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Medieval Song from Aristotle to Opera
by Sarah KayFocusing on songs by the troubadours and trouvères from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, Medieval Song from Aristotle to Opera contends that song is not best analyzed as "words plus music" but rather as a distinctive way of sounding words. Rather than situating them in their immediate period, Sarah Kay fruitfully listens for and traces crosscurrents between medieval French and Occitan songs and both earlier poetry and much later opera. Reflecting on a song's songlike quality—as, for example, the sound of light in the dawn sky, as breathed by beasts, as sirenlike in its perils—Kay reimagines the diversity of songs from this period, which include inset lyrics in medieval French narratives and the works of Guillaume de Machaut, as works that are as much desired and imagined as they are actually sung and heard. Kay understands song in terms of breath, the constellations, the animal soul, and life itself. Her method also draws inspiration from opera, especially those that inventively recreate medieval song, arguing for a perspective on the manuscripts that transmit medieval song as instances of multimedia, quasi-operatic performances. Medieval Song from Aristotle to Opera features a companion website (cornellpress.manifoldapp.org/projects/medieval-song) hosting twenty-four audio or video recordings, realized by professional musicians specializing in early music, of pieces discussed in the book, together with performance scores, performance reflections, and translations of all recorded texts. These audiovisual materials represent an extension in practice of the research aims of the book—to better understand the sung dimension of medieval song.
Dinner with Joseph Johnson: Books and Friendship in a Revolutionary Age
by Daisy Hay'Hugely engrossing... An exciting blend of ideas and personalities' John Carey, Sunday Times'Impressive... [An] elegant account... Dinner with Joseph Johnson reminds us of the excitement of a period in which inherited orthodoxies were forensically scrutinised and found lacking' Daily Telegraph________Once a week, in late eighteenth-century London, writers of contrasting politics and personalities gathered around a dining table. The host was Joseph Johnson, publisher and bookseller: a man at the heart of literary life. He was joined at dinner by a shifting constellation of extraordinary people who remade the literary world, including the Swiss artist Henry Fuseli, his chief engraver William Blake and scientists Joseph Priestley and Benjamin Franklin. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were among the attendees, as were the poet Anna Barbauld, the novelist Maria Edgeworth and the philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft.Johnson's years as a maker of books saw profound political, social, cultural and religious shifts in Britain and abroad. Several of his authors were involved in the struggles for reform; they pioneered revolutions in medical treatment, proclaimed the rights of women and children and charted the evolution of Britain's relationship with America and Europe.Johnson made their voices heard even when external forces conspired to silence them. In this remarkable portrait of a revolutionary age, Daisy Hay captures a changing nation through the stories of the men and women who wrote it into being, and whose ideas still influence us today.'Inspired... Joseph Johnson was the man who made the [Romantic] revolution possible... Truly a biography of the spirit of the age' Jonathan Bate
Shakespeare's Strangest Tales
by Iain SpraggA fascinating playbill of stories from the weird and wonderful world of Shakespearean theatre through the centuries, including distinguished actors falling off stages, fluffed lines, performances in the dark, and why you must never, ever say the name of that Scottish play, especially if you are Peter O'Toole. Discover a wealth of Shakespearean shenanigans over the years, including the terrible behaviour of the groundlings at Shakespeare's Globe, how the 'rude mechanicals' in A Midsummer Night's Dream got recast as a bunch of ladies from the WI, and how Dame Maggie Smith got even with Sir Laurence Olivier. Published to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, this treasury of curious tales is a must-read for all Shakespeare lovers and theatre fans. Word count: 45,000
The Confessions: Volume I. - Books L-w. (Mobi Classics Series)
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau J. CohenWidely regarded as the first modern autobiography, The Confessions is an astonishing work of acute psychological insight. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) argued passionately against the inequality he believed to be intrinsic to civilized society. In his Confessions he relives the first fifty-three years of his radical life with vivid immediacy - from his earliest years, where we can see the source of his belief in the innocence of childhood, through the development of his philosophical and political ideas, his struggle against the French authorities and exile from France following the publication of Émile. Depicting a life of adventure, persecution, paranoia, and brilliant achievement, The Confessions is a landmark work by one of the greatest thinkers of the Enlightenment, which was a direct influence upon the work of Proust, Goethe and Tolstoy among others.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman: And A Sentimental Journey Through France And Italy, Volume 2 - Primary Source Edition (Florida Edition Of The Works Of Laurence Sterne Series #Vol. Iii)
by Laurence SterneWITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY TOM MCCARTHYDoomed to become the ‘sport of fortune’ by an interruption at the crucial moment of conception, Tristram Shandy’s life lurches from one mishap to another: his nose crushed by the doctor’s forceps during birth, christened with the wrong name, an unfortunate incident involving a slamming sash window… Discover the anti-autobiography of the hilarious and impossibly long-winded Tristram Shandy.
