Literary Figures

Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" opens with one of the most famous scenes in literature, as young Marcel, unable to fall asleep, waits anxiously for his mother to come to his bedroom and kiss him good night. Proust's own mother is central to the...

Sir John Hill (1714-1775) was one of Georgian England's most vilified men despite having contributed prolifically to its medicine, science and literature. Born into a humble Northamptonshire family, the son of an impecunious God-faring Anglican minister,...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780307949769Author Richard RussoFormat PaperbackPage Count 256Imprint Vintage BooksPublisher Random House USA IncWeight(grams) 227gDimensions(mm) 202mm *...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781555977641Author Sarah MangusoFormat PaperbackPage Count 104Imprint Graywolf PressPublisher Graywolf PressWeight(grams) 122gDimensions(mm) 155mm * 117mm *...

Relying on the author's personal recollections as well as on J.M. Coetzee's autobiographical and fictional works, this book deals with Coetzee's formation as a writer of international prominence, whose life and writing career began in South Africa...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780060985042Author Brenda MaddoxFormat PaperbackPage Count 528Imprint CollinsPublisher HarperCollins Publishers IncWeight(grams) 445gDimensions(mm) 206mm *...

Emily Dickinson may be the most widely read American poet but the story behind her work's publication in 1890 is barely known. After Emily recounts the extraordinary lives of Mabel Loomis Todd and her daughter, Millicent Todd Bingham and the powerful...

The novelist and short story writer Edward Upward (1903-2009) is famous for being the unknown member of the W. H. Auden circle, though was revered by his peers -- Auden, Day Lewis, Isherwood and Spender -- for his intellect, high literary gifts and...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781582433141Author Caroline KnappFormat PaperbackPage Count 304Imprint CounterpointPublisher Counterpoint

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780374535223Author Christopher IsherwoodFormat PaperbackPage Count 352Imprint Farrar, Straus & Giroux IncPublisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux IncWeight(grams)...

Jason Epstein has led arguably the most creative career in book publishing during the past half-century. He founded Anchor Books and launched the quality paperback revolution, cofounded the New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America,...

Forrest J Ackerman (1916-2008) was an author, archivist, agent, actor, promoter, and editor of the iconic fan magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland; a founder of science fiction fandom; and one of the world's foremost collectors of sci-fi, horror and...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780060854089Author Zora Neale HurstonFormat PaperbackPage Count 344Imprint HarperCollins PublishersPublisher HarperCollins Publishers IncWeight(grams)...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780312423629Author Hilary MantelFormat PaperbackPage Count 223Imprint St Martin's PressPublisher St Martin's Press

In the perfect match of author and subject, poet and novelist Erica Jong charts the life and legacy of Henry Miller, the archetypal sensualist whose notorious Tropic of Cancer and subsequent books ultimately changed the boundaries of literature.Book...

The author of eighteen spellbinding detective novels set on the Navajo Nation, Tony Hillerman simultaneously transformed a traditional genre and unlocked the mysteries of the Navajo culture to an audience of millions. His best-selling novels added Navajo...

Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) was one of the greatest spiritual writers of the twentieth century. Living most of her life in England, Underhill used writing as a vehicle to express her passionate search for the infinite life. Her philosophy transcends...

To many, the life of Ernest Hemingway has taken on mythic proportions. From his romantic entanglements to his legendary bravado, the elements of Papa's persona have fascinated readers, turning Hemingway into such an outsized figure that it is almost...

In Childhood Years, originally published serially in a literary magazine between 1955 and 1956, Tanizaki Jun'ichiro (1886-1965) takes a meandering look back on his early life in Tokyo. He reflects on his upbringing, family, and the capital city with a...

Chester B. Himes has been called "one of the towering figures of the black literary tradition" (Henry Louis Gates Jr.), "the best writer of mayhem yarns since Raymond Chandler" (San Francisco Chronicle), and "a quirky American genius" (Walter Mosely). He...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781628727890Author Wendy W. FaireyFormat PaperbackPage Count 288Imprint Arcade PublishingPublisher Arcade Publishing

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780374524449Author Czeslaw MiloszFormat PaperbackPage Count 304Imprint Farrar, Straus & Giroux IncPublisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780156034036Author Professor of English Patricia HamplFormat PaperbackPage Count 240Imprint Houghton MifflinPublisher Houghton Mifflin

In the second of a literature biography series which is a tribute to litterateurs, the poet, lecturer and university professor Gwyn Thomas discusses his life and the influences on his work. 72 black and white illustrations.ReviewsHunangofiant llenyddol...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781622732753Author Julia GasperFormat HardbackPage Count 220Imprint Vernon PressPublisher Vernon Press

In this book John Radner examines the fluctuating, close, and complex friendship enjoyed by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, from the day they met in 1763 to the day when Boswell published his monumental Life of Johnson. Drawing on everything Johnson...

A micro-biography of horror fiction’s most influential author and his love–hate relationship with New York City. By the end of his life and near financial ruin, pulp horror writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft resigned himself to the likelihood that his...

Ayn Rand and her philosophical school, Objectivism, have had considerable influence on American popular culture. This is the story of her life. The author aims to show what she was like and how she manipulated her followers. He seeks to answer why she...

Chinua Achebe's books are being read throughout the English-speaking world. They have been translated into more than fifty languages. His publishers estimate that more than eight million copies of his first novel Things Fall Apart (1958) have been sold...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780771064906Author Farley MowatFormat PaperbackPage Count 368Imprint McClelland & Stewart Inc.Publisher McClelland & Stewart Inc.Weight(grams)...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780679723394Author Vladimir NabokovFormat PaperbackPage Count 336Imprint Random House IncPublisher Random House USA IncWeight(grams) 266gDimensions(mm)...

John Keats's biographers have rarely been fair to George Keats (1797--1841) -- pushing him to the background as the younger brother, painting him as a prodigal son, or labeling him as the "business brother." Some have even condemned him as a heartless...

Daniel Defoe, best known as the author of Robinson Crusoe, lived during a period of dramatic historical, political, and social change in Britain, and was by any standard a superb observer of his times. Through his pamphlets, newspapers, books of travel,...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780805242782Author Jeremy DauberFormat HardbackPage Count 464Imprint Schocken BooksPublisher Schocken BooksWeight(grams) 706g

Tragic, comic, and utterly honest, this bestselling and critically acclaimed work is at once a family saga and a magical self-portrait of a writer who witnessed the birth of a nation and lived through its turbulent history. It is the story of a boy...

From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a fresh look at Lillian Hellman's restless life, her extraordinary plays, and her autobiographical myths"A fast-flowing, deeply provocative portrait of a seductive, truculent, and audacious literary powerhouse...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780307387387Author Joan DidionFormat PaperbackPage Count 208Imprint Random House IncPublisher Random House USA IncWeight(grams) 210gDimensions(mm) 203mm *...

Callimachus was one of the most important Greek poets, and can also be one of the most rewarding to read. He was a pivotal figure in the history of ancient literature and an influential presence in later ancient poetry, including Catullus and Vergil. Yet...

In 1968 Egyptian novelist and political exile Waguih Ghali committed suicide in the London flat of his editor, friend, and sometime lover, Diana Athill. Ghali left behind six notebooks of diaries that for decades were largely inaccessible to the public...

This new biography of John Evelyn (1620-1706), diarist, scholar and intellectual virtuoso, is the first account to make full use of Evelyn's huge unpublished archive deposited at the British Library in 1995. This crucial source evokes a broader and...