Best of
British-Literature

2001

The Major Works: Including Endymion, the Odes and Selected Letters


John Keats - 2001
    It brings together a unique combination of Keats's poetry and prose - all the major poems, complemented by a generous selection of Keats's letters - to give the essence of his work and thinking.In his tragically short life Keats wrote an astonishing number of superb poems; his stature as one of the foremost poets of the Romantic movement remains unassailable. This volume contains all the poetry published during his lifetime, including Endymion in its entirety, the Odes, Lamia, and both versions of Hyperion. The poetry is presented in chronological order, illustrating the staggering speed with which Keats's work matured. Further insight into his creative process is given by reproducing, in their original form, a number of poems that were published posthumously.Keats's letters are admired almost as much as his poetry and were described by T. S. Eliot as certainly the most notable and most important ever written by any English poet. They provide the best biographical detail available and shed invaluable light on Keats's poems.

The War against Cliché: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000


Martin Amis - 2001
    But above all, Amis is concerned with literature, and with the deadly cliches–not only of the pen, but of the mind and the heart. In The War Against Cliché, Amis serves up fresh assessments of the classics and plucks neglected masterpieces off their dusty shelves. He tilts with Cervantes, Dickens and Milton, celebrates Bellow, Updike and Elmore Leonard, and deflates some of the most bloated reputations of the past three decades. On every page Amis writes with jaw-dropping felicity, wit, and a subversive brilliance that sheds new light on everything he touches.

A Week in Winter


Marcia Willett - 2001
    A Week in Winter is such a tale. Moorgate is an enchanting old country house that belongs to Maudie Todhunter, a spirited widow who has been holding on to the place for the sake of her beloved granddaughter. But Maudie can no longer afford a second home, so she reluctantly puts it up for sale. Moorgate immediately attracts more buyers than Maudie knows what to do with. The first is Selina, her stepdaughter, who has never seen eye-to-eye with Maudie on anything. The second potential buyer is Rob Abbot, a contractor who has lovingly restored every nook and cranny and who is embarrassed by his own passionate devotion to the house. The third is Melissa Clayton, a young woman with a sad, sad secret who discovers at Moorgate all she's ever wanted.As the story weaves between the past and present, Maudie is startled to uncover patterns of deceit and betrayal that contradict all her most cherished beliefs. At times it seems that her most trustworthy companion is her granddaughter's giant English mastiff Polonius, who is boarding with Maudie after having been banished from his own home by an irate Selina.As the final revelations stun both Maudie and the reader, A Week in Winter achieves a combined richness of character and circumstance that raises it above most modern contemporary fiction. Marcia Willett is a writer to discover and to celebrate.

The Rotters' Club


Jonathan Coe - 2001
    1973: industrial strikes, bad pop music, corrosive class warfare, adolescent angst, IRA bombings. Four friends: a class clown who stoops very low for a laugh; a confused artist enthralled by guitar rock; an earnest radical with socialist leanings; and a quiet dreamer obsessed with poetry, God, and the prettiest girl in school. As the world appears to self-destruct around them, they hold together to navigate the choppy waters of a decidedly ambiguous decade.

Diana's Boys: William and Harry and the Mother They Loved


Christopher Andersen - 2001
    Explores the relationship between Princess Diana and her sons, how she influenced them, and the changes in their lives since her death.

The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission and Appropriation of Faith


Andrew F. Walls - 2001
    Fresh understandings of Pentecostalism, African traditional religion, and the ironic ways in which Western missionaries affected change--for both good and ill--in ways they never dreamed of insure that readers will never again think the same way about the history of World Christianity.

Glue


Irvine Welsh - 2001
    Four boys becoming men: Juice Terry, the work-shy fanny-merchant, with corkscrew curls and sticky fingers; Billy the boxer: driven, controlled, playing to his strengths; Carl, the Milky Bar Kid, drifting along to his own soundtrack; and the doomed Gally - who has one less skin than everyone else and seems to find catastrophe at every corner. As we follow their lives from the seventies into the new century - from punk to techno, from speed to Es - we can see each of them trying to struggle out from under the weight of the conditioning of class and culture, peer pressure and their parents' hopes that maybe their sons will do better than they did. What binds the four of them is the friendship formed by the scheme, their school, and their ambition to escape from both; their loyalty fused in street morality: back up your mates, don't hit women and, most importantly, never grass - on anyone. Despite its scale and ambition, Glue has all Irvine Welsh's usual pace and vigour, crackling dialogue, scabrous set-pieces and black, black humour, but it is also a grown-up book about growing up - about the way we live our lives, and what happens to us when things become unstuck.

Ace


Tom Raworth - 2001
    ACE, complete! This reprint of one of Raworth's most well-received works includes "Bolivia: Another End of Ace," as well as drawings by Barry Hall only seen in the very limited British edition. In the early 1970s Ted Berrigan wrote of him: "When I read the best of Tom Raworth's poems, I feel proud. They are a human accomplishment, a poet's." Raworth is the author of over 40 books including MEADOW, CLEAN & WELL LIT: SELECTED POEMS 1987-1995, Eternal Sections, and The Relation Ship. Of his selected early poems, TOTTERING STATE, Lyn Hejinian has written "These are among the greatest writings of our times."

