Neil Forsyth – författare

The description for this book, The Old Enemy: Satan and the Combat Myth, will be forthcoming.

The Satan of Paradise Lost has fascinated generations of readers. This book attempts to explain how and why Milton's Satan is so seductive. It reasserts the importance of Satan against those who would minimize the poem's sympathy for the devil and thereby make Milton orthodox. Neil Forsyth argues that William Blake got it right when he called Milton a true poet because he was "of the Devils party" even though he set out "to justify the ways of God to men." In seeking to learn why Satan is so alluring, Forsyth ranges over diverse topics--from the origins of evil and the relevance of witchcraft to the status of the poetic narrator, the epic tradition, the nature of love between the sexes, and seventeenth-century astronomy. He considers each of these as Milton introduces them: as Satanic subjects. Satan emerges as the main challenge to Christian belief. It is Satan who questions and wonders and denounces. He is the great doubter who gives voice to many of the arguments that Christianity has provoked from within and without.And by rooting his Satanic reading of Paradise Lost in Biblical and other sources, Forsyth retrieves not only an attractive and heroic Satan but a Milton whose heretical energies are embodied in a Satanic character with a life of his own.

John Milton has usually been regarded as 'the other great poet' in English literature, after Shakespeare. He is the only one of the world's great poets also to have been actively engaged in politics.John Milton was born in 1608 and in the late 1630s he travelled to the Continent where he met, among others, Galileo and Grotius. A staunch republican, he served as Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell during the Commonwealth. After the restoration of Charles II his life was probably saved by his fame as a poet. He was thrice married, his first two wives dying after childbirth.This serious yet accessible biography by a renowed Milton scholar tells the story of Milton's fascinating and troubled life on both the personal and political level.

In Shakespeare the Illusionist, Neil Forsyth reviews the history of Shakespeare's plays on film, using the basic distinction in film tradition between what is owed to Méliès and what to the Lumière brothers. He then tightens his focus on those plays that include some explicit magical or supernatural elements—Puck and the fairies, ghosts and witches, or Prospero's island, for example—and sets out methodically, but with an easy touch, to review all the films that have adapted those comedies and dramas, into the present day.Forsyth's aim is not to offer yet another answer as to whether Shakespeare would have written for the screen if he were alive today, but rather to assess what various filmmakers and TV directors have in fact made of the spells, haunts, and apparitions in his plays. From analyzing early camera tricks to assessing contemporary handling of the supernatural, Forsyth reads Shakespeare films for how they use the techniques of moviemaking to address questions of illusion and dramatic influence. In doing so, he presents a bold step forward in Shakespeare and film studies, and his fresh take is presented in lively, accessible language that makes the book ideal for classroom use.

The real story that inspired the BBC drama, The GoldOn Saturday, 26 November 1983, an armed gang stole gold bullion worth almost £26 million from the Brink's-Mat security depot near London's Heathrow Airport. It was the largest robbery in world history, and only the start of an extraordinary story. For forty years, myths and legends have grown around the Brink's-Mat heist and the events that followed.The heist led to a wave of international money laundering, provided dirty money that helped fuel the London Docklands property boom, caused seismic changes in both British crime and policing, and has been linked to a series of deaths that continued until 2015.The Gold is the conclusion of extensive research and includes exclusive testimony from one of the original robbers who gives his version of events for the first time. The result is the astonishing true story of the robbery of the century.

The true story behind the BBC documentary Confessions of a Teenage Fraudster'The crime of fraud, when conducted well, is a fascinating pursuit. It’s a test of intellect, determination and stamina. It is a floating mess of fact and fiction that you have to carry in your mind for twenty-four hours a day. It can be used to realize dreams, to slip on any mask required.’Elliot Castro was just a teenager when he began to use his formidable intelligence and charm to swindle millions from the credit card system. No outside individual has ever pulled off this scale of fraudulent activity. But the money wasn’t funding an addiction or other criminal enterprises; Elliot was simply a working-class kid with no qualifications who wanted to see the world. From London to New York, Ibiza to Beverly Hills, Castro lived a fantasy life. He stayed in famous hotels, travelled first class and blew a small fortune on designer clothes and champagne.Time after time, Elliot managed to wriggle free of the authorities while his life spiralled out of control. As he juggled aliases, and lied to family and friends, he began to lose his grip on reality. Meanwhile, a detective from Heathrow Police Station was patiently tracking him down. It would soon turn intoan international manhunt.In Other People’s Money, Neil Forsyth chronicles Elliot’s extraordinary journey. A gripping tale of charm and deceit, filled with humour and heart-stopping suspense, this true story offers a fascinating insight into the mind of Britain’s most audacious, and friendliest, credit card fraudster.

This book showcases cutting-edge research papers from the XIIth international Milton Symposium hosted by the University of Strasbourg, 17-21 June 2019. Strasbourg is home to Martin Bucer, the Protestant reformer from whom Milton drew support for his theory of divorce, and to Gustave Doré, the famous French illustrator of Paradise Lost. The 26 essays gathered in the present volume are by international scholars, including ones from countries outside the Anglosphere, young or experienced.Opening with a tribute to all Milton symposia organized since 1981, the book falls into eight parts, covering all aspects of Milton studies. "Milton and Materiality" starts with an essay by James G. Turner on personal bodily reference in Milton. In "Milton’s Style and Language", the polemicist’s use of satire is scrutinized and his relation to enthusiasm is examined, while a new light is shed on his sonnets. In "Milton’s Prose", in a rare essay on Observations upon the Articles of Peace (1649), David H. Sacks compares Milton’s view of Ireland with what he thought of Russia, delving into the notions of "civilization" and "tyranny". Then the reader will find six essays on Paradise Lost, including one by Hiroko Sano, followed by three essays on his minor poems by promising scholars. The debate on the authorship of De Doctrina Christiana is reopened, with many stylometric tables and charts. A new track leads us to Silesia.In "Reception Studies", two Brazilian contributors study Milton through the lens of French philosophers, and the next essay by Christophe Tournu focuses on the first French verse translation of Paradise Lost. The concluding part, "Milton and his Audience", considers Milton’s relationship to his readers, music in Haydn’s Creation, while Beverley Sherry analyses portraits of Milton and his works in stained glass.