Author: Peter Bayne
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9780365210542
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 438
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Book Description
Excerpt from Essays in Biography and Criticism An apology may be deemed requisite for Offering to the public a work, Of which even the germ is found in pieces composed at so early an age. Two consid rations chiefly weighed with the writer in permitting the publication. He could not let slip the opportunity Offered of bringing together that portion Of his early performances, to which, however sensible of their defects, he could yet deliberately append his signa ture, setting them apart from that far larger portion which he would now altogether cast behind him, as mere confusions Of a too much wasted youth. And still more powerfully was he influenced by the reflec tion, which has for a long time had a firm hold on his mind, that, where a reading public is so extended as that Of America, capacities of literary enjoyment, and susceptibilities to instruction, will vary so much, both in kind and degree, that it is by no means easy, if possible, to judge, within certain limits, from the ah stract character Of a book, whether it will or will not. Prove useless: and that, therefore, an author, abdi eating, in great measure, the right to decide as to the worthiness or unworthiness Of his compositions, ought to bow to the unsought expression of public will. Such an expression seemed to be found in the Offer Of American publishers to issue these volumes: and the author screens himself against all attack, by the plain declaration, that they would not now, perhaps would never, have appeared, but for the enterprise and generosity of Messrs. Gould and lincoln. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Author: Arthur E. Cunningham
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393036268
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 194
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Book Description
"Originally published in Great Britain under the title Patrick O'Brian: Critical appreciations and a bibliography"--T.p. verso.
Author: Edmund Wilson
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374600260
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 481
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Book Description
Classics and Commercials: A Literary Chronicle of the Forties showcases Edmund Wilson's critical writings spanning decades and continents. Many of these essays first appeared in the New Yorker. Here is Wilson on Jane Austen, Thackeray, Edith Wharton, Tolstoy, Swift (the classics) as well as brilliant observations on Poe, H.P Lovecraft, detective stories, and other commercial literature. This wide-ranging study from one of the most influential man of letters demonstrates Wilson's supreme skills as both literary and cultural critic.
Author: Richard Ellmann
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0804151121
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 737
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Book Description
Winner of both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Oscar Wilde is the definitive biography of the tortured poet and playwright and the last book by renowned biographer and literary critic Richard Ellmann. Ellmann dedicated two decades to the research and writing of this biography, resulting in a complex and richly detailed portrait of Oscar Wilde. Ellman captures the wit, creativity, and charm of the psychologically and sexually complicated writer, as well as the darker aspects of his personality and life. Covering everything from Wilde's rise as a young literary talent to his eventual imprisonment and death in exile with exquisite detail, Ellmann's fascinating account of Wilde's life and work is a resounding triumph.
Author: Simon Leys
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1590176383
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 577
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Book Description
An NYRB Classics Original Simon Leys is a Renaissance man for the era of globalization. A distinguished scholar of classical Chinese art and literature and one of the first Westerners to recognize the appalling toll of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Leys also writes with unfailing intelligence, seriousness, and bite about European art, literature, history, and politics and is an unflinching observer of the way we live now. The Hall of Uselessness is the most extensive collection of Leys’s essays to be published to date. In it, he addresses subjects ranging from the Chinese attitude to the past to the mysteries of Belgium and Belgitude; offers portraits of André Gide and Zhou Enlai; takes on Roland Barthes and Christopher Hitchens; broods on the Cambodian genocide; reflects on the spell of the sea; and writes with keen appreciation about writers as different as Victor Hugo, Evelyn Waugh, and Georges Simenon. Throughout, The Hall of Uselessness is marked with the deep knowledge, skeptical intelligence, and passionate conviction that have made Simon Leys one of the most powerful essayists of our time.
Author: Claire J. Farago
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780815329336
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 522
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Book Description
Contains early biographical information and art criticism of Leonardo da Vinci and his work.
Author: C. S. Lewis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107639271
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 395
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Book Description
New collection of literary-critical essays and reviews of C. S. Lewis, including previously unpublished and long-unavailable works.
Author: Chris Baldick
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317900979
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
Presents a coherent and accessible historical account of the major phases of British and American Twentieth-century criticism, from 'decadent' aestheticism to feminist, decontsructonist and post-colonial theories. Special attention is given to new perspectives on Shakesperean criticism, theories of the novel and models of the literary canon. The book will help to define and account for the major developments in literary criticism during this century exploring the full diversity of critical work from major critics such as T S Eliot and F R Leavis to minor but fascinating figures and critical schools. Unlike most guides to modern literary theory, its focus is firmly on developments within the English speaking world.
Author: Plutarch
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780140445640
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 444
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Book Description
Selections from one of the greatest essayists of the Graeco-Roman world Plutarch used an encyclopedic knowledge of the Roman Empire to produce a compelling and individual voice. In this superb selection from his writings, he offers personal insights into moral subjects that include the virtue of listening, the danger of flattery and the avoidance of anger, alongside more speculative essays on themes as diverse as God's slowness to punish man, the use of reason by supposedly "irrational" animals and the death of his own daughter. Brilliantly informed, these essays offer a treasure-trove of ancient wisdom, myth and philosophy, and a powerful insight into a deeply intelligent man. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Author: Virginia Woolf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199556067
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 285
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Book Description
'A good essay must draw its curtain round us, but it must be a curtain that shuts us in, not out.' According to Virginia Woolf, the goal of the essay 'is simply that it should give pleasure...It should lay us under a spell with its first word, and we should only wake, refreshed, with its last.' One of the best practitioners of the art she analysed so rewardingly, Woolf displayed her essay-writing skills across a wide range of subjects, with all the craftsmanship, substance, and rich allure of her novels. This selection brings together thirty of her best essays, including the famous 'Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown', a clarion call for modern fiction. She discusses the arts of writing and of reading, and the particular role and reputation of women writers. She writes movingly about her father and the art of biography, and of the London scene in the early decades of the twentieth century. Overall, these pieces are as indispensable to an understanding of this great writer as they are enchanting in their own right. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
