A vivid and personal documentation of T. S. Eliot's most crucial years, both in his private and public life. Despairing of his volatile, unstable marriage, T. S. Eliot, at 44, resolves to put an end to his eighteen-year union with Vivien Haigh-Wood Eliot. To begin with, he distances himself from her for nine months, from September 1932, by becoming Norton Lecturer at Harvard University. His lectures will be published as The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism(1933). He also delivers the Page-Barbour Lectures at Virginia (After Strange Gods, 1934). At Christmas he visits Emily Hale, to whom he is 'obviously devoted'. He gives talks all over - New York, California, Missouri, Minnesota, Chicago - and the letters describing encounters with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edmund Wilson and Marianne Moore ('a real Gillette blade') brim with gossip. High points include the premiere at Vassar College of his comic melodrama Sweeney Agonistes (1932). The year 'was the happiest I can ever remember in my life . . . successful and amusing.' Returning home, he seeks refuge with friends in the country while making known to Vivien his decision to leave her. But he is exasperated when she buries herself in denial: she will not accept a Deed of Separation. The close of 1933 is lifted when Eliot 'breaks into Show Business'. He is commissioned to write a 'mammoth Pageant': The Rock. This collaborative enterprise will be the proving-ground for the choric triumph of Murder in the Cathedral (1935).

The Time Machine is one of the most enduring works of the English language. A hundred years after it was first published, the book continues to be studied. The 1895 London first edition is used as a basis for the exhaustive annotations and other critical apparatus of the world's foremost Wellsian scholar. The widely reprinted version of 1924 is also fully accounted for. For most students, one of the chief points of interest is what the novel signified to readers when it was first published and how it relates to Wells's later works. Accordingly, the annotations focus on these questions. The introduction gives in great depth the background of the work and its complex bibliographical history, and a synopsis of the literary conventions that Wells used.

This biography covers both the literary and political career of John Morley, later Lord Morley of Blackburn (1838-1923). As a writer, Morley made his reputation as the radical editor of The Fortnightly Review from 1867 to 1882. This was an influential periodical for which Morley commissioned articles by writers such as Leslie Stephen and Frederic Harrison, and for which Morley wrote many articles himself. As a politician, Morley worked very closely with William Ewart Gladstone, particularly in the two attempts to introduce legislation providing for Irish home rule, with a Dublin parliament. Finally, at the end of his political career, Morley served as secretary of state for India (1905-1910) in the great Liberal government of Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith. Working with the viceroy Lord Minto, Morley was responsible for the first tentative steps toward a democratic government in India. Morley was strongly opposed to militarism: he had stood out against the war with the Boers in South Africa and he resigned from office in 1915 in protest against the declaration of war on Germany. This biography utilizes extensive primary archival material, including Morley's own diaries and letters, which have only recently become available.

Much attention has been paid to the scientific romance novels of H.G. Wells, a founder of modern science fiction and one of the genre's greatest writers. In comparison, little attention has been given by critics to his works of fantasy, which in the opinion of many, are just as artistic and worthy of study. This work, takes a critical look at Wells' little known fantasy The Sea Lady: A Tissue of Moonshine, which is a parable of dark foreboding that unveils the nothingness of utopian dreams and foreshadows Franz Kafka's dark fables of the totalitarian age. A lengthy introduction by the editor provides a comprehensive overview of the text and the story of The Sea Lady, and serves to explain the ideas of civil death and every citizen's acting as a public servant, and the concept of totalitarian metaphysics, which deals with a revolt against the limits of the human condition. This work provides a complete, extensively annotated text of the 1902 London first edition of The Sea Lady.

Man Who Could Work Miracles (without a The) is a 1937 film, ostensibly a comedy, that H.G. Wells scripted late in life for London Film Productions. This work is a literary text of the scenario and dialogue published in advance of the movie's release. Wells himself says it is a companion piece to Things to Come, his deadly serious film done a year before, also produced by Alexander Korda. The editor's introduction explains how two such radically different films are related and discusses the artistic quality of the text, Wells' overriding sense of cosmic vision, his views on sex and politics, and his uncommon estimate of the common man's incapacity for public affairs. The world's foremost Wellsian scholar here brings his unique analytical powers to bear on, in the opinion of many, the strangest work Wells ever wrote. The appendices include the 1898 short story version, The Man Who Could Work Miracles, three related cosmic-vision short stories by Wells, and an excerpt from a 1931 radio address by Wells not inaccurately retitled If I Were Dictator of the World.

