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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Literary
This is a major book about one of the luminaries of the golden
age of Spanish literature. In spite of his great reputation, Lope
de Vega is to most of us merely a name, in part because of the
prodigious quantity and variety of his plays and other writings in
verse and prose. Alan Trueblood's book does not pretend to survey
all of Lope's works or to touch on all the events of his colorful
career; yet it probes the mind and heart, and art, of Lope as no
other study in English has done.
Trueblood pursues the artistic consequences of a key experience
in Lope's life, the four-year love affair with Elena Osorio that
terminated violently in 1587. (The rejected Lope, age twenty-five,
wrote slanderous verses about Elena's family and associates, was
jailed on charges of libel, and was sentenced to ten years' exile.)
Notwithstanding his subsequent marriages and liaisons, his mounting
literary fame in Spain and abroad, and his eventual dedication to
the Church as a priest, for forty-five years this experience
reverberated intermittently in his writings, culminating in the
great prose dialogue "La Dorotea." Trueblood's demonstration of the
increasing objectivity and sympathy with which Lope treats Elena/
Dorotea--in ballads, in sonnets, in plays, in "La Dorotea"--is
psychologically as well as aesthetically revealing.
Trueblood provides by far the fullest analysis and elucidation
of Lope's masterpiece, "La Dorotea," that it has ever received--and
in the process he probes the nature of literary creativity, the
symbiosis between personal experience and artistic expression, in
contexts going well beyond Lope and his age. Because the book will
appeal to many readers who do not know Spanish, all quotations have
been translated into English.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, wrote this 1869
novel with the intent of describing a New England village's life
and character in the years after the Revolutionary War, before the
advent of industrialization. Said Stowe, in the voice of the
novel's narrator Horace Holyoke, "I would endeavor to show you New
England in its seed-bed, before the hot suns of modern progress had
developed its sprouting germs into the great trees of today." She
based some of the book on the childhood memories of her husband,
Calvin Ellis Stowe, and the residents of his birthplace, Natick,
Massachusetts.
This is the first new complete literary biography of H G Wells for
thirty years, and the first to encompass his entire career as a
writer, from the science fiction of the 1890s through his fiction
and non-fiction writing all the way up to his last publication in
1946. Adam Roberts provides a comprehensive reassessment of Wells'
importance as a novelist, short-story writer, a theorist of social
prophecy and utopia, journalist and commentator, offering a nuanced
portrait of the man who coined the phrases 'atom bomb', 'League of
Nations' 'the war to end war' and 'time machine', who wrote the
world's first comprehensive global history and invented the idea of
the tank. In these twenty-six chapters, Roberts covers the entirety
of Wells' life and discusses every book and short story he
produced, delivering a complete vision of this enduring figure.
This literary biography study offers a comprehensive account of
Emily Dickinson's life, as a poet as well as a daughter of a
prominent Amherst, Massachusetts, family. For many years
accompanied by her large dog, she well knew the worlds of nature
and natural beauties. For many more years, she chronicled her life
- especially her life of the imagination - in hundreds of letters,
as well as the nearly 1,800 poems that have been found. Such rich
material informs this book's narrative, building a picture of a
woman loyal to her parents and her myriad of friends, as well as
siblings, niece and nephews, and her sister-in-law Susan Gilbert
Dickinson, her constant muse. Never content with passive
acceptance, or a live that conformed to the dutiful unmarried
daughter's role, Dickinson the poet worked all her mature life to
bring her art to its consistently firm - and always brilliant -
greatness.
