English men of letters

William Blake was one of the most significant figures of the Romantic era. An artist and poet of outstanding originality, Blake's work gave powerful expression to his own visionary universe, as well as to those of authors such as Milton and Dante. Imagination was of paramount importance to Blake: he believed art must proceed from inner visions and not from the empirical observation of nature.Sumptuously illustrated, this beautiful volume presents the National Gallery of Victoria's Blake holdings, which include illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy, Milton's Paradise Lost and The Book of Job, among other works. It celebrates a creative genius who, through his watercolours, prints and illustrated books, created some of the most compelling and original works of his time.

Though he is one of the undisputed giants of English literature, Ben Jonson is known to most people only as the author of one or two masterly plays which regularly appear in the drama repertory. He is much less well-known for his whole oeuvre, which encompasses poetry, criticism, masque-making, and a lfetime of linguistic and lexicographical study. In this new book, Rosalind Miles, author of the widely acclaimed Ben Jonson: His Life and Work, presents a comprehensive critical study of the whole of Jonson's output from his earliest beginnings through to the final achievement. Looking at every word he ever wrote, in drama, masque, poetry, philosophy and literary criticism, she reveals a far more interesting and more varied picture of Jonson than we are accustomed to--not the accomplished artist so much as the struggling craftsman. In telling the story of Jonson's creative career, Rosalind Miles does justice to the whole of his magnificent and varied oeuvre, whose range is so little known to the general reader and which can still surprise literary specialists. This detailed portrait of the growth and development of a creative artist unique in his own time and rare in any other shows that the more we know, the more there is in Jonson to admire. As we see him at work, share his struggle with form and content, with reader and audience, and experience the erratic pattern of his failure and success, he emerges as a much more truthful and vital figure than the Jonson of literary and critical tradition. Written with life and vigour, and informed with the author's life-long passion for the work of Jonson, the book is a superb introduction to Jonson for students and general readers alike. The only scholarly critical study which covers everything Jonson ever wrote, it will also prove an invaluable work of reference for scholars and libraries.

Lipking's Samuel Johnson is the story of the man as he lived - and lives - in his work. Tracing Johnson's rocky climb from anonymity to fame, in the course of which he came to stand for both the greatness of English literature and the good sense of the common reader, the book shows how this life transformed the very nature of authorship. Beginning with the defiant letter to Chesterfield that made Johnson a celebrity, Samuel Johnson offers fresh readings of all the writer's major works, viewed through the lens of two ongoing preoccupations: the urge to do great deeds - and the sense that bold expectations are doomed to disappointment. Johnson steers between the twin perils of ambition and despondency. Mounting a challenge to the emerging industry that glorified and capitalized on Shakespeare, he stresses instead the playwright's power to cure the illusions of everyday life. All Johnson's works reveal his extraordinary sympathy with ordinary people. In his groundbreaking Dictionary, in his poems and essays, and in The Lives of the English Poets, we see Johnson becoming the key figure in the culture of literacy that reaches from his day to our own.

Dr. Augustus Huff, Dozent an der berühmten Universität von Cambridge, hat plötzlich ein Problem: einer seiner Studenten ist in den Tod gestürzt. Nur ein tragischer Unfall oder Mord? Augustus vermutet Letzteres, denn das Opfer war alles andere als ein Engel. Ein Mörder im Elfenbeinturm – das darf nicht sein, und so macht sich Augustus, unterstützt von Gray, dem Graupapageien des Verstorbenen, auf die Suche nach dem Täter. Der Vogel erweist sich aber als vorlautes Federvieh, und zuerst stolpert Augustus von einem Fettnäpfchen in das nächste. Doch schon bald ist es Gray, der die richtigen Fragen stellt und Augustus begreift: nur gemeinsam können sie es schaffen, diese harte Nuss von einem Fall zu knacken.

The passages are all taken from the Treatise of human nature, except for the last one, which comes from the Enquiry concerning human understanding.

This biography of the U.S. Army General describes Sheridan's role in such Civil War battles as Perryville, Yellow Tavern, and Five Forks, and his experiences in the post-war period.