David Staines – författare

"[A]n eminently readable text, done clearly and accurately . . . it gives as good an idea as a translation can of the complexity and subtlety of Chrétien's originals. . . . The text is provided by a translator who understands the spirit as well as the letter of the original and renders it with style. . . . [T]his translation should attract a wide audience of students and Arthurian enthusiasts." —Speculum"[A] significant contribution to the field of medieval studies [and] a pleasure to read." —Library Journal"These are, above all, stories of courtly love and of knights tested in their devotion to chivalric ideals (with passion and duty often at odds); but they are also thrilling wonder stories of giants, wild men, tame lions, razor-sharp bridges and visits to the Other World." —Washington Post Book World"This tastefully produced book will be the standard general translation for many years to come." —ChoiceThis new translation brings to life for a new generation of readers the stories of King Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere, Gawain, Perceval, Yvain, and the other "knights and ladies" of Chrétien de Troyes' famous romances.

In Nineteenth-Century Lives, first published in 1989, ten distinguished critics and biographers consider what it means to narrate a life. Their illustrative texts are largely taken from nineteenth-century biography, autobiography and the novel, but narrative is the broader genre that unites their various inquiries. The principal issues, theoretical and practical, are framed by Margaret Atwood, J. Hillis Miller and Phyllis Rose. 'The biographer, like the novelist, is a constructor of narratives; it's just that the ground rules are a little different,' writes Atwood. Among the matters they debate are the boundaries of fact and fiction, the professed power of the narrator, and the figurative underpinings of autobiography. But many of these essays are delightful and provocative biographical and autobiographical excursions in themselves. Atwood describes her early fear of biography, Morton Cohen narrates an exciting bit of detective work into the life of Lewis Carroll, and John Rosenberg gives a vivid and frequently revisionary reading of many aspects of Darwin's life.

In Nineteenth-Century Lives, first published in 1989, ten distinguished critics and biographers consider what it means to narrate a life. Their illustrative texts are largely taken from nineteenth-century biography, autobiography and the novel, but narrative is the broader genre that unites their various inquiries. The principal issues, theoretical and practical, are framed by Margaret Atwood, J. Hillis Miller and Phyllis Rose. 'The biographer, like the novelist, is a constructor of narratives; it's just that the ground rules are a little different,' writes Atwood. Among the matters they debate are the boundaries of fact and fiction, the professed power of the narrator, and the figurative underpinings of autobiography. But many of these essays are delightful and provocative biographical and autobiographical excursions in themselves. Atwood describes her early fear of biography, Morton Cohen narrates an exciting bit of detective work into the life of Lewis Carroll, and John Rosenberg gives a vivid and frequently revisionary reading of many aspects of Darwin's life.

This book highlights the accomplishments of one of Canada's most acclaimed and beloved fiction writers, Margaret Laurence. The essays in this collection explore her body of work as well as her influence on young Canadian writers today.

Robert Kroetsch: Essayist, Novelist, Poet brings together an international cast of critics, scholars, and writers to examine, re-examine, and honour the celebrated author’s immense significance in the twenty-first century, and what it means to be Canadian and part of the country’s literary landscape. Original essays by Dennis Cooley, Phil Hall, Nicole Markoti, Aritha van Herk, and Rudy Wiebe, among others. The author of nine novels, thirteen books of poetry, and seven non-fiction volumes, Robert Kroetsch (1927-2011) was a major figure in the development and history of literature in Canada. He won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction for The Studhorse Man (1969) and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry for The Hornbooks of Rita K. (2001). He received honorary degrees from the University of Winnipeg (1983) and the University of Alberta (1997), and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (2004). Robert Kroetsch stands as a seminal figure in the Canadian literary landscape. In his early fiction he introduced postmodern techniques into the mainstream of Canadian fiction. He then moved on to writing poetry while still writing fiction, and created a new vision for poets across the country, defining the nature of the poetic experience by searching out the roots of his place in the Canadian landscape. Robert Kroetsch: Essayist, Novelist, Poet is a timely reminder of the immense significance that Kroetsch holds in the twenty-first-century understanding of what it means to be Canadian and part of the country’s literary landscape. Published in English.

