Literary studies: poetry and poets Books

Book SynopsisThese essays develop key advances in Pound studies. They respond to the new availability of primary sources and bring new insights to the analysis of Pound's poetry and prose. The essays integrate recent developments in literary studies, such as transnationalism, gender and sexuality, sound studies, and textual genetics.Trade Review'The essay is informative and will be useful to readers interested in modernist publishing culture and book history. It also contains a substantial amount of unpublished material from Pound's archives, much of which is intelligently analyzed.' Robert Harris, Journal of Modern LiteratureTable of ContentsEditor's introduction Mark Byron; Part I. Pound's Texts: 1. Classical literature Leah Culligan Flack; 2. Early medieval philosophy and textuality Mark Byron; 3. Ezra Pound's Pisan Cantos: the promise and the limits of the archive Ronald Bush; 4. 'Scoured and cleansed': Ezra Pound and musical composition Josh Epstein; 5. The visual field: beyond vorticism Rebecca Beasley; 6. Texts of The Cantos and theories of literature Michael Kindellan; 7. Pound and influence Richard Parker; Part II. Ezra Pound and Asia: 8. Pound's representation of the Chinese frontiers: from the war zone to the green world Akitoshi Nagahata; 9. 'A treasure like nothing we have in the occident': Ezra Pound and Japanese literature Andrew Houwen; 10. Ezra Pound and Chinese poetry Jeffrey Twitchell-Waas; Part III. Culture and Politics: 11. The transnational turn Josephine Park; 12. Pound, gender, sexuality Carrie J. Preston; 13. Italian fascism Anderson Araujo; 14. Late Cantos, 'Aesopian language' states' rights, and John Randolph of Roanoke Alec Marsh; 15. Copyright Archie Henderson; 16. The temple and the scaffolding: The Cantos of Ezra Pound and digital culture Roxana Preda; Afterword. 'Read Him'.

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Book SynopsisVirgil''s fourth Eclogue is one of the most quoted, adapted and discussed works of classical literature. This study traces the fortunes of Eclogue 4 in the literature and art of the Italian Renaissance. It sheds new light on some of the most canonical works of Western art and literature, as well as introducing a large number of other, lesser-known items, some of which have not appeared in print since their original publication, while others are extant only in manuscript. Individual chapters are devoted to the uses made of the fourth Eclogue in the political panegyric of Medici Florence, the Venetian Republic and the Renaissance papacy, and to religious appropriations of the Virgilian text in the genres of epic and pastoral poetry.The book also investigates the appearance of quotations from the poem in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century fresco cycles representing the prophetic Sibyls in Italian churches.Trade Review'This excellent volume will be a valuable guide and resource for scholars of Renaissance literature and of classical reception, and should be made available in every university library.' Syrithe Pugh, International Journal of the Classical TraditionTable of ContentsEclogue 4: text and translation; Part I. Prolegomena: 1. Introduction: noua progenies; 2. A new age: the Virgilian Renaissance; Part II. Politics: 3. Florentine fantasies: Maro and the Medici; 4. Maritime Maro: Virgil in Venice; 5. Princely propaganda: the Italian states; 6. Vatican vaticinations: the Papal Golden Age; Part III. Religion: 7. Poet and Christian? The Messianic Fourth Eclogue; 8. tua dicere facta: the Messianic epic; 9. A child is born: the Nativity eclogue; 10. teste Sibylla: Virgil in church; Epilogue: time regained.

