Philip Nicholas Furbank

Furbank and Owens attempt to disentangle the story of Daniel Defoe's political career, as journalist, polemicist, political theorist and secret agent. They argue that this remarkable career calls for a good deal of rethinking, not least because biography and bibliography are here inextricably intertwined.

A biography of the English novelist, essayist, and literary critic known for such works as a "A Room With A View," "Howards End," and "A Passage To India."

In 1874, Stephane Mallarme, the great French poet, undertook a highly idiosyncratic project--the publication of a fashion magazine called La Derniere Mode (The Latest Fashion)--that he almost single-handedly compiled. Using a variety of feminine and masculine pseudonyms to theorize about fashion and to advise on popular vacation destinations, home furnishings, and entertainment, Mallarmé created a spectacularly original work. The distinguishing feature of Mallarme's magazine is that it explores the nature of fashion from the inside. While it is a genuine fashion magazine, it also satirizes the entire genre. Various theories have been entertained about the work: it has been viewed as a prose poem, a hoax, and a cynical money-making venture. Furbank and Cain, however, argue that such guesses are hopelessly off the mark. Complete with the original artwork and a contextualizing introduction and commentary, this is the definitive translation of one of French literature's greatest enigmas.

"In Behalf P. N. Furbank argues that in thinking about society and politics one needs to start from the proposition that every human being contains within himself or herself the entire potentiality of the human species and that it is therefore wrong to regard cultural differences as innate."--BOOK JACKET. "Furbank proceeds to consider the question of what it means to act "on behalf" of others. He notes that the apparent strength of "politics of the person" - the ground of feminist, black, and gay politics, with its insistence that everyone should speak with his or her own distinctive voice unmediated by representation or action on behalf of others - is its freedom from the taint of philanthropy. But he argues that this freedom comes at a high price, which is no less than that of involving the term "politics" in self-contradiction. He concludes that there is seemingly no substitute for what one might call "politics proper" and that this form of politics is by nature on behalf of someone or something not itself - a politics that is, incurably, philanthropic and, being so, is exposed to all the snares and temptations with which philanthropy is plagued."--BOOK JACKET.