Kirjahaku

Malcolm Lowry’s Under the Volcano is now recognized as one of the major novels of the 20th Century, whose breadth and experimental prose have influenced a wide range of contemporary writers. This study, originally published in 1984, considers the significance of the autobiographical elements in Lowry’s writing, in the context of his developing concern with fictionality and the romantic sensibility. It gives special attention to his exotic many-sided masterpiece and discusses the ways in which the narrative’s reflexive games-playing elements affect the representation of character, history, myth and magic. It surveys Lowry’s late experimental novels and stories and considers how their metafictional aspects anticipate some key interests of contemporary writing.

Malcolm Lowry’s Under the Volcano is now recognized as one of the major novels of the 20th Century, whose breadth and experimental prose have influenced a wide range of contemporary writers. This study, originally published in 1984, considers the significance of the autobiographical elements in Lowry’s writing, in the context of his developing concern with fictionality and the romantic sensibility. It gives special attention to his exotic many-sided masterpiece and discusses the ways in which the narrative’s reflexive games-playing elements affect the representation of character, history, myth and magic. It surveys Lowry’s late experimental novels and stories and considers how their metafictional aspects anticipate some key interests of contemporary writing.

When it was originally published in 1986, this book was the first full-length study of Farrell’s fiction. Ronald Binns provides a comprehensive account of the development of this idiosyncratic Anglo-Irish novelist’s career. Farrell’s Empire trilogy was one of the most ambitious literary projects of the 20th Century and Binns examines in detail its component parts – Troubles, The Siege of Krishnapur and The Singapore Grip – showing their structural links and discussing Farrell’s use both of historical materials and of parody, pastiche and symbol in his ironic vision of the end of the empire.

When it was originally published in 1986, this book was the first full-length study of Farrell’s fiction. Ronald Binns provides a comprehensive account of the development of this idiosyncratic Anglo-Irish novelist’s career. Farrell’s Empire trilogy was one of the most ambitious literary projects of the 20th Century and Binns examines in detail its component parts – Troubles, The Siege of Krishnapur and The Singapore Grip – showing their structural links and discussing Farrell’s use both of historical materials and of parody, pastiche and symbol in his ironic vision of the end of the empire.

On Saturday 9 July 1575 Queen Elizabeth I arrived at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire. Her host was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who had transformed the castle and its surroundings into an enormous theatre and playground.What followed was the most spectacular and remarkable programme of entertainments to be witnessed during Elizabeth's long reign. But beneath the glitter and spectacle of the royal presence, the castle was a snake pit of ambition, jealousy and anger.This book provides the first full-length authoritative study of the Kenilworth revels. It also considers in detail the vexed question of the authorship of the anonymous 'Letter' which supplied a vivid contemporary account of the Queen's visit. Ronald Binns argues that the 'Letter' was a prolonged satire on events at the castle, and he sets out the case for William Patten of Stoke Newington, a member of the Earl's writing team, as its true author.Binns also examines the theory put forward by Shakespeare biographers that the young William Shakespeare was present. He finds compelling evidence that Shakespeare was at Kenilworth and that its imaginative impact inspired not only a career in the theatre but also aspects of his great castle-set play, "Hamlet".

On the fiftieth anniversary of the local newspaper report which made the Loch Ness Monster world famous, Ronald Binns published his classic but controversial book The Loch Ness Mystery Solved. Over three decades later it remains both influential and a source of fierce debate. In this new book Binns takes a fresh look at Nessie in the light of later evidence and recent analysis of the classic photographs and film. He considers the relationship between the Loch Ness Monster and the water kelpie tradition of Scottish folklore. He also scrutinises the role played by central figures in the Loch Ness story such as Rupert Gould, Tim Dinsdale and Ted Holiday. Ronald Binns is a former member of the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau. He has made numerous visits to the loch in search both of the Monster and a greater understanding of this enduring phenomenon.

George Orwell first came to live in Southwold in 1921, beginning an association with the town which lasted more than twenty years. He lived at four addresses in the town and this book provides the first full, authoritative account of Orwell's connection with Southwold, its people and the books which he wrote while living there. Using original archival research, Binns reveals new material about the two local women with whom Orwell became infatuated, together with previously unpublished photographs of them. Apart from untangling the complicated chronology of Orwell's association with Southwold, this account examines the impact which the town made upon his writing from his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London, to his last, Nineteen Eighty-Four. It also includes a detailed analysis of his satirical account of the town in A Clergyman's Daughter. Orwell in Southwold contains 30 photographs and two maps, showing the local sites important to Orwell both in Southwold and in the surrounding Suffolk countryside.

George Gascoigne was one of the leading writers of Tudor England - an accomplished poet, a dramatist and novelist. But he was also accused of being a ruffian, a killer, a spy and a "godless person". This major new biography, the first in almost a century, traces Gascoigne's journey from rural Bedfordshire to the Court of Elizabeth I, via Cambridge and the Inns of Court. It follows his career as a soldier in the Low Countries, as an entertainer at Kenilworth Castle during the legendary royal visit of 1575, and as a state intelligence agent. It also examines in detail Gascoigne's premature and mysterious death in Stamford. Apart from his swashbuckling life and his clashes with censorship, Gascoigne had a very modern concept of himself as a writer, viewing the book as simultaneously a cultural and commercial product. Over two centuries before the great romantic poets, he had a towering sense of self. His life and personality was something to be written about and marketed as a thing interesting and important in its own right. This was much more than being simply proud of his ancestry. To be a Gascoigne gave him pride and confidence. But Gascoigne was not interested in promoting himself as the latest bearer of the family coat of arms. He was not a Gascoigne but the Gascoigne: a Gascoigne for all time.