Moll Flanders
by Daniel DefoeMoll Flanders, Defoe's 18th Century classic novel, was "marketed" in its day in much the same way that a modern commercial novel might be - its title page promised the racy details of a woman's life spent in thievery and whoredom. The book is much more than this; it is a Puritan tale of sin, repentance, conversion, and redemption. It is also seen by many critics as a satirical and ironic picaresque novel with a twist (that being its female protagonist). On yet another level, it is a playful and beguiling social commentary set between the Puritan age (which saw humankind as fallen) and the Age of Reason in which humankind was seen as born innocent and good and corrupted by society. Taking center stage in this whorl of irony, humor, pathos, and religious faith is one Moll Flanders - both the most plausible sinner and the most pious repentant in English literature; arguably the most notorious heroine in the canon of fiction in the English language. She is as controversial today as when she first appeared in 1722.
The Vicar of Wakefield: Der Landprediger Von Wakefield
by Oliver Goldsmith Stephen CooteWhen Dr Primrose loses his fortune in a disastrous investment, his idyllic life in the country is shattered and he is forced to move with his wife and six children to an impoverished living on the estate of Squire Thornhill. Taking to the road in pursuit of his daughter, who has been seduced by the rakish Squire, the beleaguered Primrose becomes embroiled in a series of misadventures - encountering his long-lost son in a travelling theatre company and even spending time in a debtor's prison. Yet Primrose, though hampered by his unworldliness and pride, is sustained by his unwavering religious faith. In The Vicar of Wakefield, Goldsmith gently mocks many of the literary conventions of his day - from pastoral and romance to the picaresque - infusing his story of a hapless clergyman with warm humour and amiable social satire.
The Books that Made the European Enlightenment: A History in 12 Case Studies (Cultures of Early Modern Europe)
by Gary KatesIn contrast to traditional Enlightenment studies that focus solely on authors and ideas, Gary Kates' employs a literary lens to offer a wholly original history of the period in Europe from 1699 to 1780. Each chapter is a biography of a book which tells the story of the text from its inception through to the revolutionary era, with wider aspects of the Enlightenment era being revealed through the narrative of the book's publication and reception. Here, Kates joins new approaches to book history with more traditional intellectual history by treating authors, publishers, and readers in a balanced fashion throughout.Using a unique database of 18th-century editions representing 5,000 titles, the book looks at the multifaceted significance of bestsellers from the time. It analyses key works by Voltaire, Adam Smith, Madame de Graffigny, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume and champions the importance of a crucial innovation of the age: the rise of the 'erudite blockbuster', which for the first time in European history, helped to popularize political theory among a large portion of the middling classes. Kates also highlights how, when, and why some of these books were read in the European colonies, as well as incorporating the responses of both ordinary men and women as part of the reception histories that are so integral to the volume.
The School for Scandal: A Comedy... (New Mermaids)
by Richard Brinsley Sheridan Ann BlakeEnduringly popular less for its plots than for its verbal brillianceand wit, The School for Scandal (1777) was the most frequentlyperformed play of its time. Sir Peter Teazle has made the perennialmistake of elderly bachelors in English comedy and married a muchyounger wife in the hope that she will be too innocent to cross him. Infact, Lady Teazle spends her time with Lady Sneerwell and the worst setof scandalmongers in town, who have a beady eye on Charles Surface, thereckless young libertine, in expectation of seeing him ruined. Charles,however, turns out to possess the sterling virtues of generosity andloyalty to friends and family; and it is his hypocritical brotherJoseph who ends up the villain of the piece. This edition discussesSheridan's earlier drafts for the play and sets it into its theatricalcontext of anti-sentimentalism and its social context of the LondonHigh Society in which Sheridan had begun to move.
