Literary Criticism

In one volume for the first time, this revised and updated examination of how J.R.R.Tolkien came to write his original masterpiece The Hobbit includes his complete unpublished draft version of the story, together with notes and...

Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionLonglisted for the Orwell Prize for Political WritingThe Ministry of Truth charts the life of George Orwell's 1984, one of the most influential books of the twentieth century and a work that is ever...

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR What is the nature of things? Must I think my own way through the world? What is justice? How can I be me? How should we treat each other? Before the...

Airships in the Sky with...Engineers?A group of curious Gollem engineers traveling in a great airship arrives in the Duchy of Brunhild. Their sudden appearance alone is puzzling enough, but what do these Seekers want with Yumina's white crown? Are there...

A practical, hands-on guide - for actors, directors, teachers and students - to Brecht's theory and practice of theatre, with a full set of exercises to help put theory into practice. The Complete Brecht Toolkit examines, one by one, Brecht's many,...

Like John Updike, Martin Amis is the pre-eminent novelist-critic of his generation. The War Against Cliche is a selection of his reviews and essays over the past quarter-century. It contains pieces on Cervantes, Milton, Donne, Coleridge, Jane Austen,...

'Barthes' purpose is to tear away masks and demystify the signs, signals and symbols of the language of mass culture' The TimesIn this magnificent and often surprising collection of essays Barthes explores the myths of mass culture. Taking subjects as...

On the creation of the world, and the destruction of Atlantis.Plato, the great philosopher of Athens, was born in 427 BC. In early manhood an admirer of Socrates, he later founded the famous school of philosophy in the grove Academus. Much else...

In this biography, first published in 2000, Virginia Scott locates Moliere's life and work in the social, literary and theatrical contexts of the period. She offers a narrative account of his life and an overview of his plays in the wider setting of the...

'Lovely... delivers the warmest of glows' - Telegraph'Who wouldn't love this chocolate-box delight of insights and snapshots of The Queen...A treasure chest' - Good HousekeepingA sparkling celebration of our much-loved Queen Elizabeth II including...

Learn about the greatest works of literature, and the lives of those who wrote them in The Literature Book.Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Literature...

'May be the most detailed, painstaking anatomy of desire that we are ever likely to see or need again... An ecstatic celebration of love and language' Washington PostThe language we use when we are in love is not a language we speak. It is a language...

This Norton Critical Edition of John Webster's 1612-13 tragedy offers a newly edited and annotated text together with a full introduction and illustrative materials intended for student readers. The Duchess of Malfi's themes of love, loyalty and betrayal...

A brand-new book from the bestselling author of A Series of Unfortunate Events - a cautionary tale about his own demise. For curious children and adults alike. 'Reading this little book feels like opening a window to let in air and light. It's...

History didn't listen to women, but that never stopped them from speaking out ...A lot of history is made up of speeches. Speeches about big ideas, celebratory speeches, rousing speeches to inspire soldiers to fight to the death, comic speeches to help...

For Fans of the Tales of Tolkien, Middle-earth, and More Learn about the man who wrote The Lord of the Rings in this Middle-earth treasury. Full of answers to common questions asked by readers to learn about Middle-earth and the fandom, this book about...

By the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window-shutters, I beheld the wretch-the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His...

Documentary-maker Aoyama hasn't dated anyone in the seven years since the death of his beloved wife, Ryoko. Now even his teenage son Shige has suggested he think about remarrying. So when his best friend Yoshikawa comes up with a plan to hold fake film...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780964279506Author Michael Andre-DriussiFormat HardbackPage Count 440Imprint Sirius FictionPublisher Sirius FictionWeight(grams) 798gDimensions(mm) 229mm *...

Never has contemporary fiction been more widely discussed and passionately analysed; recent years have seen a huge growth in the number of reading groups and in the interest of a non-academic readership in the discussion of how novels work. Drawing on...