Things to Come is the 1936 release of London Films, produced from the 1935 film story by H.G. Wells, the text of the present work. The book includes more than 100 illustrations, most of them publicity stills that are all the more relevant because Wells, for a script writer, had unusual control over the actual film production. The images are very much a direct expression of his film story. Done at age 70, Things to Come reflects on a long literary career, in both fiction and nonfiction, often given to the fate of man and the prospect of a unified world state, a utopian future realized in the film by A.D. 2036. That is what is coming: the end of warfare between belligerent nation states. Now the new frontier of human conquest is space, begun at film's end with the first firing of a gigantic space gun.

'Entirely original and thrilling . . . this is Gatsby made real' JULIET NICOLSON 'This witty, fascinating book is a delight. Read it.' MIRIAM MARGOLYES In the 1920s a new generation stepped forward to invigorate the Bloomsbury Group - creative young people who tantalised the original 'Bloomsberries' with their captivating looks and provocative ideas. Young Bloomsbury introduces us to an extraordinarily colourful cast of characters, including novelist and music critic Eddy Sackville-West, 'who wore elaborate make-up and dressed in satin and black velvet'; sculptor Stephen Tomlin; and writer Julia Strachey. Talented and productive, these larger-than-life figures had high-achieving professional lives and extremely complicated emotional lives. Bloomsbury had always celebrated sexual equality and freedom in private, feeling that every person had the right to live and love in the way they chose. But as transgressive self-expression became more public, this younger generation gave Old Bloomsbury a new voice. Revealing an aspect of Bloomsbury history not yet explored, Young Bloomsbury celebrates an open way of living that would not be embraced for another hundred years.

The identity of Shakespeare, the most important poet and dramatist in the English language, has been debated for centuries. This historical work investigates the role of Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, establishing him as most likely the author of Shakespeare's literary oeuvre. Topics include the historical background of English literature from 1530 through 1575, major contemporary transitions in the theatre, and a linguistically rich examination of Oxford's life and the events leading to his literary prominence. The sonnets, Oxford's early poetry, juvenile "pre-Shakespeare" plays, and his acting career are of particular interest. An appendix examines the role of the historical William Shakespeare and how he became associated with Oxford's work.

This ambitious three-volume biography on Gissing examines both his life and writing both chronologically and in close detail. Part II assesses the period of Gissing's greatest authorial triumphs. His most critically acclaimed works, The Nether World (1889), New Grub Street (1891) and The Odd Women (1893) date from this time.

An authorized biography of prolife author and screen-writer Earl Hamner. Covers his career from earliest newspaper writing, to Hollywood, the Twilight Zone and The Waltons.

Li Yu, 1610-1680, was a brilliant comic writer and entertainer, a thoroughgoing professional whose life was in his work-plays, stories, a novel, criticism, essays, and poems. Patrick Hanan places him in the society of his day, where even his precarious livelihood, his constant search for patronage, did not dampen his versatility, his irreverent wit, or his jocund spirit. Li was also an epicure, an inventor, a pundit, and a designer of houses and gardens. He was an exceptional figure in Chinese culture for two reasons: his disregard of the authority of tradition, and his dedication to the cause of comedy.

Hanan uses the term "invention" in his title in several ways: Li Yu's invention of himself, his public image-his originality and inventiveness in a multitude of fields and the literary products of his inventiveness. With expert and entertaining translations Hanan explores the key features of Li Yu's work, summarizing, describing, and quoting extensively to convey Li's virtuosity, his unconventionality, his irreverence, his ribaldry. This is a splendid introduction to the art and persona of a Chinese master of style and ingenuity.

This ambitious three-volume biography on Gissing examines both his life and writing chronologically and in close detail. Part I covers Gissing's early life up until his establishment as a writer of moderate critical success.

Millions of fans the world over got to know her beloved characters, Hercule Poirot, Miss Jane Marple, and the rest, yet for decades little was known about their creator. Dame Agatha Christie was a woman who scrupulously kept her private life hidden from view, dodging the press, granting no interviews, and even, for a brief time, famously disappearing. But shortly after the great lady's death, the silence was broken when An Autobiography was finally published.

The witty, insightful, and immensely entertaining reflections of a marvelous talent, An Autobiography is as compulsively readable as Christie's novels. In her own inimitable style, a brilliant eccentric whose life encapsulated her times sheds light on her past, including her childhood in Victorian England, her volunteer work during World War II, and, of course, her phenomenal career. Agatha Christie's An Autobiography brings into sharp focus a beloved and enduring literary icon whose imagination continues to mesmerize readers to this very day.

