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Nobody's Nation: Reading Derek Walcott
by Paul BreslinNobody's Nation offers an illuminating look at the St. Lucian, Nobel-Prize-winning writer, Derek Walcott, and grounds his work firmly in the context of West Indian history. Paul Breslin argues that Walcott's poems and plays are bound up with an effort to re-imagine West Indian society since its emergence from colonial rule, its ill-fated attempt at political unity, and its subsequent dispersal into tiny nation-states. According to Breslin, Walcott's work is centrally concerned with the West Indies' imputed absence from history and lack of cohesive national identity or cultural tradition. Walcott sees this lack not as impoverishment but as an open space for creation. In his poems and plays, West Indian history becomes a realm of necessity, something to be confronted, contested, and remade through literature. What is most vexed and inspired in Walcott's work can be traced to this quixotic struggle. Linking extensive archival research and new interviews with Walcott himself to detailed critical readings of major works, Nobody's Nation will take its place as the definitive study of the poet.
Nobody's Nation: Reading Derek Walcott
by Paul BreslinNobody's Nation offers an illuminating look at the St. Lucian, Nobel-Prize-winning writer, Derek Walcott, and grounds his work firmly in the context of West Indian history. Paul Breslin argues that Walcott's poems and plays are bound up with an effort to re-imagine West Indian society since its emergence from colonial rule, its ill-fated attempt at political unity, and its subsequent dispersal into tiny nation-states. According to Breslin, Walcott's work is centrally concerned with the West Indies' imputed absence from history and lack of cohesive national identity or cultural tradition. Walcott sees this lack not as impoverishment but as an open space for creation. In his poems and plays, West Indian history becomes a realm of necessity, something to be confronted, contested, and remade through literature. What is most vexed and inspired in Walcott's work can be traced to this quixotic struggle. Linking extensive archival research and new interviews with Walcott himself to detailed critical readings of major works, Nobody's Nation will take its place as the definitive study of the poet.
Nobody's Nation: Reading Derek Walcott
by Paul BreslinNobody's Nation offers an illuminating look at the St. Lucian, Nobel-Prize-winning writer, Derek Walcott, and grounds his work firmly in the context of West Indian history. Paul Breslin argues that Walcott's poems and plays are bound up with an effort to re-imagine West Indian society since its emergence from colonial rule, its ill-fated attempt at political unity, and its subsequent dispersal into tiny nation-states. According to Breslin, Walcott's work is centrally concerned with the West Indies' imputed absence from history and lack of cohesive national identity or cultural tradition. Walcott sees this lack not as impoverishment but as an open space for creation. In his poems and plays, West Indian history becomes a realm of necessity, something to be confronted, contested, and remade through literature. What is most vexed and inspired in Walcott's work can be traced to this quixotic struggle. Linking extensive archival research and new interviews with Walcott himself to detailed critical readings of major works, Nobody's Nation will take its place as the definitive study of the poet.
The Tempest and New World-Utopian Politics
by F. BrevikThis study on New World-utopian politics in The Tempest traces paradigm shifts in literary criticism over the past six decades that have all but reinscribed the text into a political document. This book challenges the view that the play has a dominant New World dimension and demonstrates through close textual readings how an unstable setting at the same time enables and effaces discursively over-invested New World interpretations. Almost no critical attention has been paid to the play's vacuum of power, and this work interprets pastoral, utopian, and 'American' tensions in light of the play's forever-ambiguous setting as well as through a 'presentist' post-1989 lens, an oft-neglected historical and political paradigm shift in Shakespeare criticism.
A New Introduction to Chaucer (Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library)
by D. S. BrewerThis new introduction to Chaucer has been radically rewritten since the previous edition which was published in 1984. The book is a controversial and modern restatement of some of the traditional views on Chaucer, and seeks to present a rounded introduction to his life, cultural setting and works. Professor Brewer takes into account recent literary criticism, both challenging new ideas and using them in his analysis of Chaucer's work. Above all, there is a strong emphasis on leading the reader to understand and enjoy the poetry and prose, and to try to understand Chaucer's values which are often seen to oppose modern principles. A New Introduction to Chaucer is the result of Derek Brewer's distinguished career spanning fifty years of research and study of Chaucer and contemporary scholarship and criticism. New interpretations of many of the poems are presented including a detailed account of the Book of the Duchess. Derek Brewer's fresh and narrative style of writing will appeal to all who are interested in Chaucer, from sixth-form and undergraduate students who are new to Chaucer's work through to more advanced students and lecturers.
