Literature

The Pilgrim's Progress

2011-11-22T04:57:00.000+07:00

JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688) was born in Elstow, England and started out as a tinker and a soldier. When he began to have religious experiences, he joined a Christian fellowship and began preaching. In 1660 Bunyan was arrested while preaching and imprisoned for twelve years, during which time he wrote several works. He was released after the Declaration of Indulgence of 1672 and became a licensed preacher and pastor but was sent back to prison for six months when the Declaration was canceled in 1673. During that time he wrote his best known classic, The Pilgrim's Progress. His realism and psychological insight as a writer make him a precursor of the modern novelist. A Puritan, Bunyan also wrote three other influential works: The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680); The Holy War (1682); and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666).

I had read Pilgrim's Progress years ago prior to getting this Kindle version. This is an EXCELLENT version because it retains the original unabridged text AND the language thus adding to the beauty and majesty of the work. Sure there are quite a few Thees and Thous but that is what partly makes the book so good. Also this version does not contain his wife's journey.

One caveat. I recommend that you read the book in its original and in the old English version. A few years ago I purchased a hardcopy that touted itself as being in modern English but that diminished the text considerably. I believe this book is of much literary value; so much so that even non-Christians can profit greatly from this book. Don't put off reading this gem because you assume that it's for Christians only. I am waiting for another Kindle version that will link the biblical references to a Bible thus making it feasible to read the verses referenced. But for the cost of this version, FREE, you cannot go wrong. An ABSOLUTE MUST read. Very highly recommended.

Paradise Lost

2011-11-22T04:53:00.000+07:00

I have read "Paradise Lost" four times, and took no less than three semesters on it at university. This was the edition we used to work. Modernised spelling, coherent punctuation (plus variations of it in the notes), good introduction, and enormous work in the notes; this edition has all you need for a good reading of the epic poem.

As to the poem itself, some people are hard on it for all the wrong reasons. Remember that it is a 17th century poem, that English was not exactly similar as it is today, and that there are many, many words which were first used in English in "Paradise Lost". Milton was innovative with words, and he gave English new words, and expressions, such as the most famous "all Hell broke loose", which was first uttered in "Paradise Lost".

A poem like this cannot be read without good notes, and this is what this edition has to offer. Notes aren't enough, though, they have to be good, and in this edition, they are. The poem itself is not burdened by the numbers of the notes, because there are so many, the editor decided not to show them in the text per se, but at the end of the book, you will always have the reference, the lines, which the notes are about.

As to the poem itself, if you don't know it, you certainly know of the story of the Fall of Man, Adam and Eve, and the rebellion of Satan in Heaven. I'll only say that Milton's God is one seriously problematic figure in the poem, and that it caused centuries of academic discussion as to whether Milton's God is a good God or a devilish one, whether "Paradise Lost" was truly a "myth", in the old sense of a story which explains why we're here and how it got to be, or whether it was an attack on Christianity. Scholars still discuss this today, so make your own mind if you can!

Legend (Drenai Tales, Book 1)

2009-07-06T10:33:00.001+07:00

This tells a compelling and inspirational story of heroism in the days of high adventure - in the Drenai Empire, the legendary captain of the Axe, Druss, awaits his old enemy, Death, in the mountains. If, like me, you have a teenage son who is addicted to computer games and regards books with horror, give him Legend. I can almost guarantee that he'll read it from cover to cover and then ask for more - and that his appetite for books in general will be hugely stimulated as was mine when I first read it. Gemmell's stories crack along at a hair-raising pace and his characters - far from being caricatures - are subtle, ambiguous and engaging. Review by Graham Hancock, whose books include 'Heaven's Mirror: Quest for the Lost Civiliztion' (Kirkus UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Legend (1986)

2009-07-06T10:18:00.002+07:00

A YOUNG MAN MUST STOP THE LORD OF DARKNESS FROM BOTH DESTROYING DAYLIGHT AND MARRYING THE WOMAN HE LOVES.

Review By Brett D. Cullum (Houston, TX United States)
This review is from: Legend (Ultimate Edition) (DVD)
LEGEND never really found an audience in theatres despite Ridley Scott and Universal's constant tinkering with the final cut. Seems many movies of this era were victims of audience test screenings, and the desire to give people a commercial product that went down easy -- see BRAZIL for a prime example of how studios think (the "love conquers all" version). So LEGEND was severely edited and rescored with a hasty (but often effective score by TANGERINE DREAM). It was short on plot and long on art direction, but sumptuous visuals and an all-out acting job by Tim Curry and make-up artist Rick Bottin made the movie an easy favorite of many fantasy fans. The movie looks stunning, and the story is a universal plunge into archetypes. Nothing wrong with that, it certainly worked for STAR WARS!

This DVD collection gives you two versions of LEGEND -- the original director's cut with over twenty minutes of added footage and the original Goldsmith score; and in addition, you get the original US release. In essence you get two different movies! The moods vary, the characters seem a little different, with whole new speeches and images to enjoy. If you are a fan of the movie or Ridley Scott it's a MUST-HAVE! This is what DVD dreams are made of. While many bemoan the fact BLADE RUNNER does not come with its 2 versions -- the fact is other than the narration and the happy ending, there is not MUCH different. But here we have a case where you can see what happens to a movie as it goes through development HELL. Fascinating stuff, and it comes LOADED with extras.

The only downside is the director's cut gets the royal treatment of a 5.1 sound mix while the other version gets a 2 channel Dolby mix, and even the video quality seems different with again the director's cut looking better than the theatrical release. But at last we can see a widescreen version of either cut, and we get a lot of extras that explain some of why the movie is the way it ended up. Beautiful images, two good soundtracks (I like both though the mood changes), and basically strong performances. LEGEND is a waking dream!

The Works: William Shakespeare

2009-06-06T06:35:00.001+07:00

Includes a Huge Collection of the Comedies, History, Poems, Romances, Tragedies, and works of William Shakespeare

Includes easy-to-use search and navigation. Includes tap-and-go Table of Contents.

Includes:

A LOVER'S COMPLAINT
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
AS YOU LIKE IT
COMEDY OF ERRORS
CYMBELINE
HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK
HISTORY OF KING HENRY THE SIXTH, SECOND PART
HISTORY OF KING HENRY THE SIXTH, THIRD PART
HISTORY OF KING HENRY THE SIXTH, THIRD PART
HISTORY OF TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
JULIUS CAESAR
KING HENRY IV, SECOND PART
KING HENRY IV, THE FIRST PART
KING HENRY VI, FIRST PART
KING JOHN
LIFE OF HENRY THE EIGHTH
LIFE OF KING HENRY V
LIFE OF TIMON OF ATHENS
LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST
MACBETH
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
MERCHANT OF VENICE
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE
PERICLES PRINCE OF TYRE
PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE
RAPE OF LUCRECE
ROMEO AND JULIET
SONNETS, THE
TAMING OF THE SHREW
TEMPEST, THE
TRAGEDY OF CORIOLANUS
TRAGEDY OF KING LEAR
TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND
TRAGEDY OF TITUS ANDRONICUS
TWELFTH NIGHT; OR, WHAT YOU WILL
TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
VENUS AND ADONIS
WINTER'S TALE

A Midsummer Night's Dream

2009-06-06T06:32:00.000+07:00

Each edition includes:

• Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play

• Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play

• Scene-by-scene plot summaries

• A key to famous lines and phrases

• An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language

• An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play

• Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books

Essay by Catherine Belsey

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs.

About the Author
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit www.folger.edu.

Barbara A. Mowat is Director of Academic Programs at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Editor of Shakespeare Quarterly, Chair of the Folger Institute, and author of The Dramaturgy of Shakespeare's Romances and of essays on Shakespeare's plays and on the editing of the plays.

Paul Werstine is Professor of English at King's College and the Graduate School of the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He is the author of many papers and articles on the printing and editing of Shakespeare's plays and was Associate Editor of the annual Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England from 1980 to 1989.

Julius Caesar : by William Shakespeare (Author)

2009-06-06T06:28:00.001+07:00

Grade 5-8-One of the marks of Shakespeare's greatness is the continued interest in adapting his enduring works. This recording of Julius Caesar is one in a series drawn from Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Stories. Liberally sprinkled with lines from the original play, the recording presents a condensation of all five acts in a little more than an hour. Beginning with a brief biography of the Bard, the
recording then offers a thorough but not lengthy overview of the play. All this sets the stage for Simon Russell Beale's well paced narration. This Royal Shakespeare Company veteran moves so skillfully between story text and dialogue that at times it seems as though there are several actors reading. Classic lines such as "Et tu. Brute" and "Friends, Romans, Countrymen " are rendered with fresh vigor. At the conclusion of the play, an article on "Shakespeare Today" offers suggestions to help youngsters have fun with Shakespeare. Short selections of period music make a nice transition between sections of the recording. Though aimed at a middle school audience, both teens and adults will find this presentation a good way to learn about one of the earliest plays performed at the Globe Theatre.
Barbara Wysocki, Cora J. Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
'Daniell's edition is a hefty piece of serious scholarship that makes a genuine contribution.' -- Eric Rasmussen, University of Nevada at Reno, Shakespeare Survey

'This is a stimulating new look at a play which is too often exhibited in a critical museum.' -- Paul Dean, English Studies 81,1,

The Tempest

2009-06-06T06:13:00.001+07:00

Each edition includes:

• Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play

• Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play

• Scene-by-scene plot summaries

• A key to famous lines and phrases

• An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language

• An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play

• Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books

Essay by Barbara A. Mowat

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs.

About the Author
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit www.folger.edu.

Barbara A. Mowat is Director of Academic Programs at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Editor of Shakespeare Quarterly, Chair of the Folger Institute, and author of The Dramaturgy of Shakespeare's Romances and of essays on Shakespeare's plays and on the editing of the plays.

Paul Werstine is Professor of English at King's College and the Graduate School of the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He is the author of many papers and articles on the printing and editing of Shakespeare's plays and was Associate Editor of the annual Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England from 1980 to 1989.

Robinson Crusoe (Dover Thrift Editions)

2009-05-19T22:04:00.000+07:00

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-Defoe's classic novel of shipwreck and survival, now nearly 300 years old, is abridged competently in this recording. The flavor of the 18th century language is retained, but the plot moves along at a pace more appealing to 21st century ears. The reader, Martin Shaw, has a pleasant voice, but unfortunately tends to trail off at the ends of sentences, losing whole words. As with all abridgements, large sections of the story and entire characters are omitted, but since most of the book tells of Crusoe's solitary sojourn on the island, this is not a major problem. This version is no substitute for the original, but it would be a supplemental purchase in libraries where abridgements are popular.
Sarah Flowers, Santa Clara County Library, Morgan Hill, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
(in full The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who Lived Eight and Twenty Years, All Alone in an Un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, Near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having Been Cast on Shore by Shipwreck, Wherein All the Men Perished but Himself. With an Account how he was at last as Strangely Deliver'd by Pyrates. Written by Himself.) Novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719. The book is a unique fictional blending of the traditions of Puritan spiritual autobiography with an insistent scrutiny of the nature of men and women as social creatures, and it reveals an extraordinary ability to invent a sustaining modern myth. The title character leaves his comfortable middle-class home in England to go to sea. Surviving shipwreck, he lives on an island for 28 years, alone for most of the time until he saves the life of a savage, whom he names Friday. The two men eventually leave the island for England. Defoe probably based part of Crusoe's tale on the real-life experiences of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who at his own request was put ashore on an uninhabited island in 1704 after a quarrel with his captain. He stayed there until 1709. The book was an immediate success in England and on the European continent, and Defoe wrote a sequel (The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe) that was also published in 1719. Many stage and film adaptations have been made of Robinson Crusoe's life, and the book has spawned many imitations, including Johann Wyss's Swiss Family Robinson. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Treasure Island (Enriched Classics Series)

2009-05-19T22:01:00.001+07:00

Product Description
The epic tale of a young man's quest to capture a hidden treasure on the open seas -- one of the best-loved adventure stories of all time.

EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES:

• A concise introduction that gives readers important background information

• A chronology of the author's life and work

• A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context

• An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations

• Detailed explanatory notes

• Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

• Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction

• A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

About the Author
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a novelist, poet, short-story writer, and essayist. In 1883, while bedridden with tuberculosis, he wrote what would become one of the best known and most beloved collections of children's poetry in the English language, A Child's Garden of Verses. Block City is taken from that collection. Stevenson is also the author of such classics as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Kidnapped (Scribner Storybook Classics)

2009-05-19T21:58:00.001+07:00

Grade 3-7 - The language in this adaptation is truer to the original, and thus, more sophisticated than that of Deborah Kestel's "Great Illustrated Classics" version (Playmore, 1992). After his father's death, David Balfour leaves his simple life in the Scottish Lowlands and sets out to find an uncle whom he has never met. Unaware of the bad blood between his father and uncle, he arrives at Ebeneezer's home, only to find that the cruel man has no intention of granting the lad his rightful inheritance. In fact, he has the boy kidnapped aboard a ship to be sold as a slave in North Carolina. David's tenacious spirit and his friendship with the rebellious Jacobite Alan Breck eventually bring him to safety. Told in 11 brief chapters, this abridgement introduces the basics of the story while maintaining a feel for the Scottish dialect. Some of the old-fashioned words and phrases may be a bit of a stretch for readers, but can be understood in context. Though obviously lacking in some of the details of the original, the narrative is easy to follow. Readers are able to gain insight into the hearts of David and Alan, although Ebeneezer and Captain Hoseason remain rather flat. Wyeth's oils (which appeared in the full-length version) add a sense of realism and capture interesting historical details. Meis's retelling retains the flavor of Stevenson's rollicking tale and might inspire readers to search out the full-length epic. - Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description
David Balfour has never had an adventure. He has never spent a night camping in the Scottish Highlands. He has never sailed the high seas. He has never fought in a battle. In fact David Balfour has never even left home. All he knows is a quiet country life.

All this changes after the death of his parents. He suddenly learns that he, David Balfour, is a man of wealth and standing, and that he is not destined for a simple life after all. All he needs to do to assume this new station in life is to travel to the town of Cramond, Scotland, to collect his inheritance from his father's younger brother, an uncle he had not even known existed. But David soon discovers that this is not as simple as it sounds, as he struggles to survive and outwit his treacherous uncle in this classic adventure story.

Original oil paintings by N. C. Wyeth capture the vitality of Robert Louis Stevenson's timeless tale of fortune, camaraderie, betrayal, and independence.

Kidnapped (Scribner Storybook Classics)

2009-05-19T21:58:00.000+07:00

Treasure Island and Kidnapped (Cliffs Notes)

2009-05-19T21:45:00.001+07:00

Product Description
These novels of pirates on the high seas and intrigue in the Scottish highlands were written on a challenge by Stevenson's teenage stepson to "write something really interesting." The results are these fast-moving and adventurous books, simple and entertaining.