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Book SynopsisPART I: PERFORMANCE EFFECTS Introduction: Materializing the Immaterial Theorizing Theatrical Privilege: Rethinking Weimann's Concepts of Locus and Platea PART II: THEATRICAL WAYS OF KNOWING Staging Sight: Visual Paradigms and Perceptual Strategies in Love's Labor's Lost Imaginary Forces: Allegory, Mimesis, and Audience Interpretation in The Spanish Tragedy PART III: EXPERIENCING EMBODIED SPECTACLE Dancing and Other Delights: Spectacle and Participation in Doctor Faustus and Macbeth Artful Sport: Violence, Dismemberment, and Games in Titus Andronicus , Cymbeline , and Doctor FaustusTrade Review"Shakespeare and the Materiality of Performance powerfully redirects our attention as scholars of early modern drama to the fact that the plays we discuss were performed before audiences carrying specific cultural assumptions about what it meant to engage in watching and listening to theatrical spectacle. This book is of value to scholars interested in performance theory more broadly but will also be useful to historicist scholars seeking to understand the nuances of bodies, actors, and representational drama converging in particular moments upon the early modern stage . . . Lin's analyses are sharp, provocative, and helpful for scholars seeking to approximate early modern ideological and social conditions of interpretative strategies in theater." - Journal of the Northern Renaissance "Lin's close-readings of the play are often penetrating . . . [Lin] does not overstate the claims she makes; she is cautious with numbers in particular. She is precise with her examples." - Shakespeare Jarhbuch "Lin's reading of early modern performance traditions and spectatorship serves as a valuable working model for scholars of drama seeking to marry rigorous historical investigations with critical theory. For those interested in reception theory, material studies, and early modern stage practices, Shakespeare and the Materiality of Performance can be read productively alongside other studies in historical phenomenology as well as early modern audience and reception studies." - Theatre Survey ". . . Lin establishes that our theatrical experiences are radically different and how we enter into, perceive, and understand the dramatic stage has little in common with our ancestors . . . In assessing this 'theatrical language', Lin turns to the notion of materiality itself, something which she rightly points out has become a significant focus of Shakespearean studies . . . She emphasizes the role of the theatre and 'entertainment' in the construction of early modern lives, a role - and a visual vocabulary - that we need to learn in order to fully appreciate the differences, rather than the similarities of our play-words" Shakespeare Survey "In comparing [Cymbline's] representations of mutilation and dismemberment onstage with other accounts, such as the execution of criminals, accounts of martyrdom, and violent murders, Lin establishes the importance of the body, and how it (and its parts) may have been viewed by the audience." Year's Work in English Studies "...This is an important book for scholars of early modern drama in performance. It could also enrich the work of practitioners, and its examination of the psychology of audiences could benefit cognitive studies as well. Lin's work is engaging and at times even exciting: there is a sense that she is revealing hidden mysteries of the past, that the reader is entering the early modem playhouse as it once was. I wish that more scholars would engage in such meticulously informed speculation about practices that we can never fully recover through other means. Lin also provides convincing explanations for a number of puzzling spots in the plays. She is especially good at pointing out the blinders that modem scholars and practitioners wear because of their own cultural and theatrical assumptions." Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England "Although Lin examines an impressive range of documents to construct historically situated interpretive paradigms, most astute are her analyses of episodes that critics have either ignored or explained through 'elaborate conjectures', such as the witches' dance in Macbeth and the irreverent stage play of bodily mutilation in Titus Andronicus (p. 157). Lin's work intervenes in the study of early modern drama and culture and shifts the conversation toward a focus on those who populated the offstage world of the play. These interpreters might well have considered Hamlet as the show with the exciting 'swordfight in the final act' and understood Doctor Faustus as a play that 'sports with severed limbs' (p. 164), and so, perhaps, should we." Theatre Research InternationalTable of ContentsPART I: PERFORMANCE EFFECTS Introduction: Materializing the Immaterial Theorizing Theatrical Privilege: Rethinking Weimann's Concepts of Locus and Platea PART II: THEATRICAL WAYS OF KNOWING Staging Sight: Visual Paradigms and Perceptual Strategies in Love's Labor's Lost Imaginary Forces: Allegory, Mimesis, and Audience Interpretation in The Spanish Tragedy PART III: EXPERIENCING EMBODIED SPECTACLE Dancing and Other Delights: Spectacle and Participation in Doctor Faustus and Macbeth Artful Sport: Violence, Dismemberment, and Games in Titus Andronicus , Cymbeline , and Doctor Faustus

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Book SynopsisThis important new book is the first monograph on children's poetry written between 1780 and 1830, when non-religious children's poetry publishing came into its own. Introducing some of the era's most significant children's poets, the book shows how the conventions of children's verse and poetics were established during the Romantic era.Trade Review“The strength of this ambitious monograph lies in the quality of its extensive historical and archival research. In recovering a wealth of children’s secular verse forms, this impressive and rich study is an important and much welcomed addition to the fields of both Romanticism and Children’s Literature Studies.” (Katherine Ingle, Charles Lab Bulletin, Vol. 161, Spring, 2016)“British Children’s Poetry in the Romantic Era is a valuable study of a poetic tradition that has long been rendered invisible by the reigning Romantic aesthetic. … The book is written in a clear yet exploratory prose style, never straying far from its sources as it allows them to guide its lines of inquiry. … British Children’s Poetry is productively utilitarian, offering teachers and scholars a rich taxonomic vocabulary.” (Angela Sorby, Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, Vol. 40 (4), Winter, 2016)“Ruwe’s thorough and thought-provoking formalist study tracks metrical patterns and evaluates the frequency of dramatic, narrative and lyric modes by authors such as Adelaide O’Keeffe and Sara Coleridge. Detailed, perceptive, and crisply written, Ruwe’s case studies identify and define an area that, thanks to her scholarship, will attract much more attention in years to come.” (SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, Vol. 55 (4), Autumn, 2015)'[British Children's Poetry in the Romantic Era] features numerous black-and-white illustrations, and the appendices of chapbooks and the rest of the apparutus all display a thoroughness which reveals the fourteen years it took to complete this pioneering work.' - Times Literary Supplement 'Donelle Ruwe's monograph is an excellent study of secular children's verse between 1780 and 1835. As you would expect from the editor of Culturing the Child: Essays in Memory of Mitzi Myers (2005) and Co-President of 18th- and 19th-century British Women Writers Association, Ruwe is an erudite scholar and a flag-bearer for women writers of the past. What a delight to have a book devoted to children's poetry covering a relatively short period of history so that insightful in-depth analysis is possible. As the vast majority of Romantic era poetry for children was written by women, what a joy to find the pages full of references to the often neglected Taylors, O'Keeffe, Smith et al. Ruwe has been extremely thorough in her investigation of children's poetry of the Romantic period and has come up with exciting and original new research.' - Morag Styles, IRSCL JournalTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Reading Romantic-Era Children's Verse 2. Myths of Origin: Original Poems for Infant Minds 3. The Mother Attitudes: Ann Taylor's "My Mother" and the Rise of the Sentimental 4. Teaching Nature and Nationalism: Adelaide O'Keeffe and the Poetry of Active Learning 5. Utilitarian Poetry: Versified Study Guides and Riddles, and the Handmade Verse Cards of Sara Coleridge 6. The Limits of the Romantic-Era Children's Poem: The Case of The Butterfly's Ball