A New Introduction to Chaucer (Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library)
by D. S. BrewerThis new introduction to Chaucer has been radically rewritten since the previous edition which was published in 1984. The book is a controversial and modern restatement of some of the traditional views on Chaucer, and seeks to present a rounded introduction to his life, cultural setting and works. Professor Brewer takes into account recent literary criticism, both challenging new ideas and using them in his analysis of Chaucer's work. Above all, there is a strong emphasis on leading the reader to understand and enjoy the poetry and prose, and to try to understand Chaucer's values which are often seen to oppose modern principles. A New Introduction to Chaucer is the result of Derek Brewer's distinguished career spanning fifty years of research and study of Chaucer and contemporary scholarship and criticism. New interpretations of many of the poems are presented including a detailed account of the Book of the Duchess. Derek Brewer's fresh and narrative style of writing will appeal to all who are interested in Chaucer, from sixth-form and undergraduate students who are new to Chaucer's work through to more advanced students and lecturers.
Why Dogs Stopped Flying
by Kenneth BrewerThe solid rightness of image after image in Ken Brewer’s poetry was never better than in Why Dogs Stopped Flying. His familiar style is plain-spoken, his humor reliable and self-ironic. Yet, in this collection perhaps more than his earlier work, the particularity of the poet’s insight into the physical world and the warmth of his affection for it combine to create an unexpected transcendence. Beasts and bodies are transformed in his lines, and our dim, unremarkable lives on this shadowed earth become somehow more luminous—small words to the moon, small suns opening in the dark.
Staging Romantic Chameleons and Imposters (Nineteenth-Century Major Lives and Letters)
by William D. BrewerExamining chameleonic identities as seen in theatrical performances and literary texts during the Romantic period, this study explores cultural attitudes toward imposture and how it reveals important and much-debated issues about this time period. Brewer shows chameleonism evoked anxieties about both social instability and British selfhood.
The Works of Mary Robinson, Part I Vol 1
by William D Brewer Daniel Robinson Sharon M Setzer Orianne SmithRegularly the subject of cartoonists and satirical novelists, Mary Robinson achieved public notoriety as the mistress of the young Prince of Wales (George IV). Her association with figures such as William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, and comparisons with Charlotte Smith, make her a serious figure for scholarly research.
The Works of Mary Robinson, Part I Vol 1
by William D Brewer Daniel Robinson Sharon M Setzer Orianne SmithRegularly the subject of cartoonists and satirical novelists, Mary Robinson achieved public notoriety as the mistress of the young Prince of Wales (George IV). Her association with figures such as William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, and comparisons with Charlotte Smith, make her a serious figure for scholarly research.
Pure Products of America, Inc.: A Narrative Poem (Johns Hopkins: Poetry and Fiction)
by John BricuthThis propulsive narrative poem tells the extended story of the popular born-again televangelist Ray Bob Elrayâ€�better known to all his fans as Big Bubbaâ€�his twin sons, Nick and Jesse, and his niece and adopted daughter, Donna. The comic tragedy of Big Bubba’s family begins to unfold when he is interviewed by an old friend, country radio disc jockey Charlie Printwhistle. Bubba has come to Waco, Texas, to preach a revival, but soon reveals to Charlie much about his complicated relationship with his family, his ambitions for the ministry, his faith healing, and his most recent venture with Pure Products of America, Inc., which produces and endorses anything "pure," from Bibles to jelly preservesâ€�for a "whopper" of a fee, of course.Structured as a verse play of two acts composed of three scenes each, Pure Products of America, Inc., follows the unwinding of Bubba’s legacy as his heirs fall out and his already slippery relationship with religion is tested by genuine grief. Along the way, master poet John Bricuth treats readers to a sly, sarcasticâ€�and sometimes deeply movingâ€�look at storytelling, old-time religion, and the American way.
W. B. Yeats and T. Sturge Moore: Their Correspondence 1901-1937 (Routledge Library Editions: W. B. Yeats)
by Ursula BridgeThe letters in this book, first published in 1953, throw light on the literary scene at a time in which William Butler Yeats and Thomas Sturge Moore regularly corresponded. In the early days of their friendship Yeats and Sturge Moore often saw each other in London where they both played an active part in the literary and artistic scene. When Yeats later lived chiefly in Ireland and Sturge Moore spent much of his time in the country and abroad they met less often but kept in touch by letter. Many of these letters, and therefore a record of their friendship, has been preserved and presented in this book. This title will be of interest to students of literature and literary history.