From the Back Cover
Cliffs Test Preparation Guides help students prepare for and improve their performance on standardized tests ACT Preparation Guide CBEST Preparation Guide CLAST Preparation Guide ELM Review GMAT Preparation Guide GRE Preparation Guide LSAT Preparation Guide MAT Preparation Guide MATH Review for Standardized Tests MSAT Preparation Guide Memory Power for Exams Police Officer Examination Preparation Guide Police Sergeant Examination Preparation Guide Police Management Examinations Preparation Guide Postal Examinations Preparation Guide Praxis I: PPST Preparation Guide Praxis II: NTE Core Battery Preparation Guide SAT Preparation Guide SAT II Writing Preparation Guide TASP Preparation Guide TOEFL Preparation Guide with 2 cassettes Advanced Practice for the TOEFL with 2 cassettes Verbal Review for Standardized Tests Writing Proficiency Examinations You Can Pass the GED Cliffs Quick Reviews help students in introductory college courses or Advanced Placement classes Algebra I Algebra II Anatomy & Physiology Basic Math and Pre-Algebra Biology Calculus Chemistry Differential Equations Economics Geometry Linear Algebra Microbiology Physics Statistics Trigonometry Cliffs Advanced Placement Preparation Guides help high school students taking Advanced Placement courses to earn college credit AP Biology AP Calculus AB AP Chemistry AP English Language & Composition AP English Literature & Composition AP United States History Cliffs Complete Study Editions are comprehensive study guides with complete text, running commentary and glossary Chaucer's Prologue Chaucer's Wife of Bath Hamlet Julius Caesar King Henry IV, Part I King Lear Macbeth The Merchant of Venice Othello Romeo and Juliet The Tempest Twelfth Night See inside back cover for listing of Cliffs Notes titles Registered trademarks include: GRE, MSAT, the Praxis Series, and TOEFL (Educational Testing Service): AP, Advanced Placement Program, and SAT (College Entrance Examination Board); GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Council); and LSAT (Law School Admission Council.) Treasure Island & Kidnapped

Kidnapped (Tor Classics)

2009-05-19T21:36:00.001+07:00

From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up-Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson remains one of the classic coming-of-age stories for children and young adults today. After the death of his father, David Balfour sets out to meet his uncle and claim his inheritance. This adventure takes him through the highlands of Scotland where he embarks upon a long journey back from treachery and deceit. The reading by David Rintoul, whose voice is easily recognizable from his roles in several PBS productions such as Pride and Prejudice, translates the written word into an auditory landscape of Scotland. He interprets each character using several voices. As the story progresses, listeners can hear David changing from an uncertain and hesitant youth, to the assured and forthright young man he becomes at the conclusion. Without any special effects, the fight among the crew of the Coventry in the RoundhouseAchairs pushed over, the sounds of the sea hitting against the great shipAbecomes easily visualized. the reader's skill setting the stage and showing the growth of the character is phenomenal. While this is an abridgement, the story flows easily and gives a full picture from beginning to end. This audiobook is a wonderful way to introduce this style of literature to young readers who may feel inhibited by reading the language of Stevenson. Whether read for enjoyment or to enrich the learning experience, this is a must for every serious library collection of the classics.
Tina Hudak, Takoma Park Maryland Library, MD
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From Library Journal
Editor Menikoff insists that Stevenson's novel has been unfairly relegated to young adult fiction. To remedy that, he restored the text to its original form, reinstating deleted passages and Stevenson's original punctuation. The text is buttressed with 19th-century drawings from the book's serializations and an introduction that explains the book's nexus and puts it into its Scottish cultural context. (Classic Returns, LJ 5/15/99)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism

2009-05-19T21:31:00.004+07:00

Here is the best classic literature that you must know. If you want to know the criticism of literature in Medieval era, which belongs to classic, you must read this book. Buy this book soon!

In the Shadow of Empire: Austrian Experiences of Modernity in the Writings of Musil, Roth, and Bachmann (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and

2009-05-19T21:28:00.001+07:00

In the Shadow of Empire: Austrian Experiences of Modernity in the Writings of Musil, Roth, and Bachmann (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture)

Product Description
Austria was not the only European country whose old order disintegrated in the early twentieth century, giving way to the crisis of modernity, nor the only country whose literature bears the marks of this crisis. But modernity's onset was experienced
differently in Austria: in the words of Karl Kraus, it served as "laboratory for the fall of world civilization." This book examines the crisis as reflected in fiction written by Robert Musil, Joseph Roth, and Ingeborg Bachmann between 1920 and 1970. After examining the elusive concept of modernity, Malcolm Spencer looks at the responses of the three authors to the central themes of modernity: fragmentation, nationalism, the end of empire, and ambivalence. Chapters on Musil examine his understanding of the ancien rÃ©gime in Austria and his analysis of the ideological stage of modernity. Spencer then considers Roth's more negative reaction, showing the post-imperial novel Radetzkymarsch to be a nostalgic response to the collapse of Habsburg Austria and the rise of fascism. The final chapter looks again at the end of empire, not in the work of writers who lived through it, but through that of one who experienced it as a historical and cultural legacy: Ingeborg Bachmann.

About the Author
Malcolm Spencer is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. He teaches German and French at Walton High School, Stafford, UK

Science Fiction for Young Readers: (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy)

2009-05-19T18:51:00.000+07:00

Description
In this collection of essays, authorities on a wide range of topics related to science fiction discuss themes and works of special interest to young readers. The first section includes chapters on the origins of science fiction as a genre for young people, and containes essays on Victor Appleton's "Tom Swift" series and the contributions of Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and Madeleine L'Engle. The second section looks beyond the origins of science fiction to particular works and authors. The chapters in this section approach authors and their works from particular thematic perspectives and thus show how particular themes bind together and define the body of an author's writings. The third section, on science fiction as a vehicle for ideas, looks beyond the literary features of the genre. Chapters in this section discuss science fiction as a means for conveying religious, philosophical, and social messages.

About the Author
C. W. SULLIVAN III is Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies in English at East Carolina University.

Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, Interactive Edition (11th Edition)

2009-05-09T16:00:00.000+07:00

The most popular introductory anthology of its kind, Kennedy/Gioia’s Literature continues to inspire people with engaging insights on reading and writing about stories, poems, and plays. Literature, Interactive Edition, 11/e comes automatically with a specialized version of MyLiteratureLab, Longman's multimedia website designed specifically for Kennedy/Gioia users. MyLiteratureLab icons are found in the margins of the text along with a list of media assets at the front of the anthology.

Poets in their own right, editors X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia bring personal warmth and a human perspective to this comprehensive anthology. Literature, Interactive Edition, 11/e, presents readable discussions of the literary devices, illustrated by engaging works, supported by useful writing tips, and followed by seven chapters devoted to writing that have been thoroughly updated to reflect MLA’s latest guidelines. Conversations with Amy Tan, Kay Ryan (the 2008 poet laureate), and David Ives, conducted by Dana Gioia, offer readers an insider’s look into the importance of reading to three contemporary writers. A Latin American Writers casebook is new to Fiction and collects some of the finest authors from the region including Octavia Paz, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Ines Arendondo. A casebook on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is now featured as part of the Three Stories In-depth chapter. Many new writers have been added including Naguib Mahfouz, Virginia Woolf, Sherman Alexie, Mary Oliver, Bettie Sellers, and Anne Deavere Smith

For anyone who enjoys literature presented with personal warmth and a human perspective.

Literature: Approaches with ARIEL (Book + CD-ROM)

2009-05-09T15:58:00.001+07:00

Product Description
Like its larger counterpart, the compact Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama by Robert DiYanni features student-centered approaches to literature--from experience to interpretation to evaluation--and an emphasis on making connections between texts and thinking critically about literature. .

. Known for its clear presentation of the formal elements of literature and literary analysis, this compact anthology effectively balances classic, modern, and contemporary works across the three major genres, blending well-known writers with a diverse gathering of newer, international figures. This literary breadth is supplemented by extensive coverage of writing about literature, making this book an excellent text for introduction to literature courses as well as literature-based composition courses..

About the Author
Robert DiYanni is Professor of English at Pace University, Pleasantville, New York, where he teaches courses in literature, writing, and humanities. He has also taught at Queens College of the City University of New York, at New York University in the Graduate Rhetoric Program, and most recently in the Expository Writing Program at Harvard University. He received his B.A. from Rutgers University (1968) and his Ph.D. from the City University of New York (1976).. . Robert DiYanni has written articles and reviews on various aspects of literature, composition, and pedagogy. His books include Literature: Reading, Fiction, Poetry, Drama and the Essay; The McGraw-Hill Book of Poetry; Women�s Voices; Like Season�d Timber: New Essays on George Herbert; and Modern American Poets: Their Voices and Visions (a text to accompany the Annenberg-funded telecourse, Voices and Visions). With Kraft Rompf, he edited The McGraw-Hill Book of Poetry, (1993) and The McGraw-Hill Book of Fiction (1995). With Pat Hoy, he edited Encounters: Readings for Inquiry and Argument (1997).. . .

The Norton Anthology of Western Literature, Volume 1

2009-05-09T15:56:00.000+07:00

Product Description
A library of Western literature in two volumes, this new edition offers more than 40 works in their entirety—from Homer's Odyssey to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart—as well as dozens of excerpted works and over 200 lyric poems.

About the Author
Heather James, Ph.D. Berkeley, is Associate Professor of English at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Shakespeare’s Troy: Drama, Politics, and the Translation of Empire.

Sarah Lawall, Ph.D. Yale, is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her publications include Critics of Consciousness: The Existential Structures of Literature and Reading World Literature: Theory, History, Practice.

Lee Patterson, Ph.D. Yale, is F. W. Hilles Professor of English at Yale University. He is the author of Chaucer and the Subject of History; Literary Practice and Social Change in Britain, 1380–1530; and Negotiating the Past: The Historical Understanding of Medieval Literature.

Patricia Meyer Spacks, Ph.D. Berkeley, is Edgar F. Shannon Professor of English at the University of Virginia. Her publications include An Argument of Images: The Poetry of Alexander Pope; The Female Imagination; The Adolescent Idea: Myths of Youth and the Adult Imagination; Desire and Truth: Functions of Plot in Eighteenth-Century English Novels; and Boredom: The Literary History of a State of Mind.

William G. Thalmann, Ph.D. Yale, is Professor of Classics at the University of Southern California. His publications include The Swineherd and the Bow: Representations of Class in the Odyssey.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (43 Works & 154 Sonnets) With Active Table of Contents ATOC

2009-05-09T15:45:00.000+07:00

This is The Complete Works of William Shakespeare All 43 Works & 154 Sonnets.

This eBook has an Active Table of Contents & is easily Searchable.

All's Well That Ends Well

Antony and Cleopatra

As You Like It

The Comedy of Errors

The Tragedy of Coriolanus

Cymbeline

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

The First part of King Henry the Fourth

The Second part of King Henry the Fourth

The Life of King Henry the Fifth

The First part of King Henry the Sixth

The Second part of King Henry the Sixth

The Third part of King Henry the Sixth

The Life of King Henry the Eighth

The Life and Death of Julies Caesar

The Life and Death of King John

King Lear

Loves Labours Lost

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Measure for Measure

The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Merchant of Venice

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Much Ado About Nothing

Othello, the Moore of Venice

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

The Life and Death of Richard the Second

The Life and Death of Richard the Third

Romeo and Juliet

The Taming of the Shrew

The Tempest

Timon of Athens

Titus Andronicus

Troilus and Cressida

Twelfth Night

Two Gentlemen of Verona

Winter's Tale

A Lover's Complaint

The Passionate Pilgrim

The Phoenix & The Turtle

The Rape of Lucrece

The Argument

The Sonnets (154)

Venus & Adonis

Please, Enjoy.

Shakespeare's masterpiece Work: "Hamlet Act III, Scene I (clip):"

2008-11-15T16:37:00.002+07:00

Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then taken the throne and married Hamlet's mother. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seething rage—and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.

From the "Great Scenes from Shakespeare" series, this "Hamlet" video portrays one of the most famous scenes in all Shakespearean tragedy and, indeed, in all literature. It's Hamlet: Act III, Scene ...

Julius Caesar: Introduction to Shakespeare (clip)

2008-11-15T16:34:00.002+07:00

This is the drama entitled Julius caesar by Shakespeare. "Julius Caesar: An Introduction" lends a glint of understanding to this Shakespeare tragedy, famed for such lines as "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" and "Beware the Ides of March."...

The Tragedy : "King Lear: An Introduction (clip)", Shakespearees Work

2008-11-15T16:32:00.002+07:00

This is the drama of King lear.

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606, and is considered one of his greatest works. The play is based on the legend of King Leir of Britain. It has been widely adapted for stage and screen, with the part of Lear being played by many of the world's most accomplished actors.

There are two distinct versions of the play: The True Chronicle of the History of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters, which appeared in quarto in 1608, and The Tragedy of King Lear, which appeared in the First Folio in 1623, a more theatrical version. The two texts are commonly printed in a conflated version, although many modern editors have argued that each version has its individual integrity.

After the Restoration the play was often modified by theatre practitioners who disliked its nihilistic flavour[citation needed], but since World War II it has come to be regarded as one of Shakespeare's supreme achievements. The tragedy is particularly noted for its probing observations on the nature of human suffering and kinship.

Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Editions) (Wordsworth Royals Series)

2008-10-20T13:31:00.001+07:00

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is acknowledged as the greatest dramatist of all time. He excels in plot, poetry and wit, and his talent encompasses the great tragedies of Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth as well as the moving history plays and the comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It with their magical combination of humour, ribaldry and tenderness. This volume is a reprint of the Shakespeare Head Press edition, and it presents all the plays in chronological order in which they were written. It also includes Shakespeare's Sonnets, as well as his longer poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.

This complete and unabridged edition contains every word that Shakespeare wrote — all 37 tragedies, comedies, and histories, plus the sonnets. You'll find such classics as The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew. This Library of Literary Classics edition is bound in padded leather with luxurious gold-stamping on the front and spine, satin ribbon marker and gilded edges. Other titles in this series include: Charlotte & Emily Bronte: The Complete Novels; Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Works; Mark Twain: Selected Works; Charles Dickens: Four Complete Novels; Lewis Carroll: The Complete, Fully Illustrated Works; and Jane Austen: The Complete Novels.

William Shakespeare Complete Works (Modern Library)

2008-10-20T13:28:00.001+07:00

FROM THE WORLD FAMOUS ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY, THE FIRST AUTHORITATIVE, MODERNIZED, AND CORRECTED EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE’S FIRST FOLIO IN THREE CENTURIES.

Skillfully assembled by Shakespeare’s fellow actors in 1623, the First Folio was the original Complete Works. It is arguably the most important literary work in the English language. But starting with Nicholas Rowe in 1709 and continuing to the present day, Shakespeare editors have mixed Folio and Quarto texts, gradually corrupting the original Complete Works with errors and conflated textual variations.

Now Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, two of today’s most accomplished Shakespearean scholars, have edited the First Folio as a complete book, resulting in a definitive Complete Works for the twenty-first century.
Combining innovative scholarship with brilliant commentary and textual analysis that emphasizes performance history and values, this landmark edition will be indispensable to students, theater professionals, and general readers alike.

For more information on this Modern Library edition, visit www.therscshakespeare.com

Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying the Works of Shakespeare

2008-10-20T13:25:00.000+07:00

Shakespeare's genius is marked by his rare ability to appeal to theatergoers of all types and all levels of education. But for most modern folks, the Greek and Roman mythology and history, let alone the history of England and the geography of sixteenth-century Europe that his works are laden with, are hardly within our grasp. Isaac Asimov comes to making obscure issues clear to the layperson, selects key passages from 38 of the great bard's plays plus two of his narrative poems and, with the help of beautifully rendered maps an figures, illuminates us about their historical and mythological background.

