection, which has been formed in the past two or three decades – between 1990 and today – are manifestly the fruit of the destructive, but at the same time a conservational effort. Even though assembled in relatively recent years, the McCarthy collection stands in line with many similar anthologies of miniature in private or public hands. However, by contrast to other similar collections, the McCarthy collection has not limited its focus just on one school of European illumination, the Italian centres of illumination, but aims to present a vast panorama of this sophisticated art, which, to use Dante’s words, was called ‘illumination’ (‘... quell arte ch’alluminar chiamata è in Parisi’; Purgatorio, XI, 79–80).The present volume is dedicated to the holdings of single leaves and miniatures from medieval Italian manuscripts, which cover a period from the late 9th to the late 15th centuries, and are enriched by a few Byzantine items, appropriately included here and discussed by Georgi Parpulov. The focus on late 13th- and early 14th-century illumination in the collection demonstrates McCarthy’s predilection for the medieval and early Gothic world, which also becomes apparent in his holdings of French and German illumination, to be discussed by Peter Kidd in volume II, to be announced shortly.

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Book SynopsisAn inquiry into the theories and practices of overhearing When words are not heard but overheard, when phrases are perceived in bits and pieces, and when speakers, failing to do as they intend, state things that they never meant to say, the saying, in its unsteady relation to understanding, becomes an event. That event has long been studied by a disparate company of interpreters: prophets, priests, and rabbis, poets and philosophers, linguists, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts, novelists and filmmakers. All have suggested that in the contingencies of discourse, there are precious indications to be gleaned, for which special techniques are required. In Far Calls, Daniel Heller-Roazen reconstructs such arts of detection, interweaving ancient, medieval, and modern examples. From the rituals of the ancient Greeks, Jews, and Romans to Freud and Lacan, from Augustine’s catching of a salvific scrap of speech to the inspiration that Breton and Yeats, Proust and Joyce, drew from profane cries and transmissions, Far Calls explores the powers of sonorous coincidence and the varieties of reading that it incites.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on the work of authors such as Oliver Sacks, Anatole Broyard, Norman Cousins, and Audre Lorde, as well as the people he met during the years he spent among different illness groups, the author recounts a collection of illness stories.

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Book SynopsisThérèse Raquin is a clinically observed, sinister tale of adultery and murder among the lower orders in nineteenth-century Paris. Zola''s dispassionate dissection of the motivations of his characters, mere `human beasts'' who kill in order to satisfy their lust, is much more than an atmospheric Second Empire period-piece. Many readers were scandalized by an approach to character-drawing which seemed to undermine not only the moral values of a deeply conservative society, but also the whole code of psychological description on which the realist novel was based.Together with the important `Preface to the Second Edition'' in which Zola defended himself against charges of immorality, Thérèse Raquin stands as a key early manifesto of the French Naturalist movement, of which Zola was the founding father. Even today, this novel has lost none of its power to shock.This new translation is based on the second edition of 1868. The Introduction situates the novel in the context of Naturalism, medicine, and the scientific ideas of Zola''s day. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade Review'Andrew Rothwell captures the tone of Th`rése Raquin, reproducing its meodramatic overstatements, accumulations and repetitions faithfully, yet at the same time his text is inventive and abounds in felicitous touches ... there is a thought-provoking discussion of the text's narrative structure, its symbolic and metaphorical patterns and the ways in which the author's exchanges with Manet and the Impressionists coloured his descriptions.' Joy Newton, University of Glasgow, French Studies, Vol. 47, Part 3'Three Classic tales of sexual passion, perversion, and corruption have been added to the rapidly increasing World's Classics collection, whose repertoire of nineteenth-century French novels is now impressive. The price and format of these volumes make them an obvious choice for the reader approaching them in translation, the more so since each is accompanied by a helpful general introduction ... the reader is likely to get better vaqlue here than from other translations currently in print.' Timothy Unwin, University of Western Australia, MLR, 89./2, 1994

