A thorough re-assessment of one of Ireland's major playwrights, J.M. Synge (1871-1909). Using much previously-undiscussed archival material, the book takes each of Synge's plays and prose works, tracing his journey from an early Romanticism to a later, more combative modernism.

The original authorised biography, and the only one written by an author who actually met J.R.R. Tolkien, reissued to mark Tolkien's 125th Anniversary.

In conformist 1950s America, Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" was greeted with both delirium and dismay, but in Kerouac's hunt for the big experience and his longing for greatness, he has inspired each successive generation. This title presents an account of Jack's life.

The book also features an interview with Jacqueline Wilson herself, where she discusses the challenges of writing social realism for young readers and how her writing has changed over her lengthy career.

Originally published: New York: Knopf, 1994.

The first biography of the great American writer in over a decade

Michael Giffin offers a reading of Austen's six published novels against the background of a "long 18th century" that stretched from the Restoration to the Regency.

A fascinating insight into the life of one of our best-loved authors through the biographies of objects that crossed her path in life and afterward.

A set of playing cards featuring illustrations of Austen's most famous characters, with rules to Regency card games and their mentions in Austen's novels included in the booklet

A re-examination of Jane Austen's Anglicanism. It draws connections between Austen's experiences with the clergy, liturgy, doctrine, and religious readings and their fictional parallels in the novels. It shows how orthodox Anglican concepts such as natural law and the Great Chain of Being resonate in Austen's work.

Provides an account of the novelist's surviving papers. This book examines "Sir Charles Grandison", a work attributed to Jane Austen by the author in 1977. In an appendix, he discusses Mrs Leavis's theory concerning the relationship between Jane Austen's life and art, and between the juvenilia and the later novels.

'Simply unforgettable ... one of the most beautiful and haunting books of recent times' - Alexander McCall Smith

A reception history of William Blake's 'Jerusalem' that traces the hymn's increasing associations with national identity and explores how different social and political factions, both left and right, have sought to impose their own meaning on building Jerusalem.

`It's a masterpiece, of course, but more than that it shows that there is some such thing as being a simple observer' Nicci French, Independent It was 1932 when Joseph Mitchell first came across Joe Gould, a Harvard-educated vagrant of Greenwich Village.

In John Berger, a concise yet detailed study of Berger's life and work, Andy Merrifield sheds light on Berger the man, the artist, and the concerned citizen. Merrifield creates a reader-friendly, freewheeling narrative, which gives fascinating insight into one of the most influential thinkers of our times.

Short, lively, and eminently readable chapters, written by leading experts in early modern studies, illuminate various aspects of Donne's life, work, career, and reputation. These engaging chapters are supplemented by a chronology of Donne's life and works and a comprehensive bibliography.

During Shakespeare's lifetime, John Lyly was repeatedly described as the central figure in contemporary English literature. This book takes that claim seriously, asking how and why Lyly was considered the most important writer of his time.

From William Shakespeare to Winston Churchill, the "Very Interesting People" series provides biographies of Britain's fascinating historical figures - people whose influence and importance have stood the test of time. This work talks about John Ruskin.

A detailed exploration of Ben Jonson's relationship with his single most enduring and significant literary model, Horace.

The popular work of Joseph Conrad has attracted critical attention from the perspectives of postcolonial, modernist, cultural and gender studies. This guide to his work presents an introduction to the contexts and interpretations of Conrad's texts. It also presents an introduction to key perspectives on Conrad's life and work.