'Triggering'. When and where did the usage originate? No one is sure. There is, however, clear connection with the psychiatric term 'trauma trigger' - stimuli which can detonate unhealed wounds. The concept of triggering took off in feminist magazines and social media 'chat' around 2010. Around 2013/14 it moved, wholesale, into higher education. In May 2014 the New York Times reported that at scores of institutions student bodies were demanding trigger warnings in their courses for canonical texts. It reached a floodmark with a survey by The Times in August 2022 which found that British universities had covertly added trigger warnings to over a thousand texts, including the works of literary greats such as Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie. The current government vilifies triggering with the sarcasms 'wokery' and 'snowflakery'. What is overlooked in the heat of the argument is that triggering is categorically different from traditional institutional controls on literature. Triggering, done responsibly, honours the fact that great literature is great because it is, as Kafka says, powerful. In this extraordinary polemic, John Sutherland - Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London - takes a wide-ranging and characteristically nuanced look at the history of triggering and censorship in literature and shows how it has become a theatre of culture warfare. Politicians in the two great sectors of the English-speaking world have taken up arms in that conflict. Jonathan Swift's 'Battle of the Books' has flared up again.

Famously banned for indecency, Lawrence’s final novel is one of the most notorious and passionate love stories in literature.

Constance Reid, Lady Chatterley, is a young woman trapped in an unfulfilling marriage to an aristocrat whose war wounds have left him paralyzed. After her husband demands that she provide him with an heir, she enters into a liaison with their gamekeeper, a working-class man named Oliver Mellors. As their illicit relationship grows in tenderness, mutual respect, and sensual passion, Constance discovers that true fulfillment requires a real connection of both mind and body.

Shocking to its original audience for its cross-class romance as well as for its explicit depictions of sex, the novel has long been hailed as the summit of Lawrence's artistic achievement and one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century.

With a new introduction by Professor John Sutherland, this edition takes a fresh look at one of the great works of the twentieth century. Animal Farm is a moral animal fable written to highlight the weakness of humankind, and satirize the rule of Stalin, whose rise through revolution ended in totalitarianism. Peppered with slogans such as 'All Animals Are Equal', Orwell undermines the dark treachery of the pigs with a simple economy of style as, open-eyed and naive, the other animals allow themselves to be outmanoeuvred. By the end of the book the pigs are as corrupt and arrogant as the humans they replace. For many, the book was a wider allegory of human behaviour, a lament; but for others it was a call to action that foreshadowed the Cold War, where differing world views would attempt to adopt Orwell's great work for their own purpose.

William Makepeace Thackeray has always been an author for those with discriminating literary palettes. `I do not hesitate to name Thackeray first' said his most devoted disciple, Anthony Trollope. Few would deny that he is the finest literary stylist of his time. Thackeray was at his most Thackerayan in what he called `small beer chronicles': the little things in life. His style reached its highest pitch in essays, his cutting wit in journalism. This is the first `sampler' which covers all of Thackeray's versatile genius: his cartoons, his journalism, his carefully restrained sentimentality (much to Victorian taste), his cutting satire, his essayism and what one could grandly call the Thackerayan world view---summed up (as printed here) in the foreword and afterword of his masterpiece, Vanity Fair. This collection of incidental pieces and cartoons (no writer has ever illustrated his own work better) catches him at his most characteristic. Enjoy. Key Points: * The first anthology of Thackeray's varied writings as journalist and essayist * With explanatory notes throughout by scholar and writer John Sutherland * Illustrated with sketches and cartoons by Thackeray * A charming gift for fans of Thackeray and Victoriana

ARE YOU READY TO SAVE A LIFE? WHY HER? Becca Palmer has just lost her job as assistant to Simon Jones MP - the highly-regarded Policing Minister, tipped as a future Prime Minister. But Becca claims that Simon was more than her boss, that she is in love with him. WHY HERE? When a heartbroken Becca leaves the Home Office, she heads to Westminster Bridge, intending to take her own life. Which is where hostage negotiator Alex Lewis meets her for the first time. It is his job to try to talk her back from the edge. WHY NOW? In the negotiation that follows, Becca suggests that she may know something about the Policing Minister that she shouldn't. Something that could prompt a serious fall from grace were it to come out. But can Alex save Becca - and get to the bottom of an alleged conspiracy that goes deep inside the highest levels of government - before it's too late? *** Praise for The Fallen: 'The plot is intricate, frighteningly plausible and superbly paced; I raced through it in two sittings. Recommended.' - M W Craven

First published in 1981, this book offers a study of British and American popular fiction in the 1970s, a decade in which the quest for the superseller came to dominate the lives of publishers on both sides of the Atlantic. Illustrated by examples of the lurid incidents that catapult so many books into the bestseller charts, this comprehensive study covers the work of Robbins, Hailey and Maclean, the 'bodice rippers', the disaster craze, horror, war stories and media tie-ins such as The Godfather, Jaws and Star Wars.