While watching or reading one of Shakespeare's plays, it's interesting to read the notes of some of the different critics. Peter Levi does a wonderful job following the poetry and language of Shakespeare as it develops over his lifetime, in the context of the other writers of his era. Harold Bloom, of course, finds in Shakespeare both a mirror and an impulse for a leap forward in literature and therefore in society. Bloom has fallen in love with certain of Shakespeare's characters (Falstaff, Hamlet, etc.) and uses them as a yardstick for all others.

Asimov takes a more historical view. He has done impressive research into the characters and times. His "Guide to Shakespeare" is useful for its insights into all of the plays, but I found it most useful for the English histories. In the eight plays of the Wars of the Roses --from Richard II, through the Henrys, and culminating in Richard III-- Asimov tracks the family trees and politics of the nobility, spots anachronisms, and does a wonderful job of simplifying the sometimes bewildering array of characters and historical references. Of course, even uneducated audiences in Shakespeare's day would have understood some of these arcane references without a guidebook, much as a modern US audience would easily understand references to Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. With his research and clear writing, Asimov brings the history plays --and indeed all of the plays-- back to life.

Classic Literature : Sense and Sensibility

2008-10-10T14:13:00.001+07:00

Description
In her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen presents us with the subtle portraits of two contrasting but equally compelling heroines. For sensible Elinor Dashwood and her impetuous younger sister Marianne the prospect of marrying the men they love appears remote. In a world ruled by money and self-interest, the Dashwood sisters have neither fortune nor connections. Concerned for others and for social proprieties, Elinor is ill-equipped to compete with self-centered fortune-hunters like Lucy Steele, while Marianne's unswerving belief in the truth of her own feelings makes her more dangerously susceptible to the designs of unscrupulous men.

Through her heroines' parallel experiences of love, loss, and hope, Jane Austen offers a powerful analysis of the ways in which women's lives were shaped by the claustrophobic society in which they had to survive. This revised edition contains new notes, appendices, chronology, and bibliography.

About the Author

Margaret Anne Doody has edited and introduced many texts for OWC and Penguin, including novels by Frances Burney and Charlotte Lennox. She is the editor of Austen's Catharine and Other Writings in OWC. She is the author of The True Story of the Novel (HarperCollines/Fontana 1998) and novels featuring the detective Aristotle. Claire Lamont has edited novels by Walter Scott and Austen for OWC and Penguin. She is the textual editor of Penguin's edition of Jane Austen's novels.

John Bunyan: Author of The Pilgrim's Progress (Heroes of the Faith) (

2008-09-24T11:35:00.001+07:00

Product Description
The doubts, temptations, and hopes of his own spiritual journey were put on paper and he became author of The Pilgrim's Progress.

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up-Chelsea is off to a poor start in this series if it believes that fictionalized ramblings can substitute for accurate, well-documented biographies. Is the fact that these books examine "Heroes of the Faith" reason to hold them to lower standards? There are no illustrations and the indexes are woefully inadequate. C. S. Lewis lacks a bibliography of works by and about that author. Wellman also fails to discuss the continuing importance and influence of either man. These flaws, however, pale in comparison to the convoluted writing that's full of phony, invented dialogue-and, in Bunyan, completely fabricated scenes. Few readers will plod through these tedious, unreliable pages. Beatrice Gormley's C. S. Lewis (Eerdmans, 1997) is a far superior and more attractive production.
Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY

Piligrim's Progress

2008-09-24T10:30:00.001+07:00

Description
The adventures and perils Christian encounters on his journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City are a classic tale and a vivid portrayal of Christianity. In this fully illustrated book, the story is retold especially for today's children. (20041224)

Review
"The classic story of Pilgrim's Progress is told in a fresh way as Christian faces many dangers and adventures on his journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. As Christian tries to stay on the right path he faces lions, giants, monsters, terrifying forests and people who try to steer him away. This story of a life adventure is told especially for young readers and the amazing illustrations bring Christian values to life." (Kids Bookshelf )

"This classic and timeless story of the adventure of life is retold for younger children. The large illustrations are very colorful and modern looking. This makes for an attractive book, which can be read as a first introduction to a more elaborate version and edition, closer to the original text." (WD Christian Schools International )

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: In a Faithful Account of the Life and Death of John Bunyan

2008-09-24T10:27:00.001+07:00

Description
"Grace Abounding continues the tradition of Christian testimonial classics tracing back to the Confessions of Saint Augustine. John Bunyan¿s autobiography, written while he was imprisoned for holding unsanctioned religious services and first published in 1666, is the unsparing account of one man¿s spiritual journey from atheism and blasphemy to devout Christianity.

A reckless and profane youth leads Bunyan to despair in the belief that he has committed unforgivable sins. But two religious books belonging to his wife set Bunyan on the straight and narrow and a lifetime of pious devotion. Honest and unblinking in his self-assessment, Bunyan saw it as his duty to tell his story, warts and all, in order to comfort all those struggling with their faith. This classic of religious literature continues to be essential reading for the faithful and for students of great English literature. English preacher and writer JOHN BUNYAN (1628¿1688) is the author of nearly sixty books, nine of which were written while he was in prison for unlicensed preaching. His works include The Pilgrim¿s Progress (1678¿84), The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), and The Holy War (1682).

John Bunyan - His Life, Times And Work

2008-09-24T10:25:00.001+07:00

Description
CONTENTS Frontispiece-JOHN BUNYA N f rom Robert Whites Pencil Drawing Cracherode Collection, British Museum PAGE I. EARLYC HURCHLI FE IN BEDFORDSHIR . E I IV. SPIRITUACL ONFLICT . 5 VI. FIVE YEARS O F BEDFORDLI FE 1655-1660 . 93 VII. HARLINGTOHNO USE A ND THE CHAPEL O F HERNE . 126 VIII. TWELV YE E A RS IN BEDFORGDA OL . 5 5 IX. THEC HURCH IN THE STORM . . 190 X. THRE Y E E ARS O F LIBERTY 1 672-1675 . . 216 vii EARLY CHURCH LIFE IN BEDFORDSHIRE JOHN BU NYANb, o rn in the English Midlands, may be taken as in some sense a characteristic representative of the region that gave him birth.

For the tract of country between the Trent and the Bedfordshire Ouse, which from its northern half gave the Pilgrim Fathers to New England, furnished from its fens and fields in the south n succession of men of his own sturdy independence of thought, and in strong sympathy with his own Puritan faith. In the development of even the most original genius, the environment counts for much it may help us, t11erefore to a truer estimate of the man if we first briefly recall the spiritual antecedents of the county in which lie was born ancl in which his life was spent. When the Reformation broke in upon the old ecclesiastical system of England, Bedfordshire seems to have been more than usually receptive of the new ideas tllen rising over Europe. Not that the wllole county, any more than other counties, was prepared to become Protestant at a stroke. Here, as elsewhere, many Englisllmen, after their manner, were inclined to standin the ways, and see and ask for the old paths. Leading families, like the Rlordaunts of Turvey, remained firm in their allegiance to the ancient faith, and turned their llouses into hiding-places for its bishops and priests during the hard days of Elizabeth and James...

The Holy War by Jonn Bunyan

2008-09-24T08:39:00.001+07:00

Description
Bunyan's second most loved work after Pilgrim's Progress. Also allegorical, this work tells the story of mankind's redemption by comparing it to a besiege city.

About the Author
John Bunyan (1628-1688) was a Baptist preacher and author who received very little formal education and at an early age worked in the trade of his father, who was a tinker. After his conversion in his twenties, Bunyan began to preach and to write. In 1660, after the restoration of Charles II, the Nonconformists were subjected to religious persecution. Because Bunyan refused to give up his preaching, he was arrested and placed in the Bedford jail, where he remained for nearly twelve years. During his imprisonment, Bunyan wrote many of his most acclaimed works.

The Pilgrim's Progress (Signet Classics)

2008-09-24T08:36:00.001+07:00

Description
The Pilgrim's Progress is regarded as one of the most significant works of English literature, and has been translated into more than 100 languages. The allegory tells of Christian, an everyman character, who makes his way from the "City of Destruction" (earth) to the "Celestial City" (heaven) of Zion.

Review: By A Customer
I Corinthians 13 says the following: If I have all faith as to
remove mountains, but have not love, then I am nothing...

Bunyan's allegory about Christian's journey is
predominantly a journey about faith....He doesn't really
talk about one's day to day struggles, and the need to
bear each other's burdens....It is primarily a solo kind of
journey here, but this should not be too surprising
considering that the book is an allegory about one's
own INNER struggle to avoid temptation, as typified by
"the world". In Christ our flesh has been crucified, so we
are not to dwell on earthly things.

I think the book succeeds admirably in admonishing the
Christian to avoid temptation and stay on the path that is
narrow and straight.

With that said, this is a remarkably readable version, that
is at the same time true to the original 17th century text.
Only spelling and punctuation have been changed to aid
the modern reader. Grammar and paragraphing have not
been altered. Where a word's meaning has changed over
time, its archaic meaning is included as a footnote. Also,
where Bunyan quotes from the Bible, directly or indirectly,
the passages quoted from are cited. The editors have
done a remarkable job, although truthfully I haven't looked
at all the other versions out there....For me, this version
does the job.

The Psychological Study of Literature: Limitations, Possibilities and Accomplishments

2008-09-24T08:33:00.001+07:00

The Psychological Study of Literature: Limitations, Possibilities and Accomplishments

Critical Study of the Fiction of Patricia Highsmith: From the Psychological to the Political (Studies in American Literature (Lewiston, N.Y.), V. 65.

2008-09-24T08:22:00.003+07:00

Special Offers and Product Promotions

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Popular American Literature of the 19th Century

2008-09-14T20:32:00.001+07:00

Description
This unique collection captures some of the excitement and diversity of the immensely prolific print culture that formed and framed nineteenth-century American life and thought. Gathering popular stories that tap into a variety of nineteenth-century American self-perceptions, fears, dreams, and longings, this resurrectionist work makes available material that is not readily available today but which was vital to the culture and daily conversations of the period.

Popular American Literature of the 19th Century collects examples of a wide range of literature including tracts, plays, poems, gift books, dime novels, school books, and serialized newspaper novels. Featuring twenty-five works in their entirety and several more in extensive excerpts, it includes works by the American Tract Society, Catharine Esther Beecher, Bret Harte, Ik Marvel, William Holmes McGuffey, Maria Monk, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, E. D. E. N. Southworth, Mason Locke Weems, and many others. The selections cover many important themes including singleness and marriage, domesticity and gender roles, masculinity, proper conduct, social reform, temperance, religion, urban and rural life, race, slavery, class, science, business, and more. Ideal for courses in nineteenth-century American literature, surveys of American literature, and introductory courses in American studies, Popular American Literature of the 19th Century is also a rich resource for anyone interested in American popular culture.

Anthology of Ancient Greek Popular Literature

2008-09-14T20:29:00.001+07:00

An Ephesian Tale is a short novel of action and emotion featuring stereotyped characters, short and suspenseful scenes of eroticism and danger, an equal number of narrow escapes, and a happy ending-all of it recounted straightforwardly in simple prose and with no serious reflection.

American Good Film American Pie The Naked Mile | Trailer

2008-09-08T06:43:00.002+07:00

This is the trailer of the movie "American Pie.

Interesting Film: - Minesweeper: The Movie

2008-09-08T06:42:00.002+07:00

This is the interesting movie entitled " Minesweeper".

Amarican film : - American Beauty (1999) - Movie Trailer

2008-09-08T06:38:00.002+07:00

This is the trailer of the movie "American Beauty.

The Tragedy story : "King Lear (Oxford School Shakespeare) "

2008-08-27T18:19:00.003+07:00

Description
The Oxford School Shakespeare is a well-established series which helps students understand and enjoy Shakespeare's plays. As well as the complete and unabridged text, each play in this series has an extensive range of students' notes. These include detailed and clear explanations of difficult words and passages, a synopsis of the plot, summaries of individual scenes, and notes on the main characters. Also included is a wide range of questions and activities for work in class, together with the historical background to Shakespeare's England, a brief biography of Shakespeare, and a complete list of his plays. Roma Gill, the series editor, has taught Shakespeare at all levels. She has acted in and directed Shakespeare's plays, and has lectured on Shakespeare all over the world.

Review: By Brian Smith "criacow"

One of literature's classic dysfunctional families shows itself in King Lear by William Shakespeare. King Lear implicity trusts his three daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia, but when the third wishes to marry for love rather than money, he banishes her. The two elder ones never felt Lear as a father; they simply did his bidding in an attempt to win his favor to get the kingdom upon his death. Cordelia, on the other hand, always cared for him, but tried to be honest, doing what she felt was right. As Lear realizes this through one betrayal after another, he loses his kingdom -- and what's more, his sanity...

The New Folger Library edition has to be among the best representations of Shakespeare I've seen. The text is printed as it should be on the right page of each two-page set, while footnotes, translations, and explanations are on the left page. Also, many drawings and illustrations from other period books help the reader to understand exactly what is meant with each word and hidden between each line.

Great Shakespeare's work : "King Lear (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) "

2008-08-27T18:13:00.001+07:00

Description
'By far the best edition of King Lear - in respect of both textual and other matters - that we now have.' John Lyon, English Language Notes 'This volume is a treasure-trove of precise information and stimulating comments on practically every aspect of the Lear-universe. I know of no other edition which I would recommend with such confidence: to students, professional colleagues and also the 'educated public'.' Dieter Mehl, Shakespeare Jahrbuch, vol 134

Review; By Cromulus "Magnus Cromulus"

The Arden edition of King Lear (I believe this one is in its third printing) is a combination of both the Quarto and the Folio editions of the play. Of course, when you end up with a conflated edition (one that is made up of both) you are left at the mercy of the editor but, for my money, R.A. Foakes does an excellent job of integrating the manuscripts and often points out in the notes which and why certain choices were made.

Other people have summarized the plot of King Lear here at amazon.com so I won't engage in that sort of review. I will concentrate instead on the particular edition and why I think it's among the best and then I will point out some things to look for in the play, things that I believe deserve close attention, things that will add to your enjoyment of the play.

First of all the Arden edition - the book is basically divided into two major parts: the essays and the play. The play occupies the top half of each page, while the editorial notes and "translations" are found on the bottom. So, for example, when King Lear first lets us know about "divesting" his kingdom, Foakes tells us that this word is important because it sets an important pattern regarding clothes throughout the play.

Sometimes the observations are incisive and surprisingly good, sometimes not as good. For example, when Lear starts talking about "By all the operation of the orbs / From whom we do exist, and cease to be", Foakes points out that the orbs are the planets (during Shakespeare's lifetime, the alignments of the planets was important - the word "disaster" actually means stars out of alignment - the kind of worldview that held the earth as the center of the universe was the worldview that Shakespeare inherited and lived in). But Foakes fails to mention that the orbs are also our EYES and in their full operation, opening your eyes can make one "exist" (as in we see them) and closing your eyes can make one "cease to be" (as in you don't see them). Furthermore, the orbs can be seen as being the eyes of God and us existing in them. Bishop Berkely's philosophy relied heavily on the idea that everything exists because God perceives it.

Anyway, just realize that the greatest of notes are nowhere near as good as the greatest of care and attention when reading. Especially when reading the greatest writer that ever lived.