Beyond the Provinces takes stock of Canada’s literary scene at the end of the twentieth century, revealing the astonishing developments that have occurred in the country’s literary culture in the past decades and affirming the maturity of literary Canada.In the opening chapter David Staines examines the colonial mentality that pervaded turn-of-the-century literature, was later challenged, and has all but disappeared at century’s end. In the second chapter he explores the unique Canadian presence in American fiction in order to examine the way in which Canada found its literary independence from the United States. And in the final chapter he proposes that Canadian literary selfhood has been complemented by a still tentative but distinctive critical voice.(F.E.L. Priestley Memorial Lectures in the History of Ideas)

This Companion is a thorough introduction to the writings of the Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro. Uniting the talents of distinguished creative writers and noted academics, David Staines has put together a comprehensive, exploratory account of Munro's biography, her position as a feminist, her evocation of life in small-town Ontario, her non-fictional writings as well as her short stories, and her artistic achievement. Considering a wide range of topics - including Munro's style, life writing, her personal development, and her use of Greek myths, Celtic ballads, Norse sagas, and popular songs - this volume will appeal to keen readers of Munro's fiction as well as students and scholars of literature and Canadian and gender studies.

This Companion is a thorough introduction to the writings of the Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro. Uniting the talents of distinguished creative writers and noted academics, David Staines has put together a comprehensive, exploratory account of Munro's biography, her position as a feminist, her evocation of life in small-town Ontario, her non-fictional writings as well as her short stories, and her artistic achievement. Considering a wide range of topics - including Munro's style, life writing, her personal development, and her use of Greek myths, Celtic ballads, Norse sagas, and popular songs - this volume will appeal to keen readers of Munro's fiction as well as students and scholars of literature and Canadian and gender studies.

A History of Canadian Fiction is the first one-volume history to chart its development from earliest times to the present day. Recounting the struggles and the glories of this burgeoning area of investigation, it explains Canada''s literary growth alongside its remarkable history. Highlighting the people who have shaped and are shaping Canadian literary culture, the book examines such major figures as Mavis Gallant, Mordecai Richler, Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and Thomas King, concluding with young authors of today whose major successes reflect their indebtedness to their Canadian forbearers.

A History of Canadian Fiction is the first one-volume history to chart its development from earliest times to the present day. Recounting the struggles and the glories of this burgeoning area of investigation, it explains Canada''s literary growth alongside its remarkable history. Highlighting the people who have shaped and are shaping Canadian literary culture, the book examines such major figures as Mavis Gallant, Mordecai Richler, Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and Thomas King, concluding with young authors of today whose major successes reflect their indebtedness to their Canadian forbearers.

A History of Canadian Fiction is the first one-volume history to chart its development from earliest times to the present day. Recounting the struggles and the glories of this burgeoning area of investigation, it explains Canada's literary growth alongside its remarkable history. Highlighting the people who have shaped and are shaping Canadian literary culture, the book examines such major figures as Mavis Gallant, Mordecai Richler, Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and Thomas King, concluding with young authors of today whose major successes reflect their indebtedness to their Canadian forbearers.

A History of Canadian Fiction is the first one-volume history to chart its development from earliest times to the present day. Recounting the struggles and the glories of this burgeoning area of investigation, it explains Canada's literary growth alongside its remarkable history. Highlighting the people who have shaped and are shaping Canadian literary culture, the book examines such major figures as Mavis Gallant, Mordecai Richler, Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and Thomas King, concluding with young authors of today whose major successes reflect their indebtedness to their Canadian forbearers.

This Companion is a thorough introduction to the writings of the Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro. Uniting the talents of distinguished creative writers and noted academics, David Staines has put together a comprehensive, exploratory account of Munro''s biography, her position as a feminist, her evocation of life in small-town Ontario, her non-fictional writings as well as her short stories, and her artistic achievement. Considering a wide range of topics – including Munro''s style, life writing, her personal development, and her use of Greek myths, Celtic ballads, Norse sagas, and popular songs – this volume will appeal to keen readers of Munro''s fiction as well as students and scholars of literature and Canadian and gender studies.

This Companion is a thorough introduction to the writings of the Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro. Uniting the talents of distinguished creative writers and noted academics, David Staines has put together a comprehensive, exploratory account of Munro''s biography, her position as a feminist, her evocation of life in small-town Ontario, her non-fictional writings as well as her short stories, and her artistic achievement. Considering a wide range of topics – including Munro''s style, life writing, her personal development, and her use of Greek myths, Celtic ballads, Norse sagas, and popular songs – this volume will appeal to keen readers of Munro''s fiction as well as students and scholars of literature and Canadian and gender studies.