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Book SynopsisThe Wonder Paradox offers a lively, practical, and transcendent road map to meaning and connection through poetry.Where do we ?nd magic? Peace? Connection?We have calendars to mark time, communal spaces to bring us together, bells to signal hours of contemplation, o?cial archives to record legacies, the wisdom of sages read aloud, weekly, to map out the right way to livein kindness, justice, morality. These rhythms and structures of society were all once set by religion. Now, for many, religion no longer runs the show.So how then to celebrate milestones? Find rules to guide us? Figure out which texts can focus our attention but still o?er space for inquiry, communion, and the chance to dwell for a dazzling instant in what can't be said? Where, really, are truth and beauty? The answer, says The Wonder Paradox, is in poetry.In twenty chapters built from years of questions and conversations with those looking for an authentic and mea

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Book SynopsisA Sidney Chronology: 1554-1654 offers a comprehensive chronological survey of the literary, political and personal history of the Sidney family of Penshurst Place, Kent.Table of ContentsGeneral Editor's Preface Preface List of Abbreviations Introduction A Sidney Chronology Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe book is the first study of the 10th century Iraqi poet Ibn al-Hajjaj who popularized a new genre of obscene and scatological parody (sukhf) and is considered the most obscene poet in Arabic literature. Antoon traces the genealogy of this fascinating genre in and examines its rise by placing it in its sociopolitical context.Trade Review"Exciting and vital to the unearthing of new trajectories for the Arabic literary tradition . . . [Antoon's book] is a timely and uplifting work, which must be taken seriously and built upon." - Journal of the Society for Contemporary Thought and the Islamicate World 'Sinan Antoon is among the few scholars who in recent years have embarked on the unprejudiced study of what in Arabic is called muj?n or sukhf. It is not surprising that until recently in the West, and still in most Islamic countries, the study of obscenity and scatology was hampered by moral and religious scruples, aided by aesthetic prejudice. This makes the present study all the more welcome and important. Scholarly and thorough, it is also readable (if one can stomach the poems with their unstoppable outpouring of filth), written in an accessible style, neither marred by the excessive use of jargon nor suffering from being clothed in a straightjacket of Theory. The numerous translations of poems are reliable and accompanied by the Arabic text in transliteration.' - Geert Jan van Gelder, Laudian Professor of Arabic, University of Oxford, UK "This groundbreaking study opens up for the first time an important and fascinating, but heretofore studiously avoided, aspect of classical Arabic literature." - Everett K. Rowson, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University, USATable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Ibn al-?ajj?j and Sukhf: Genealogies 2. Parodying the Tradition 3. Sukhf in Mad?? 4. Sukhf as sukhf : Abü Nuw?s, Mujün and Ibn al-?ajj?j 5. Sukhf , Scatology and Society Conclusion