Now onto some things I believe everyone should pay attention to. The word "love" appears in the play more than any other word of meaning (obviously I'm excluding words like "the" in the search). Now if you combine language that are related to eyes (sight, orbs, look, see, etc) you will also notice a great preponderance of these words. The same thing will happen if you combine the other senses (touch, feeling, smell, etc). Why is this of any import? Well, if you're going to write about something, you're going to have to use words. If something is important, you're going to want to drive that point home so you will be using some words more than others. This is an indication that the play you're reading is going to be about those things. So "love", "seeing", "nature", "clothes" and animals such as "dog, snake, wolf, etc" are words that appear a lot and are important.

Sometime Shakespeare is so goddamn clever that you could spend a lifetime and not catch everything. For example, it wasn't until my 2nd reading of the play that I noticed he tells Kent
"Our potency made good, take thy reward.
Five days we do allot thee, for provision
To shield thee from diseases of the world;
And on the sixth to turn thy hated back
Upon our kingdom: if, on the tenth day following,
Thy banish'd trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! by Jupiter,
This shall not be revoked."

Notice the word "provision". The root of the word is pro-vision. It means to look ahead. Later on in the play Kent reappears, in disguise! Is Shakespeare having fun with us or am I reading too much into what could be an unintended use of the word? Let me put it this way - if I'm going to find morsels like this one, Shakespeare gets the credit.

The words relating to seeing and feeling are especially important if you take tragedy to be an epistemological problem. If the tragic figure is one that denies a kind of knowledge (Lear and Gloucester certainly do this) then one can deny it by not seeing or feeling, hence the words that relate to the acquisition of knowledge through empirical means. Notice in the above verses that Kent will be told to re-appear, but he can only reappear in disguise. Lear has already denied his love and devotion. Kent must reappear as something else to allow Lear to "love him" again.

Lastly, pay close attention to Shakespeare's doubling and mirroring. This is a favorite thing of his to do. I remember that the first time I read "Measure for Measure" I noticed doubling and mirroring on every page. Then I read it again and noticed these things every 5 lines. Then I read it again and started noticing them with ever increasing frequency! In King Lear the mirroring is much more subtle and even more rewarding. Notice how Goneril ends up "confusing" Gloucester with Lear when she tells him to "smell" his "way to Dover". From that moment on Gloucester and Lear become doubles and possibly even more and the reader becomes a party to the confusion.

Reading Shakespeare is a mind blowing experience and King Lear is probably his greatest play (and that's saying something considering he also wrote "Hamlet", "Othello" and "Macbeth").

Shakespeare wrote this play towards the end of his playwright's career. He had two daughters, one of which was a bit of an embarrassment to him. It's fun to hypothesize whether retiring was on his mind and if it was his own intent

"To shake all cares and business from our age;
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburthen'd crawl toward death."

I cannot leave a review of King Lear without mentioning some important essays on it. A few years back philosopher Stanley Cavell wrote a review called "The Avoidance of Love". His reading of King Lear is revolutionary beyond belief. No student or lover of Shakespeare's plays should be without it. The essay has been combined with other Cavell essays on other Shakespearian plays and is available in the book "Disowning Knowledge". Amazon has it. It will blow your mind. Also, A.C. Bradley wrote a famous essay on King Lear that should be read as well.

P.S. check out the cool and artistic cover which features a tree trunk splitting into three branches. Is it an allegory for the play? By golly, I think it is. That's Arden for you - quality cover to cover :)

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Traditions

2008-08-22T07:39:00.001+07:00

Description

This book explores the philosophical underpinnings, history and key elements of five qualitative inquiry traditions: biography, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography and case study. John W Creswell relates research designs to each of the traditions of inquiry and compares each of the research strategies for theoretical frameworks, writing introduction to studies, collecting data, analyzing data, writing the narrative, and employing standards of quality and verifying results. Five journal articles in the appendix offer fascinating reading as well as examples of the five different qualitative designs.

About the Author
John W. Creswell is a Professor of Educational Psychology at Teachers College, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is affiliated with a graduate program in educational psychology that specializes in quantitative and qualitative methods in education. In this program, he specializes in qualitative and quantitative research designs and methods, multimethod research, and faculty and academic leadership issues in colleges and universities.

A Handbook to Literary Research

2008-08-22T07:36:00.000+07:00

Description
A Handbook to Literary Research is a vital, one of a kind student resource, which has been written specifically for those embarking on a Masters degree in Literature. It provides an introduction to research techniques, methodologies and information sources relevant to the study of literature at postgraduate level. The unique and invaluable guide is divided into four sections:

* A practical guide to the uses of research libraries, research sources and computers, including the Internet

* An introduction to the work of textual scholars and bibliographers, focusing particularly on the practical and theoretical issues faced by textual editors
* An overview of literary research and literary theory, including outlines of feminist theory, deconstruction, reader-response and reception theory, new historicism, and post-colonial theory

* A detailed guide on how to write and present a Masters thesis, including a glossary and checklist for finding guides, reference books and other study sources.

Literary Research and the Era of American Nationalism and Romanticism: Strategies and Sources (Literary Research: Strategies and Sources)

2008-08-22T07:34:00.000+07:00

Description
This book recommends best practices for research in the lively and vibrant literature of the American Early Republic. Covering all formats, the volume discusses bibliographies, indexes, research guides, archives and special collections, microform and digital primary text resources, and how they are best exploited for a literary research project.

Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods

2008-08-22T07:26:00.000+07:00

Review

"Paton has a distinguished career as an evaluation researcher and his experience in applying the tools of qualitative research to address the questions and concerns of those in the world of practice come through clearly… a gem of a discussion of sampling strategies in qualitative research that is useful not only to prospective researchers but also to more seasoned ones. It is the most complete and carefully reasoned consideration of sampling in qualitative research that I have encountered"
(Organizational Research Methods )

Review : By Steven Ro
If you've been asked to gather qualitative research but you've never gathered qualitative research before, then this is the book for you. Unlike other qualitative research books that often focus more on a particular phase of research, this book covers all phases in depth, from conceptual issues and qualitative reseach design to analysis, interpretation, and reporting. If you were to read this book from cover to cover you would enjoy it, but you may yawn once or twice. To ease the boredom factor, the author was kind enough to include jokes and cartoons and sage anecdotes from research guru Halcolm. If you just want to use this book to answer particular research questions, then this is also the right book for you. I've looked at several other qualitative research books and this one seems to address all the major questions a researcher could possibly have. I highly recommend this book for any and all qualitative research neophytes.

Making Nature Sacred: Literature, Religion, and Environment in America from the Puritans to the Present

2008-08-12T09:35:00.000+07:00

Description
Since colonial times, the sense of encountering an unseen, transcendental Presence within the natural world has been a characteristic motif in American literature and culture. American writers have repeatedly perceived in nature something beyond itself-and beyond themselves. In this book, John Gatta argues that the religious import of American environmental literature has yet to be fully recognized or understood. Whatever their theology, American writers have perennially construed the nonhuman world to be a source, in Rachel Carson's words, of "something that takes us out of ourselves."
Making Nature Sacred explores how the quest for "natural revelation" has been pursued through successive phases of American literary and intellectual history. And it shows how the imaginative challenge of "reading" landscapes has been influenced by biblical hermeneutics. Though focused on adaptations of Judeo-Christian religious traditions, it also samples Native American, African American, and Buddhist forms of ecospirituality. It begins with Colonial New England writers such Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards, re-examines pivotal figures such as Henry Thoreau and John Muir, and takes account of writings by Mary Austin, Rachel Carson, and many others along the way. The book concludes with an assessment of the "spiritual renaissance" underway in current environmental writing, as represented by five noteworthy poets and by authors such as Wendell Berry, Annie Dillard, Marilynne Robinson, Peter Matthiessen, and Barry Lopez.
This engaging study should appeal not only to students of literature, but also to those interested in ethics and environmental studies, religious studies, and American cultural history.

Review

"This is a subtle, learned, and complex book that makes important contributions to ecocriticism and to the ongoing discussion of the persistence of responses to the natural world that it makes sense to characterize as religious." --Christianity and Literature
"Gatta offers spiritual and imaginative hope for an age set on despair."--CHOICE
"Required reading for anyone interested not only in ecocriticism but also in an interdisciplinary approach to Christian nature spirituality."--Laurie J. Braaten, Professor of Biblical Studies, Judson College
"Gatta's ambitious work lushly draws the reader into Nature as the setting out of which the United States of America emerged.... [W]e commend Gatta's accomplishment." --Consciousness, Literature and the Arts

Puritans among the Indians: Accounts of Captivity and Redemption, 1676-1724 (The John Harvard Library)

2008-08-12T09:31:00.001+07:00

Review
Until the publication of Puritans among the Indians, there was no edition of captivity narratives that so successfully brought together the twin themes of literature and ethnohistory...It is a joy to read a book so well made, intelligently edited, and carefully annotated...a model collection. (Western Historical Quarterly )

An exceptionally readable introduction to literature which is not only a significant source for colonial history and ethnography but also a revealing illustration of the Purtain but also a revealing illustration of the Puritan religious vision. (Church History )

This book is an excellent introduction to the genre of the Puritan captivity narrative. It includes several of the most well-known narratives (including Mary Rowlandson), each with a brief introduction. In addition, the editors have provided an introduction to the genre in general that is well-written and informative. The bibliography is extensive and invaluable.

The Puritan Origins of American Sex: Religion, Sexuality, and National Identity in American Literature

2008-08-12T08:49:00.001+07:00

Description
Covering all new ground in the scholarship of religion and sexuality, the contributors address the Puritan and Protestant roots of American sexual identity and culture. Offering both historical and interdisciplinary breadth, the volume charts the influence of Protestantism on the shaping of the American character from Cotton Mather to Kenneth Starr. From witch trials to pickaxe murderers, from brothels to convents, and from slavery to Toni Morrison's Paradise, these essays provide fascinating and provocative insights into our sexual and religious conventions and beliefs.

Review
An intellectual joining of Sacvan Bercovitch's Puritan Origins of the American Self and Michel Foucault's History of Sex....[F]amiliar and unfamiliar figures, historical and modern, are revealed in a new light.....
–Religious Studies Review, January 2002

For those who imagine there is nothing more to say about the vexed relations between Puritanism and American sexuality, this richly inflected, shrewdly edited collection of essays holds many surprises. Treating the entire history of their associations, it adds a new chapter to our understanding of religion and the body in America.
–Giles Gunn, University of California, Santa Barbara

...nuanced, historically informed readings of Puritan discourses and their afterlives in later cultural texts.
–Glenn Hendler, University of Notre Dame, in the Journal of Religion

The Complete Novels of Jane Austen

2008-08-12T08:39:00.003+07:00

Description
Jane Austen wrote in the eighteenth century, but her novels are timeless. This complete anthology is unique among single-volume editions of her work because it includes the obscure but delightful Lady Susan, along with the six better-known novels and thirty of Hugh Thomson's irresistible drawings.
All of Jane Austen's novels are love stories, all are stories of country gentry, and all end happily, one way or another. Her plots have the complexity of life and her characters are described with inimitable style and wit—whether caustic or warmly affectionate.
The novels contained in this anthology are Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Lady Susan. The nineteenth-century illustrations of Hugh Thomson capture the flavor of Jane Austen's characters and enhance this extraordinary collection of the complete works of one of the greatest novelists of all time

Review; By Amanda H. Duffy

Why do people still go on reading, quoting and making films about the novels of Jane Austen, a stay at home maiden lady who wrote her books almost two hundred years ago? An easy answer might be the romance and simplicity of the Austen age, where the most important news of the day was the arrival next door of a young, eligible bachelor. It was a world in which overheard conversations at a country dance, the imprudent behavior of a girl at a picnic, or a public snub in the village square would utterly change the course of your life. But this easy answer doesn't really explain the broad appeal of Jane Austen's novels. Her world is so unlike our own, that there simply must be more to it than romance. The fact is, that in spite of her limited experience, Jane Austen writes with tremendous wit, charm and perception. She appeals to the modern reader because she never minces words. She gets right into the heart of her characters, strips away the veneer of social grace, and makes shrewd observations about love, marriage, pride, snobbery, money and manners. Her opening sentences are a key to the clean, crisp writing you can expect from Austen. Take, for example, the character description that begins EMMA: "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence, and had lived nearly twenty one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." It is the brilliant use of the word 'seemed' that tips us off for the events that follow. In one sentence, Austen has given us a character who is spoiled, self assured and intelligent, and we can hardly wait to find out what is going to 'distress or vex her' in the following pages! Or what about the opening sentence of her most famous novel PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." What a marvelous assumption, and what delightful matchmaking schemes and foibles are about to unfold! Just picking one of Austen's novels at random gives you a wealth of charming observation. Take these thoughts on conversation, from NORTHANGER ABBEY: "He shortly found himself arrived at politics, and from politics, it was an easy step to silence." ...and from "SENSE AND SENSIBILITY "Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition." Or how about this wistful observation from PERSUASION: "One does not love a place the less because one has suffered in it." You don't have to be a scholar to understand and appreciate Austen. Her novels will surprise and win over any first time reader, and they have an amazingly good shelf life - they can be read and reread. Here, in one volume you have a portrait of missed opportunity in the provocative novel PERSUASION; matchmaking gone awry in EMMA; masterful observations of two sisters and their different approaches to love in SENSE AND SENSIBILITY; snobbery and manners in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and more. In short, Austen is a writer you never tire of. This is a must have in any collection, small or large!

Aspects of the Novel

2008-08-12T08:22:00.000+07:00

Reviews
Amazon.com
There are all kinds of books out there purporting to explain that odd phenomenon the novel. Sometimes it's hard to know whom they're are for, exactly. Enthusiastic readers? Fellow academics? Would-be writers? Aspects of the Novel, E.M. Forster's 1927 treatise on the "fictitious prose work over 50,000 words" is, it turns out, for anyone with the faintest interest in how fiction is made. Open at random, and find your attention utterly sandbagged.

Forster's book is not really a book at all; rather, it's a collection of lectures delivered at Cambridge University on subjects as parboiled as "People," "The Plot," and "The Story." It has an unpretentious verbal immediacy thanks to its spoken origin and is written in the key of Aplogetic Mumble: "Those who dislike Dickens have an excellent case. He ought to be bad." Such gentle provocations litter these pages. How can you not read on? Forster's critical writing is so ridiculously plainspoken, so happily commonsensical, that we often forget to be intimidated by the rhetorical landscapes he so ably leads us through. As he himself points out in the introductory note, "Since the novel is itself often colloquial it may possibly withhold some of its secrets from the graver and grander streams of criticism, and may reveal them to backwaters and shallows."

And Forster does paddle into some unlikely eddies here. For instance, he seems none too gung ho about love in the novel: "And lastly, love. I am using this celebrated word in its widest and dullest sense. Let me be very dry and brief about sex in the first place." He really means in the first place. Like the narrator of a '50s hygiene film, Forster continues, dry and brief as anything, "Some years after a human being is born, certain changes occur in it..." One feels here the same-sexer having the last laugh, heartily.

Forster's brand of humanism has fallen from fashion in literary studies, yet it endures in fiction itself. Readers still love this author, even if they come to him by way of the multiplex. The durability of his work is, of course, the greatest raison d'être this book could have. It should have been titled How to Write Novels People Will Still Read in a Hundred Years. --Claire Dederer --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Book Description
Forester's wit and lively, informed originality have made this study of the novel a classic. Avoiding the chronological approach of what he calls "pseudoscholarship," Forster freely examines elements that all English-language novels have in common: story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern and rhythm. The reader comes away with a deeper appreciation for the novel in general, also for Forster, himself a distinguished author (HOWARDS END and A PASSAGE TO INDIA).