Heartstrings: A Tale of Danish Loyalty, Resistance, and Homecoming is about the ties that bind us to our families, our social institutions, and our country of birth. It is a story of a region and its people at a particularly challenging time in history as well as a piece of immigrant literature, written from the double perspective of those who left and those who stayed behind. The author's grandmother is the central character of the story and serves as a representative of those who made the difficult choice of remaining in Southern Jutland, Denmark, during the years of Prussian annexation from 1864 to 1920. Many emigrated to America, and, based on their letters home, Wiehl imagines her grandmother making comparisons between the lives of those who stayed and those who left, pondering choices and consequences. Her grandmother is furthermore emblematic of the women who ran their farms during WWI when husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons, good Danes all -- against their will and hearts' desires -- had been conscripted into the Prussian army. Many died, among them the author's grandfather, many were lost to emigration, and many emigrants never saw their homeland again. Even so, Heartstrings is a story of homecoming, geographically and metaphorically, and the powers of heart and will that make homecoming possible.

This book deals with the life and career of Bernhard Karlgren (1889-1978), whose research in a great variety of fields, particularly the historical phonology of the Chinese language, laid the foundations for modern western sinology. The definition of the term "sinology" has undergone great changes since Bernhard Karlgren entered the stage a century ago. At that time the term covered research related to the language, literature, history, thought, and intellectual aspects of early China. Since the mid-twentieth century the definition has been considerably broadened to include more modern aspects, with special emphasis on sociopolitical and economic topics. In many Chinese language departments in both China and the West, studies of early China have been put at a disadvantage. This book may serve as a reminder that the time may have come to redress the imbalance. The book begins by sketching the intellectual milieu that characterized Karlgren's school years and ends with a mention of his last publication, "Moot words in some Chuang Tse chapters," published in 1976. The intervening seventy years were filled with intense scholarly activities-including his disputatio for the PhD in Uppsala in 1915; his subsequent career as professor of East Asian languages at Gothenburg University, 1918-39; and his directorship of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm, 1939-59. For many years he served as vice-chancellor of Gothenburg University and as president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History, and Antiquities. He also played a leading role in various endeavors to strengthen the standing of Swedish humanities.

Poet and Journalist, Max Eastman is perhaps the most famous example of an American intellectual who during his life moved across the entire political spectrum. This reexamination of his career and his place in history reveals the dynamics behind his several careers and political transformations, offering new insight into one of the most influential writers of this century. It is a model biography of a key intellectual of the twentieth century. It is also both a perspective social history of his times and a study in the history of ideas. The book will find a welcome place in history, literature, and political science courses, as well as in personal libraries.

Everybody knows Charlotte Bronte. World-famous for her novel Jane Eyre, she's a giant of literature and has been written about in reverential tones in scores of textbooks over the years. But what do we really know about Charlotte? As the famous siblings celebrate their bicentenaries, Charlotte Bronte Revisited looks at Charlotte through 21st-century eyes. Discover the real Charlotte: her private world of convention, rebellion and imagination, and how they shaped her life and writing - including the paranormal, nature, feminism and politics. It's an indispensable guide for students and literature lovers, and emphatically shows why Charlotte is as relevant today as she ever was.

Ludwig Bemelmans came to the California home of famed interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl, for cocktails. By the end of the night, he was firmly established as a member of the family: given a bedroom in their sumptuous house, invitations to the most outrageous parties in Hollywood, and the friendship of the larger-than-life woman known to her closest friends simply as 'Mother'. With hilarity and mischief, Bemelmans lifts the curtain on a bygone world of extravagance and eccentricity, where the parties are held in circus tents and populated by ravishing movie stars. To the One I Love the Best is a luminous painting of life's oddities and a touching tribute to a fabulously funny woman.

For over seven centuries, Dante and his masterpiece, "The Divine Comedy," have held a special place in Western culture. The poem is at once a vivid journey through hell to heaven, a poignant love story, and a picture of humanity's relationship to God. It is so richly imaginative that a first reading can be bewildering. In response, Peter Hawkins has written an inspiring introduction to the poet, his greatest work, and its abiding influence. His knowledge of Dante and enthusiasm for his vision make him an expert guide for the willing reader.