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Book SynopsisCelebrated as a poet, novelist and non-fiction writer, and the winner of numerous major literary prizes including the Whitbread Poetry Prize, the T.S. Eliot Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, John Burnside is one of Britain's leading contemporary writers. John Burnside: Contemporary Critical Perspectives brings together leading scholars of contemporary literature to guide readers through the full range of the author''s writings, from his fiction and poetry to his autobiographical and nature writing, exploring texts such as The Dumb House, The Light Trap, A Lie about My Father, Glister and Black Cat Bone. The book examines the major themes of Burnside''s work, including the environment and the natural world, hauntings and dwelling, and his intertextual engagement with philosophy, music and the visual arts. Featuring a timeline of Burnside's life, an interview with the writer himself and a detailed list of further reading, this is the firstTrade ReviewThis is a rich and insightful collection. Drawing on a wide variety of Burnside’s texts, and exploring themes ranging from masculinity to spirituality, and animals to ghosts, the contributors offer the most comprehensive account of Burnside’s writing to date. The volume will expand readers’ understanding of the diversity of Burnside’s work, and cements his importance within the contemporary literary canon. * Dr Timothy C. Baker, Senior Lecturer in Scottish and Contemporary Literature, University of Aberdeen *This first book-length academic survey of John Burnside’s work brings home just how hard it is to think of another living writer whose distinctive style extends so impressively across poetry, memoir, and fiction. Often drawing on currents of thought with which Burnside is in sympathy (particularly the work of Heidegger), the expert contributors identify, analyse, and explore tropes and preoccupations that permeate his oeuvre. Special attention is paid to Burnside’s deep ecological commitment, and to his often disturbing intermingling of haunted lyricism with irrationality, violence, and a frequently frustrated search for healing. * Robert Crawford, Professor of Modern Scottish Literature and Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Poetry, University of St Andrews, UK *John Burnside: Contemporary Critical Perspectives provides a long overdue exploration of John Burnside’s works. Though Burnside has received relatively little critical attention to date, he is one of the most important contemporary Scottish writers, with a prolific output spanning across genres. The essays collected here engage with all the major strands of Burnside’s works, including his interest in the metaphysical, spiritual and supernatural, as well as issues of masculinity, gender and class. The volume’s admirable breadth does justice to the expansiveness of Burnside’s oeuvre, from his poems and novels, to his autobiographical and non-fiction writings. * Astrid Bracke, Lecturer in British literature, HAN University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands *Table of ContentsSeries Editors’ Preface Foreword: Nicholas Royle Acknowledgements Contributors Chronology of John Burnside’s Life INTRODUCTION By Way of an Introduction: John Burnside, Writer Ben Davies (University of Portsmouth) CHAPTER ONE John Burnside’s Metaphysical World: From The Dumb House to A Summer of Drowning Peter Childs (Newman University, Birmingham) CHAPTER TWO John Burnside’s Numinous Poetry Jan Wilm (Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, Essen, Germany) CHAPTER THREE ‘A temporary, sometimes fleeting thing’: Home in John Burnside’s Poetry Monika Szuba (Gdansk University, Poland) CHAPTER FOUR Violent Dwellings and Vulnerable Creatures in Burning Elvis and Something Like Happy Alexandra Campbell (University of Edinburgh) CHAPTER FIVE ‘This learned set of limits and blames’: Masculinity, Law and Prohibition in the Work of John Burnside Ruth Cain (University of Kent) CHAPTER SIX Consequences of Pastoral: The Dialectic of History and Ecology in The Light Trap Tom Bristow (University of Durham) CHAPTER SEVEN Walking the Tightrope: Félix Guattari’s Three Ecologies and John Burnside’s Glister Phil Pass (Independent Scholar) CHAPTER EIGHT ‘A Kindred Shape’: Hauntings, Spectres and the Poetics of Return in John Burnside’s Verse David Borthwick (University of Glasgow) CHAPTER NINE ‘It was suddenly hard winter’: John Burnside’s Crossings Julian Wolfreys (University of Portsmouth) INTERVIEW The Space at the back of the Mind: An Interview with John Burnside Ben Davies (University of Portsmouth) Notes Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisIntroduction: Remaking Shakespeare: Performance Across Media, Genres and Cultures; P.Aebischer and N.Wheale Shakespeare in the Fourth Dimension: Twelfth Night and American Sign Language; P.Novak Modernity, Post-Coloniality and Othello: The Case of Saptapadi; P.Chakravarti Reading 'Other Shakespeares'; P.Trivedi Othello's Travels in New Zealand: Shakespeare, Race and National Identity; C.Silverstone 'Alas poor country!': Documenting the Politics of Performance in Two British Television Macbeths Since the 1980s; S.Greenhalgh Julius Caesar in Interesting Times; J.Chothia Will! Or Shakespeare in Hollywood: Anthony Burgess's Cinematic Presentation of Shakespearean Biography; K.H.Smith The Singing Shakespearean: Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost and the Politics of Genre; R.Wray Romeo and Juliet: The Rock and Roll Years; R.Shaughnessy Re-Incarnations; B.Hodgdon IndexTable of ContentsIntroduction: Remaking Shakespeare: Performance Across Media, Genres and Cultures; P.Aebischer and N.Wheale Shakespeare in the Fourth Dimension: Twelfth Night and American Sign Language; P.Novak Modernity, Post-Coloniality and Othello: The Case of Saptapadi; P.Chakravarti Reading 'Other Shakespeares'; P.Trivedi Othello's Travels in New Zealand: Shakespeare, Race and National Identity; C.Silverstone 'Alas poor country!': Documenting the Politics of Performance in Two British Television Macbeths Since the 1980s; S.Greenhalgh Julius Caesar in Interesting Times; J.Chothia Will! Or Shakespeare in Hollywood: Anthony Burgess's Cinematic Presentation of Shakespearean Biography; K.H.Smith The Singing Shakespearean: Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost and the Politics of Genre; R.Wray Romeo and Juliet: The Rock and Roll Years; R.Shaughnessy Re-Incarnations; B.Hodgdon Index

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Book SynopsisBlake's Night Thoughts discusses Blake as a poet and artist of night, considering night through graveyard poetry and Young in the eighteenth-century, urbanism in the nineteenth and Levinas and Blanchot's writings in the twentieth.Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: 'The Sun is Gone Down' 'In the Silent of the Night' Young, and 'Weary Night' Night Dreams: The Four Zoas 'I see London, Blind...' 'Forests of the Night': Blake and Madness Dante's 'Deep and Woody Way' Notes Index

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Book SynopsisNICHOLAS MARSH previously taught English at Francis Holland School, Regent's Park, London, UK, and is Fellow of the English Association. He is author of the popular How to Begin Studying English Literature, now in its third edition and many titles in the Analysing Texts series, of which he is also the General Editor.