"We discover, under [Forster's] casual but acute guidance, many things about the literary magic which transmute the dull stuff of He-said and She-said into characters, stories, and intimations of truth." (Harper's Magazine) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)

2008-08-12T08:10:00.002+07:00

escription
The second book in the Write Great Fiction series, Plot & Structure offers clear and concise information on creating a believable and engaging plot that readers can't resist. Written by award-winning thriller and suspense author James Scott Bell, this handy instruction guide provides:

* Easy-to-understand techniques on every aspect of plotting and structure, from brainstorming story ideas to building scenes, and from using subplots to crafting knock-out endings

* Engaging exercises, perfect for writers at any level and at any stage in their novel

* Practical and encouraging guidance from one of the most respected writers publishing today

Full of diagrams, plot brainstormers, and examples from popular novels, mastering plot and structure has never been so simple.

About the Author
A former trial lawyer, James Scott Bell is the award-winning author of The Darwin Conspiracy, Deadlock, Final Witness, and the Shannon Saga series. A frequent speaker at writing conferences, he resides in Woodland Hills, California.

Four Classic American Novels: The Scarlet Letter, Adventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Red Badge Of Courage, Billy Budd

2008-08-12T08:04:00.001+07:00

Description
An adulteress, a runaway boy, a terrified soldier, and a maltreated sailor-all the heroes of these must-read novels have become part of our American literary heritage.

AN INTRINSIC ANALYSIS OF ANNE BRONTË’S AGNES GREY AND ITS MORAL VALUES

2008-07-31T10:05:00.000+07:00

BY
BETARIA S.
02004052

ABSTRACT

In this study the writer discusses the novel Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte. In this study the writer try to analyze an intrinsic and the moral value from the novel Agnes Grey. The writer chooses the novel Agnes Grey because of several reasons such as: First, this novel is one of the best English novel and it is so interesting to analyze. Second this novel talks about a young woman who never give up in facing her life, Agnes Grey is a patience, dilligent, and have a dream to change her family life. And the last the reader can adopt the moral values provided in the novel.

The writer uses the structural approach as a method to describe the intrinsic analysis of this novel. The method used in this thesis is librarian research. Because to get needed data and information, the writer have to employs and involves a library research method by reading industriously to get a deep comprehension about the intrinsic analysis of the literary work.

The writer comes to conclude that intrinsic elements are theme, the plot, setting and character and characterization The result of the research finding can be seen as follows; the synopsis of the novel. The theme of the novel is dramatic story, struggle woman, patience and happy ending story. There are two groups of character; those are major and minor characters. The major characters are Agnes grey, Agnes’s mother, Agnes’s father, Mary as Agnes’s sister, Mr. Richardson, Betty, Fanny and Harriet, Nancy Brown, Matilda Murray, Rosalie Murray, Mr. Edward Weston, Mrs. and Mrs. Murray, John Murray, Charles Murray, Mr. Thomas Ashby, and Mr. Hatfield. The minor characters are Mr and Mrs Bloomfield, Mary Ann, Master Tom Bloomfield and Mr. Robson. The setting of the novel is divided in two parts, namely place and time setting. The setting of place is located in North of England and setting of time is the beginning of 1839. The plot includes five sections; exposition, rising action, crisis, falling action and catastrophe. And the moral values itself can be divided into negative and positive moral values. Patience, devotion, freedom, friendship, forgiving, telling the truth, helping others, working hard; are positive moral values, and negatives such as injustice and lying other. From these moral values the reader can learn from the novel after reading it.

Art of Literary Research (Hardcover)

2008-07-31T10:02:00.047+07:00

Contents

Preface to the fourth edition .

ONE : Vocation

TWO : The Spirit of scholarship.
1. Error : Its prevalence, progress and
persistence
2. Examining the evidence
3. Two Applications of the Critical spirit:
Fixing Dates, and Testing Authenticity

THREE : Some Scholarly Occupations
1. Textual Study
2. Problems of Authorship
3. The Search for origins
4. Tracing for Reputation and Influence
5. Cultivating a Sense of the Past

FOUR : Finding materials

FIVE : Libraries

Shakespeare's Secret (Paperback)

2008-07-21T18:37:00.001+07:00

Hero and her older sister Beatrice were named for characters in Shakespeare's play "Much Ado about Nothing." Arriving in a new town, Hero is facing a school year as a new kid with jokes and questions about her name. Unlike Beatrice, Hero is not socially adept and does not make friends easily. She does become acquainted with their older next-door neighbor, Mrs. Roth who tells her about the Murphy Diamond, a valuable gem that might be hidden in Hero's house. Surprisingly she is also befriended by a popular 8th grader, Danny who is the son of the city's police chief who is also fascinated by the diamond's where-abouts.

Hero discovers a mysterious connection between the diamond, Anne Boleyn and Shakespeare's plays which fires her imagination.

This plot is cleverly drawn with historical details and intrigue. Hero and Danny are searching for more than a diamond and the reader is hoping they find their heart's desire.

The mystery is very satisfying. One can hope it would also excite a reader's interest in Shakespeare.

The Shakespeare Stealer (Paperback)

2008-07-21T18:35:00.001+07:00

Children's works of historical fiction often suffer from a common malady. If the writer is not completely comfortable with the time period they're writing about, they'll hang everything on a famous person and leave it at that. When I saw that this book was entitled, "The Shakespeare Stealer", I was sure that it would be a book in which a young boy befriended the great William Shakespeare and had an impact on history, yadda yadda yadda. But Gary Blackwood's not your everyday run-of-the-mill writer. There's a truly interesting story at the heart of this tale and a truly talented hand behind the writing. Blackwood doesn't just place his book in the past. He authenticates it by drawing you back into a fully realized historical moment in time. The result is a whole lot of fun and a book that I'll be shoving into the hands of any kid forced to read something realisitic for a book report.

Widge received his odd name when the mistress of an orphanage took one look at him as a babe and said, "Och, the poor little pigwidgeon" (thereby surprising anybody who thought that J.K. Rowling had made up the name). Since birth the boy has been either an orphan or a lowly apprentice. He was put under the thumb of one Dr. Bright when he was seven, and through this master he learned a form of shorthand that no one else in the world knew. Such a talent is bound to attract interest, however, and at the age of fourteen Widge is bought by a man who needs the boy's talents professionally. Sent to London, Widge is told to watch a performance of Hamlet and take down every word. A series of small mishaps land him not in the audience, however, but as a member of the acting troupe. Now the boy who never had a family must learn about courage, trust, and friendship from a group of people who prance about in silly clothes all day. The only question is, will his old master give him up so easily?

The book plunges you headfirst into the late 1500s/early 1600s without further ado. Reading Blackwood, you become acutely aware of just how dirty, dank, and smelly England was during that time. Because Widge is such a greenhorn to the sophistications of London, Blackwood has a perfect excuse for explaining everything. Our hero doesn't understand the presence of drainage ditches alongside busy streets, or how to fence, or what a duel constitutes, so kids can learn alongside him. What was most impressive in my eyes, though, was Blackwood's command of language. Poorly written novels set during Elizabethan England like to throw around a lot of "thees", "thys" and "thous" for good measure. Widge, for his part, is from Yorkshire, so his words and accent are different from even those Londoners he comes to join. The book remains readable for 9-year-olds but also feels authentically Shakespearean. No mean task.

At its heart, the book is really about the beauty of performing on a stage. If you know any kid that's lured time and again to the glory of the limelight, they'll have little problem identifying with Widge. This is a book that celebrates the stage, while couching its tale in murder, fast-paced action, likable characters, and a certain amount of dramatic tension. And for those of you who'd be disappointed if Mr. Shakespeare didn't appear in a book bearing his name, rest assured that he does put in a couple appearances when the fancy strikes. Altogether, this is one of those rare titles that'll appeal to both boys and girls equally. Fine reading.

World of Shakespeare: The Complete Plays and Sonnets of William Shakespeare (38 Volume Library) (Hardcover)

2008-07-21T18:33:00.001+07:00

I had been trying to find a way to really enjoy and learn from Shakespeare who is without a doubt the world's greatest writer in what is my second perusal of Shakespeare since my days as an English major in college.
I have tried the Oxford world classics which in some cases are too big and very hard to underline and make notes.
The Everyman's series is separated into volumes of plays which average 600 pages and are easy to read in the middle but difficult to read the first and last plays due to the layout of the volumes.
I really like this series and it is the best layout for actually reading for enjoyment and for underlining and making notes. Perfect for students and general readers.
The ONLY drawback is that it does not contain the narrative poems other than the sonnets nor The two noble kinsmen which Shakespeare cowrote and is usually included in his cannon.

William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, Deluxe Edition [UNABRIDGED] (Leather Bound)

2008-07-21T18:32:00.000+07:00

Description
This complete and unabridged edition contains every word that Shakespeare wrote — all 37 tragedies, comedies, and histories, plus the sonnets. You’ll find such classics as The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew. This Library of Literary Classics edition is bound in padded leather with luxurious gold-stamping on the front and spine, satin ribbon marker and gilded edges. Other titles in this series include: Charlotte & Emily Bronte: The Complete Novels; Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Works; Mark Twain: Selected Works; Charles Dickens: Four Complete Novels; Lewis Carroll: The Complete, Fully Illustrated Works; and Jane Austen: The Complete Novels.

William Shakespeare

2008-07-21T18:28:00.000+07:00

Description
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is acknowledged as the greatest dramatist of all time. He excels in plot, poetry and wit, and his talent encompasses the great tragedies of Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth as well as the moving history plays and the comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It with their magical combination of humour, ribaldry and tenderness. This volume is a reprint of the Shakespeare Head Press edition, and it presents all the plays in chronological order in which they were written. It also includes Shakespeare's Sonnets, as well as his longer poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.

Drama of Scripture, The: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story (Paperback)

2008-07-19T14:54:00.001+07:00

The Drama of Scripture provides a big-picture look at God's relationship to humanity as the creation and dream of God. The authors analogize the Biblical story to a 6 act play consisting of the following acts: Creation, Fall, God Chooses Israel, Coming of the King, Spreading the News (Church), The Return of the King.

The theme running through the book is God's desire and commitment to his original creation idea and his willingness to restore the fallen world through a personal sacrifice.

The authors follow the narrative of scripture from Genesis to Revelation with the addition of the Maccabee story in Israel's history. They offer some in depth writing on few topics while offering a comprehensive survey of the story promoted as the metanarrative for all people. They tie in the events to the theme of God's mission for humanity.

This overview of scripture would be helpful to readers trying to see the story of the Bible in a more condensed form. It reminded me of the mission of the church today, as the authors stress the unfinished business of the church and God's Spirit on earth. The chapters on the church's mission are most creative and enthusiastic; however, the authors zip through the concluding chapter on The Return of the King and the discussion of Revelation and end times.

The authors stress that God's plan is for total restoration of creation not partial restoration. They identify areas where Israel went astray from its mission and where the church may be missing the mark today.

Overall, a very helpful book but one that may be too elemental for mature students of the Bible.

The Bedford Introduction to Drama (Paperback)

2008-07-19T14:52:00.001+07:00

Product Description
The Bedford Anthology of Drama is the most comprehensive introductory drama resource available. Its 54 chronologically arranged plays represent every major period from classic times to the present. With in-depth treatment of 3 major playwrights, the strongest representation of plays by women and American multicultural plays, and an exciting contemporary section loaded with prize winners, The Bedford Anthology of Drama has the plays you want to teach and features designed to help students think critically about all aspects of a play as a work of literature and as a performance.

Giving students a rich understanding of the plays and the contexts from which they emerge the anthology offers 57 commentaries, 4 Casebooks, the most extensive collection of theater photographs available in a text of this kind, coverage of writing about drama, and a robust companion web site with help for students and instructors.

About the Author

LEE A. JACOBUS is professor emeritus of English at the University of Connecticut and the author/editor of popular English textbooks, among them A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers, Seventh Edition (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006); and The Longman Anthology of American Drama. Professor Jacobus has written scholarly books on Paradise Lost, on the works of John Cleveland, and on the works of Shakespeare, including Shakespeare and the Dialectic of Certainty. He is also a playwright; two of his plays — Fair Warning and Long Division — were produced in New York by the American Theater of Actors; Dance Therapy , three one-act plays, was produced in New York at Where Eagles Dare Theatre. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Volcanic Jesus, his book of short stories, is set in Hawaii.

Body Drama: Real Girls, Real Bodies, Real Issues, Real Answers (Paperback)

2008-07-19T14:50:00.001+07:00

Nancy Amanda Redd is the big sister I wish I'd had. Reading her open, honest answers to "Body Drama" questions shows the power of peer education. Redd consulted a doctor, so the information is medically accurate, but the book is most definitely written from a twentysomething woman's perspective. Every body topic is fair game, "shape, skin, down there, boobs, hair & nails." Sex intersects some of these discussions and when it does, Redd shares practical, non-judgmental advice as needed: addressing sexual health, ending violence, and not being shy about seeking medical care.

But "Body Drama" is first and foremost about loving the body you are in. It's a fascinating topic. I sat down intending to leaf through the book and ended up reading it cover to cover. "Body Drama" is full of photographs of real young women of all ethnicities, shapes, and sizes, illustrating all parts of their bodies. I thought this was done very well, including the page with 24 close-up shots of a variety of vulvas. If this sounds controversial, remember that young women are seeing plenty of unrealistic images of women's bodies. In the age of Photoshop and (unfortunately) ubiquitous porn, it is refreshing to see real women's bodies in all forms. This is a brave book--which is sad to write, in a way, to realize that talking openly and honestly about real body issues still takes courage.

Nancy Amanda Redd has competed in the Miss America pageant and graduated from Harvard. You have to love a former beauty queen who is totally unafraid to present her own insecurities, embarrassing stories, and less-than-flattering junior high photos. Nancy smashes taboos, addressing the most personal and questions with humor, compassion, and solid information.

The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self, Third Edition (Paperback)

2008-07-19T14:46:00.001+07:00

Alice Miller's ideas are based on her experiences as a psychotherapist who practiced for 20 years, and her own self-analysis. Her reasoning draws on some basic Freudian ideas: if the subconscious is brought to consciousness, the illnesses caused by the suppression can eventually be contained; the life of a person is rooted in her childhood and childhood experiences shape who a person 'is'. In the last part of her book she adds a theory derived from her work experience: when children whose needs have been denied in their childhood grow up and have children of their own, they can 'get rid' of their pain by inflicting the pain on their own children. She calls it the vicious circle of disdain, and the handing down of destructive attitudes from one generation to the next like a chain reaction.

'The Drama of the Gifted Child' is a powerful book and it is worth reading even after 20 years. It is not a scientific book in the sense that it contains testable findings, it presents a practitioner's conclusions gained from personal experience. You may call it an informed speculation, or an interim report from 'the search for the true self' as it is subtitled.

- Drama! (Paperback)

2008-07-19T14:43:00.001+07:00

Don't take this book to work and read on break because you'll never come off break. This author really kept my attention throughout the entire book.