Martin Amis's most highly regarded novel--a blackly comic murder mystery about a murder that has not yet happened--in a full-cloth hardcover edition with silk ribbon marker. EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY CONTEMPORARY CLASSICS.
First published twenty-five years ago in 1989, "London Fields" is considered by many to be Amis's best novel. The narrator is an American writer living in London who has had writer's block for twenty years and is now terminally ill. The other main characters are a bored and wealthy banker, a small-time criminal, and Nicola Six, a young woman who knows she will be murdered a few minutes after midnight on November 5, 1999, and who goes in search of her killer. Set ten years in the future, against a backdrop of environmental and social degradation and the looming threat of world instability and nuclear war, this is a highly unusual mystery with an unexpected twist at the end.

In a series of 50 accessible essays, John Sutherland introduces and explains the important forms, concepts, themes and movements in literature, drawing on insights and examples from both classic and popular works. From postmodernism to postcolonialism, William Shakespeare to Jane Austen, 50 Literature Ideas You Really Need to Know is a complete introduction to the most important literary concepts in history.

With over 900 biographical entries, more than 600 novels synopsized, and a wealth of background material on the publishers, reviewers and readers of the age the Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction is the fullest account of the period's fiction ever published. Now in a second edition, the book has been revised and a generous selection of images have been chosen to illustrate various aspects of Victorian publishing, writing, and reading life. Organised alphabetically, the information provided will be a boon to students, researchers and all lovers of reading. The entries, though concise, meet the high standards demanded by modern scholarship. The writing - marked by Sutherland's characteristic combination of flair, clarity and erudition - is of such a high standard that the book is a joy to read, as well as a definitive work of reference.

We live with the idea of sin every day - from the greatest transgressions to the tiniest misdemeanours. But surely the concept was invented for an age where divine retribution and eternal punishment dominated the collective consciousness? In this lively collection of new writing, Nicola Barker, Dylan Evans, David Flusfeder, Todd McEwen, Martin Rowson, John Sutherland and Ali Smith go head to head with the capital vices to explore what we really mean when we talk about sin. The resulting mixture of erudite and playful essays and startling new fiction might not make you a better person, but it will certainly give you pause for thought when you're next laying the law down or - heaven forfend - about to do something beyond the pale yourself.

First published in 1981, this book offers a study of British and American popular fiction in the 1970s, a decade in which the quest for the superseller came to dominate the lives of publishers on both sides of the Atlantic. Illustrated by examples of the lurid incidents that catapult so many books into the bestseller charts, this comprehensive study covers the work of Robbins, Hailey and Maclean, the 'bodice rippers', the disaster craze, horror, war stories and media tie-ins such as The Godfather, Jaws and Star Wars.

This edition is published by the Trollope Society. Pickering & Chatto Publishers is responsible for distributing to libraries and their suppliers only.

With over 900 biographical entries, more than 600 novels synopsized, and a wealth of background material on the publishers, reviewers and readers of the age the "Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction" is the fullest account of the period's fiction ever published. Now in a second edition, the book has been revised and a generous selection of images have been chosen to illustrate various aspects of Victorian publishing, writing, and reading life.

Organised alphabetically, the information provided will be a boon to students, researchers and all lovers of reading. The entries, though concise, meet the high standards demanded by modern scholarship. The writing - marked by Sutherland's characteristic combination of flair, clarity and erudition - is of such a high standard that the book is a joy to read, as well as a definitive work of reference.

"A remarkable achievement, an invaluable tool for understanding the Victorian literary milieu, and a first-rate bedside book as well." "TLS"

"A pleasure to read and to handle." "Sunday Times"

'What spectacle is more august than that of a great king in exile? Who is more worthy of respect than a brave man in misfortune?' When "Henry Esmond" appeared in 1852, noted writers and critics of the time acclaimed it as the best historical novel ever written. Set in the reign of Queen Anne, the story follows the troubled progress of a gentleman and an officer in Marlborough's army, as he painfully wrestles with an emotional allegiance to the old Tory-Catholic England until, disillusioned, he comes to terms of a kind with the Whiggish-Protestant future. This change also entails a very uncomfortable switch in his affections. The love story of Henry Esmond is charged with sombre, unconscious emotions, yet is skilfully embedded into historical events which are convincing but never too prominent.