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Book SynopsisRICHARD BRADFORD is Professor of Literary History and Theory at the University of Ulster, UK. His publications include The Novel Now, acclaimed biographies such as First Boredom, Then Fear: The Life of Philip Larkin and The Life of a Long Distance Writer: The Authorised Biography of Alan Sillitoe, and introductory student textbooks Introducing Literary Studies and Stylistics (New Critical Idiom).

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Book SynopsisSurrealist Poetry presents new English translations of nearly 150 poems alongside their original French and Spanish versions.Founded by André Breton in 1924, Surrealism sought to examine the unconscious realm by means of the written or spoken word. Seeking to expand the ability of language to evoke irrational states and improbable events, it consistently strove to transcend the linguistic status quo. By stretching language to its limits and beyond, the Surrealists transformed it into an instrument for exploring the human psyche. The twenty-three poets in this collection come not only from France, where Surrealism was invented, but also from Spain, Belgium, Martinique, Mauritius, Catalonia, Mexico, Chile, and Peru. Three of them were awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (Vicente Aleixandre, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz). Equipped with a critical introduction and a brief bibliography, this anthology will appeal to anyone interested in modern literature.Trade ReviewThis wide-ranging collection of poetry is outstanding in its ambition and achievements. Encompassing the work of twenty-three Surrealist poets across the Surrealist epicentre in France, to Spain, the Francophone world and Latin America, the beautifully presented side-by-side translation of poems allows for a holistic view of the vast breadth of Surrealist poetic enquiry ... [Bohn's] choice of a relatively small number of poets allows for an appreciation of a larger selection of each writer’s works: his admittedly streamlined approach, purposely devoid of any overbearing critical apparatus, allows the poems and poets to speak for themselves. This inclusive and even-handed approach will undoubtedly prove very useful to scholars of the twentieth century across disciplines. * Forum for Modern Language Studies *Willard Bohn’s well-researched, carefully chosen, and deftly translated selection of poems by many of the key names in French- and Spanish-speaking Surrealism has done the movement a great service ... [It] deals with both French and Spanish examples with bravery, skill, sensitivity, and aplomb. * Translation and Literature *Willard Bohn's Surrealist Poetry is a venture full of courage: that of a single translator interpreting French and Spanish poems of the Surrealist persuasion. He has done it—thanks be—with a sufficiently ample selection from each of the poets chosen to represent their highly individual takes on the marvelous junction of the real and unreal. Never are the selections uninteresting or flat: they are faithful to Surrealism itself. * Mary Ann Caws, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature, English, and French, Graduate School of the City University of New York, USA, and editor of The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry and Surrealist Love Poems *This bilingual anthology is a considerable achievement and an excellent complement to Bohn’s The Dada Market: An Anthology of Poetry (1983) and Reading Visual Poetry (2011). Many readers will be indebted to him for his translations of a wide selection of poems in French and Spanish written by poets both famous and unfamiliar. This anthology fills a large gap as it demonstrates the potency of the Surrealist ambition to liberate the imagination and with it poetic language. * C. Brian Morris, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Spanish Literature, University of California, Los Angeles, USA, and author of Surrealism and Spain 1920-1936 (1972) *Table of ContentsIntroduction Rafael Alberti Vicente Aleixandre Louis Aragon Braulio Arenas Antonin Artaud André Breton André Breton, René Char, and Paul Eluard Luis Cernuda Aimé Césaire René Char Malcolm de Chazal Robert Desnos Paul Eluard J. V. Foix Federico García Lorca José María Hinojosa Marianne van Hirtum Miguel Labordeta E.L.T. Mesens César Moro Pablo Neruda Octavio Paz Benjamin Péret Philippe Soupault Selected Bibliography Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisExplores the divide between practical criticism and theory in 20th century criticism to propose a new way of reading poetry. This book considers such topics as rhyme, poetic voice and language.Trade ReviewRobert Smith's On Modern Poetry dazzles and illuminates, as does poetry itself. The book is an exciting intervention in poetic criticism, and the zest with which the book apprehends as well as comprehends its material will ensure that all kinds of readers interested in poetry will be enthused to think more carefully about its idioms, strange logics, and its genres. In bringing together intuitive and intellectual attention without simply pre-empting the distinction or its affects, the book achieves what it sets out to do. -- Dr Anthony Mellors, Reader in Poetry and Poetics, Birmingham City University, UK‘Smith's writing moves with an ease and elegance that can belie the, sometimes breath-taking, flair, reach and focus of his readings... it has much to recommend it to a wide audience, from general readers, to students, to specialists.' -- Dr Clare Connors, University of East Anglia, UKSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. -- R.T. Prus, Southeastern Oklahoma State University * CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I: Themes; 1. Two or Three Genealogies for Modern Poetic Theory; 2. Rhyme and Reason; 3. The Object; 4. 'You Hear Voices? You Are Possessed!'; 5. Rhetoric + Heidegger + Derrida; Part II: Readings; 6. Darkling; 7. Fl...; 8. Le Malade Imaginaire; 9. Symons in the Decade of Decadence; 10. For the Sake of a Single Poem; Conclusion: Criticism and the Case of J. H. Prynne; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisOriginally published between 1988 and 2008, these twelve essays cover a wide range of mythological and heroic poems and have been revised and updated to reflect the latest scholarship.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Essays 1. 'Voluspa and the Feast of Easter' 2. 'On Heidr and Gullveig'* 3. 'The Evolution of Havamal'* 4. 'Havamal B: a Reconstructed Poem of Sexual Intrigue'* 5. 'Wisdom from Dead Relatives: the Ljodatal Section of Havamal'* 6. 'The Paradox of Vafprudnismal'* 7. 'Motivation and Meaning in Lokasenna'* 8. 'Myth as Therapy: the Function of Prymskvida' 9. 'Volundarkvida: Origins and Interpretation'* 10. 'Female Reactions to the death of Sigurdr' 11. 'Two Sex Goddesses: Porgerdr Holgabrudr and Freyja in Hyndluljod'* 12. 'The Trouble with Father: Hervararkvida and the adaptation of traditional story-patterns'* Bibliography and Abbreviations Index