The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama, Brief Edition (Paperback)

2008-07-19T14:39:00.001+07:00

This book covers plays from the early Greeks to modern plays. Before every play there is a bio of the writer that outlines their history and how they came to write the play you are about to read. At the beginning of each section there is an essay about that time period. It talks about what was happening then, the different writing styles that evolved, the layout of theatres and how they changed and the different prominent writers of that time. The book also includes many pictures from different productions of the plays in the book. It shows pictures with traditional stagings and also updated or stylized stagings. Pretty much all of the plays also have at least one critical essay included as well. This is a great assortment of plays with lots of good background info to get you going. Whether you are just looking for a good collection pf plays to read or are a drama student looking to broaden your play collection for scene study and monologue work this is the book for you.

101 Drama Games for Children: Fun and Learning with Acting and Make-Believe (SmartFun Activity Books) (Paperback)

2008-07-19T14:34:00.001+07:00

101 Drama Games for Children is a really excellent book! I highly recommend it for all parents and older children to buy if you deal with children in any way. I teach a drama class of 5-7 yr olds in our homeschool group and it's been a real lifesaver for me! I also have 3 children and I use it with them too. I consider it a must-have book! It's catagorized by the different age levels by a little picture in each corner of each new activity so you can flip through and find a game for the age group you need. It's excellent for birthday parties, or any group games: camps, Girl Scouts, etc. I highly recommend every parent get one of these books! B.J.O.

- Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (8th Edition) (Paperback)

2008-07-04T07:55:00.002+07:00

This book has been a tremendously positive influence on my life as well as on the lives of those to whom I have recommended it! Before studying "Asking the Right Questions," I was well educated, but nevertheless my thinking was often muddled and illogical. As a graduate student, this book helped me to better define my own ideas as well as understand the ideas of others. I learned how to engage in truly meaningful discourse with others about ideas and principles because I could apply a more rational approach. Differences of opinion became engaging rather than destructive or unproductive. This book and its philosophy gives me hope in the idea of the "democracy of ideas."

As a college professor, I use this book in all of my classes and require students to purchase it. We work on one skill a week as we learn the course content. Students regularly report that having a class focused around critical thinking is a unique and highly valuable experience. While I find it sad and disturbing that few college students are exposed to such skills regularly, I find it encouraging the ARQ provides an effective forum to help me teach these skills. The book is engaging, with many current examples and vivid illustrations. The reading level is appropriate for anyone in high school or higher. And because the content and skills are ones that are pertinent to any individual or college major or profession, it can be integrated into virtually any course. I especially think it would be an excellent foundation for the first-year seminars that are so popular on college campuses.

While I use this book in a classroom setting, it is one that an individual can easily benefit from. I recommended it to my mom, who said, "This book taught me more about evaluating ideas on tv, from politicians, and from other books than anything else I've ever done or read!" She found the examples and exercises quite engaging and helpful.

The ideas and philosophy of "Asking the Right Questions" have the potential to profoundly change an individual by making them a better, smarter thinker! I think it should be required reading for all of us.

- The Importance of Being Earnest (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

2008-07-04T07:53:00.001+07:00

Witty and buoyant comedy of manners is brilliantly plotted from its effervescent first act to its hilarious denouement, and filled with some of literature's most famous epigrams. Widely considered Wilde's most perfect work, the play is reprinted here from an authoritative early British edition. Note to the Dover Edition.

- My Name Is Asher Lev (Paperback)

2008-07-04T07:50:00.001+07:00

A story about a young man's struggle between the secular world of an artist, and life as a Ladover Hasidic Jew, Chaim Potok's masterpiece MY NAME IS ASHER LEV is truly a classic.

Asher Lev is born to parents who are devoted to the life of the Ladover Hasidic Jew. As his mother supports and stands by the work Asher's father does, Aryeh Lev devotes his life to the causes closest to his people. Most of his life is dedicated to preserving the culture of this Jewish sect, and also to helping those who are being persecuted in other countries. He travels often, sometimes to countries as far away as The Soviet Union to help out his fellow Jew. He's rarely home, and young Asher is often angry and upset, wishing his father had more time for him.

From a very young age, Asher has a deep sense of art, and learns to express his innermost feelings through his creativity. As with any artistic genius, creating art is in Asher's blood and it soon gets in the way of his schooling and his religion and culture. His parents are not happy with the way things are going with Asher, but they tolerate his strange obsession, thinking this is just a passing phase. He will grow out of it, they think. His mother in particular does not dissuade Asher from drawing, if only to keep him happy, hoping that he would reward her with better grades in school. And with the help of local storeowner Yudel Krinsky, Asher obtains the necessary pencils and other art equipment to continue his fascination with drawing.

However, his obsession with art does not die, as his parents had hoped. The older he becomes, the more his passion with art drives a wedge between himself and his parents. He becomes more independent in the way he thinks, and soon his parents find they cannot control him. The life of a Ladover Hasidic Jew is one of structure and daily prayer and obedience to one's elders, to one's Rebbe, and to one's God. Asher lives in direct conflict with all this, although he tries to keep his daily prayers in his routines, and is often dwelling

- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Bantam Classics) (Mass Market Paperback) : by Mark Twain (Author)

2008-07-04T07:48:00.001+07:00

One hundred and twenty years after its publication, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remains the quintessential American novel. It is an amazingly well crafted piece of work, as complex or as simple as you want it to be. On one level, it is a dissertation on society, slavery, morality and the meaning of civilization. On another, it is simply an entertaining yarn. Whether you are 8 or 88, there is something here for you.

At the heart of the novel is the unlikely but heartfelt friendship between Huck and Jim, a runaway slave. Both are outcasts of sort, running away from a society they cannot comprehend. It is through his friendship with Jim and their adventures together on the river that Huck truly finds himself. He is continually confronted with the question of right and wrong and he learns to stay true to himself and follow his own heart, regardless of conventional, social, or religious mores. Huck's instincts rarely fail him. And, as Huck suspects all along, he learns more on the river than he ever did in school or Sunday school.

Many readers see the ending (Huck's adoption and continued "civilization") as a disappointment. I disagree. Huck has grown so much that his individuality has already been forged. Aunt Sally can't change him, no matter how hard she tries to "sivilize" him. Besides, Huck always has the option of escape.

The book has been lambasted in recent years for its shocking language. But I think it is important to understand that Twain was simply being honest and faithful to the dialect, language, and social sensibility of the times. It would be unfair (and a mistake) to apply present day sensibilities and standards of political correctness (well intended or not) to this book. The language may seem harsh but it should seem harsh. There is value in that as well.

It would also be lazy to infer that Twain was racist simply because he uses the "n" word in this book and because of his characterization of Jim as simple and naive. Jim is uneducated, yes, but in Twain's world, uneducated can also mean unspoiled, completely human, noble, and honest. Rather than demeaning Jim, Twain is holding him as an example of the dignity inherent in all human beings.

The value of the individual versus the influence of society. The hope and opportunity of freedom versus the comfort and security of civilization. These are themes that have reverberated throughout American literature, American history, and the American psyche. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn develops those themes brilliantly in a captivating story with vibrant and unforgettable characters. It is, and always will be, an American classic.

- Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination (Published in association with The Open University) (Paperback)

2008-07-04T07:45:00.001+07:00

Doing a Literature Review offers students from across the social sciences and humanities a practical and comprehensive guide to writing a literature review. It takes the reader through the initial states of an undergraduate dissertation or postgraduate thesis.

- Literature for Today's Young Adults (8th Edition) (Hardcover) : by Alleen Pace Nilsen (Author), Kenneth L. Donelson (Author)

2008-07-03T18:20:00.002+07:00

Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Renowned authors Alleen Nilsen and Ken Donelson offer a comprehensive, reader-friendly introduction to young adult literature framed within a rich literary, historical, and social context. It also provides teachers with criteria for evaluating books of all genres, from poetry and nonfiction to mysteries, science fiction, and horror. Coverage of timely issues, such as pop culture and mass media, helps teachers connect with students' lives outside the classroom. Young adult literature framed within a rich literary, historical, and social context. It also provides teachers with criteria for evaluating books of all genres, from poetry and nonfiction to mysteries, science fiction, and horror. Coverage of timely issues, such as pop culture and mass media, helps teachers connect with students' lives outside the classroom. Young Adult Literature. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

Why is Literature for Today’s Young Adults the number one book in Young Adult Literature?

Now in its eighth edition, Literature for Today’s Young Adults offers a comprehensive, reader-friendly introduction to young adult literature framed within a literary, historical, and social context. Renowned authors Alleen Nilsen and Kenneth Donelson provide teachers with practical criteria for evaluating books of all genres, from poetry and nonfiction to mysteries and graphic novels. The authors also include timely issues, such as pop culture and mass media, in order to help teachers connect with students’ lives beyond the classroom.

What is new to this edition?

*
A brand new Chapter 3, “New Technologies, New Attitudes, and New Literacies,” examines both the challenges and the excitement today’s educators face on a daily basis.
*
The 20 Young Adult authors honored with the Margaret A. Edwards Award over the past two decades each receive a one-page write-up documenting their long-lasting contributions.
*
Eight outstanding Young Adult Authors “Speak Out” on issues close to their hearts; for example, Pat Mora on “Linguistic Wealth,” Cynthia Leitich Smith on “Hosting One-Point-Six Million Visitors in Cyberspace,” and Laurie Halse Anderson on “Censorship.”
*
Names and naming is discussed as a literary technique that teachers can use to introduce students to literary criticism that goes beyond just liking and disliking a book.

What do professors say about this top-selling book?

“The Donelson and Nilsen text is a virtual compendium of essential information for educators, librarians, and those who use literature in their work with young adults.”

-Beverly Hearn, University of Tennessee at Martin

“The censorship chapter is really interesting and well-researched.”

-Dr. Joy Wiggins, University of Texas at Arlington

- Children's Literature, Briefly (4th Edition) (Paperback) : by Michael O. Tunnell (Author), James S. Jacobs (Author)

2008-07-03T18:17:00.001+07:00

The best way to study children's literature is to read actual children's books, not to study textbooks about them!

The authors of this text are among the few that recognize this truth. Consequently the chapters are purposefully (and generally) short and to the point. Each chapter includes authors' recommendations as well as qualities to avoid in each genre. Appendices are informative (see the information about Awards for children's and young adult lit).

The 4th edition (2007) is even better: the CD database includes over *20,000* children's book titles that you can search (by title, author, genre, format etc), build lists, and customize information for your own purposes. (One small annoyance within the database is the lack of a "back" button - hopefully future editions will improve on this.)

In my 14+ years of college textbook studying, this is one of the better texts to hold my interest and give me information I needed. It is well-written, well-designed, and very helpful. I'll use this (and the database) as a resource on a regular basis in my work with young children and their reading.

- Emma (Penguin Classics) (Paperback) : by Jane Austen

2008-07-03T18:10:00.001+07:00

Like all of her novels, Jane Austen's EMMA is essentially a comedy of manners, a work in which the characters move inside a highly restrictive code of conduct and must walk a fine line between the socially acceptable and unacceptable if they are to survive, much less reach their goals. But at the same time the central character, Emma Woodhouse, is a marked departure. Not only is she a young woman of considerable wealth and social standing, she is, as critics are fond of pointing out, "flawed."

The nature of Emma's flaw is essentially Austen's observation of the great failing of the upper-class: an assumption that what they think and do is inevitably correct. And although Emma is quick-witted, generous, and kind, she suffers the effect of this blind arrogance when she comes to believe that she is gifted as a matchmaker and can order the romantic lives of her circle to suit her own liking. The result is a series of seriocomic entanglements and disasters that touches virtually every one with whom Emma comes into contact.

The story requires considerable exposition, and consequently the action is slow to gather; add to this the fact that Emma herself is so overbearing and self-assured that you frequently want to give her a slap. The result is a novel that many, including Austen fans, will find an uphill read. Even so, Austen is writing very close to the peak of her powers here, and her amazing talent for observation, subtle irony, and flashing wit endow EMMA with tremendous charm and interest. In many respects a remarkable novel, but one that I recommend more to determined Austen fans than to casual readers.

- The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition, One-Volume Paperback (Norton Anthology) (Paperback) : by Nina Baym

2008-07-03T18:07:00.001+07:00

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Firmly grounded in the core strengths that have made it the best-selling undergraduate survey in the field, The Norton Anthology of American Literature has been revitalized in this Seventh Edition through the collaboration between three new period editors and five seasoned ones. Under Nina Baym's direction, the editors have considered afresh each selection and the entire apparatus to make the Shorter Edition an even better teaching tool for the one-semester and brief two-semester courses.
"In this Shorter Seventh Edition of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, we offer the most extensive revision in our long publishing history, with the entire apparatus rethought, from headnotes to footnotes to section introductions to bibliographies. At the same time, we have continued to subscribe to three aims present since the anthology's inception: first, to present a rich and substantial enough variety of works to enable teachers to build their own courses according to their own ideals (thus, teachers are offered more authors and more selections than they will probably use in any one course); second, to make the anthology self-sufficient by featuring many works in their entirety along with extensive selections for individual authors; third, to balance traditional interests with developing critical concerns in a way that points to a coherent literary history."—From the Preface

About the Author
Nina Baym (General Editor), Ph.D. Harvard, is Swanlund Endowed Chair and Center for Advanced Study Professor Emerita of English, and Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is author of The Shape of Hawthorne's Career; Woman's Fiction: A Guide to Novels by and About Women in America; Novels, Readers, and Reviewers: Responses to Fiction in Antebellum America; American Women Writers and the Work of History, 1790-1860; and American Women of Letters and the Nineteenth-Century Sciences. Some of her essays are collected in Feminism and American Literary History; she has also edited and introduced many reissues of work by earlier American women writers, from Judith Sargent Murray through Kate Chopin. In 2000 she received the MLA's Hubbell medal for lifetime achievement in American literary studies.

- Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense (Hardcover)

2008-07-03T18:04:00.001+07:00

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
An authoritative bestseller for nearly 50 years, PERRINE’S LITERATURE: STRUCTURE, SOUND, AND SENSE continues to be an essential and highly effective introduction to literature for today’s students. Written for students beginning a serious study of literature, the text introduces the fundamental elements of fiction, poetry, and drama in a concise and engaging way, addressing vital questions that other texts tend to ignore, such as “Is some literature better?” and “How can it be evaluated?” A remarkable selection of classic, modern, and contemporary readings serves to illustrate the elements of literature and ensure broad appeal to students of diverse backgrounds and interests. Now thoroughly updated with more than 100 new stories, poems, and plays by some of the finest authors of any era, the tenth edition remains true to Perrine’s original vision while addressing the needs of a new generation of students.

About the Author
Dr. Arp received a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan (1954) and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to Stanford University. In 1955-56, he produced educational television for the University of Michigan. He received an M.A. from Stanford University in 1960 and a Ph.D. from Stanford in 1962. He has taught at Bowdoin College, Princeton University, University of California at Berkeley, Hull University (England), and since 1970 at Southern Methodist University. His volume, THE FORM OF POETRY, was published by Macmillan in 1966, and he received a Fulbright lectureship at University of Bucharest (Romania) in 1969-70. Arp joined Laurence Perrine in preparing revised editions of SOUND AND SENSE, STORY AND STRUCTURE, and LITERATURE: STRUCTURE, SOUND, AND SENSE beginning in 1982. He became sole author of the books in 1997, and was joined as co-author by Greg Johnson in 2002.

Greg Johnson received an M.A. in English from Southern Methodist University and a Ph.D. in English from Emory University. Dr. Johnson is the author of 11 books of fiction, poetry, criticism, and biography, including the recent story collection, LAST ENCOUNTER WITH THE ENEMY (Johns Hopkins, 2004), the novel STICKY KISSES (Alyson Books, 2001), and INVISIBLE WRITER: A BIOGRAPHY OF JOYCE CAROL OATES.

