Richard Pearson – författare

Who are the people of the Ryukyu Islands? How could they survive and prosper on small, isolated islands? How did the independent Ryukyu Kingdom become a major player in East Asian medieval trade?Ancient Ryukyu explores 30,000 years of human occupation in the Ryukyu Islands, from the earliest human presence in the region up to A.D. 1609 and the emergence of the Ryukyu Kingdom. It focuses on the unique geopolitical position of the islands, their environment, and the many human communities whose historical activities can be discerned. Drawing on the impressive work of dozens of local archaeologists who have brought the islands’ early history to life, Richard Pearson describes explorers and sojourners and colonists who arrived thousands of years ago, and their ancient trade links to Japan, Korea, and China. Through a case study focused on the medieval castles and palaces of the Ryukyu Kingdom, he demonstrates the vigorous trade taking place in East Asia before the arrival of the Europeans in the sixteenth century A.D. He also shows how archaeologists have sought to reconstruct monuments on Okinawa Island that were obliterated in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Through analysis of work completed at about 120 sites described in dozens of rare Japanese government reports with limited circulation, Pearson is able to show that many modern features of the culture, politics, and economy of the Ryukyu Islands have very deep roots. The book concludes with a discussion of aspects of Ryukyu archaeology that are significant for world archaeology and the archaeology of islands. Ancient Ryukyu offers an up-to-date treatment of an unusually long span of human history in the Ryukyu Islands and will become the definitive work in English on the premodern era.

In Taiwan Archaeology: Local Development and Cultural Boundaries in the China Seas, Richard Pearson describes the archaeology of the island, outlining the major discoveries of the past fifty years. These date from roughly 200,000 years ago to the pivotal seventeenth century AD, the time of Dutch and Spanish contact and the entry of Taiwan into global trade markets. The book focuses on some forty sites and is based on roughly 450 published sources in English, Chinese, and Japanese and includes a brief discussion of finds from the surrounding areas of Fujian, Guangdong, the northern Philippines, and the Ryukyu Islands, noting their significance for understanding Taiwan. This discussion allows for comparison of the different historical trajectories of the neighboring regions of the East and South China Seas through more than five millennia. While the early chapters are primarily descriptive with some interpretive conclusions, the final chapter contains discussions of general topics that integrate and interpret the earlier narrative sections and highlight some of the most interesting topics of the latest research, such as the effects of sea level change, ancient exchange systems of basalt from Penghu and nephrite from Fengtian (Hualien) and glass beads from Southeast Asia and the China mainland. The prehistoric people of Taiwan lived in a similar fashion to the peoples of the adjacent mainland until around 3500 years ago, when their cultural and political developmental trajectories of development diverged, as Taiwan became isolated from the increasingly complex societies of Guangdong and Fujian. New data show that southern and eastern Taiwan groups participated in exchange networks with people in Island Southeast Asia as early as 2500 years ago. Unique in its coverage of recent advances in the study of the long-term history of Taiwan and surrounding areas, Taiwan Archaeology explores many features of the island’s premodern past that are key to understanding its current geopolitical situation.

