A team of distinguished and internationally acclaimed writers and illustrators share their personal insights into the maps they love, the maps they use and the maps that set them dreaming.
Thomas Keymer's introduction to this Casebok examines the historical context and controversial reception of Tristram Shandy, and connects the essays selected for inclusion to the diverse traditions of Sterne criticism.
Necrophilia is not one of my failings, but I do like graveyards and memorial stones and such...
Following the publication In My Mind's Eye, her acclaimed first volume of diaries, a Radio 4 Book of the Week in 2018, Jan Morris continued to write her daily musings.
The prize-winning biography of Wordsworth's beloved sister, champion, muse who was at the heart of the Romantic movement in Britain - reissued to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Dorothy's birth.
'Genius ...
Robinson Crusoe is one of those extraordinary literary works whose importance lies not only in the text itself but in its persistently lively afterlife. This celebratory collection of tercentenary essays testifies to the book's endurance, analysing its literary, aesthetic, philosophical, and cultural implications in historical context.
'All men must die': or 'Valar Morghulis', as the traditional Essos greeting is rendered into High Valyrian. And die they do - in prodigious numbers; in imaginatively varied and gruesome ways; and often in pain, terror and ordure within the blood-spattered and viciously unpredictable world that is HBO's sensational evocation of Game of Thrones.
In a career spanning six decades, David Lodge has been one of Britain's best-loved and most versatile writers. David Lodge describes these feelings with rare candour.
Varying Degrees of Success provides the reader with a privileged insight into the working practices and the creative life of a major British novelist.
The renowned biographer's definitive portrait of a literary titan
Appointed by Philip Roth and granted complete access and independence, Blake Bailey spent years poring over Roth's personal archive, interviewing his friends, lovers, and colleagues, and engaging Roth himself in breathtakingly candid conversations.
Renowned, bestselling novelist Chuck Palahniuk takes us behind the scenes of the writing life, with postcards from decades on the road and incredible examination of the power of fiction and the art of storytelling.
Eavesdrop on the affair that inspired Virginia to write her most fantastical novel, Orlando, and discover a relationship that - even a hundred years later - feels radical and relatable.
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION FROM ALISON BECHDEL, AUTHOR OF FUN HOME AND CREATOR OF THE BECHDEL TEST.
Immerse yourself in a land full of literary locations in this tour through the great books of the British Isles. Caroline Taggart's guide to statues, walks both rural and urban, literary homes and vistas which inspired great scenes from our favourite novels is guaranteed to have something for every avid reader.
This is a book of book lists. From Bin Laden's bookshelf to the books most frequently left in hotels, from prisoners' favourite books to MPs' most borrowed books, these lists are proof that a person's bookcase tells you everything you need to know about them, and sometimes more besides.
The many facets of book-mania are pondered and celebrated with both sincerity and irreverence in this lively selection of essays, poems, lectures and commentaries ranging from the 16th to the 20th century.
In this book of practical advice, Alex Johnson brings his tremendous enthusiasm and informed passion to answer the question of how to start, and keep your child reading, to ensure a new generation of bookworms are whisked away to new worlds and essential discoveries.
Science fiction (SF) has existed as a popular genre for around 150 years. This book offers a survey of the genre from nineteenth-century pioneers to contemporary authors, with a new focus on global reach.
This series of notes for GCSE and A-level is tailored to exam requirements. The books provide criticism on specific texts, plus questions. Information on the author and the historical background to the text is given, and a specimen essay, hints for study and a summary of the text is included.
Building on the formula of "York Notes", this Advanced series introduces students to more sophisticated analysis and wider critical perspectives. The notes enable students to appreciate contrasting interpretations of the text and to develop their own critical thinking.
King lays bare the background to Moby-Dick by moving through the voyage of the Pequod, exploring topics in marine biology, oceanography, and the science of navigation as Ishmael raises them in the novel.
Reynard was once the most popular and beloved character in European folklore. Expanded with new interpretations, innovative language and characterisation, this edition is an imaginative re-telling of the Reynard story and as relevant and controversial today as it was in the fifteenth century.
The author deliberately shakes the image of Burns as a romantic hero - exposing the sexual misdemeanours, drinking bouts and waywardness that other, more reverential, biographies choose to overlook. In this book, the author's real achievement is to bring alive the personality of a great man.
This companion volume to The New Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works concentrates on the issues of canon and chronology. This major work in attribution studies presents in full the evidence behind the choices made in The Complete Works about which works Shakespeare wrote, in whole or part.
An international team of scholars examines the theatrical world in which Shakespeare worked, tracing the social, political, and patronage pressures under which actors operated. They also explore the practicalities of playing: acquiring scripts, theatres, rehearsing, lighting, music, props, boy actors, and the role of women in an 'all-male' world.
Follows the fortune of a French battalion during the First World War. This title presents a critique of inequality between ranks, the incomprehension of those who have not experienced battle, and of war itself.