- The Norton Anthology of Western Literature, Volume 1 (Paperback)

2008-07-03T18:01:00.001+07:00

I purchased this book for a class, but was delighted to discover that I will definitely want to hang onto it afterwards. The translations chosen for the 'Ancient World' portion are, for the most part, delightfully vivid and capture the spirit of the original language. I also like the layout - the margin size is just perfect for taking notes.

- The Language of Literature (Hardcover) : by Littell McDougal

2008-07-03T17:59:00.001+07:00

This literature book incorporates the tools necessary for comprehension of selected readings, and gives the student a collaborative background for completing written responses as well as essays.

- How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines (Paperback) : by Thomas C. Foster

2008-07-03T17:55:00.002+07:00

The author is an English professor at the University of Michigan and it becomes apparent quite quickly that he is one of those popular professors who is chatty and has lots of students signing up for his introductory courses on literature. The language is friendly and the examples are entertaining as well as informative. If I lived in Flint, I'd take his classes.

There have been many times I've read a book and just *known* the author is trying to impart more than I am taking away from the prose, and I hear about symbolism in literature, yet I have very little success finding it on my own. One time in high school I had a very good English teacher who would point out the symbolism in stories and novels, but he never told us how to do it, as this book does. With chapters on a wide range of topics (journeys, meals, poetry, Shakespeare, the Bible, mythology, fairy tales, weather, geography, violence, politics, sex and illness, among others) and a wide variety of examples, I found myself learning A LOT. Certainly this would not be of much value to a literature graduate student or professor, but for the rest of us this is a great introduction to getting more out of our reading (or viewing, as the author also touches on film, though to a lesser extent).

The book concludes with a test, in which you read a short story and interpret it using the principles put forth by Professor Foster, then interpretations by several students and Foster himself -- delightful and illuminating! Finally, the author gives a suggested reading/viewing list and an index.

Two problems with the book: first, as I mentioned, the style of the author is conversational, but sometimes to the point of being distracting; secondly, the topics covered are quite idiosyncratic, leaving out as many as are included, though the author addresses this. Still, I give the book 5 out of 5 because it was entertaining, accessible and it has improved my understanding and appreciation of subsequent books I've read and even films I've seen.

- Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, Ninth Edition (Hardcover)

2008-07-03T17:37:00.002+07:00

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Literature, 9/e, the most popular introduction of its kind, is organized into three genres¤Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. As in past editions, the authors' collective poetic voice brings personal warmth and a human perspective to the discussion of literature, adding to students' interest in the readings. An introduction to a balance of contemporary and classic stories, poems, and plays. Casebooks offer in-depth look at an author or clusters of works, for example “Latin American Poetry. Authors Joe Kennedy and Dana Gioia provide inviting and illuminating introductions to the authors included and to the elements of literature. Coverage of writing about literature is also included. For those interested in literature.

About the Author

X.J. Kennedy, after graduation from Seton Hall and Columbia, became a journalist second class in the Navy ("Actually, I was pretty eighth class"). His poems, some published in the New Yorker, were first collected in Nude Descending a Staircase (1961). Since then he has written five more collections, several widely adopted literature and writing textbooks, and seventeen books for children, including two novels. He has taught at Michigan, North Carolina (Greensboro), California (Irvine), Wellesley, Tufts, and Leeds. Cited in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and reprinted in some 200 anthologies, his verse has brought him a Guggenheim fellowship, a Lamont Award, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, an award from the American Academy for Poetry for Children from the National Council of Teachers of English. He now lives in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he and his wife Dorothy have collaborated on four books and five children.

Dana Gioia is a poet, critic, and teacher. Born in Los Angeles, he attended Stanford and Harvard before taking a detour into business. ("Not many poets have a Stanford M.B.A., thank goodness!") After years of writing and reading late in the evenings after work, he quit a vice presidency to write and teach. He has published three collections of poetry: Daily Horoscope (1986); The Gods of Winter (1991); Interrogations at Noon (2001), winner of the 2001 American Book Award; an opera libretto, Nosferatu (2002); several anthologies; and an influential study of poetry's place in contemporary America, Can Poetry Matter? (1992). Gioia has taught at Johns Hopkins, Sarah Lawrence, Wesleyan (Connecticut), Mercer, and Colorado College. He is also the co-founder of the summer poetry conference at West Chester University in Pennsylvania and a frequent commentator on literature for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He currently lives in Santa Rosa, California, with his wife, Mary, two sons, and an ever growing number of cats.

(The surname Gioia is pronounced JOY-A. As some of you may have already guessed, gioia is the Italian word for joy

- Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (10th Edition) (Kennedy/Gioia Literature Series) (Hardcover)

2008-07-03T17:23:00.001+07:00

The most popular introductory anthology of its kind, Kennedy/Gioia’s Literature continues to inspire students with engaging insights on reading and writing about stories, poems, and plays. Poets in their own right, editors X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia bring personal warmth and a human perspective to this comprehensive anthology. Organized into three genres—Literature, Tenth Edition, presents readable discussions of the literary devices, illustrated by apt works, supported by useful writing tips, and followed by (now) seven full chapters devoted to writing. A broad scope of traditional and contemporary works is provided, most headed by author images and richly detailed biographical notes and some followed by author commentary. While maintaining the characteristics of its previous editions–accessible apparatus, expansive author representation–this tenth edition of Literature has been re-imagined to include new casebooks, a lively new design, and more writing coverage than ever before. New students of literature.
-------------------------------------------------

I picked this book up for a class, expecting to be perfectly bored. Instead, this book woke up my sleeping love of learning and literature. The book is easy to understand and contains MANY great stories and poems in it. It also has a great glossary and index was well. It came with an additional feature, MyLiteratureLab, which is an accompanying web page. That is also very helpful indeed.
This book is so good, there were even people at work wanting to check it out!

- Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Made Easy) (Paperback) :

2008-07-03T17:18:00.002+07:00

Here are the books that help teach Shakespeare plays without the teacher constantly needing to explain and define Elizabethan terms, slang, and other ways of expression that are different from our own. Each play is presented with Shakespeare's original lines on each left-hand page, and a modern, easy-to-understand "translation" on the facing right-hand page. All dramas are complete, with every original Shakespearian line, and a full-length modern rendition of the text.

This was THE difference between my son completely missing Romeo and Juliet and him "getting it". It shows the original text along side the "understandable" version. Extremely helpful.

TEACHING ENGLISH LITERATURE :

2008-06-13T14:18:00.000+07:00

TEACHING POETRY MADE EASY
In general literature is a writing which expresses and communicates thoughts, feelings and attitude towards life. Among the existing literary forms, poetry is the most intensely emotive and makes sound and formal structure parts of its means expression. If these characteristics are taken into consideration, the teaching of poetry will be quite formidable. Also, a certain degree of language proficiency is required.

However, there is a simpler approach to the teaching of poetry. We should start from the assumption that poetry is simply someone talking to himself/herself (a soliloquy) and we happen to overhear him or her. To what extent this true is not our immediate concern, but it is certainly a helpful approach. Ideas and emotions flow more freely when we use this approach. The readers identify themselves with the speaker. This paper deals with and discusses poems in which the speaker is expressing his thoughts and feelings. Under the guidance of the teacher, the students try to get at the inside world of the poet, understand his thoughts and feelings, in short, his personality.

- The Main characters of Naruto

2008-06-06T07:47:00.000+07:00

The story focuses on Team 7, a group of ninja affiliated with the village of Konohagakure, and it is composed of the series' primary characters. Due to Sasuke Uchiha's departure from Konohagakure at the end of Part I, the team is disbanded. During Part II, the team is reformed with two new members, Sai, who occupies Sasuke's position, and Yamato, who acts as Kakashi's replacement when he is briefly incapacitated and later stays with the team when Kakashi returns.
Naruto Uzumaki (うずまき　ナルト Uzumaki Naruto?) is the primary protagonist of the series. He was the first character created by Kishimoto during his initial conception of the series, and was designed with many traits from other shōnen characters, including Son Goku of the Dragon Ball franchise. In the series, Naruto is a ninja affiliated with the village of Konohagakure, and has ambitions of becoming Hokage, or the leader of the village. Due to being the host for the nine-tailed demon fox, a malevolent creature that attacked Konohagakure, he is ostracized by the other villagers. He compensates for this with his cheerful and boisterous personality, and over the course of the series, manages to befriend several other Konohagakure ninja, as well as ninja from other villages. He obtains an especially close relationship with Sasuke Uchiha, one of his fellow ninja in Team 7, and treats him as his brother. In the original Japanese anime, Naruto's seiyū is Junko Takeuchi, and his English voice provider is Maile Flanagan.
Sasuke Uchiha (うちはサスケ Uchiha Sasuke?) is one of the members of Team 7. He was created by Kishimoto to be a rival to Naruto, as well as a "cool genius," which Kishimoto believed was an integral part of an ideal rivalry. He is one of the few remaining members of the Uchiha clan, his brother, Itachi Uchiha, having killed the rest of their family. Due to this, Sasuke's sole desire is to kill his brother, and he develops a cold and withdrawn personality. His interactions with his fellow teammates, especially Naruto Uzumaki, make him focus less on revenge, but an encounter with his brother, who leaves Sasuke beaten physically and mentally, causes Sasuke to leave the village to seek more power from the criminal Orochimaru. His teammates' attempts to recover him from Orochimaru form a major component of the plot in Part II of the Naruto storyline. In the Japanese anime, Sasuke's seiyū is Noriaki Sugiyama, and his English voice actor is Yuri Lowenthal.
Sakura Haruno (春野　サクラ Haruno Sakura?) is the sole female member of Team 7. Kishimoto created her as the heroine of the story, although he has admitted that he has little perception of what an ideal heroine should be. As a child, Sakura was taunted by other children for her particularly large forehead, a feature Kishimoto has tried to emphasize in Sakura's appearances, but was comforted by Ino Yamanaka. As the two continued to grow, however, they became increasingly distant due to their shared affection for Sasuke Uchiha. During most of Part I, Sakura is infatuated with Sasuke, and spurns the advances of Naruto Uzumaki. After Sasuke leaves the village, she resolves to become stronger by training with Tsunade. In Part II, she displays highly developed skills from her training, and a more open disposition towards Naruto. In the Japanese anime, her seiyū is Chie Nakamura, and she is voiced by Kate Higgins in the English adaptation of the anime.
Kakashi Hatake (はたけ　カカシ Hatake Kakashi?) is the leader of Team 7 and the sensei of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Kishimoto had originally intended for Kakashi to be introduced earlier in the series, and created him as an easygoing person that would be able to keep the members of Team 7 in check. Kakashi treats his leadership position with a detached manner, and is consistently late to meetings as a result. In a gaiden on Kakashi's past, this is shown to be the result of an incident in which he witnessed the death of one of his teammates, Obito Uchiha, who gave Kakashi his Sharingan eye and imparted many of his habits, including his tardiness. Due to Obito's Sharingan, Kakashi has amassed a reputation as a skilled and powerful ninja, earning the moniker "Copy Ninja Kakashi" (コピー忍者のカカシ Kopī Ninja no Kakashi?). Although he mentors all three members of Team 7 early in the series, he particularly concentrates on training Sasuke as the series continues, teaching him his Chidori technique; however, he is unable to prevent Sasuke from leaving the village to seek Orochimaru for greater power. Kakashi is voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue in the Japanese anime, and his English voice actor is Dave Wittenberg.

Source: Wikipedia

- The Plot of Naruto

2008-06-06T07:45:00.000+07:00

Twelve years before the events at the focus of the series, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked the ninja village Konohagakure. Powerful enough to raise tsunamis and flatten mountains with a swish of one of its tails, it raised chaos and slaughtered many people, until the leader of Konohagakure – the Fourth Hokage – sacrificed his own life to seal the demon inside Naruto when he was a newborn. The Fourth Hokage, who was celebrated as a hero for sealing the demon fox away, wanted Naruto to be respected in a similar light by being the containment vessel for the demon fox.

Konohagakure, however, shunned him, regarding Naruto as if he were the demon fox itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood. A decree made by the Third Hokage forbade anyone to discuss or mention the attack of the demon fox to anyone, even their own children. However, this did not stop them from treating him like an outcast and as a result he grew up an orphan without friends, family, or acknowledgment. He could not force people to befriend him, so he sought acknowledgment and attention the only way he knew – through pranks and mischief.

However, that soon changed after Naruto graduated from the Ninja Academy by using his Shadow Clone Technique, a technique from a forbidden scroll that he was tricked into stealing, to save his teacher, Iruka Umino, from the renegade ninja Mizuki. That encounter gave Naruto two insights: that he was the container of the demon fox, and that there was someone besides the Third Hokage who actually cared for and acknowledged him. His graduation from the academy opened a gateway to the events and people that would change and define his world, including his way of the ninja for the rest of his life.[5]

The main story follows Naruto and his friends' personal growth and development as ninja, and emphasizes their interactions with each other and the influence of their backgrounds on their personalities. Naruto finds two friends and comrades in Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, two fellow young ninja who are assigned with him to form a three-person team under an experienced sensei named Kakashi Hatake.[6] Naruto also confides in other characters that he meets throughout the series as well. They learn new abilities, get to know each other and other villagers better, and experience a coming-of-age journey as Naruto dreams of becoming the Hokage of Konohagakure.

Throughout all of the Naruto plot, strong emphasis on character development changes the plot, with very few things happening because of chance. At first, emphasis is placed on Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who are the members of Team 7. However, other characters are developed, such as Kakashi, Tsunade, and Jiraiya, as well as Naruto's peers in the other teams and villages. Several major villains come into play as well, the first being Zabuza Momochi, a missing-nin from Kirigakure, and his partner, Haku. Later, Orochimaru, an S-Class missing-nin at the top of Konoha's most wanted list, and his loyal right-hand man, Kabuto Yakushi, are introduced. During this same arc, three ninjas known as the Sand Siblings are introduced. These siblings are from Sunagakure and include Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. Later still, a mysterious organization called Akatsuki begins to pursue Naruto for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that is sealed inside of him.

Source: Wikipedia

- Rome and juliet

2008-05-30T19:05:00.001+07:00

Romeo and Juliet
Originally uploaded by Tureluurs

The balcony of Romeo and Juliet in Verona, Italy.
It is said that this is the famous balcony of Romeo and Juliet. Well at least it is good for the tourist business over there hahahaha. Still, it was nice to be in Verona.
As you can see Juliet was not home that day. She did not show herself on the famous balcony.....

Romeo and Juliet

2008-05-30T18:46:00.001+07:00

Romeo and Juliet
Originally uploaded by Tureluurs

Point of view

2008-04-19T14:37:00.000+07:00

According to Abrams, (1985:165) point of view is the way which a story tells the mode established by an author by means of whom the reader is presented with the characters, dialogue, actions, setting, and events, which constitute the narrative in a work of fiction; it can be said that point of view is perspective in a work of fiction. It can be said that point of view is perspective on events of a narrative and the position (which may change) from which the story is told.
Corroly (in Koesnobroto, 1988:87-88) states that there are four of points of view:

1) the omniscient point if view
The story told by the author using the third person and his knowledge and prerogative are unlimited.