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Book SynopsisTable 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 Synopsis''An indispensable writer ... Calvino, possesses the power of seeing into the deepest recesses of human minds and then bringing their dreams to life'' Salman RushdieThe difference between life and literature; the good intentions of holiday reading; the avante-garde; the fate of the novel; the fantastical; the art of translation: these are just some of the ideas in The Written World and the Unwritten World. A collection of essays, articles, interviews, correspondence, notes and other occasional pieces on writing, reading and interpreting books, this work gives us new insight into Italo Calvino''s expansive, curious and generous mind.Translated by Ann GoldsteinTrade ReviewElectric . . . this rich collection of essays, reviews, interviews and more . . . are not only the backstory to his fictional method, but often another expression of it -- Tim Adams * Observer *Engagingly whimsical . . . a wry sense of humour . . . there are gems to be mined. And, like real precious stones, they are found in unlikely places * Economist *Glimmering insight and wit . . . incisive . . . reading this book is time spent with a first-rate mind -- Chris Power * The Sunday Times *Playful . . . unfailingly stimulating . . . there are plenty of delights -- John Self * Guardian *It is for these moments of pathos, irony and honesty, when palaces of dazzling reflection are swept aside and the most adventurous thinking is undone, that one reads Italo Calvino -- Tim Parks * TLS *Intelligent, witty, pleasingly erudite and razor-sharp -- Alberto Manguel * Literary Review *Wonderful . . . surveys his varied interests and discerning style . . . Calvino's prose is sparkling as ever, and he approaches ideas with wit and an open mind, always ready to challenge a stale point of view. This anthology will delight Calvino fans old and new * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisThis acclaimed short study, originally published in 1983, and now thoroughly updated, elucidates the varied theoretical contributions of Roland Barthes (1915-80), the ''incomparable enlivener of the literary mind'' whose lifelong fascination was with the way people make their world intelligible. He has a multi-faceted claim to fame: to some he is the structuralist who outlined a ''science of literature'', and the most prominent promoter of semiology; to others he stands not for science but pleasure, espousing a theory of literature which gives the reader a creative role. This book describes the many projects, which Barthes explored and which helped to change the way we think about a range of cultural phenomena - from literature, fashion, wrestling, and advertising to notions of the self, of history, and of nature. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade ReviewReview from other book by this author It is impossible to imagine a clearer treatment of the subject, or one that is, within the given limits of length, more comprehensive. Culler has always been remarkable for his expository skills, and here he has found exactly the right method and tone for his purposes. * Sir Frank Kermode *Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. Man of parts ; 2. Literary Historian ; 3. Mythologist ; 4. Critic ; 5. Polemicist ; 6. Semiologist ; 7. Structuralist ; 8. Hedonist ; 9. Writer ; 10. Man of Letters ; 11. Barthes after Barthes ; Bibliography

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Book SynopsisOne of a series designed to motivate and encourage students who may be working on certain writers for the first time. Each text includes notes to explain literary and historical allusions, tasks to help students explore themes and issues, and suggestions for further reading.Trade ReviewThis edition is very useful for students studying the text, as it has lots of notes on the play at the back. Also it gives you contextual information about Marlowe and the play at the beginning * 5 star Amazon review *

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Book SynopsisThomas More: Utopia/ Francis Bacon: New Atlantis/Henry Neville: The Isle of Pines With the publication of Utopia (1516), Thomas More introduced into the English language not only a new word, but a new way of thinking about the gulf between what ought to be and what is. His Utopia is at once a scathing analysis of the shortcomings of his own society, a realistic suggestion for an alternative mode of social organization, and a satire on unrealistic idealism. Enormously influential, it remains a challenging as well as a playful text. This edition reprints Ralph Robinson''s 1556 translation from More''s original Latin together with letters and illustrations that accompanied early editions of Utopia. Utopia was only one of many early modern treatments of other worlds. This edition also includes two other, hitherto less accessible, utopian narratives. New Atlantis (1627) offers a fictional illustration of Francis Bacon''s visionary ideal of the role that science should play in the modern society. Henry Neville''s The Isle of Pines (1668), a precursor of Defoe''s Robinson Crusoe, engages with some of the sexual, racial, and colonialist anxieties of the end of the early modern period. Together these texts illustrate the diversity of the early modern utopian imagination, as well as the different purposes to which it could be put. 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.Table of ContentsUtopia ; New Atlantis ; The Isle of Pines

