Literary essays

Sir Frank Kermode is acknowledged as one of the greatest critics of our time, renowned for the wit humanity and good sense of his writing.

Frank Kermode is one of the pre-eminent practitioners of the art of criticism in the English speaking world.

Brauer leaves no stone unturned, no metaphor untold, and no holds barred in this witty deconstruction of the modern economy.

Beautifully written, intelligent and provocative reflections on the world scene as Ascherson looks first at the painful business of being English in a period of decline marked by public nastiness and private confusion.

This book - a most important and original contribution to the literature of interpretative criticism -contains the Clark Lectures delivered at Cambridge University in 1946.

First published in 1948, this book may be described as Dame Edith Sitwell's personal notebook.

First published in 1943, this is a selection of writings from Dr.

In Portraits and Miniatures, Roy Jenkins brings his penetrating intelligence and elegant prose to subjects ranging from literature and political history to wine and croquet.

Virginia Woolf began writing reviews for the Guardian 'to make a few pence' from her father's death in 1904, and continued until the last decade of her life.

*Shortlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay*Selected as a Book of the Year 2016 by the Financial Times, Guardian, New Statesman, Observer, The Millions and Emerald Street'Fl neuse [flanne-euhze], noun, from the French.

From the beginning, Lauren Van Der Post has been aware of a dimension in life far longer and more significant than the outer eventfulness of everyday living.

This Van Der Post 'reader', thematically organised to reflect the patterns and themes which have influenced his life and his writing, distils the essence of the writer, thinker, spiritual guru and man of action.

Autobiography has been an essential element of the London Review of Books since its founding in 1979.

Discover Virginia Woolf s informative and erudite critical essays on some of the key novelists and dramatists of the canon from the ancient Greeks to Jane Austen and beyond.

A collection of essays on writers and writing by the Booker-shortlisted novelist and critic.

'He reads for his own pleasure rather than to impart knowledge or correct the opinions of others'.

These interlocking essays uncover art as an active force in the world - neither elitist or remote, present to those who want it, affecting even those who don't.

A collection of writings by the author of the 2022 Booker Prize-longlisted Treacle WalkerAlan Garner is an exceptional lecturer and essayist.

All Italy is here Sunday TimesFrom the bestselling author of Italian Neighbours, An Italian Education and A Season with VeronaLonglisted for the Dolman Travel Book AwardIn 1981 Tim Parks moved from England to Italy and spent the next thirty years alongside hundreds of thousands of Italians on his adopted country s vast, various and ever-changing networks of trains.

UPDATED AND EDITED WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY JUDITH ADAMSONWhether reporting from the London cinema, Cotswolds villages, second-hand bookshops, war zones or political trouble spots, Graham Greene's novelistic gifts for detail, drama and compassionate curiosity provide unique and resonant insights into his life and times.

This collection of Vonnegut s letters is the autobiography he never wrote from the letter he posted home upon being freed from a German POW camp, to notes of advice to his children: Don t let anybody tell you that smoking and boozing are bad for you.

As the Duke and Duchess of Sussex bring renewed focus to the monarchy, now is the perfect time to re-examine Christopher Hitchens s powerful polemic.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORBonjour cher reader,Ever since European history began, we Brits have been happily engaged in our national pastime - annoying the French.

In these seventeen essays (and one short story) the 2011 Man Booker Prize winner examines British, French and American writers who have meant most to him, as well as the cross-currents and overlappings of their different cultures.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION, PLUS EXTENSIVE NOTES AND REFERENCES BY HERMIONE LEEThis volume combines two books which were among the greatest contributions to feminist literature this century.

In this absorbing series of essays Michael Wood probes and plays with the dilemmas of twentieth century fiction - the myth of lost paradise, lost certainties, the suspension between contrary ideals, the lure of fantasy, the quest for the silence beneath speech.

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This is the most important, wide-ranging and critical debate so far published on the monarchy.

Following The Broken Estate, The Irresponsible Self, and How Fiction Works books that established James Wood as the leading critic of his generation The Fun Stuff confirms Wood s pre-eminence, not only as a discerning judge but also as an appreciator of the contemporary novel.

In a city as ancient as Venice, myths and legends passed down from generation to generation record more than just love or murder.

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**'Thrilling dispatches from a vanishing world' ObserverAnimals don't exist to teach us things, but that is what they have always done, and most of what they teach us is what we think we know about ourselves.

Diana Wynne Jones is best-known for her novels and stories - of magical fantasy - written mainly for children.

I ve lived through ten iOS upgrades on my Mac and that s just something I use to muck about on Twitter.

John Jeremiah Sullivan takes us on a funhouse hall-of-mirrors ride through the other side of America - to the Ozarks for a Christian rock festival; to Florida to meet the straggling refugees of MTV's Real World; to Indiana to investigate the formative years of Michael Jackson and Axl Rose and then to the Gulf Coast in the wake of Katrina - and back again as its residents confront the BP oil spill.

More infectious humour and witty observations from Jilly Cooper, whose latest collection of articles, originally published in The Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday, includes a light-hearted and irreverent account of a visit to Australia, published for the first time in its entirety.

After going to live in the country Jilly Cooper wrote regularly for the Mail on Sunday for several years and this is a selection of her best pieces written at that time.

In this collection of profiles, essays and travel stories, Chatwin takes us to Benin, where he is arrested as a mercenary during a coup; to Boston to meet an LSD guru who believes he is Christ; to India with Indira Ghandi when she attempted a political comeback in 1978; and to Nepal where he reminds us that 'Man's real home is not a house, but the Road, and that life itself is a journey to be walked on foot'

Jilly Cooper's witty thumbnail sketch of office life - part valentine, part poison pen letter - offers a vivid evocation of the world in which many of us spend a large part of our lives.

"e;The Gothic Quest - A History of the Gothic Novel"e; is a 1938 treatise by Montague Summers on the subject of the Gothic novel, looking at its origins, evolution, and role in contemporary literature.

Robert Macfarlane folgt den alten Wegen – jenen Pfaden, Hohlstraßen, Fuhrten, Feld- und Seewegen, die seit der Antike die menschlichen Siedlungsräume miteinander verbinden und noch immer als unsichtbare Wegweiser unsere Bewegungen bestimmen.

First published in 1908, Constitutional Government in the United States offers Woodrow Wilson's thoughts on the US political system, including his famous theories regarding constitutional interpretation.

A fascinating series of lectures given at the university of St.

First published in 1901, "e;Our National Parks"e; is a fantastic guide to the wild mountain forest reservations and national parks of the United States, exploring their beauty and usefulness in an attempt to encourage contemporary readers to go out and enjoy the natural wonders of North America.

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) was an English critic, social commentator and essayist.

First published in 1907, Mark Twain's "e;Christian Science"e; contains a collection of essays related to Christian Science, a belief system adhered to by members of the Church of Christ, Scientist.

From the beginning, readers have come to O for help in figuring out who they were meant to be.

With a sprightly dose of insightful inspiration, a sprinkling of practical advice, and a bounty of exuberant stories by great writers, O's Little Book of Happiness features some of the best work ever to have appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine.

For Aleksandar Hemon, football is more than a sport.

Clive James was one of our finest critics and best-loved cultural voices.

From the Man Booker-shortlisted author of Room, Inseparable explores the little-known literary tradition of love between women in Western literature.