Elvis and His Pelvis


Michael Cox - 2001
    He is horribly famous for being the King of Rock 'n' Roll, having trouble fitting into his spangly white jumpsuits and causing a riot with a wiggle of his pelvis. But not everyone knows that Elvis escaped from tornadoes by hiding in a cave, flew halfway across America for 22 giant sandwiches and had a tooth stuck in his lung...Everything you ever wanted to know about the man with the pelvis.

The Cambridge Companion to Keats


Susan J. Wolfson - 2001
    These specially commissioned essays are sophisticated but accessible, challenging but lucid, and are complemented by an introduction to Keats's life, a chronology, a list of contemporary people and periodicals, a source reference for famous phrases and ideas articulated in Keats's letters, a glossary of literary terms and a guide to further reading.

Mother Tongues: Travels Through Tribal Europe


Helena Drysdale - 2001
    With them went their two small daughters, Tallulah and Xanthe. They had few plans, but they did have a goal: to probe the secrets of western Europes indigenous tribes. Over seven seasons Helena Drysdale and her family travelled from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, from the Atlantic to the Aegean, exploring the roots of the cultures inhabiting Europes ambiguous fringe.

The Collected Macabre Stories


L.P. Hartley - 2001
    Hartley was also a much admired adept of the macabre short story. Hartley was no dilettante in the genre: he was well-versed in its long and distinguished tradition, and these carefully crafted tales represent some of the most successful attempts to carry the ghost story into the twentieth century. The Collected Macabre Stories includes thirty-seven of Hartley's best tales, ranging from the well-known, traditional ghost stories 'The Cotillon' and 'Feet Foremost', through the dark humour of 'The Travelling Grave' and 'The Killing Bottle' to the Aickmanesque 'The Pylon'. These encompass a wide range of settings, from English Country Houses to Venetian Palaces. Two accomplished fantasies, 'Conrad and the Dragon' and 'The Crossways' display Hartley's range and versatility. Taken as a whole, the collection represents one of the most impressive achievements of twentieth-century macabre fiction.Contents: From the Introduction to Lady Cynthia Asquith’s Third Ghost Book/ A Visitor from Down Under/ Podolo/ Three, or Four, for Dinner/ The Travelling Grave/ Feet Foremost/ The Cotillon/ A Change of Ownership/ The Thought/ Conrad and the Dragon/ The Island/ Night Fears/ The Killing Bottle/ A Summons/ W.S./ The Two Vaynes/ Monkshood Manor/ Two for the River/ Someone in the Lift/ The Face/ The Corner Cupboard/ The Waits/ The Pampas Clump/ The Crossways/ Per Far L’Amore/ Interference/ The Pylon/ Mrs Carteret Receives/ Fall in at the Double/ Paradise Paddock/ Roman Charity/ Pains and Pleasures/ Please Do Not Touch/ Home Sweet Home/ The Shadow on the Wall/ The Sound of Voices/ Mrs G. G./ The Stain on the Chair

Flaubert's parrot / A history of the world in 10 1/2 chapters


Julian Barnes - 2001
    Barnes playfully combines a literary detective story with a character study of its detective, embedded in a brilliant riff on literary genius. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters is a mix of fictional and historical narratives of voyage and discovery—ranging from a woodworm's perspective on Noah's ark to a survivor from the sinking of the Titanic—that question our ideas of history.

To Be a Fine Lady


Elizabeth Jeffrey - 2001
    Jo keeps her spirits up, strengthened by the knowledge that she was discovered in a luxurious blue velvet cloak - evidence that her mother must have been a fine lady.

Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day: A Reader's Guide


Adam Parkes - 2001
    A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question. The books in the series will all follow the same structure:a biography of the novelist, including other works, influences, and, in some cases, an interview; a full-length study of the novel, drawing out the most important themes and ideas; a summary of how the novel was received upon publication; a summary of how the novel has performed since publication, including film or TV adaptations, literary prizes, etc.; a wide range of suggestions for further reading, including websites and discussion forums; and a list of questions for reading groups to discuss.

Georgiana's World


Amanda Foreman - 2001
    Born Lady Georgiana Spencer, she married the fifth Duke of Devonshire in 1774; within a short space of time she had become the undisputed queen of fashionable society, adored by the Prince Regent, an intimate of Marie-Antoinette, an influential Whig hostess and a darling of the common people. Yet for all her aura of public glamour, Georgiana's personal life was fraught with suffering brought on by her compulsive gambling, which led to insurmountable debts and ignominy, and her search for love, which caused misery and exile. Georgiana's World is the illustrated version of Amanda Foreman's bestselling biography, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and brings a fresh perspective to her life and times. Filled with images of the people and places she actually knew, a series of special features explore such aspects of 18th-century life as aristocracy.

