John Simons – författare

The book surveys medieval literature from both a critical and an historical standpoint. Medieval literature is increasingly seen as an area of intense specialism which is to be treated differently from other areas of English studies. The essays collected here try to overturn this perception in two ways. Firstly, there is a demonstration of the ways in which modern critical approaches and perspectives work with the medieval text. Secondly, the idea of the medieval is shown, historically, to be a discourse which has been given different symbolic values and served different social purposes. In the first half of the book will be found essays on feminist and structural approaches to the medieval text as well as a polemical evaluation of post-structuralist criticism and an introduction to modern approaches to manuscript studies. In the second half medievalism is analyzed through case studies from the Renaissance, the 18th-century and the 19th-century.

This title was first published in 2002. "Moderatus" was an Elizabethan romance, probably the first published work of the 16th-century Welsh gentleman Robert Parry; it was produced in 1595 by the bookseller, publisher, and printer Richard Jones. In this volume John Simons offers in modern typography an edition of this now-scarce text, with explanatory notes and an extensive introduction that places the work in its historical context. He also presents what biographical information is known about the author of "Moderatus" and what is known of the book's publication history, and discusses such pertinent issues as the travel experience of Elizabethans, their knowledge of other languages than English, and their experience of translating and translations. Simons demonstrates how works like "Moderatus" do impel us to look more carefully at the inter-relationships of writers and readers and teach us a good deal about the habits of mind which those readers brought to more familiar texts.

This title was first published in 2002. "Moderatus" was an Elizabethan romance, probably the first published work of the 16th-century Welsh gentleman Robert Parry; it was produced in 1595 by the bookseller, publisher, and printer Richard Jones. In this volume John Simons offers in modern typography an edition of this now-scarce text, with explanatory notes and an extensive introduction that places the work in its historical context. He also presents what biographical information is known about the author of "Moderatus" and what is known of the book's publication history, and discusses such pertinent issues as the travel experience of Elizabethans, their knowledge of other languages than English, and their experience of translating and translations. Simons demonstrates how works like "Moderatus" do impel us to look more carefully at the inter-relationships of writers and readers and teach us a good deal about the habits of mind which those readers brought to more familiar texts.

Obaysch: A Hippopotamus in Victorian London is the story of Obaysch the hippopotamus, the first ‘star’ animal to be exhibited in the London Zoo. Uncovering the circumstances of Obaysch's capture and exhibition, this book investigates the notion of a 'star' animal, as well as the cultural value that Obaysch accumulated.

“For the first time, fish became our companions and a corner of many a Victorian parlour was given over to housing tiny fragments of their world enclosed in glass.”The experience of seeing a fish swimming in a glass tank is one we take for granted now but in Victorian England this was a remarkable sight. People had simply not been able to see fish as they now could with the invention of the aquarium and everything that went with it.Goldfish in the Parlour looks at the boom in the building of public aquariums, as well as the craze for home aquariums and visiting the seaside, during the reign of Queen Victoria. Furthermore, this book considers how people see and meet animals and, importantly, in what institutions and in what contexts these encounters happen.John Simons uncovers the sweeping consequences of the Victorian obsession with marine animals by looking at naturalist Frank Buckland’s Museum of Economic Fish Culture and the role of fish in the Victorian economy, the development of angling as a sport divided along class lines, the seeding of Empire with British fish and comparisons with aquarium building in Europe, USA and Australia.Goldfish in the Parlour interrogates the craze that took over Victorian England when aquariums “introduced” fish to parks, zoos and parlours.

In The Man You're Becoming, John Simons offers a call for biblical wisdom that points to authentic manhood. By following the wisdom that comes from above (God), Simons calls for the man to reject the wisdom from below (the world)and become the man that God desires him to be.