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Book SynopsisDoes a poet make himself, or do his culture and his fiction make him? Sir Philip Sidney is one of the most popular and enduring of Elizabethan authors, and one of those most preoccupied with the relationship between self, society, and art. Edward Berry's The Making of Sir Philip Sidney explores how Sidney 'made' or created himself as a poet by 'making' representations of himself in the roles of some of his most literary creations: Philisides, Astrophil, and the intrusive persona of the Defence of Poetry. Focusing on the significance of these and other self-representations throughout Sidney's career, Berry combines biography, social history, and literary criticism to achieve a carefully balanced portrayal of the poet's life and work.This is a book that makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Sidney, and is likely to appeal to both students and scholars of Sidney, as well as to those wishing to understand the cultural events that shap

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Book SynopsisWolfe's transnational and multilingual study is a landmark work in the study of classical reception that has a great deal to offer to anyone examining the literary, political, and intellectual life of early modern Europe.Trade Review'A rich survey of Homeric reception in the Renaissance... This book will appeal to students of classical reception generally and to Renaissance scholars in particular.' -- P. Nieto Choice Magazine vol 53:07:2016 'I loved this text, a wonderful read, delightfully informative, and the kind of scholarship to which the academy should aspire.' -- Gary W. Jenkins The Sixteenth Century Journal vol 47:04:2016 'The book represents a work of wide-ranging learning and careful delving, and it is a comprehensive study; therefore, it is certainly very useful and valuable to philologists, historians, and Homeric scholars.' -- Luigi Ferreri Renaissance Quarterly vol 70: 01:2017 'Among the most wide-ranging and extensively researched publications on classical reception in recent years, Homer and the Question of Strife is a welcome contribution.' -- David Katz Renaissance and Reformation, vol 39:02:2016Table of ContentsIntroduction: Homer and the Question of Strife Chapter 1: Homer, Erasmus, and the Problem of Strife Chapter 2: The Remedy of Contraries: Homer, Rabelais, and Epic Parody Chapter 3: Spenser, Homer, and the Mythography of Strife Chapter 4. Chapman's Ironic Homer Chapter 5. The Razors Edge: Homer, Milton, and the Problem of Deliberation Chapter 6: Hobbes' Homer and the Idols of the Agora Epilogue: The Homeric Contest from Vico to Arendt

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Book SynopsisThe first collection of interviews with the renowned poet of Home/Bass and other much-admired works. Spanning thirty years and drawn from literary and scholarly journals and other media, these interviews offer insights into his poetic innovation of blues and jazz and his mastery of black vernacular in poetry.

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Book SynopsisThe interviews in Conversations with Robert Morgan provide readers and scholars the first stand-alone book on Morgan's long and fascinating career as a master of multiple genres, and make a significant contribution to the understanding of American, southern, and Appalachian literature and culture.