Reinaldo Arenas was born to a poverty-stricken family in rural
Cuba. By the time of his death in New York four decades later, he
had become one of Cuba's most important poets, an outspoken critic
of Castro's regime and one of the leading gay voices of the
twentieth century. In Before Night Falls, Arenas tells of his
odyssey from young rebel fighting for the Revolution, through his
suppression as a writer, his disillusionment with Castro, his
imprisonment and torture, to his eventual exile from Cuba to New
York, where in 1987 he was diagnosed with AIDS. He committed
suicide in 1990, ending a life of constant struggle against
repression. In a farewell note, Arenas wrote: Due to my delicate
state of health and to the terrible depression that causes me not
to be able to continue writing and struggling for the freedom of
Cuba, I am ending my life ... I do not want to convey to you a
message of defeat, but of continued struggle and hope. Cuba will be
free. I already am. (signed) Reinaldo Arenas
From the award-winning author of "Across a Hundred Mountains."
Cuando el padre de Reyna Grande deja a su esposa y sus tres hijos
atras en un pueblo de Mexico para hacer el peligroso viaje a traves
de la frontera a los Estados Unidos, promete que pronto regresara
con el dinero suficiente para construir la casa de sus suenos. Sus
promesas se vuelven mas dificiles de creer cuando los meses de
espera se convierten en anos. Cuando se lleva a su esposa para
reunirse con el, Reyna y sus hermanos son depositados en el hogar
ya sobrecargado de su abuela paterna, Evila, una mujer endurecida
por la vida.
Los tres hermanos se ven obligados a cuidar de si mismos. En los
juegos infantiles encuentran una manera de olvidar el dolor del
abandono y a resolver problemas de adultos. Cuando su madre
regresa, la reunion sienta las bases para un capitulo nuevo y
dramatico en la vida de Reyna: su propio viaje a "El otro lado
"para vivir con el hombre que ha poseido su imaginacion durante
anos-- su padre ausente.
En esta memoria extraordinaria, la galardonada escritora Reyna
Grande le da vida a sus anos tumultuosos, capturando la confusion y
las contradicciones de una infancia divida entre dos padres y dos
paises. Solo en los libros, en la musica y en su rica imaginacion
ella encontrara consuelo, un refugio momentaneo de un mundo en el
que cada lugar se siente como "El otro lado." "La distancia entre
nosotros "capta el paso de una nina de la infancia a la
adolescencia y mas alla. Una divertida, lirica, pero desgarradora
historia, nos recuerda que las alegrias y las tristezas de la
infancia estan siempre con nosotros, impresas en el corazon,
recordandonos de ese lugar que fue nuestro primer hogar.
'Captures both Barbara and her writing so miraculously' JILLY
COOPER Picked as a Book to Look Forward to in 2021 by the Guardian,
The Times and the Observer A Radio 4 Book of the Week, April 2021
Barbara Pym became beloved as one of the wittiest novelists of the
late twentieth century, revealing the inner workings of domestic
life so brilliantly that her friend Philip Larkin announced her the
era's own Jane Austen. But who was Barbara Pym and why was the life
of this English writer - one of the greatest chroniclers of the
human heart - so defined by rejection, both in her writing and in
love? Pym lived through extraordinary times. She attended Oxford in
the thirties when women were the minority. She spent time in Nazi
Germany, falling for a man who was close to Hitler. She made a
career on the Home Front as a single working girl in London's
bedsit land. Through all of this, she wrote. Diaries, notes,
letters, stories and more than a dozen novels - which as Byrne
shows more often than not reflected the themes of Pym's own
experience: worlds of spinster sisters and academics in unrequited
love, of powerful intimacies that pulled together seemingly humble
lives. Paula Byrne's new biography is the first to make full use of
Barbara Pym's archive. Brimming with new extracts from Pym's
diaries, letters and novels, this book is a joyous introduction to
a woman who was herself the very best of company. Byrne brings
Barbara Pym back to centre stage as one of the great English
novelists: a generous, shrewdly perceptive writer and a brave
woman, who only in the last years of her life was suddenly,
resoundingly recognised for her genius.
