A brilliant and faithful rendering of the Anglo-Saxon epic from the Nobel laureate. Composed toward the end of the first millennium of our era, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel's mother. He then returns to his own country and dies in old age in a vivid fight against a dragon. The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on in the exhausted aftermath. In the contours of this story, at once remote and uncannily familia... View More...
Composed toward the end of the first millennium, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel's mother. He then returns to his own country and dies in old age in a vivid fight against a dragon. The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on in the exhausted aftermath. In the contours of this story, at once remote and uncannily familiar at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney finds a resonance ... View More...
This collection takes as its point of departure the proposition that one can, in fact, tell a book by its cover. The contributors examine the ways in which the material qualities of books--including typography, paper, bindings, layout, and promotional copy--as well as their editing, production, and distribution profoundly affect how they have been read and understood. The volume includes essays on the publishing history of Melville's early novels, Twain's The Innocents Abroad, the Tauchnitz edition of Hawthornes's The Marble Faun, and Jackson's Romona. Other chapters examine the reception of D... View More...
For fans of fairy tales and the literary supernatural: a unique collection of Russian short stories from the last 200 years In these folk tales, young women go on long and perilous quests, wicked stepmothers turn children into geese, and tsars ask dangerous riddles, with help or hindrance from magical dolls, cannibal witches, talking skulls, stolen wives, and brothers disguised as wise birds. Some of the stories here were collected by folklorists during the last two centuries, while the others are reworkings of oral tales by four of the greatest writers in Russian literature: Nadezhda Teffi,... View More...
A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote, one of the most widely read texts from Spanish literature. As a novel of chivalry from Spain in the mid-sixteenth century, Don Quixote is a by-product of Renaissance idealism and the trend to narrate the extraordinary adventures of knights-errant. Moreover, critics have argued about the satirical nature of the book, wondering if its intent was to parody chivalrous novels from the years before. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Cervantes's classi... View More...
This retelling of the magnificent tales told by Scheherazade to the King of India in order to save her life includes such magical classics as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp, and many other favorites. View More...
The Norton Book of American Short Stories embraces many of the most famous examples of the genre--from "Young Goodman Brown" to "The Lottery"--but it also includes lesser-known stories of equal merit by many famous authors: Irving's "The Devil and Tom Walker," Faulkner's "Wash," and Edith Wharton's masterly ghost story, "Pomegranate Seed." View More...
A companion to British literature explores the political, social, intellectual, and cultural history and background of English poetry, fiction, prose, and drama and analyzes the changing conditions of literary activity. View More...
In the Oresteia Aeschylus addressed the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. As they move from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit of struggle and regeneration becomes an everlasting song of celebration. In Agamemnon, a king's decision to sacrifice his daughter and turn the tide of war inflicts lasting damage on his family, culminating in a terrible act of retribution; The Libation Bearers deals with the aftermath of Clytemnestra's regicide, as her son Orestes sets out to avenge his father... View More...
As a philosopher, Dante wedded classical methods of enquiry to a Christian faith. As an autobiographer, he looked at his own failures to depict universal moral struggles. As a visionary, he dared to draw maps of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise and populate all three realms with recognizable human beings. As a lover, he became a poet of bereavement and renunciation. As all these things Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) paved the way for modern literature. View More...
The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, Saint Augustine spent his early years torn between conflicting faiths and world views. His Confessions, written when he was in his forties, recount how, slowly and painfully, he came to turn away from his youthful ideas and licentious lifestyle, to become instead a staunch advocate of Christianity and one of its most influential thinkers. A remarkably honest and revealing spiritual autobiography, the Confessions also address fundamental issues of Christian doctrine, and many of the prayers and meditations it includes are still an integral part ... View More...
Emma Woodhouse has led a simple life, but during the course of this she at last reaps her share of the world's vexations. In this comedy of manners, the heroine learns to come to terms with the reality of other people, and with her own erring nature. View More...
Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters. Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." In the first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma is spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; s... View More...
Jane Austen left an indelible mark on the world of literature. Her novels set a benchmark for her era and have entranced readers ever since. In Jane Austen on Love and Romance, Constance Moore proves how well Austen understood the human heart and why her work, filled with genuine emotion and wit, has continued to touch romantics. So, if you want to live happily ever after with a dashing man who owns half of Derbyshire, then arm yourself with this Austen-tatious guide to flirting, courtship, and true love. View More...