Northrop Frye is conceivably Canada's most celebrated literary theorist, but his role in the country's cultural evolution has perhaps been overlooked by later Canadian scholars in favour of his better-known literary criticism. This collection brings together all of the writings of Northrop Frye, both published and heretofore unpublished, on the subject of Canadian literature and culture. From his early book reviews of the 1930s and 1940s through his explorations of the patterns of Canadian literature in the fifties, to his cultural commentaries of the sixties, seventies, and eighties (including all his essays from The Bush Garden and Divisions on a Ground), Northrop Frye on Canada is vivid testimony to his position as an astute critic of his country's literature and a vital participant in its cultural evolution.All of Frye's writings on Canadian literature and culture - essays, articles, reviews, and speeches - are published in their entirety and are accompanied by a detailed introduction and contextual headnotes to each piece. Gathered from more than fifty years of Frye's career, the collection shows Frye as a careful and caring critic of Canada, and is demonstrative of his importance as the cultural commentator on Canada.

Unbuttoned McLuhan! An intimate exploration of Marshall McLuhan’s ideas in his own wordsIn the last twenty years of his life, Marshall McLuhan published – often in collaboration with others – a series of books that established his reputation as the pre-eminent seer of the modern age. It was McLuhan who made the distinction between “hot” and “cool” media. It was he who observed that “the medium is the message” and who tossed off dozens of other equally memorable phrases from “the global village” and “pattern recognition” to “feedback” and “iconic” imagery. McLuhan was far more than a pithy-phrase maker, however. He foresaw – at a time when the personal computer was a teckie fantasy – that the world would be brought together by the internet. He foresaw the transformations that would be wrought by digital technology. He understood, before any of his contemporaries, the consequences of the revolution that television and the computer were bringing about. In many ways, we’re still catching up to him.In Understanding Me, Stephanie McLuhan and David Staines have brought together eighteen previously unpublished lectures and interviews by or involving Marshall McLuhan. They have in common the informality and accessibility of the spoken word. In every case, the text is the transcript taken down from the film, audio, or video tape of the actual encounters – this is not what McLuhan wrote but what he said. The result is a revelation: the seer who often is thought of as aloof and obscure is shown to be funny, spontaneous, and easily understood.From the Hardcover edition.

These 20 circular routes have been carefully designed with maximum off-lead time and minimum exposure to roads. They vary in length from 21/2 to 6 miles. Each walk has information on the distance and terrain, livestock likely to be encountered, number and type of stiles en route and in an emergency, the nearest veterinary surgery. Walks include Seven Sisters Country Park, the Cuckmere River, Ashdown Forest, the Cuckoo Trail and Bodiam Castle.

A collection of circular walks covering historic and 'best kept' villages such as Eynsford and Lamberhurst; Lympne with its cliffs and sweeping vistas; Upnor on the River Medway; the fairy-tale sight of Leeds Castle; Appledore and its ancient port; Georgian Deal with its windy streets and an excellent micropub. The book offers 20 wonderful outings in glorious countryside through the Garden of England.

This collection of 20 tried-and-tested circular walks has been written specifically for dogs and their owners, allowing for maximum off-lead time. These routes, covering every corner of the Surrey Hills, will allow you to explore somewhere new, safe in the knowledge that the surroundings will be suitable for your dog.The hills stretch from the county border with Kent almost to Hampshire and were officially designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1958. Explore Leith Hill, Box Hill and the Devil's Punch Bowl as well as the extensive footpaths and tracks including the famous North Downs Way, Greensand Way and the ancient Pilgrims Way.There are many open commons and rolling hillsides, dotted with rural pubs, market towns and villages, rich in wildlife and woodland, making the Surrey Hills an ideal place to walk your dog.All the walks include details of:*Distance and terrain*Details of livestock and stiles*Recommended dog-friendly pubs and cafes*Numbered route directions*Points of interest along the way*Contact details for the nearest vetsDavid and Hilary Staines are the authors of many popular dog walking guides, including Kent: A Dog Walker's Guide and East Sussex: A Dog Walker's Guide.

Kent boasts an incredibly varied landscape. From the metropolis of London and the industrialised Thames Estuary, the county then unfolds into "The Garden of England" with its rolling hills, distinctive oast houses and iconic landmarks like the white cliffs. Kent also has its fair share of railway interest, as most of its lines survived the closures of the 20th century, HS1 now speeds its way to the English Channel and it has a diverse collection of heritage railways. Highly accomplished railway photographer and author David Staines explores the region's railways across the first 25 years of the 21st century using more than 180 superb images that feature a surprisingly varied selection of traction. The photographs are complemented by extensive captions which are packed full of historical, social and railway-related information. 128 pages. A4 size.