This excellent and accessible work includes many major texts in translation: Aristotle's Poetics, Longinus' On Sublimity, Horace's Art of Poetry, Tacitus' Dialogues, and extracts from Plato and Plutarch. Based on the highly praised Ancient Literary...

The only work of its kind to survive from classical antiquity, the Library of Apollodorus is a unique guide to Greek mythology, from the origins of the universe to the Trojan War. Apollodorus' Library has been used as a source book by classicists...

'a Greek gentleman in a straw hat, standing absolutely motionless at a slight angle to the universe' E. M. Forster E. M. Forster's description of C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933) perfectly encapsulates the unique perspective Cavafy brought to bear on history...

A detailed and fascinating journey to the roots of The Lord of the Rings, by award-winning Tolkien expert Professor Tom Shippey. The Road to Middle-Earth is a fascinating and accessible exploration of J.R.R.Tolkien's creativity and the sources...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781541126855Author Josephine PearceFormat PaperbackPage Count 68Imprint Createspace Independent Publishing PlatformPublisher Createspace Independent...

Collecting the most incisive and influential writings of one of Rome's finest orators, Cicero's Selected Works is translated with an introduction by Michael Grant in Penguin Classics.Lawyer, philosopher, statesman and defender of Rome's Republic, Cicero...

This is a golden treasury of over one hundred English folktales captured in the form they were first collected in past centuries. Read these classic tales as they would have been told when storytelling was a living art - when the audience believed in...

Today we take it for granted that history is much more than the story of great men and the elites from which they spring. Other forms of history - the histories of gender, class, rebellion and nonconformity - add much-needed context and color to our...

This book is an introduction to and interpretation of the world of Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935), one of the most fascinating and complex figures in European literary modernism and the avant-garde. Raised in South Africa and writing much of his literary...

Lyric poetry has long been considered an art form of timelessness, but Romantic poets became fascinated by one time above all others: evening, the threshold between day and night. Christopher R. Miller investigates the cultural background of this...

The Tain Bo Cuailnge, centre-piece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's greatest epic. It tells the story of a great cattle-raid, the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Medb and Ailill, queen and king of Connacht, and their...

This edition features a new introduction by Harold Bloom as a centenary tribute to the visionary of White Buildings (1926) and The Bridge (1930). Hart Crane, prodigiously gifted and tragically doom-eager, was the American peer of Shelley, Rimbaud, and...

My part of Ireland had a poet at one time, a poor ragged fellow whom no respectable person whom no respectable person would be seen talking to, but he left doors open as he passed. A delightful autobiographical novel from one of Ireland's best-loved...

THE ULTIMATE GUIDES TO EXAM SUCCESS from York Notes - the UK's favourite English Literature Study Guides. York Notes for AS & A2 are specifically designed for AS & A2 students to help you get the very best grade you can. They are comprehensive, easy...

'What is poetry, how many kinds of it are there, and what are their specific effects?' Aristotle's Poetics is the most influential book on poetry ever written. A founding text of European aesthetics and literary criticism, from it stems much of our...

One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past fifty years, Judith Butler's Gender Trouble is as celebrated as it is controversial.Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, 'essential' notion of the female, or indeed of...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781901091373Author Sabine SchreinerFormat PaperbackPage Count 92Imprint Irregular Special PressPublisher Baker Street StudiosWeight(grams)...

In this extraordinary epic poem, Anne Carson bridges the gap between classicism and the modern, poetry and prose, with a volcanic journey into the soul of a winged red monster named Geryon. There is a strong mixture of whimsy and sadness in Geryon's...

A fun and fearless anthology of feminist tales, by sixteen bestselling, award-winning writers.'Wonderful . . . all killer, no filler' Red Magazine'Dazzling stories, as inventive as they are inspiring' Daily Mirror'Where power and feminist rage meet'...

This remarkable and monumental book at last provides a comprehensive answer to the age-old riddle of whether there are only a small number of 'basic stories' in the world. Using a wealth of examples, from ancient myths and folk tales via the plays...