Zadig and L'Ingénu
by VoltaireOne of Voltaire's earliest tales, Zadig is set in the exotic East and is told in the comic spirit of Candide; L'Ingenu, written after Candide, is a darker tale in which an American Indian records his impressions of France
Robert Burns Songs: Selections From The Poems, Songs, And Ballads Of Robert Burns (Collins Scottish Archive)
by Robert BurnsA small format gift book which is a reproduction of the popular book ‘Songs Robert Burns’ originally published by Collins in 1947. Selected by G.F. Maine and written by burns between 1759 and 1796.
Vathek and Other Stories: A William Beckford Reader
by Malcolm Jack William BeckfordBeckford's Gothic novel Vathek, an Arabian tale, was originally written in French when the author was twenty-one. Published in English in 1786, it was one of the most successful of the oriental tales then in fashion. This edition makes available to a new generation of scholars and general readers, the originality of Beckford's ideas, and the excellence of his prose.
A Sentimental Journey: Also A Tale Of A Tub Written For The Universal Improvement Of Mankind (classic Reprint)
by Laurence Sterne Paul GoringWhen Yorick, the roving narrator of Sterne's innovative final novel, sets off for France on a whim, he produces no ordinary travelogue. Jolting along in his coach from Calais, through Paris, and on towards the Italian border, the amiable parson is blithely unconcerned by famous views or monuments, but he engages us with tales of his encounters with all manner of people, from counts and noblewomen to beggars and chambermaids. And as drama piles upon drama, anecdote, flirtation and digression, Yorick's destination takes second place to an exhilarating voyage of emotional and erotic exploration. Interweaving sharp wit with warm humour, irony with sentiment, A Sentimental Journey paints a captivating picture of an Englishman's adventures abroad.
The Heart of Mid-Lothian: A Romance
by Walter Scott Tony InglisJeanie Deans, a dairymaid, decides she must walk to London to gain an audience with the Queen. Her sister is to be executed for infanticide and, while refusing to lie to help her case, Jeanie is desperate for a reprieve. Set in the 1730s in a Scotland uneasily united with England, The Heart of Mid-Lothian dramatizes different kinds of justice - that meted out by the Edinburgh mob in the lynching of Captain Porteous, and that encountered by a terrified young girl suspected of killing her baby. Based on an anonymous letter Scot received in 1817, this is the seventh and finest of Scott's 'Waverley' novels. It was an international bestseller and inspired succeeding novelists from Balzac to George Eliot.
Emma: The Original Edition Of 1901 (The Black Cat Series)
by Jane AustenEmma is wealthy, beautiful, accomplished and a self-proclaimed matchmaker. When Emma meets Harriet Smith, a young girl of unknown parentage, Emma is convinced she can find Harriet a suitable husband. But, in her quest to find Harriet the perfect match, Emma jeopardizes Harriet's happiness and, much to her surprise, her own happiness too.The much-loved Austen novel has been given a fresh look by award-winning writer Sandy Welch. With well-known actors taking the title roles, Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller are Emma and Mr Knightley, this promises to be a very special and enduring adaptation.
Lady Susan: The Watsons (Hesperus Classics)
by Jane AustenInspired by Les Liaisons Dangereuses and written in a similar epistolary form, Lady Susan was one of Austen's earliest finished works. In it she reveals all the caustic wit and brilliant social satire of her later novels. The victim of a vicious scandal, impoverished Lady Susan is obliged to take up residence with her brother-in-law and his family. Refusing to resign herself to the role of placid house guest, she engineers to baffle her hosts, seducing her sister-in-law's brother in the process by means of her impeccable gentility and some well-judged flirtation. Yet before her victory is complete, she must first contend with the untimely reappearance of a former lover.
Aesop’s Fables: Classic Children's Stories By Aesop (Collins Classics)
by AesopHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.
The Betrothed: A New Translation, Volume 2 - Primary Source Edition
by Alessandro Manzoni Bruce PenmanSet in Lombardy during the Spanish occupation of the late 1620s, The Betrothed tells the story of two young lovers, Renzo and Lucia, prevented from marrying by the petty tyrant Don Rodrigo, who desires Lucia for himself. Forced to flee, they are then cruelly separated, and must face many dangers including plague, famine and imprisonment, and confront a variety of strange characters - the mysterious Nun of Monza, the fiery Father Cristoforo and the sinister 'Unnamed' - in their struggle to be reunited. A vigorous portrayal of enduring passion, The Betrothed's exploration of love, power and faith presents a whirling panorama of seventeenth-century Italian life and is one of the greatest European historical novels.
