Literary History & Criticism

After the death from cancer of his husband, Antony Sher, Greg Doran stepped down from his role as artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's First Folio, and inspired by the surprising history of the company's own copy, he set out to see how many of these important volumes he could find. The journey took him to Japan, where Doran met the emperor, and to New Zealand and South Africa where the legacy of Shakespeare has become entwined with the story of colonialism.

To the ceaseless seekers of truth, the quiet questioners in a world often too eager to provide answers, and to all those who sense the undercurrents beneath the surface of everyday events. This book is dedicated to those who refuse to accept the presented narrative without scrutiny, who understand that history is not always as it is written, and that the shadows can hold more than just darkness. It is for the discerning mind, the restless spirit, and the unwavering belief that understanding the world, in all its complexity, is a noble and necessary pursuit.

Available for the first time in audio, America’s most revered novelist reflects on the themes that preoccupy her work and increasingly dominate national and world politics: race, fear, borders, the mass movement of peoples, the desire for belonging. What is race and why does it matter? What motivates the human tendency to construct Others? Why does the presence of Others make us so afraid?

Ursula K. Le Guin witnessed and contributed to many of the twentieth century’s rebellions and upheavals, including women’s liberation, the Civil Rights movement and US anti-war and environmental activism. Spanning fifty years of her life and work, Space Crone brings together Le Guin’s writings on feminism and gender for the first time, offering new insights into her imaginative, multispecies feminist consciousness: from its roots in deep ecology and philosophies of non-violence to her self-education about racism and her writing on motherhood and ageing.

'Prose that is precise and beautiful as northern light … this book is an absolute delight' MOYA CANNON Join David Gange on a seabound journey along Atlantic coasts and islands, exploring places and ways of life that have been built on small rowed or paddled boats. These small boats outnumber...

As one of the world's leading voice coaches, Patsy Rodenburg describes practical ways to approach language, using Shakespeare, Romantic poetry, modern prose and a range of other texts to help each of us discover our own unique need for words. Drawing on Rodenburg's time spent coaching in the worlds of business and politics, this edition reflects on how the way we use words has changed since the book was first published.

"Is Shakespeare Dead?" by Mark Twain is a reflective and satirical treatise on the authorship of Shakespeare’s works, written during the early 20th century. In this work, Twain grapples with long-standing debates over who truly wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare, questioning the...

In this book, acclaimed actor Paterson Joseph opens up the process of rehearsing and preparing for the RSC's 2012 production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and, by doing so, brings a greater understanding to the play's characters; its rhetoric and the power of rhetoric in general, both on and off stage; its setting and political context and how this can be interpreted and refreshed for the 21st century.

The first in-depth cultural history of one of the most famous American contemporary musicals featuring archival research and first-hand accounts from its creators and collaborators.

Olive Schreiner's From Man to Man or Perhaps Only―, unfinished at the time of her death and posthumously published in 1926, tells the story of two white women born into the racist society of mid-nineteenth-century South Africa. One sister remains in the British Cape Colony and finds a way to...

From the internationally bestselling author of The Disappeared comes a profound meditation on the cultural impact of storytelling and testimony in five intimate and illuminating essays. In this moving collection, critically acclaimed novelist Kim Echlin examines how we turn to literature to...

How does Shakespeare remain Shakespeare when every word is changed? In this playful, meditative exploration of translating the world’s most beloved playwright, Daniel Hahn guides us through the magic of bringing the Bard to a global audience. "For those who care deeply about language, and...

Robert J. Patterson examines so-called "traditional" slave narratives alongside writings from non-enslaved Black people in the nineteenth century, the imaginative works of twentieth century fiction, and twenty-first century cinema to create a compelling and informative introduction to the long historical arc of slavery woven into the cultural and political fabric of America.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899—1986) is one of the most influential literary figures of the twentieth century. His short stories, poems, essays, and translations explore Argentine mythology, mysticism, philosophical ideas, and myriad other topics. This Very Short Introduction gives an engaging...

Agatha Christie is a global bestseller. Her work has been translated into over 100 languages and adapted for stage and screen. Christie's writing life ran from 1920 to the 1970s, and she didn't just write puzzles, she wrote plays, supernatural stories, thrillers, satires, and domestic noir. She...

Who wears lipstick today – as a matter of routine? And for those who do, is it out of obligation to a strict feminine standard, or some other reason entirely? Lipstick reconsiders the beauty world’s most conspicuous – and contentious – tool of artifice. Tossing expired ideas about femininity like so many tubes of melting wax, Lipstick explores how self-adornment can be a source of play, pleasure, and transformation, as well as how lipstick can knock gender norms off balance.

Best known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance, the celebrated poet and writer Langston Hughes believed in the power of art as resistance. What can we learn from his works today? Randal M. Jelks delivers this revelatory portrait of the celebrated poet, essayist, playwright, and American...

WINNER OF THE ELIZABETH AGEE PRIZE IN AMERICAN LITERATURE The American Open Road offers a rich exploration of how the mythos of the open road has shaped, and been shaped by, American culture. Beginning with the post–World War II boom that solidified car culture as central to American life...

In fünfzig Lektionen führt dieses Buch uns mitten hinein in den Kosmos Goethes, stets mit O-Ton zur Hand, und zeigt uns, was er über die Liebe dachte, über Freundschaft, Freiheit, Ordnung und die Natur, sogar über Gott oder auch einfach nur über das richtige Outfit und die Kunst von Jungsein und Altern.

Since its invention more than 150 years ago, the microphone transformed the world in an instant. Yet its evolution and integration into our daily lives has been comparatively gradual – so gradual, crucially, that it is easy to forget just how much we take it for granted. Every phone has a microphone. Every laptop has a microphone. We are surrounded by microphones. The microphone wields enormous power. But when we're 'on mic' we aren't just powerful, we're vulnerable. Microphones can destroy careers as quickly as make them. The microphone is inextricable from our need to be heard.

Somewhere and Back Again: An Architecture Student’s Grand Tour of Europe and the Middle East takes listeners on a captivating journey through the eyes of John E. Tingley, an architecture student, as he ventures far beyond the classroom to explore the vibrant cultures, historical landmarks, and architectural wonders of Europe and the Middle East.

A considerable part of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian literature written in the past twenty-some years has revolved around issues related to the war in 1992– 1995 and the depressed transitional social state that followed.

In the hierarchy of foods, snacks are deemed trivial – perhaps even childish – especially in contrast to meals, which are seen as substantial and necessary. The multiple aisles devoted to sweet and savoury treats in supermarkets, and the availability of snacks even at places like home improvement and department stores, speak to the popularity of snacking. But the ubiquity of snacks is relatively new and not common to all countries.

Ballot examines the psychological, cultural, and political significance of voting in an increasingly anti-voting climate. Armed with her personal experiences as a poll worker, electoral organizer, and activist, Anjali Enjeti unspools a timely narrative about the precarious state of the ballot during one of the most tumultuous political eras in US history, and recounts the astonishing events leading up to the 2024 presidential election.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A fascinating, first-of-its-kind exploration of Stephen King and his most iconic early books, based on groundbreaking research and interviews with King—all conducted by the first scholar to be given extended access to his private archives “A treat for fans of Stephen...