This 'little history' takes on a very big subject: the glorious span of literature from Greek myth to graphic novels, from The Epic of Gilgamesh to Harry Potter. John Sutherland is perfectly suited to the task. He has researched, taught, and written on virtually every area of literature, and his infectious passion for books and reading has defined his own life. Now he guides young readers and the grown-ups in their lives on an entertaining journey 'through the wardrobe' to a greater awareness of how literature from across the world can transport us and help us to make sense of what it means to be human. Sutherland introduces great classics in his own irresistible way, enlivening his offerings with humor as well as learning: Beowulf, Shakespeare, Don Quixote, the Romantics, Dickens, Moby Dick, The Waste Land, Woolf, 1984, and dozens of others. He adds to these a less-expected, personal selection of authors and works, including literature usually considered well below 'serious attention' - from the rude jests of Anglo-Saxon runes to The Da Vinci Code. With masterful digressions into various themes - censorship, narrative tricks, self-publishing, taste, creativity, and madness - Sutherland demonstrates the full depth and intrigue of reading. For younger readers, he offers a proper introduction to literature, promising to interest as much as instruct. For more experienced readers, he promises just the same.

Double bill of two popular animated adventures. 'Bambi' (1942) follows young male deer Bambi from his birth and woodland childhood with friends Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk, through to his ascendancy into tall, antlered adulthood. Along the way he tragically loses his mother to hunters and finds love with the beautiful Faline.

In 'Bambi 2 - The Great Prince of the Forest' (2005) Bambi (voice of Alexander Gould) reunites with his father, The Great Prince (Patrick Stewart), who must now raise the young fawn and teach him the way of the forest. But, in the adventure of a lifetime, the proud parent discovers that there is much more he can learn from his spirited young son.

A stunning hardback edition of one of the most influential, groundbreaking crime novels ever written. 'I'm a huge Highsmith fan. If there's one book I wish I'd written, it's The Talented Mr Ripley' Sarah Waters Tom Ripley travels to Italy with a commission to coax a prodigal young American back to his wealthy father. But Ripley finds himself very fond of Dickie Greenleaf. He wants to be like him - exactly like him. Suave, agreeable and utterly amoral, Ripley will stop at nothing to accomplish his goal. The Talented Mr. Ripley serves as an unforgettable introduction to this smooth confident man, whose talent for murder and self-invention is chronicled in four subsequent Ripley novels.

The war on the old has been declared.In the post-Brexit world, intergenerational conflict has become a visible phenomenon. There is an overwhelming sense of blame from younger generations: it was 'the wrinklies', the grey-haired plutocracy, who voted Leave; who are overburdening hospitals, shutting the youth out of the housing market and hoarding accumulated wealth.By 2020, we are told, one in five Britons will be pensioners, and living a longer retirement than ever before. 'A good thing', politicians add, through gritted teeth. The truth is that for them, 'the old' are a social, economic and political inconvenience.John Sutherland (age 78, and feeling keenly what he writes about) examines this intergenerational combat as a new kind of war in which institutional neglect and universal indifference to the old has reached aggressive, and routinely lethal, levels. This is a book which sets out to provoke but in the process tells some deep and inconvenient truths, revealing something British society would rather not think about.

An engaging guide to a rich literary heritage, The Stanford Companion presents a fascinating parade of novels, authors, publishers, editors, reviewers, illustrators, and periodicals that created the culture of Victorian fiction. Its more than 6,000 alphabetical entries provide an incomparable range of useful and little-known source material, its scholarship enlivened by the author's wit and candor.

'Generous, enjoyable and well informed.' Observer '500 expertly potted plots and personal comments on a wide range of pop and proper prose fiction.' The Times ___________________________________________________________ Ranging all the way from Aaron's Rod to Zuleika Dobson, via The Devil Rides Out and Middlemarch, literary connoisseur and sleuth John Sutherland offers his very personal guide to the most rewarding, most remarkable and, on occasion, most shamelessly enjoyable works of fiction ever written. He brilliantly captures the flavour of each work and assesses its relative merits and demerits. He shows how it fits into a broader context and he offers endless snippets of intriguing information: did you know, for example, that the Nazis banned Bambi or that William Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying on an upturned wheelbarrow; that Voltaire completed Candide in three days, or that Anna Sewell was paid GBP20 for Black Beauty? It is also effectively a history of the novel in 500 or so wittily informative, bite-sized pieces. Encyclopaedic and entertaining by turns, this is a wonderful dip-in book, whose opinions will inform and on occasion, no doubt, infuriate. __________________________________________________ 'Anyone hooked on fiction should be warned: this book will feed your addiction.' Mail on Sunday 'A dazzling array of genres, periods, styles and tastes... chatty, insightful, unprejudiced (but not uncritical) and wise.' Times Literary Supplement