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Book Synopsis Koritha Mitchell analyzes canonical texts by and about African American women to lay bare the hostility these women face as they invest in traditional domesticity. Instead of the respectability and safety granted white homemakers, black women endure pejorative labels, racist governmental policies, attacks on their citizenship, and aggression meant to keep them in 'their place.' Tracing how African Americans define and redefine success in a nation determined to deprive them of it, Mitchell plumbs the works of Frances Harper, Zora Neale Hurston, Lorraine Hansberry, Toni Morrison, Michelle Obama, and others. These artists honor black homes from slavery and post-emancipation through the Civil Rights era to 'post-racial' America. Mitchell follows black families asserting their citizenship in domestic settings while the larger society and culture marginalize and attack them, not because they are deviants or failures but because they meet American standards. Powerful and pTrade Review"Brilliant scholar and literary critic, Koritha Mitchell, shows us just how radical the act of successful homemaking was for Black women in the face of the violence it elicited from white people. Analyzing canonical Black women's texts, she shows us just how committed, loving, and defiant Black women have been in creating home in the world and in literature." ―Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times Bestselling author of What the Truth Sounds Like"This project on homemade citizenship will reframe the conversation around anti-blackness by mapping how black women intellectuals, activists and artists continually respond–and with great success–to attacks and infringements upon their collective creative efforts. This work is a needed subtlety, as it approaches categories like 'achievement' and 'success' from the fabric of black cultural production, rather than the font of white supremacy’s violent response to black existence. From Slave Cabins to the White House encourages us to ask new questions, one of which is certainly how did we/do we make a home and sustain it creatively in the midst of ongoing hostilities?"--Sharon Patricia Holland, author of The Erotic Life of Racism"This deeply researched, thoughtful volume made me think in new ways about how Black women have navigated, redefined and articulated concepts of home, domesticity, family, place and citizenship in American culture and politics; it is also a true pleasure to read."--Rebecca Traister, New York Times bestselling author of All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation"An essential, scholarly volume for academic and larger public library collections devoted to the literary traditions and history of African American women throughout U.S. history." * Library Journal *"Mitchell sheds light on Black homemaking in the midst of anti-Blackness and oppression." * Ms. *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: House Slaves, Housekeepers, Homemakers Chapter 1. A Home of One’s Own Chapter 2. No, Really: A Home of One’s Own Chapter 3. New Negroes, New Homes Chapter 4. Home as Human Right and Black Power Chapter 5. Still the Master’s House? Chapter 6. The Ultimate Home: Michelle Obama in the White House Coda: From Mom-in-Chief to Predator-in-Chief Notes Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisOffers an interpretation of Sylvia Plath's writing, claiming that previous interpretations - both feminist and psychoanalytic - have been too polarized.

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Book SynopsisYork Notes Advanced offers a fresh and accessible approach to English Literature. This market-leading series has been completely updated to meet the needs of today's A-level and undergraduate students. Written by established literature experts, York Notes Advanced introduces students to more sophisticated analysis, a range of critical perspectives and wider contexts.

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Book SynopsisYork Notes Advanced offer a fresh and accessible approach to English Literature. This market-leading series has been completely updated to meet the needs of today's A-level and undergraduate students. Written by established literature experts, York Notes Advanced intorduce students to more sophisticated analysis, a range of critical perspectives and wider contexts.