Imagine sitting with an esteemed writer on his or her front porch
somewhere in the world and swapping life stories. Dr. Wayne Flynt
got the opportunity to do just this with Nelle Harper Lee. In a
friendship that blossomed over a dozen years starting when Lee
relocated back to Alabama after having had a stroke, Flynt and his
wife Dartie became regular visitors at the assisted living facility
that was Lee's new home. And there the conversation began. It began
where it always begins with Southern storytellers, with an
invitation to "Come in, sit down, and stay a while." The stories
exchanged ranged widely over the topics of Alabama history, Alabama
folklore, family genealogy, and American literature, of course. On
the way from beginning to end there were many detours: talks about
Huntingdon College; The University of Alabama; New York City; the
United Kingdom; Garden City, Kansas; and Mobile, Alabama, to name
just a few. Wayne and his wife were often joined by Alice Lee, the
oldest Lee sister, a living encyclopedia on the subject of family
genealogy, and middle sister Louise Lee Conner. The hours spent
visiting, in intimate closeness, are still cherished by Wayne
Flynt. They yielded revelations large and small, which have been
shaped into Afternoons with Harper Lee. Part memoir, part
biography, this book offers a unique window into the life and mind
and preoccupations of one of America's best-loved writers. Flynt
and Harper Lee and her sisters learned a great deal from each
other, and though this is not a history book, their shared interest
in Alabama and its history made this extraordinary work possible.
The prize-winning biography of Wordsworth's beloved sister,
champion, muse who was at the heart of the Romantic movement in
Britain - reissued to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Dorothy's
birth. 'Genius ... Its own kind of heaven.' New York Times 'A most
beautiful, deep, and humble study of incredibly complex people.'
Oliver Sacks Dorothy Wordsworth is an enigma. William's beloved
sister was his muse, champion, and most valued reader. She is
mythologised as a self-effacing spinster and saintly amanuensis,
yet Thomas De Quincey described her as 'all fire and ardour'.
Dorothy sacrificed a traditional life to share in her brother's
world of words. In her Grasmere Journals, she vividly recorded
their intimate life together in the Lake District, marked by a
startling freedom from social convention. The tale that unfolds in
her brief, electric entries reveals an intense bond between
siblings, culminating in Dorothy's collapse on William's wedding
day - after which the woman who once strode the hills in all
weathers retreated inside the house for the last three decades of
her life. In her magisterial biography, Frances Wilson uses the
compressed emotion of Dorothy's journals to evoke the rich interior
world of a woman determined to live on her own terms - one who
deserves her own place in the history of the Romantic movement.
'Intelligent and intriguing ... A portrait of a peculiar,
passionate, yet meticulous woman which is hauntingly strange.'
Sunday Telegraph 'Passion is the keynote of Wilson's fine biography
... Brims with the personality of [an] extraordinary woman ...
Thrilling.' Sunday Times 'This beautiful, wise biography draws
Dorothy from her hiding places. She emerges as a passionate
figure.' Daily Telegraph 'Gripping ... Bold, witty, scholarly and
speculative.' Margaret Drabble
Upon publication, "Don't Panic" quickly established itself as the
definitive companion to "Adams" and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy". This edition comes up-to-date, covering the movie, "And
Another Thing" by Eoin Colfer and the build up to the 30th
anniversary of the first novel. Acclaimed author Neil Gaiman
celebrates the life and work of Douglas Adams who, in a field in
Innsbruck in 1971, had an idea that became "The Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy". The radio series that started it all, the five -
soon to be six - book 'trilogy', the TV series, almost-film and
actual film, and everything in between.
A Political Biography of Sarah Fielding provides the most complete
discussion of Fielding's works and career currently available.
Tracing the development of Fielding's artistic and instructive
agendas from her earliest publications forward, Johnson presents a
compelling portrait of a deeply read author who sought to claim a
place within literary culture for women's experiences. As a
practical didacticist, Fielding sought to teach her readers to live
happier, more fulfilling lives by appropriating and at times
resisting the texts that defined their culture. While Fielding
often retreats from the overtly political concerns that captured
the attention of her contemporaries, her works are daring forays
into the public sphere that both challenge and reinforce the
foundations of British society. Giving voice to those who have been
marginalized, Fielding's creative productions are at once
conservative and radical, revealing her ambiguous appreciation for
tradition, her fears of modernity, and her abiding commitment to
women who must live within forever imperfect worlds.