W. B. Yeats and T. Sturge Moore: Their Correspondence 1901-1937 (Routledge Library Editions: W. B. Yeats)
by Ursula BridgeThe letters in this book, first published in 1953, throw light on the literary scene at a time in which William Butler Yeats and Thomas Sturge Moore regularly corresponded. In the early days of their friendship Yeats and Sturge Moore often saw each other in London where they both played an active part in the literary and artistic scene. When Yeats later lived chiefly in Ireland and Sturge Moore spent much of his time in the country and abroad they met less often but kept in touch by letter. Many of these letters, and therefore a record of their friendship, has been preserved and presented in this book. This title will be of interest to students of literature and literary history.
Everybody Is a Poem: Midlife in Rhymes
by Jan BriertonFor the multitaskers, the overreactors, the silent screamers and the quiet lovers Everybody Is a Poem: Midlife in Rhymes is Jan Brierton's second collection. Inspired by Jan's popular podcast these 52 poems delve into the darkest and brightest moments of our day, month or year. Combining rhyme and illustration, Jan puts simple words to those deepest of feelings. She riffs on menopause, midlife, the mental load, friendships, relationships, loss and self-acceptance. Plain-speaking and completely relatable, each poem is served with Jan's signature combination of humour, wit and poignancy. This is poetry for everybody.
The Puffin Book of Nursery Rhymes
by Raymond BriggsWith over 250 nursery rhymes, including both well-known favourites and hidden gems, this collection has something for every child. Beautiful illustrated by Raymond Briggs, the much-loved creator of the Snowman, this revised edition of a famous classic first won the Kate Greenaway in 1966 and is now available again for a whole new generation.
The Sword of Judith: Judith Studies Across the Disciplines (PDF)
by Kevin R. Brine Elena Ciletti Henrike LähnemannThe Book of Judith tells the story of a fictitious Jewish woman beheading the general of a powerful army to free her people. The parabolic story was set as an example of how God will help the righteous. Judith's heroic action not only became a validating charter myth of Judaism itself but has also been appropriated by many Christian and secular groupings, and has been an inspiration for numerous literary texts and works of art. It continues to exercise its power over artists, authors and academics and is becoming a major field of research in its own right. The Sword of Judith is the first multidisciplinary collection of essays to discuss representations of Judith throughout the centuries. It transforms our understanding across a wide range of disciplines. The collection includes new archival source studies, the translation of unpublished manuscripts, the translation of texts unavailable in English, and Judith images and music.
Selected Poems: Selected Poems 1972-82
by Robert BringhurstFor the past four decades, Robert Bringhurst has been writing some of the most powerful poetry in English. Distinguished by engaged and passionate curiosity, a wide-ranging intelligence and true originality, his poetry has sometimes been mistaken as austere and opaque. In fact, his work engages in ideas about the human condition, myth, the natural world, language and philosophy, and is unusual for having both a pared simplicity and profound wisdom. His watchword is clarity, and the elements he considers crucial to effective typography could just as easily be looked for - and found - in his poetry: 'invite the reader into the text; reveal the tenor and meaning of the text; clarify the structure and the order of the text; link the text with other existing elements; induce a state of energetic repose, which is the ideal condition for reading.' There is such relish for the tactile, physical nature of words, for spare, elemental imagery and for rhetorical weight - in the voice, and the sound of the voice - that each poem has a sense of gem-like purity. While Bringhurst's work may not be the most fashionable poetry being written today, it is certainly amongst the most compelling in its truth, power and beauty.
The Cambridge Companion To Victorian Poetry (Cambridge Companions To Literature)
by Joseph BristowThis Companion to Victorian Poetry provides an introduction to many of the pressing issues that absorbed the attention of poets from the 1830s to the 1890s. It introduces readers to a range of topics - including historicism, patriotism, prosody, and religious belief. The thirteen specially-commissioned chapters offer insights into the works of well-known figures such as Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning and Alfred Tennyson, and the writings of women poets - like Michael Field, Amy Levy and Augusta Webster - whose contribution to Victorian culture has in more recent years been acknowledged by modern scholars. Revealing the breadth of the Victorians' experiments with poetic form, this Companion also discloses the extent to which their writings addressed the prominent intellectual and social questions of the day. The volume, which will be of interest to scholars and students alike, features a detailed chronology of the Victorian period and a comprehensive guide to further reading.