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Book SynopsisYork Notes Advanced offer a fresh and accessible approach to English Literature. This market-leading series has been completely updated to meet the needs of today's A-level and undergraduate students. Written by established literature experts, York Notes Advanced intorduce students to more sophisticated analysis, a range of critical perspectives and wider contexts.Table 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 SynopsisWhat do we mean by ‘Scottish literature’? Why does it matter? How do we engage with it? Bringing infectious enthusiasm and a lifetime’s experience to bear on this multi-faceted literary nation, Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow, sets out to guide you through the varied and ever-evolving landscape of Scottish literature. A comprehensive and extensive work designed not only for scholars but also for the generally curious, Scottish Literature: an introduction tells the tale of Scotland’s many voices across the ages, from Celtic pre-history to modern mass media. Forsaking critical jargon, Riach journeys chronologically through individual works and writers, both the famed and the forgotten, alongside broad overviews of cultural contexts which connect texts to their own times. Expanding the restrictive canon of days gone by, Riach also sets down a new core body of ‘Scottish Literature’: key writers and works in English, Scots, and Gaelic.Ranging across time and genre, Scottish Literature: an introduction invites you to hear Scotland through her own words.Trade Review‘Obviously indispensable; I am learning new facts and possibilities on every page.’ – Neal Ascherson ‘It takes women and men of prodigious faculty to advance the institution of a National Literature.’ – Niyi Osundare ‘The presiding spirit over this book is Hugh MacDiarmid…’ – Stuart Kelly ‘Scottish Literature: An Introduction, Alan Riach’s magnum opus, is all that the term implies. It is encyclopaedic, refreshing, personal and yet detached, and it has provoked me into buying Gavin Douglas’s Aeneid, The Eneados, which is a bloody good read, as is the book that prompted its purchase!’ – John Purser ‘Alan Riach’s Scottish Literature: An Introduction is excellent – incredibly comprehensive! I think it is pitched at exactly the right level for the audience it’s aimed it at. I’m already well into it and am looking forward to reading the whole book.’ – Ronald Renton