"Tell Me A Story is breathtakingly tender, heartbreakingly
true...The best memoir I've read." -- Mary Alice Monroe, New York
Times bestselling author of The Beach House Reunion Bestselling
author Cassandra King Conroy considers her life and the man she
shared it with, paying tribute to her husband, Pat Conroy, the
legendary figure of modern Southern literature. Cassandra King was
leading a quiet life as a professor, divorced "Sunday wife" of a
preacher, and debut novelist when she met Pat Conroy. Their
friendship bloomed into a tentative, long-distance relationship.
Pat and Cassandra ultimately married, ending Pat's long commutes
from coastal South Carolina to her native Alabama. It was a union
that would last eighteen years, until the beloved literary icon's
death from pancreatic cancer in 2016. In this poignant, intimate
memoir, the woman he called King Ray looks back at her love affair
with a natural-born storyteller whose lust for life was fueled by a
passion for literature, food, and the Carolina Lowcountry that was
his home. As she reflects on their relationship and the eighteen
years they spent together, cut short by Pat's passing at seventy,
Cassandra reveals how the marshlands of the South Carolina
Lowcountry ultimately cast their spell on her, too, and how she
came to understand the convivial, generous, funny, and wounded
flesh-and-blood man beneath the legend--her husband, the original
Prince of Tides.
A Sunday Times Book of The Year A Mail on Sunday Book of The Year
An Independent Book of The Year A The Times Book of The Year During
the US book tour for his memoir, Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens
collapsed in his New York hotel room to excoriating pain in his
chest and thorax. As he would later write in the first of a series
of deeply moving Vanity Fair pieces, he was being deported 'from
the country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off
the land of malady.' Over the next year he underwent the brutal
gamut of modern cancer treatment, enduring catastrophic levels of
suffering and eventually losing the ability to speak. Mortality is
the most meditative collection of writing Hitchens has ever
produced; at once an unsparingly honest account of the ravages of
his disease, an examination of cancer etiquette, and the coda to a
lifetime of fierce debate and peerless prose. In this eloquent
confrontation with mortality, Hitchens returns a human face to a
disease that has become a contemporary cipher of suffering.
The son of one of the greatest writers of our time-Nobel Prize
winner and internationally best-selling icon Gabriel Garcia
Marquez-remembers his beloved father and mother in this tender
memoir about love and loss. 'It enthralled and moved me.' Salman
Rushdie In March 2014, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of the most
acclaimed writers of the twentieth century, came down with a cold.
The woman who had been beside him for more than fifty years, his
wife Mercedes Barcha, was not hopeful; her husband, affectionately
known as "Gabo," was then nearly 87 and battling dementia. I don't
think we'll get out of this one, she told their son Rodrigo.
Hearing his mother's words, Rodrigo wondered, "Is this how the end
begins?" To make sense of events as they unfolded, he began to
write the story of Garcia Marquez's final days. The result is this
intimate and honest account that not only contemplates his father's
mortality but reveals his remarkable humanity. Both an illuminating
memoir and a heartbreaking work of reportage, A Farewell to Gabo
and Mercedes transforms this towering genius from literary creator
to protagonist, and paints a rich and revelatory portrait of a
family coping with loss. At its centre is a man at his most
vulnerable, whose wry humour shines even as his lucidity wanes.
Gabo savours affection and attention from those in his orbit, but
wrestles with what he will lose-and what is already lost.
Throughout his final journey is the charismatic Mercedes, his
constant companion and the creative muse who was one of the
foremost influences on Gabo's life and his art. Bittersweet and
insightful, surprising and powerful, A Farewell to Gabo and
Mercedes celebrates the formidable legacy of Rodrigo's parents,
offering an unprecedented look at the private family life of a
literary giant. It is at once a gift to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's
readers worldwide, and a grand tribute from a writer who knew him
well.
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