This unique collection of lectures honors the pioneering work in Byron studies of Leslie Alexis Marchand, who has had an enduring influence on the appreciation and study of Lord Byron for sixty years. Generations of readers and writers have come to Byron through his biographies and his edition of the poet's letters and journals. All admirers of Byron respond to the verve, dash, and immediacy of his correspondence, which lies at the heart of Marchand's biographies and offers us a portrait based on the poet's views of himself and his times. No one has so powerfully and judiciously allowed Byron's life to emerge from the testimony of his letters. Many readers, from his contemporaries to our day, have refused to separate the poet from his troubled dark heroes, and see little but strands of autobiography in the poems. But the letters and journals reveal him in a very different light. Leslie Marchand provided these documents for the first time in their unexpurgated and authoritative form. This collection pays tribute to Marchand's careful scholarship and scrupulous attention to the limits of interpretation. Marchand's continued relevance to Byron studies derives in part from the work undertaken by those inspired by his labors as editor and interpreter; many of whom are represented in this collection. Three opening essays bear personal witness to his fervent support for young scholars, his depth of expertise and appeal as a teacher, and his commitment to encouraging others to join him on his Byron pilgrimage. The lectures themselves represent such diverse disciplines as literary theory, psychiatry, publishing history, comparative literature, drama, political history, revolutionary politics in literature and music, literary criticism, textual editing and selection, and literary influence. A chronology and a bibliography provide an overview of his life and scholarship.

This Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive guide yet both to the nature and content of literature, and to literary criticism. In ninety essays by leading international critics and scholars, the volume covers both traditional topics such as literature and history, poetry, drama and the novel, and also newer topics such as the production and reception of literature. Current critical ideas are clearly and provocatively discussed, while the volume's arrangement reflects in a dynamic way the rich diversity of contemporary thinking about literature. Each essay seeks to provide the reader with a clear sense of the full significance of its subject as well as guidance on further reading. An essential work of reference, The Encyclopedia of Literature and Criticism is a stimulating guide to the central preoccupations of contemporary critical thinking about literature. Special Features * Clearly written by scholars and critics of international standing for readers at all levels in many disciplines * In-depth essays covering all aspects, traditional and new, of literary studies past and present * Useful cross-references within the text, with full bibliographical references and suggestions for further reading * Single index of authors, terms, topics

The Regents Restoration Drama series provides soundly edited texts, in modern spelling, of the significant plays of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Each text is based on a fresh collation of the early authoritative editions. The textual notes record all substantive departures from the edition used as the copy-text. Variant substantive readings among contemporary editions are listed. Historical background, stage history, and literary and cultural information are included.

More successful in its day than The Way of the World, which is now
accounted Congreve's best play, Love for Love (1695) is a comical farce
manifesting the verbal polish and the theatrical wit that audiences so
enjoy in Congreve. Valentine, Sir Sampson's dissolute eldest son, finds
himself at a standstill; the only way out of his financial difficulties
is to give in to his father's pressure to renounce his right of
inheritance. While this suggestion immediately increases the chances of
his bluff younger brother Ben on the marriage mart, Valentine's own
chances with his beloved Angelica would proportionally decrease. To
avoid having to sign the renunciation Valentine puts on an 'antic
disposition' and pretends to be mad. Angelica, seeing through him,
provokes him back into sanity by pretending to agree to marry his
father. Valentine recovers, the lovers reunite, and Ben, too, has
meanwhile found the girl of his heart