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Book SynopsisIntroducing a new generation to the book that changed humanities scholarship.Trade ReviewOne of the most influential texts in gender studies, men's studies and gay studies. New York Times Book Review Groundbreaking... Between Men not only put Sedgwick on the map as a queer theorist, it helped to establish the field of queer literary analysis. -- Jane Hu Page-Turner blog, The New Yorker Strikingly relevant now. -- J. Bryan Lowder Slate Between Men will lead you into the small corners where vast plains open up-the perspective-defying, vertiginous angles that Sedgwick has the power to reveal with a density and graciousness that permit exaltation and inaugurate utopia. -- From the foreword by Wayne KoestenbaumTable of ContentsForeword: The Eve Effect, by Wayne Koestenbaum Preface to the 1993 Edition Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Gender Asymmetry and Erotic Triangles 2. Swan in Love: The Examples of Shakespeare's Sonnets 3. The Country Wife: Anatomies of Male Homosocial Desire 4. A Sentimental Journey: Sexualism and the Citizen of the World 5. Toward the Gothic: Terrorism and Homosexual Panic 6. Murder Incorporated: Confessions of a Justified Sinner 7. Tennyson's Princess: One Bride for Seven Brothers 8. Adam Bede and Henry Esmond: Homosocial Desire and the Historicity of the Female 9. Homophobia, Misogyny, and Capital: The Example of Our Mutual Friend 10. Up the Postern Stair: Edwin Drood and the Homophobia of Empire Coda. Toward the Twentieth Century: English Readers of Whitman Notes Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis''You can leave a forest, but you can never leave a cloister; you are free in the forest, but you are a slave in the cloister.''Diderot''s The Nun (La Religieuse) is the seemingly true story of a young girl forced by her parents to enter a convent and take holy orders. A novel mingling mysticism, madness, sadistic cruelty and nascent sexuality, it gives a scathing insight into the effects of forced vocations and the unnatural life of the convent. A succès de scandale at the end of the eighteenth century, it has attracted and unsettled readers ever since. For Diderot''s novel is not simply a story of a young girl with a bad habit; it is also a powerfully emblematic fable about oppression and intolerance.This new translation includes Diderot''s all-important prefatory material, which he placed, disconcertingly, at the end of the novel, and which turns what otherwise seems like an exercise in realism into what is now regarded as a masterpiece of proto-modernist fiction. ABOUT THE SERIES: Trade ReviewRussell Goulbourne's wide-ranging introduction shows clearly how the work's past significance and it present meaning are linked: Goulbourne's excellent translation maintains the reader's involvement without sacrificing accuracy. * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThe Gothic is wildly diverse. It can refer to ecclesiastical architecture, supernatural fiction, cult horror films, and a distinctive style of rock music. It has influenced political theorists and social reformers, as well as Victorian home décor and contemporary fashion. Nick Groom shows how the Gothic has come to encompass so many meanings by telling the story of the Gothic from the ancient tribe who sacked Rome to the alternative subculture of the present day.This unique Very Short Introduction reveals that the Gothic has predominantly been a way of understanding and responding to the past. Time after time, the Gothic has been invoked in order to reveal what lies behind conventional history. It is a way of disclosing secrets, whether in the constitutional politics of seventeenth-century England or the racial politics of the United States. While contexts change, the Gothic perpetually regards the past with fascination, both yearning and horrified. It reminds us that neither societies nor individuals can escape the consequences of their actions.The anatomy of the Gothic is richly complex and perversely contradictory, and so the thirteen chapters here range deliberately widely. This is the first time that the entire story of the Gothic has been written as a continuous history: from the historians of late antiquity to the gardens of Georgian England, from the mediaeval cult of the macabre to German Expressionist cinema, from Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy to American consumer society, from folk ballads to vampires, from the past to the present. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION: A HISTORY OF THE GOTHIC IN THIRTEEN CHAPTERS; FURTHER READING

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Book SynopsisLa Reine Margot (1845) is a novel of suspense and drama, re-creating the violent world of intrigue, murder and duplicity of the French Renaissance. Dumas fills his canvas with a gallery of unforgettable characters, unremitting action and the engaging generosity of spirit which has made him one of the world's greatest and best-loved story-tellers. This is a modernized version of a classic translation of 1846 by the award-winning translator, DavidCoward.

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Book Synopsis`I have made a terrible discovery ... I have not yet been born ... I live off borrowed substance; what I have within me is not mine.'' In his four last plays Federico García Lorca offered his disturbed and disturbing personal vision to Spanish audiences of the 1930s - unready, as he thought them, for the sexual frankness and surreal expression of his more experimental work. The ill-fated lovers of Blood Wedding, the desolate Yerma, the fading spinster Rosita, and Bernarda Alba''s abused household of women all inhabit a familiar Andalusia. Their predicaments are starkly plotted, with a stagecraft rooted in classical theatrical tradition. In such figures Lorca addresses the cultural and political ferment of his time with a fiercely libertarian assault on ''old and wrong moralities'', fusing the personal and the political through his virtuoso mastery of images. Yet all that mastery can barely keep at bay the anguished contradictions of these doomed human lives. Hence the authentic sense of danger - the duende, to use his own word of Lorca''s theatre, finely conveyed here in John Edmunds''s fluent and rhythmic new translations that lend themselves admirably to performance. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewHis versions are accurate ... faithful ... fluent and idiomatic; they look like utterances of English ... Readers can be sure that the texts will not lead them astray, but they will also be grateful for the quite excellent introductory essay by Nick Round. This is a characteristically gritty display of erudition and common sense ... extremely well-prepared edition. * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsBlood Wedding ; Yerma ; The House of Bernada ; Dona Rosita the Spinster

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