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Book SynopsisAlexandra Berlina is Postdoctoral Researcher in Literary Studies at the University of Erfurt, Germany. Her translations of Brodsky's poems Dido and Aeneas and You can't tell a gnat... have won awards from the 'Willis Barnstone Translation Prize' and the 'The Joseph Brodsky/Stephen Spender Prize'.Robert Chandler is an award-winning poet and translator from Russian, French, and Greek. Among the writers he has translated from Russian are Alexander Pushkin, Nikolay Leskov, Vasily Grossman and Andrey Platonov. He is the co-editor of the Penguin Classics anthology Russian Poetry from Pushkin to Brodsky (2014). Penguin have also published his anthologies of Russian short stories and of Russian magic tales.Trade ReviewThe author’s sensitive and insightful readings of Brodsky’s poems both in the Russian original and in English translation—to the point where it becomes unclear which one is the original and which one the translation in any given case, and whether the neat distinction between original and translation ought to be taken for granted more generally—illuminate Brodsky’s poetics and technique to an unprecedented degree by laying bare their semantic, grammatical, syntactical, and phonological workings. * The Russian Review (reviewed by Michael Eskin) *Alexandra Berlina’s fascinating and intriguing book presents a selection of poems which Brodsky translated on his own, along with the original Russian and a line-for-line literal. What she then offers is a close reading of the end-product in both languages, showing a fine sensitivity not just to semantic correspondences (or failures of correspondence), but also to phonetic patterning and nuances. ... All in all, the book presents a persuasive case for translation, as well as the reading of a translation, as a way to get to closer grips with a poetic text. * Translation and Literature, 24 (2015), reviewed by Christopher Whyte *Berlina has succeeded in achieving her … stated goals—namely, discussing particular poems and advertising translation studies as a method of close reading. … This is a book that should interest all readers of Brodsky’s poetry, whether in Russian, English, or both, as well as those who wish to explore self-translation as a continuation of poetic creativity, not just as a secondary pursuit. Berlina writes with admirable succinctness and clarity; her authorial persona is that of an expert but approachable guide to the crossing and recrossing of borders between languages and cultures. ... She sees his self translations as occasions for the poet to play with the opportunities a new language and cultural frame of reference off ered him to rework his poems, a conclusion that is well supported by the carefully conducted and enjoyable close readings provided in this book. -- Katherine Hodgson, University of Exeter, UK * Slavic Review *Alexandra Berlina makes an invaluable contribution to our understanding of one of the major poets of the late twentieth century … her book is a model for critical engagement with translation, and a corrective to the dominance of theory over practice in the burgeoning discipline of Translation Studies … if we hope to understand and appreciate Brodsky’s accomplishment as a poet and thinker, we must confront the full corpus of his work in a dynamic, comparative fashion. Berlina does this brilliantly, and with a degree of wit that would have made her subject proud. -- Boris Dralyuk, University of St. Andrews * Slavic and East European Journal *…An important contribution to international Brodsky studies, Berlina’s book uses the poet’s self-translations to arrive at detailed reinterpretations of his work… In this way Berlina redefines the concept of translation, looking at Brodsky’s poems rendered into English by the poet himself as if they were variants of his original poems, comparable in status to Beckett’s self-translations… Berlina’s illuminating and often provocative study is worth a careful reading, if only to see how she manages to integrate Brodsky’s self-translations with the poet’s oeuvre and link them with his dislocated biography. -- Jerzy Jarniewicz, University of Lodz * Translation Studies *Joseph Brodsky’s self-translations have until recently attracted astonishingly little scholarly attention, even though Brodsky, as the winner of the Nobel Prize and Poet Laureate of the United States, was the most highly decorated of all Russian-American literary immigrants. … Self-translation is never easy. In Berlina’s opinion, what ultimately prompted Brodsky to engage in this endeavor was not really, or not primarily, the wish to make his Russian poems accessible to an American audience, or to somehow transform his Russian self into an American self. It was simply ‘the fact that translation gave Brodsky a chance to rework his poems, albeit in a different language.’ … Written in a lively style and replete with astute observations and provocative insights, Berlina’s book is a joy to read. It is highly recommended not only for Brodsky specialists, but for anyone interested in the problem of self-translation, or the intricacies of poetic translation in general. * Comparative Literature Studies *Alexandra Berlina’s book is a nuanced [and] well-informed ... reading of the bilingual poetry by the Nobel Prize-winning Russian American poet Joseph Brodsky. ... Berlina’s command of both languages, Russian and English, allows for fluent switches between the two and leads to some insightful comments on Brodsky’s texts. * Modern Language Review *An excellent introduction to Brodsky’s work, it offers a fascinating study of the relevance of translation in literary studies ... A truly fascinating book. * Literary Research *What Brodsky inherited from the Russian tradition was a belief in poetry as a sacrament; what he inherited from the Anglo-American tradition was an enjoyment of poetry as a space for the free play of the intellect. No one has written as clearly and comprehensively as Berlina about Brodsky’s successes and failures in his attempt to integrate these traditions. -- Robert Chandler, award-winning poet and translator from Russian, French, and Greek, and the editor of Penguin Classics’ Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida.Alexandra Berlina's careful and ingenious analysis of Brodsky's poetry throws new light on his work, and on the process of translating Russian poetry altogether. Berlina's position as a Russian writer abroad gives her great insight into the matter of Brodsky's autotranslations. Her close readings