The Anthropocene Lyric: An Affective Geography of Poetry, Person, Place
by Tom BristowThis book takes the work of three contemporary poets John Burnside, John Kinsella and Alice Oswald to reveal how an environmental poetics of place is of significant relevance for the Anthropocene: a geological marker asking us to think radically of the human as one part of the more-than-human world.
Introduction to a Poetics of Diversity: by Édouard Glissant (The Glissant Translation Project #1)
by Celia BrittonThis book reproduces the texts of four lectures, followed by discussions, and two interviews with Lise Gauvin published in Introduction à une poétique du divers (1996); and also four further interviews from L’Imaginaire des langues (Lise Gauvin, 2010). It covers a wide range of topics but key recurring themes are creolization, language and langage, culture and identity, ‘monolingualism’, the ‘Chaos-world’ and the role of the writer. Migration and the various different kinds of migrants are also discussed, as is the difference between ‘atavistic’ and ‘composite’ communities, the art of translation, identity as a ‘rhizome’ rather than a single root, the Chaos-World and chaos theory, ‘trace thought’ as opposed to ‘systematic thought’, the relation between ‘place’ and the Whole-World, exoticism, utopias, a new definition of beauty as the realized quantity of differences, the status of literary genres and the possibility that literature as a whole will disappear. Four of the interviews (Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9) relate to particular works that Glissant has published: Tout-monde, Le monde incrée, La Cohée du Lamentin, Une nouvelle région du monde. Many of these themes have been explored in his previous works, but here, because in all the chapters we see Glissant interacting with the questions and views of other people, they are presented in a particularly accessible form.
Treatise on the Whole-World: by Édouard Glissant (The Glissant Translation Project #3)
by Celia BrittonThis exciting, challenging book covers a wide range of subject matter, but all linked together through the key ideas of diversity and ‘Relation’. It sees our modern world, shaped by immigration and the aftermath of colonization, as a multiplicity of different communities interacting and evolving together, and argues passionately against all political and philosophical attempts to impose uniformity, universal or absolute values. This is the ‘Whole-World’, which includes not only these objective phenomena but also our consciousness of them. Our personal identities are not fixed and self-sufficient but formed in ‘Relation’ through our contacts with others. Glissant constantly stresses the unpredictable, ‘chaotic’ nature of the world, which, he claims, we must adapt to and not attempt to limit or control. ‘Creolization’ is not restricted to the Creole societies of the Caribbean but describes all societies in which different cultures with equal status interact to produce new configurations. This perspective produces brilliant new insights into the politicization of culture, but also language, poetry, our relationship to place and to landscapes, globalization, history, and other topics. The book is not written in the style conventionally associated with essays, but is a mixture of argument, proclamation, and poetic evocations of landscapes, lifestyles and people.
Words' Worth: What the Poet Does
by Claudia BrodskyClaudia Brodsky marshals her equal expertise in literature and philosophy to redefine the terms and trajectory of the theory and interpretation of modern poetry. Taking her cue from Wordsworth's revolutionary understanding of “real language,” Brodsky unfolds a provocative new theory of poetry, a way of looking at poetry that challenges traditional assumptions. Analyzing both theory and practice, and taking in a broad swathe of writers and thinkers from Wordsworth to Rousseau to Hegel to Proust, Brodsky is at pains to draw out the transformative, active, and effective power of literature. Poetry, she says, is only worthy of the name when it is not the property of the poet but of society, when it is valued for what it does. Words' Worth is a bold new work, by a leading scholar of literature, which demands a response from all students and scholars of modern poetry.
Words' Worth: What the Poet Does
by Claudia BrodskyClaudia Brodsky marshals her equal expertise in literature and philosophy to redefine the terms and trajectory of the theory and interpretation of modern poetry. Taking her cue from Wordsworth's revolutionary understanding of “real language,” Brodsky unfolds a provocative new theory of poetry, a way of looking at poetry that challenges traditional assumptions. Analyzing both theory and practice, and taking in a broad swathe of writers and thinkers from Wordsworth to Rousseau to Hegel to Proust, Brodsky is at pains to draw out the transformative, active, and effective power of literature. Poetry, she says, is only worthy of the name when it is not the property of the poet but of society, when it is valued for what it does. Words' Worth is a bold new work, by a leading scholar of literature, which demands a response from all students and scholars of modern poetry.