Jane Campion's The Piano is one of the most unusual love stories in the history of cinema. The film swept the world upon its release, winning awards for its performances, script, and direction, including prestigious Cannes and Academy Award prizes. Rejecting virtually every stereotype of the romance genre, it poses a wholly new set of questions about relationships between men and women, and marriage in particular, as well as issues related to colonialism and property ownership. This volume examines The Piano from a variety of critical perspectives. In six essays, specially commissioned for this project, an international team of scholars examine topics such as the controversial representation of the Maori, the use of music in the film, the portrayal of the mother-daughter relationship, and the significance of the film in terms of international cinema, the culture of New Zealand, and the work of Jane Campion.

So Bright and Delicate: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne is a testament to the love that inspired the passion and creativity of one of the greatest English Romantic poets. This Penguin Classics edition includes an introduction by Jane Campion, Oscar-winning director of the film Bright Star. John Keats died aged just twenty-five, leaving behind some of the most exquisite and moving verse and love letters ever written, inspired by his great love for his neighbour, Fanny Brawne. Although they knew each other for just a few short years and spent a great deal of that time apart - separated by Keats's worsening illness, which forced a move abroad - Keats wrote again and again about and to his love, right until his very last poem, called simply 'To Fanny'. She, in turn, would wear the ring he had given her until her death. So Bright and Delicate contains the love poems and correspondence composed by Keats in the heat of his passion, and is a dazzling display of a talent cruelly cut short. John Keats (1795-1821) lost both his parents at an early age. His decision to commit himself to poetry, rather than follow a career in medicine, was a personal challenge, unfounded in any prior success. His first volume of poetry, published in 1817, was a critical and commercial failure. During his short life he received little recognition, and it was not until the latter part of the nineteenth century that his place in English Romanticism began to be understood, and not until this century that it became fully appreciated. If you enjoyed So Bright and Delicate, you might like Keats's Complete Poems, also available in Penguin Classics.

One of the great autobiographies of the twentieth century ...A journey from luminous childhood, through the dark experiences of supposed madness, to the renewal of her life through writing fiction. It is a heroic story, and told with such engaging tone, humorous perspective and imaginative power' Michael Holroyd, Sunday Times After being misdiagnosed with schizophrenia as a young woman, Janet Frame spent several years in psychiatric institutions. She escaped undergoing a lobotomy when it was discovered that she had just won a national literary prize. She then went on to become New Zealand's most acclaimed writer. As she says more than once in this autobiography: 'My writing saved me.' This edition contains all three volumes of Frame's autobiography: To the Is-Land, An Angel at My Table and An Envoy from Mirror City. 'One of the most beautiful and moving books I have ever read ...A masterpiece ...Janet's autobiography had an enormous effect on me. She struck a blow right to my heart' Jane Campion

It identifies a range of opportunities for developing reading skills, and for talking about books. It also suggests ways of developing readers' appreciation and understanding of the cultural and social contexts of these classics of world literature. Activities are designed to encourage engagement, strengthen comprehension, and to support the development of more complex skills such as inferential reading. For each activity there is an explanation of the activity with a worked example using one of the Real Reads texts, together with suggestions about how the activity can be extended for the more able.

Jane Campion's The Piano is one of the most unusual love stories in the history of cinema. The film swept the world upon its release, winning awards for its performances, script, and direction, including prestigious Cannes and Academy Award prizes. Rejecting virtually every stereotype of the romance genre, it poses a wholly new set of questions about relationships between men and women, and marriage in particular, as well as issues related to colonialism and property ownership. This volume examines The Piano from a variety of critical perspectives. In six essays, specially commissioned for this project, an international team of scholars examine topics such as the controversial representation of the Maori, the use of music in the film, the portrayal of the mother-daughter relationship, and the significance of the film in terms of international cinema, the culture of New Zealand, and the work of Jane Campion.

Drama written and directed by the Oscar-winning Jane Campion about the relationship between 19th century poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and fashion student Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Their romance begins slowly but soon the young couple's feelings intensify as Fanny helps John care for his sick younger brother and John then agrees to teach Fanny about poetry. Fanny's mother (Kerry Fox) and John's best friend, Charles (Paul Schneider), both unhappy with the relationship for their own reasons, are unable to stop them growing closer to each other. Tragedy, however, lurks on the horizon.

The epic romance of one of the most celebrated poets in the English language
Coming to theatres in September 2009 is the tragic love story of nineteenth- century poet John Keats and the love of his life, Fanny Brawne. Keats died at the young age of twenty-five, leaving behind some of the most exquisite and moving verse and letters ever written, inspired by his deep love for Fanny. "Bright Star" is a collection of Keats' romantic poems and correspondence in the heat of his passion, and is a dazzling display of a talent cut cruelly short.

Jane Campion's adaptation of Susanna Moore's best-selling, erotic thriller. Franny Avery (Meg Ryan) is a lonely, middle-class English professor living in New York and currently researching a book about language. One evening, whilst drinking in a bar with a student she witnesses an erotic act between a woman and a man with a tattoo on his arm. When a detective, Malloy (Mark Ruffalo), comes to Franny's flat to interview her after a woman's body was discovered in Franny's garden, she realises he was the man in the bar and there is an undeniable sexual chemistry between them. Encouraged by her sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) Franny embarks on a passionate affair with Malloy and it begins to re-awaken her passion and take over her life. But the killer is still on the loose and amongst the suspects are Franny's ex-boyfriend (Kevin Bacon), who is stalking her, and a student of hers who delivers an essay about a serial killer...

""O soft embalmer of the still midnight,
Shutting, with careful fingers and benign,
Our gloom-pleas'd eyes, embower'd from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine" "
John Keats, 'Ode to Sleep'
John Keats died in penury and relative obscurity in 1821, aged only 26. He is now seen as one of the greatest English poets and a genius of the Romantic age. This collection, which contains all his most memorable works, is a feast for the senses, displaying Keats' gift for gorgeous imagery and sensuous language, his passionate devotion to beauty, as well as some of the most beautiful and moving love poetry ever written.