Snake Oil And Other Preoccupations


John B. Diamond - 2001
    These chapters, based on his own experience and on researched fact, which were emailed each week to his editors at Random House, are both personal and poignant, hard hitting and controversial, tackling the issues raised by alternative medicine with total candour and his usual wit. The second half of this book features some of the best of Diamond's writing, including a selection of emails to colleagues and friends, articles from "The Times" and the "Jewish Chronicle" and other publications, together with excerpts from his final notebook. For seven years he wrote an immensely popular weekly column in "The Times" which, following his diagnosis with cancer, was given over to following the progress of the disease. As well as gaining him a Columnist of the Year award, it resulted in an avalanche of mail from thousands of his readers.

Glencoe Literature: British Literature: The Reader's Choice


Beverly Ann Chin - 2001
    - Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) Glencoe Literature for 2002 also makes new things familiar and familiar things new. Designed to meet the needs of today's classroom, Glencoe Literature has been developed with careful attention to instructional planning for teachers, strategic reading support, and universal access that meets the learning needs of all students.

A Reader's Guide to Writers' London


Ian Cunningham - 2001
    Both a bedside companion and an imaginative travel guide, it leads you through the literary history of each district. Discover Boswell's Fleet Street, the Dickensian London of The Pickwick Papers and Little Dorrit and look at London Bridge through the eyes of T.S. Eliot. Packed with anecdotes about the lives of the city's writers, the book allows you to locate Dr. Johnson's favourite haunts and drink in the same bars as Dylan Thomas and Jeffrey Bernard. Accompanied by specially commissioned photographs of London today, and hundreds of illustrations of writers, manuscripts, prints and memorabilia, A Reader's Guide to Writers' London is a must for any lover of either literature or London.

A Daughter's a Daughter and Other Novels: A Daughter's a Daughter / The Burden / Unfinished Portrait


Mary Westmacott - 2001
    What they share with her other fiction is Christie's gift for sharp observations about people, the ambitions that drive them, their relationships, and the conflicts that erupt between them. This omnibus edition brings together three of the Westmacott novels:A Daughter's Daughter: A daughter's opposition to her mother's plan to remarry threatens to destroy their relationshipUnfinished Portrait: Bereft of three people she has held most dear, Cecilla must decide if she has the strength to come to terms with the past.The Burden: The burden of one sister's love for her younger sister--whom she's sworn to protect--has a drmatic effect on both their lives.

Look, Stranger!


W.H. Auden - 2001
    This will involve a new jacket design recalling the typographic virtues of the classic Faber poetry covers, connecting the backlist and the new titles within a single embracing cover solution. A major reissue program is scheduled, to include classic individual collections from each decade, some of which have long been unavailable: Wallace Stevens's Harmonium and Ezra Pound's Personae from the 1920s; W.H. Auden's Poems (1930); Robert Lowell's Life Studies from the 1950s; John Berryman's 77 Dream Songs and Philip Larkin's The Whitsun Weddings from the 1960s; Ted Hughes's Gaudete and Seamus Heaney's Field Work from the 1970s; Michael Hofmann's Acrimony and Douglas Dunn's Elegies from the 1980s. Timed to celebrate publication of Seamus Heaney's new collection, Electric Light, the relaunch is intended to re-emphasize the predominance of Faber Poetry, and to celebrate a series which has played a shaping role in the history of modern poetry since its inception in the 1920s.

Grania: The Story of an Island


Emily Lawless - 2001
    This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1892 edition by Macmillan and Co., New York and London.

The Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry: From Britain and Ireland


Edna Longley - 2001
    

The Oxford Reader's Companion to George Eliot


John Rignall - 2001
    Written by an international team of scholars, the Companion offers a wealth of biographical and historical information that illuminates Eliot's work. There are entries on all her novels (including plot synopses), stories, and important essays, plus coverage of poetry and translations, letters and journals, and notebooks and manuscripts. A long entry surveys her life, and shorter entries discuss her family, friends, and acquaintances, the places she lived and the countries she visited, and the writers, thinkers, artists, and composers whose work she knew. The volume also includes extensive cross-referencing and suggestions for further reading, a chronology, a bibliography, an alphabetical list of fictional characters, and maps of both fictional settings and the author's extensive travels. In sum, this is the first reference work to do justice to the extraordinary range and depth of George Eliot's intellectual life.

Hound Music


Rosalind Belben - 2001
    Only one person is not a supporter. She is Dorothy Lupus, wife of the Master himself. When her beloved husband dies, Dorothy feels scourged by the singing of hounds that carries from the kennels across the park. Rhapsody, Rapture, Romany, Roguish, Padiant, Rarity, Rakish, Ringlet and Restless, they sense tragedy and mourn the Master. Dorothy seizes the chance to banish hounds and their hound music for ever. She goes away, for her health, to North Africa. But in her absence, her children begin to hunt again. One of the hounds has escaped from its new owners and made its way back home, the children still have their ponies and their lap dogs, the spaniel, the dachsounds, the terriers, the bloodhound.

Basil Howe: A Story of Young Love


G.K. Chesterton - 2001
    Chesterton. Part of unpublished works discovered in the loft of his secretary after her death in 1989. The book is not only a touching romance, but it also offers a fascinating insight into the psyche of one of the greatest English writers of the last 200 years.