A Sunday Times Book of the Year Shortlisted for The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize 'This magnificent, highly readable double biography...brings these two driven, complicated women vividly to life' The Financial Times 'A gripping saga of a double-biography' Daily Mail 'A masterful portrait' The Times 'Vastly enjoyable' Literary Review 'Deeply absorbing and meticulously researched' The Oldie In 1815, the clever, courted and cherished Annabella Milbanke married the notorious and brilliant Lord Byron. Just one year later, she fled, taking with her their baby daughter, the future Ada Lovelace. Byron himself escaped into exile and died as a revolutionary hero in 1824, aged 36. The one thing he had asked his wife to do was to make sure that their daughter never became a poet. Ada didn't. Brought up by a mother who became one of the most progressive reformers of Victorian England, Byron's little girl was introduced to mathematics as a means of calming her wild spirits. Educated by some of the most learned minds in England, she combined that scholarly discipline with a rebellious heart and a visionary imagination. As a child invalid, Ada dreamed of building a steam-driven flying horse. As an exuberant and boldly unconventional young woman, she amplified her explanations of Charles Babbage's unbuilt calculating engine to predict, as nobody would do for another century, the dawn today of our modern computer age. When Ada died - like her father, she was only 36 - great things seemed still to lie ahead for her as a passionate astronomer. Even while mired in debt from gambling and crippled by cancer, she was frenetically employing Faraday's experiments with light refraction to explore the analysis of distant stars. Drawing on fascinating new material, Seymour reveals the ways in which Byron, long after his death, continued to shape the lives and reputations both of his wife and his daughter. During her life, Lady Byron was praised as a paragon of virtue; within ten years of her death, she was vilified as a disgrace to her sex. Well over a hundred years later, Annabella Milbanke is still perceived as a prudish wife and cruelly controlling mother. But her hidden devotion to Byron and her tender ambitions for his mercurial, brilliant daughter reveal a deeply complex but unsuspectedly sympathetic personality. Miranda Seymour has written a masterful portrait of two remarkable women, revealing how two turbulent lives were often governed and always haunted by the dangerously enchanting, quicksilver spirit of that extraordinary father whom Ada never knew.

"The study of Goethe's life is a task that each generation must undertake anew." Thus writes Richard Friedenthal, author of this rich biography. Spanning eight momentous decades of war, revolution, and social upheaval, Goethe's life reveals itself as one of conflict and dynamic development, of inner contradiction and unceasing creativity.

As novelist, dramatist, and poet, Goethe produced epochal works of fiery romanticism, only later to dedicate himself to a classical ideal of purity and measure. His superb love lyrics immortalize a succession of ardent relationships; yet, in him too, was a strain of frigid egotism mingled with an Olympian detachment. The new introduction serves to place in perspective this outstanding work on the German master.

He was capable of tirelessly exploring the external world as physiologist, geologist, and botanist. He was equally capable of plunging to the depths of profound subjective analysis. A minister of state, a model of distinguished probity, Goethe nonetheless lived a life of passionate seeking, eternally questioning official values. Nothing perhaps better sums up this vast complexity than his lifelong work, Faust, the supreme dramatization of man's quest on earth.

'n Biografie van die bekroonde skrywer Jeanne Goosen, met foto's, briewe en bydraes van vriende wat vertel hoe hulle dié ikoniese figuur ken. Die skrywer, Petrovna Metelerkamp, is die 2019-wenner van die ATKV-Veertjie vir nie-fiksie vir Ingrid Jonker - 'n Biografie. Die boek bevat materiaal wat voorheen ontoeganklik was en beloof om ure se leesgenot te verskaf aan die duisende aanhangers van die digter-dramaturg en skrywer van Ons is nie almal so nie.

This volume features selections from the New Directions founder's correspondence with Guy Davenport, the polymath artist and author of "The Geography of the Imagination." More than simply detailing an author/publisher relationship, these letters depict two fine minds educating and supporting each other in the service of literature.

Set in the late 1960s, Mother Land describes life on an Aegean island, seen through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy. It is the first-hand account of a Greek boy, born on a Turkish island, trying to make sense of the escalating tension between Greek and Turk, Muslim and Christian, mother and father, and reveals with chilling clarity how violence begets violence, in even the most unexpected of people and how, despite anger and exile, reconciliation is possible. Mother Land is a compulsive page-turner and this original, humane and uplifting account keeps the reader's interest to the very last page, as the adult Dmetri returns to his island home to extract one last story, to unearth one more secret, in the hope of making peace with the past.