'You know you're in the presence of an expert when you read The Siege. A gripping debut novel.' Jeffrey Archer Nine hostages. Ten hours. One chance to save them all. Lee James Connor has found his purpose in life: to follow the teachings of far-right extremist leader, Nicholas Farmer. So when his idol is jailed, he comes up with the perfect plan: take a local immigrant support group hostage until Farmer is released. Grace Wheatley is no stranger to loneliness having weathered the passing of her husband, whilst being left to raise her son alone. The local support group is her only source of comfort. Until the day Lee James Connor walks in and threatens the existence of everything she's ever known. Superintendent Alex Lewis may be one of the most experienced hostage negotiators on the force, but there's no such thing as a perfect record. Still haunted by his last case, can he connect with Connor - and save his nine hostages - before it's too late? 'A masterly, gripping tale of a siege, written with a true voice of authority.' - Peter James

This is the first-ever book length study of one of the most important and constantly innovative 19th century book and periodical publishers. The mysterious and often elusive but enormously influential Henry Colburn (c.1784 - 16 August 1855) was the pre-eminent publisher of 'silver-fork' novels, and of many influential new writers. Colburn's main claim to rehabilitation are his troop of 'name' authors: Lady Morgan, Disraeli, Bulwer-Lytton, Captain Marryat, G.P.R James, Mrs. Margaret Oliphant, Mrs. Catherine Gore, Mrs. Caroline Norton. Frances Trollope, Anthony Trollope, Richard Cobbold, R. S. Surtees. Many would not have had a start in the careers they later enjoyed were it not for Colburn. This is a lively, and important new work on early 19th-century publishing and the patterns for the century which Colburn set. It sketches in tantalizing outlines the Regency, early nineteenth-century and Victorian book trades - and the consequences of Colburn's impact on those worlds. In addition, the work centres on Colburn's most celebrated authors. The book - which is well illustrated - contains the first catalogue of Colburn's publications.Thus far, literary and Publishing History have drawn a formidable charge sheet against Henry Colburn. In personal pedigree he is slandered as a 'guttersnipe', or a 'royal bastard'. In Disraeli's pungent description he was a publishing 'bawd', engaged in wholesale literary prostitution. A very bad thing. And yet this publishing Barabbas can be argued to have been innovative and a force for constructive change in the rapidly evolving book trade and---paradoxically---a man of taste. Various rumours circulated that he was either a bastard of the Duke of York or of Lord Landsdowne. Date uncertain. He liked to weave illustrious (typically mendacious) pedigrees for himself as much as for his dubiously aristocratic purveyors of silver forkery. What, precisely, did Colburn do that should raise his reputation and make us see him as a good thing? In the largest sense he demonstrated, by example and practice, the need for consolidation between hitherto dismembered arms of the London book world.Beginning his career at apprentice level in the London West End circulating-library business he went on, having learned at the counter what the customer wanted, to become the undisputed market leader in the publication of three-volume novels and (sub-Murray) travel books. The three-decker went on to become the foundation-stone of the 'Leviathan' library system (Mudie's and Smith's) and created a seventy-year stability in the publishing, distribution and reception of English fiction. In 1814 Colburn founded the New Monthly Magazine. In 1817, he set up England's first serious weekly review, the Literary Gazette. In 1828 he helped found the Athenaeum (distant parent of today's New Statesman). His behaviour, as a magazine proprietor and editor at large was typically outrageous. But the link he forged between higher journalism and literature was momentous.

The ultimate test of grammar rules - the grammar book serialised in the Times feature 'Grammar for Grown-ups'.

'You know you're in the presence of an expert when you read The Siege. A gripping debut novel.' Jeffrey Archer Nine hostages. Ten hours. One chance to save them all. Lee James Connor has found his purpose in life: to follow the teachings of far-right extremist leader, Nicholas Farmer. So when his idol is jailed, he comes up with the perfect plan: take a local immigrant support group hostage until Farmer is released. Grace Wheatley is no stranger to loneliness having weathered the passing of her husband, whilst being left to raise her son alone. The local support group is her only source of comfort. Until the day Lee James Connor walks in and threatens the existence of everything she's ever known. Superintendent Alex Lewis may be one of the most experienced hostage negotiators on the force, but there's no such thing as a perfect record. Still haunted by his last case, can he connect with Connor - and save his nine hostages - before it's too late? 'A masterly, gripping tale of a siege, written with a true voice of authority.' - Peter James

In The Sea-Wolf, London's most gripping novel, Humphrey Van Weyden is rescued from the freezing waters of San Francisco Bay by a demonic sea captain and introduced to fates far worse that death. Through this story London recalls his own adventures on a sealing vessel at the age of seventeen. John Sutherland's notes include a history of pelagic seal hunting and an account of the many cinematic versions of this novel.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum 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, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.