Waverley: Waverley
by Walter Scott Andrew HookSet against the backdrop of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, Waverley depicts the story of Edward Waverley, an idealistic daydreamer whose loyalty to his regiment is threatened when they are sent to the Scottish Highlands. When he finds himself drawn to the charismatic chieftain Fergus Mac-Ivor and his beautiful sister Flora, their ardent loyalty to Prince Charles Edward Stuart appeals to Waverley's romantic nature and he allies himself with their cause - a move that proves highly dangerous for the young officer. Scott's first novel was a huge success when it was published in 1814 and marked the start of his extraordinary literary success. With its vivid depiction of the wild Highland landscapes and patriotic clansmen, Waverley is a brilliant evocation of the old Scotland - a world Scott believed was swiftly disappearing in the face of a new, modern era.
Pride and Prejudice: Lit For Little Hands (Pulp! The Classics Ser.)
by Austen Jane Jane AustenLock Up Your Daughters... Darcy's in Town! Mrs Bennett is on a mission to marry off her five daughters to rich men. Enter, Mr Charles Bingley and his rather fit friend, Darcy. Love, loathing and bittersweet romance follow…
Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Regents Illustrated Classics)
by Mary Shelley Maurice HindleVictor Frankenstein is obsessed with the secret of resurrecting the dead. But when he makes a new 'man' out of plundered corpses, his hideous creation fills him disgust.Rejected by all humanity, the creature sets out to destroy Frankenstein and everyone he loves. And as the monster gets ever closer to his maker, hunter becomes prey in a lethal chase that carries them to the very end of the earth.
Ladybird Classics: Frankenstein (Start-to-finish: Classic Literature)
by Mary ShelleyThis Ladybird Classic ebook is an abridged retelling of the classic tale of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. A perfect introduction to the famous story, it is ideal for adults to read with children, or for newly confident readers to tackle alone. Please note that due to some scary parts in places, content may not be suitable for very young or sensitive readers.Victor Frankenstein has always been fascinated by the darker side of nature One fateful night, his sinister obsession triggers a chain of events that will have terrible consequences for Frankenstein and those closest to him...Beautiful new illustrations in this new edition bring the magic of this classic story to a new generation of children.
Mary and Maria, Matilda: Penguin Classics
by Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Shelley Janet ToddThese three works of fiction - two by Mary Wollstonecraft, the radical author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and one by her daughter Mary Shelley, creator of Frankenstein - are powerfully emotive stories that combine passion with forceful feminist argument. In Mary Wollstonecraft's Mary, the heroine flees her young husband in order to nurse her dearest friend, Ann, and finds genuine love, while Maria tells of a desperate young woman who seeks consolation in the arms of another man after the loss of her child. And Mary Shelley's Matilda - suppressed for over a century - tells the story of a woman alienated from society by the incestuous passion of her father. Humane, compassionate and highly controversial, these stories demonstrate the strongly original genius of their authors.
Writing Time: Studies in Serial Literature, 1780–1850 (Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought)
by Sean FranzelWriting Time shows how serial literature based in journals and anthologies shaped the awareness of time at a transformative moment in the European literary and political landscapes. Sean Franzel explores how German-speaking authors and editors "write time" both by writing about time and by mapping time itself through specific literary formats.Through case studies of such writers as F. J. Bertuch, K. A. Böttinger, J. W. Goethe, Ludwig Börne, and Heinrich Heine, Franzel analyzes how serial writing predicated on open-ended continuation becomes a privileged mode of social commentary and literary entertainment and provides readers with an ongoing "history" of the present, or Zeitgeschichte. Drawing from media theory and periodical studies as well as from Reinhart Koselleck's work on processes of temporalization and "untimely" models of historical time, Writing Time presents "smaller" literary forms—the urban tableau, cultural reportage, and caricature—as new ways of imagining temporal unfolding, recentering periodicals and other serial forms at the heart of nineteenth-century print culture.
Deerbrook: A Novel...
by Harriet MartineauWhen the Ibbotson sisters, Hester and Margaret, arrive at the village of Deerbrook to stay with their cousin Mr Grey and his wife, speculation is rife that one of them might marry the local apothecary Edward Hope. Although he is immediately attracted to Margaret, Hope is ultimately persuaded to marry the beautiful Hester. The unhappiness of their marriage is compounded when a malicious village gossip accuses Hope of grave-robbing.