2) the limits omniscient point of view
The author tells the story in the third person, but he tells it from the viewpoint of one character in the story. The author places himself at the elbow of this character, so to speak and to look at the events of the story through his eyes and through his mind.

3) the first person point of view
The author disappears into one of the character who tells the story in the first person. The character may be a major or minor character, protagonist or observer and it will make considerable difference whether the protagonist tells his own story or someone else tells it.

4) the objective point of view
The author disappears into a kind of roving sound camera, which can go anywhere but can record only what has seen and heard. It cannot comment, interpret, or enter a character’s mind with this point of view. Sometimes the authors calls the dramatic point of view. The reader is placed in the position of a spectator at a movie or play.

References:

Abrams, M.H. 1985. A Glossary of literary Term. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston.

Koesnobroto, Sunaryo Basuki. 1988. The Anatomy of Proses Fiction. Dept.P&K Dirjen Dikti.

Setting

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The term of setting is usually, applied in literature to the local or period in which the action of play takes place. Pickering (1983:37) says that setting encompasses both the physical local that frames the action and the time of day or year, the climatic conditions, and the historical period during which the action takes place. Kenney (1966:39) distinguishes setting as the element of fiction that reveals the where and when of events.

Setting is divided into two kinds: spiritual and physical setting. Physical setting is classified into setting of place and setting of time. Setting of place includes the name of city, village, hotel, room, etc. While setting of time includes date, morning, day, full, moon, etc. Spiritual setting contents of rules, belief and norm (Nurgiyantoro, 1998:218).

Setting is the general local, historical time and social circumstance in which. Its action occurs; the setting of an episode of scene within a work is the particular location in which it takes place (Abrams, 1985:175).

References:

Abrams, M.H. 1985. A Glossary of literary Term. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston.

Kenney, William. 1966. How to analyze the fiction. New York: Monarch Press.

Nurgiyantoro, Burhan. 1998. Teori Pengkajian Fiksi. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University Press.

Pickering, James H & Jeffery D. Hopper. 1983. Concise Companion to Literature. New York, Macmillan Publishing Co.Inc

Plot

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Plot can be defined as the necessary chosen order of a fiction. The definition based on the face that the story (novel) consists of many events and it becomes coherent, meaningful and interesting.
According to Abrams, (1993:159) plot in dramatic or narrative work is constituted of its event and action, as these rendered and ordered toward achieving particular emotional and artistic effect.
Tennyson (1967:21) says that the plot has a structure. The structure of the plot usually contains five parts:

1. Exposition is the beginning on the section in which the author provides the necessary background information such as sets of the scene, the established situations and dates of section. It also contains the introduction of the characters and the potent ion.

2. Complication sometimes refers to the rising action and the existing equilibrium or balance. The conflict is the developed gradually.

3. Crisis is also called as the climax of the story occurs now of emotional intensity and usually that involves in decision, a decisive or an open conflict between protagonist and antagonist.

4. Falling action refers to the turning point at which the plot of the novels toward its appointed conclusion.

5. Denouement or resolution refers to the situation at which gives the situation at which gives the solution of the conflict and how the story ended.
Plot must have beginning middle, and end in a beginning, the problem and the characters are exposed or introduced, followed by rising action and move towards a climax or major crisis then moves down in falling action and concludes in and end.

References:

Abrams, M.H. 1985. A Glossary of literary Term. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston.

Tennyson, GB. 1987. An Introduction to Drama. Los Angeles: Holt Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

The Characteristics of Structuralism

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Structural analysis is an approach to understand a literary work which has several characteristics. Sapardi Djoko Damono (1978:38) in his book Sosiologi Sastra:

Sebuah pengantar Ringkas, writes four characteristics of structuralism as follows:

1. A literary work is viewed as a unity as a totality. The totality of its elements is the most important in this approach. It is not the elements of the totality, which becomes the analysis but the relationship among the elements.

2. structuralism does not analyze surface structure and the deep structure what is seen and what is heard are not the real structure but only the evidence exist.

3. The analysis done by the structuralism involves synchronic structure not a diachronic one. The analysis involves synchronic structure not a diachronic one. The attention focused on the existing relationship in a certain time and not in a chronological time. The synchronic structure is not base on the structural analysis.

4. Structuralism is an anti causal approach. In analyzing, the structuralism never uses the meaning of cause and effect. They do not believe in because affect’s law and only believe in structural relationship.

Reference:

Damono, Sapardi Djoko. 1979. Sosiologi Sastra. Jakarta: Depdikbud.

The Synopsis of “The Scarlet Letter”

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“The Scarlet Letter” was opened with an introductory sketch of the Custom House. Here, is the explanation about how the book came to be written. In the Custom House’s attic, the nameless narrator who has a job position as a surveyor in Salem Custom House discovered a number of documents. One of them is a manuscript that was bundled with a scarlet, gold-embroidered patch of cloth in the shape of an “A”. This manuscript contains detailed events that were occurred some two hundred years before the narrator’s time. The narrator finally decided to write a fictional account of the events that is recorded in the manuscript. “The Scarlet Letter” is the final product (http://www.sparknotes.com.lit/scarlet/).

“The Scarlet Letter” has a setting of the New England Puritans in the 17th century. The story begins with Hester Prynne who was just released from Boston prison to the town scaffold where she was going to be publicly shamed for what she had conducted. She is a young beautiful woman who had married to Roger Chillingworth, but she was left by her husband for much of time. Due to this reason, she had committed adultery with a young respected Puritan’s clergyman named Arthur Dimmesdale. This adultery caused her pregnant and given birth a child with no father. In the town scaffold, Hester was questioned by the two town fathers named Reverend John Wilson and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, about the name of her illegal partner, but she refused to answer it. Hester carried also her infant daughter, Pearl, in the town scaffold. Hester was forced to wear the letter “A” on her gown all the times as a badge of shame. In a large crowd of Puritans, Hester surprisedly recognized her husband, Roger Chillingworth, who sent her to America before him but he never arrived in Boston. The rumor was Roger Chillingworth had been lost at sea. During the absence of her husband, Hester Prynne met Arthur Dimmesdale and committed adultery. This affair given birth to a child. She made a decision to keep silent of her lover’s identity and accepted the punishment of the sin by herself. Hester felt agitated of her husband arrival after she was returned to the prison cell. And this condition had made Pearl upset and cried hardly. Therefore the jailer of the Boston prison allowed a physician to enter Hester’s prison cell in order to calm them down. Roger Chillingworth taken this opportunity and he pretended to be a physician for Hester and Pearl. During his medical treatment of Pearl, Roger Chillingworth made a long conversation with Hester Prynne. He forced her to make a confession about the name of the one who had made her pregnant, but once again she refused it. Here, Roger Chillingworth asked Hester Prynne to conceal his true identity from the public and declared that he will try hard to make a revenge to a person who had made his wife pregnant.

Hester was ostracized by the society because of her shameful sin that caused her moved into a small cottage on the outskirts of Boston in order to set up her new life. She supported herself and Pearl by doing stitch work for local dignitaries, and often spent some of her money helping the poor and sick. Hester Prynne becomes an autonomous and pure woman because of this hard condition. Seven years passed, Pearl grew up to be wild and impish child. Governor Bellingham, a community official, attempted to separate Pearl away from her mother’s care in order to give her a better life in a more Christian household. In this case, Hester succeed to defend her daughter with the help of Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale, however, has a poor health which was seemingly caused by his secrecy. Due to this reason, Roger Chillingworth offered himself to be Dimmesdale’s physician, which eventually made them live in the same roof. Roger Chillingworth suspected that may be there is a connection between Arthur Dimmesdale’s suffering and Hester Pynne’s secret. Roger Chillingworth eventually discovered that Dimmesdale is the true father of Pearl through his discovery of a mark on Dimmesdale’s chest, a physical mark of the scarlet letter, which convinced him that his suspicion is correct.
One night Dimmesdale sought absolution for his crime that he left his house and walked to the town scaffold where Hester was publicly humiliated seven years prior. He stood on it and tried to punish himself for his sin, in the way of imagined many of things that Hester went through and imagined also that the whole town watching him with a physical mark of the scarlet letter which was emblazoned on his chest. While he stood there alone, Hester and Pearl were on their way home from Governor Winthrop’s deathbed in order to take a measurement for a robe. Dimmesdale then asked them to join with him standing on the scaffold. In this moment, Pearl also asked Dimmesdale to stand with them on the scafffold at the noontide of the next day. Dimmesdale refused Pearl’s request that he acknowledging her as his daughter publicly tomorrow noontide. At that moment, a meteor marked a dull red “A” in the night sky. It illuminated everything, including Dimmesdale with his hand over his hearth and the scarlet letter on Hester’s gown. When they looked down again, they realized that Roger Chillingworth watched them across the street. Here, Dimmesdale told Hester that truly he is afraid of Roger Chillingworth’s existence near to him. Dimmesdale then was taken home by Roger Chillingworth. Hester naturally realized that Chillingworth is killing Dimmesdale slowly, and that she had to safe him from Roger Chillingworth quickly.
A few weeks later Hester and her daughter, Pearl, met Chillingworth in the forest and told him that she is going to reveal his true identity to Dimmesdale. This encounter was intended to warn Dimmesdale about Chillingworth’s true identity. At the first time, Dimmesdale felt furious with the revelation, but then Hester’s mistake was forgiven by Dimmesdale and he finally agreed with Hester’s argument that they should run away together. They made a decision to go to Europe with a ship that is going to be sailed from Boston one day after Dimmesdale’s Election Sermon. At the end of the story, Arthur Dimmesdale made a confession of his big sin publicly and then died soon after he opened his cloth to expose a scarlet letter which was seared into the flesh of his chest.

Psychology of Literature

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Psychology is actually derived from Greek words, “psyche” (the soul) and “logos” (study). Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental process (Papalia and Wendkos Olds, 1985:4). Other sources said that, Psychology is the study of the mind and human and animal behavior (Hornby, 1995:936). While according to Munn (1961:7), Psychology is a science and the reason for this is that its observations relate to living organisms. Though there are many definitions of psychology, but all have one similarity for the essence, that is about human and its behavior. According to Subhan (2003:57), Psychology (the science or study of mind and its processes) can be used to help a literary critic or a literary researcher to explain, interpret, and evaluate literary works. In relation to the quotation above, the writer can draws a conclusion that psychology can explain the creative work of the author.

By ‘psychology of literature’, we may mean the psychological study of the writer, as type and as individual, or the study of the creative process, or the study of the psychological types and laws presents within works of literature, or, finally, the effects of life nature upon its readers (audience psychology) (Wellek and Warren, 1978: 81). Psychology and literature have a functional relationship each other.

Synopsis of the novel Palomino

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Samantha is a beautiful woman. Her long shining hair was whitening in the sun, and her face was getting tanned a rich honey-brown as beautiful as palomino. Palomino is a kind of horse.
Samantha Taylor is also a talented woman. She is the assistant creative director’s success advertising in New York. She has good career and she often gets award from her advertisements. Her partners are Charlie and Harvey. They always work together well. She considers Charlie and Harvey as her own family.
One time she is shattered when her husband, John leaves her for another woman. They have married for seven years but do not get child. John met Liz in the election coverage a year before. Liz has something he desperately wants; she has a quality that he needs, a kind of low profile that pleased him. He and Samantha are too much alike in some ways, too visible, too spectacular, too quick, and too beautiful. He likes Liz’s sensible plainness,
her less-dazzling intelligence, her quiet style, her willingness to take a backseat, to be obscure, while helping him to be more of what he was. She is the perfect foil for him; it was why they worked so well as a team. He does not feel anxious when he was with her, he does not have to complete. He is automatically the star.
And there is more to it, she is pregnant and it is his child, he knows it. It is the one thing he wants more than all else. It is what he always wants, and what Samantha can not give him. It had taken the doctors three years to discover what the problem is, and when they do, they are sure. Samantha is sterile. She really loses John.
Pain has given way to fury, which lead to sorrow, which grew to grief, which reverts once again to anger. It is as though there is no one, no one to whom she belongs, no one who cares. Her father had died when she was in college, her mother lives in Atlanta with a man she found charming but whom Samantha does not. He is a doctor, and pompous and self-satisfied as hell. But at least her mother is happy. Anyway, Sam is not close to her mother, and it is not to her that she could turn.
She decides to put her advertising career on hold and seeks refuge at a friend’s California ranch, where she loses herself in the daily labor of ranch life. She lives with Caroline who has a large ranch. Here, she discovers the healing powers of trusted friends, simple joys, and hard work. She meets Tate Jordan, the ranch foreman, and a tumultuous relationship ensued. They love each other. She feels that she gets real love from him. None knows their special relationship. Samantha is the rancher but Tate is the ranch foreman. In a ranch, the relationship between the ranchers and the ranch foreman is prohibited. Tate always refuses to marry her. Tate also leaves her because they had different level. Tate has to do it although he loves Samantha so much.
Samantha is hurt and sad. She looks for him for a month but he is not found. Then she decides to go back to New York and going to work in her firm. She gets a new project to make an advertisement related to the horse. She goes to the ranch in Arizona. Unluckily, when she rides a horse, she falls. It changes Samantha’s life forever. She is confined to a wheelchair and may look deep inside herself to find the courage to begin again. Now, fighting the battles of the handicapped, she finds sound new challenges, new loves, and even the adopted child she is always longed for. She gets Tate again and adopts Timmie as her child.

The Moral Lessons in a Literary Work

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In Oxford Learner’s Dictionary (1995:548) moral is described as standard of behavior principles of right and wrong. It is also a practical lesson that a story and event or an experience teaches. Human naturally have unique positions. The uniqueness lays on the dualism of moral they have. On one hand, they want someone good, positive and integrative. On the other hand, they tend to do bad, negative and disintegrative deed. In Islam, this case is described in Holy Qur’an:
“By the soul, and the proportion and order given to it; and its enlighten as to its wrong and its right”. (Al Syam, 7-8)

According to Nurgiyantoro (1995:321) moral is something which the author wants to carry on the readers to the meaning which is implied in a work, and the meaning which is suggested through the story. Moral of the literary work usually reflects the authors’ way of their life, their view about rightness values, and those are what the author wants to carry on to the readers. From a story, besides getting knowledge, information, and enjoyment, the readers also get moral lessons that can be adopted in their life, if they are good things and ignored if they are bad things. Moral lessons are presented by the researcher directly or indirectly by the researcher through telling the readers. Readers will easily find them in the story if it is presented by the researcher directly. While the moral is showed indirectly need certain care to find the moral lesson because the writer presents implicitly in the story.

The Title of Classic Literary Work

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1. The Return of the Native(Thomas hardy)
2. Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen)
3. Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen)

Drama

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Literature can usually be divided into three genres namle prose, poetry and drama. Drama is a work of literature or a composition, which delineates life and human society by means of presenting varius action of-and dialogues between - group of character, (Reakse (1966: 5). Accordng to Tennyson (1967:1), drama derives from a greek word meaning 'to do', 'to act'. In the drama we can also find the word "theatre". The word derives from a Greek word meaning 'to see' and 'to view'. These two ideas, doing and seeing, are complementary and define the area of the study of the drama in the largest sense. The sense that includes both the plays and the performance of it.

Novel

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Hornby,AS in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English (1987:575)defines novel as story inprose, long enough to fill one or more volumes, about either imaginery or historical people. As one of literary work forms, anovel can serve the description of the life which contains various problems, or the experience of the writers. This makes novel interesting to read because it can portrait the writer's life or experience.