of both poems and translations are a particular joy as they benefit from her own work as a translator of Brodsky's poetry. This is an illuminating, playful and highly original guide to the great poet. -- Sasha Dugdale, poet, translator of poetry and plays, and editor of Modern Poetry in Translation magazineBerlina's careful reading shows that Brodsky's self-translations add an illuminating dimension to his poetry. -- Marilyn Gaddis Rose, Distinguished Service Professor, State University of New York at Binghamton, USAThis study is a dazzling critique of Brodsky’s self-translations, and a revealing exposition of his translingual imagination. The analyses are stunning in their intimate knowledge of two, sometimes three languages … We believe Brodsky Translating Brodsky is a seminal, path-breaking book. It provides insights not only into translation, but into the Russian language as well as the English language; it illuminates the creative process in a multilingual worldly poet, for whom the differences in language serve as catalysts for original composition. For this, as well as for the innumerable incisive close readings in Brodsky's oeuvre, we believe Alexandra Berlina's Brodsky Translating Brodsky: Poetry in Translation deserves the 2016 Anna Balakian Prize for the best first book by a young comparatist. * Representing the Anna Balakian Prize Committee: Manfred Schmeling, Honorary President AILC/ICLA *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Note on the Text Foreword: Post-Modernist Chants, Robert Chandler 1. What Is It All About? 2. “December in Florence” 2.1. The Matter of Meter and the Force of Form 2.2. “The doors take in air, exhale steam; you, however, won’t…” 2.3 “Sunk in raw twilight, the pupil blinks but gulps…” 2.4. “Cats check at noon under benches …” 2.5. “A man gets reduced to pen’s rustle on paper…” 2.6. “Quays resemble stalled trains…” 2.7. “In a dusty café, in the shade of your cap…” 2.8. “Taking in air, exhaling steam…” 2.9. “The stone nest resounds with a piercing squeal…” 2.10 “There are cities one won’t see again…” 3. Three Nativity Poems 3.1. “Star of the Nativity” 3.2. “Nativity” 3.3. “Lullaby” 3.4. A Delicate Balance: Brodsky’s Nativity Poetry 4. Poems à Clef: M.B.’s Birthday 4.1. “The Polar Explorer” 4.2. “Minefield Revisited” 5. Elegies 5.1. “In Memoriam” 5.2. “In Memory of my Father: Australia,” “August Rain” 5.3. “To a Friend: In Memoriam” 6. Beyond Translation: “Centaurs” and Other Hybrids 6.1. Word Play in Translation and the Centauric Self-Portrait 6.2. “Centaurs” 6.3. A Matter of (Con-)Sequence 6.4. Beyond Translation: “Epitaph for a Centaur” 7. Further Beyond Translation: “Sextet” and Other Excavations 7.1. “An eyelid is twitching...” 7.2. “Sometimes in the desert you hear a voice” 7.2. “For thirty-six years I’ve stared at fire” 7.3. “Where’s that?” 7.4. “Was the word ever uttered?” 7.5. “And I dread my petals’ joining the crowned knot” 7.6. “Letter to an Archeologist” and the Translation-Creation-Continuum 8. Themes Taking Root in Translation and Other Tendencies 8.1. Wet Dreams 8.2. Hurtful Horizons 8.3. More Tendencies in Translation Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisRichard Elliott is Senior Lecturer in Music at Newcastle University, UK.Trade ReviewTaking a literary and musical path – Lear and Carroll, literary modernism, translation, sonic art and pop records - Richard Elliott provides a sensible view of the nonsensical. Formed of much wordy noise, copious theory lightly handled, and palpable fondness in the writing, The Sound of Nonsense is a quietly provocative manifesto on nonsense’s behalf. * Dai Griffiths, Senior Lecturer in Music, Oxford Brookes University, UK *Elliott's Sound of Nonsense is a deliciously noisy book, a lively sonic romp that enjoins its readers to be enjoyed aloud. It chants and enchants us through realms of utterance shaped by astonishingly diverse artists including Lewis Carroll and Hugo Ball, James Joyce and Bob Dylan, Velimir Khlebnikov and Jaap Blonk. Their often only just speakable tones and textures of proto-lexical sounds lure us into that zaum wonderland Paul Schmidt calls "beyonsense". Elliott's masterful, thoroughly useful scholarship is offset by his contagious delight in his subject. Echoes of poetry freed from semantic shackles, of scat, beatbox, and doowop, bounce off the page to activate our readership via the "mixing desk of the ear". This invigorating Sound of Nonsense makes sound sense. * Sally Jane Norman, Director of the New Zealand School of Music/Te Koki - Victoria University Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand *There’s no sense like nonsense, and here’s a no-nonsense survey of it, from the simply silly to the profoundly pointed—a guide to the art of nonsense across cultural levels, at once scholarly and entertaining, original and enlightening. * Paul Dutton, Writer and Oral Sound Artist, Canada *Richard Elliott’s The Sound of Nonsense is an exhilarating, well-informed, and very well written book. Elliott shows an easy familiarity with sources in many languages, including Russian. His principal theoretical assertion is that nonsense occurs in the moment “when sense-making is forced into code-switching;” he also offers the suggestion that nonsense as such supports sociality. Although the book appears to be principally about popular culture, it works closely with sound poetry and with recent experimental styles in modern vocal performance, revealing how they blend with the “popular” forms. It is a work that is rewarding not only for its ideas, but for its searching analysis of individual songs and unusual word-sound combinations. A satisfying book. * Irving Massey, Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University at Buffalo, USA *A cray and splendiferous example of how sound studies and its necessarily interdisciplinary modes of analysis will lead the way into new intellectual territory. Ranging widely from Lewis Carroll, Hugo Ball, and Gertrude Stein to John Cage, Bob Dylan, and Rahzel, The Sound of Nonsense is much more than a sonic intervention into nonsense scholarship, it is a bridge between music and literature that will open new lines of critical inquiry into the social life of words. Richard Elliott puts the ram in the rama lama ding dong. * J. Griffith Rollefson, author of Flip the Script *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: The Sound of Nonsense 2: The Sound of the Page 3: Silly Noises 4: Pop Hearts Nonsense Conclusion Bibliography Discography Videography

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