In Taiwan Archaeology: Local Development and Cultural Boundaries in the China Seas, Richard Pearson describes the archaeology of the island, outlining the major discoveries of the past fifty years. These date from roughly 200,000 years ago to the pivotal seventeenth century AD, the time of Dutch and Spanish contact and the entry of Taiwan into global trade markets. The book focuses on some forty sites and is based on roughly 450 published sources in English, Chinese, and Japanese and includes a brief discussion of finds from the surrounding areas of Fujian, Guangdong, the northern Philippines, and the Ryukyu Islands, noting their significance for understanding Taiwan. This discussion allows for comparison of the different historical trajectories of the neighboring regions of the East and South China Seas through more than five millennia. While the early chapters are primarily descriptive with some interpretive conclusions, the final chapter contains discussions of general topics that integrate and interpret the earlier narrative sections and highlight some of the most interesting topics of the latest research. Among the subjects covered are the effects of sea level change, ancient exchange systems of basalt from Penghu and nephrite from Fengtian (Hualien), and glass beads from Southeast Asia and the China mainland. The prehistoric people of Taiwan lived in a similar fashion to the peoples of the adjacent mainland until around 3500 years ago, when their cultural and political developmental trajectories diverged as Taiwan became isolated from the increasingly complex societies of Guangdong and Fujian. New data show that southern and eastern Taiwan groups participated in exchange networks with people in Island Southeast Asia as early as 2500 years ago. Unique in its coverage of recent advances in the study of the long-term history of Taiwan and surrounding areas, Taiwan Archaeology explores many features of the island’s premodern past that are key to understanding its current geopolitical situation.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. This first volume contains extracts of William Makepeace Thackeray’s early fiction and journalism in the 1830s and 1840s. In his early career, Thackeray worked as an editor, sub-editor, writer, reviewer, foreign journalist, illustrator, versifier, and hack reporter, and by 1847 had managed to maintain an unbroken and multi-faceted literary output through magazines, journals and newspapers for fourteen years. With an introduction by Richard Pearson, this book reveals some of Thackeray’s early and lesser-known work. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. William Makepeace Thackeray spent part of virtually every year of his writing life in Paris and he wrote continually on France and French culture. This volume contains a selection of Thackeray’s travel writing, the majority of which centres around his time spent in France, with the addition of some writing on his travels to Germany and America. With an explanatory introduction by Richard Pearson, this book reveals some of Thackeray’s lesser-known work which would later inform his novels. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century travel writing and literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. William Makepeace Thackeray spent part of virtually every year of his writing life in Paris and he wrote continually on France and French culture. This volume contains a selection of Thackeray’s travel writing, the majority of which centres around his time spent in France, with the addition of some writing on his travels to Germany and America. With an explanatory introduction by Richard Pearson, this book reveals some of Thackeray’s lesser-known work which would later inform his novels. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century travel writing and literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. This third volume contains Anthony Trollope’s volume on Thackeray from John Morley’s series entitled The English Men of Letters. The work signifies Thackeray’s move to perceived respectability, placing him as part of the literary establishment, alongside writers such as Spenser, Johnson, Milton, Chaucer, Pope and Wordsworth. The introduction by Richard Pearson outlines the context in which the volume was written and received, including Trollope and Thackeray’s relationship and the book’s critical reception.This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. This third volume contains Anthony Trollope’s volume on Thackeray from John Morley’s series entitled The English Men of Letters. The work signifies Thackeray’s move to perceived respectability, placing him as part of the literary establishment, alongside writers such as Spenser, Johnson, Milton, Chaucer, Pope and Wordsworth. The introduction by Richard Pearson outlines the context in which the volume was written and received, including Trollope and Thackeray’s relationship and the book’s critical reception.This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. This fourth volume contains Charles Plumptre Johnson’s The Early Writings of William Makepeace Thackeray and Adolphus Alfred Jack’s Thackeray: A Study. While Johnson’s work signifies a landmark in Thackeray scholarship, recognizing his lesser-known work for magazines and newspapers, A. A. Jack’s text marks a major reassessment of Thackeray’s work in light of the debate on the moral intentionality of fiction. Richard Pearson’s introduction guides the reader through the context of each publication, providing a helpful explanation of how and why these works were written. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. This fourth volume contains Charles Plumptre Johnson’s The Early Writings of William Makepeace Thackeray and Adolphus Alfred Jack’s Thackeray: A Study. While Johnson’s work signifies a landmark in Thackeray scholarship, recognizing his lesser-known work for magazines and newspapers, A. A. Jack’s text marks a major reassessment of Thackeray’s work in light of the debate on the moral intentionality of fiction. Richard Pearson’s introduction guides the reader through the context of each publication, providing a helpful explanation of how and why these works were written. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. This fifth volume contains the memoir of Eyre Crowe, who accompanied Thackeray on his tour of America. The account offers an outsider’s glimpse into the professional and public world of William Thackeray whilst on his tour of the United States. It provides the itinerary of the trip, as well as images of the places and people met on the tour, which the reader could not obtain from Thackeray’s letters alone. The introduction by Richard Pearson discusses Crowe and Thackeray’s relationship, Thackeray’s role as a public speaker and his opinion on slavery, a heated issue in both England and America at the time. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century travel writing and literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. This fifth volume contains the memoir of Eyre Crowe, who accompanied Thackeray on his tour of America. The account offers an outsider’s glimpse into the professional and public world of William Thackeray whilst on his tour of the United States. It provides the itinerary of the trip, as well as images of the places and people met on the tour, which the reader could not obtain from Thackeray’s letters alone. The introduction by Richard Pearson discusses Crowe and Thackeray’s relationship, Thackeray’s role as a public speaker and his opinion on slavery, a heated issue in both England and America at the time. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century travel writing and literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. This sixth volume contains the work of Lewis Melville, one of the most productive biographers and critics of Thackeray at the turn of the 20th century. Richard Pearson’s helpful introduction not only provides additional information on the biographer himself, but also analyses the text and tracks its development over time. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. This sixth volume contains the work of Lewis Melville, one of the most productive biographers and critics of Thackeray at the turn of the 20th century. Richard Pearson’s helpful introduction not only provides additional information on the biographer himself, but also analyses the text and tracks its development over time. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century literature.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of texts written by and about the novelist, which provide an insight into his life and works beyond his major novels such as Vanity Fair. It begins with some of Thackeray’s lesser-known journalistic work and travel writings and moves on to key works written about the author in the second half of the 19th century and at the turn of the 20th century. Each volume begins with an informative introduction by Richard Pearson, providing a brief analysis of each text and presenting the context in which it was written. This set will be of keen interest to those studying William Thackeray and nineteenth-century literature more broadly.

First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist. This first volume contains extracts of William Makepeace Thackeray’s early fiction and journalism in the 1830s and 1840s. In his early career, Thackeray worked as an editor, sub-editor, writer, reviewer, foreign journalist, illustrator, versifier, and hack reporter, and by 1847 had managed to maintain an unbroken and multi-faceted literary output through magazines, journals and newspapers for fourteen years. With an introduction by Richard Pearson, this book reveals some of Thackeray’s early and lesser-known work. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century literature.

This title was first published in 2000: Thackeray's "minor writings" remain caught in a debate about what constitutes "literature" and whether magazine writing and journalism might be construed as such. This debate was present during the inception of the mass periodical press in the 1830s when Thackeray began his career and forms part of the context of, reasoning within, and techniques of Thackeray's work. Throughout his career, Thackeray was enmeshed in critical arguments about periodicals, novels, "realism" and commercialism. He was himself both (and neither) journalist and literary artist and was at once a product of and critical of emerging writing practices. This book argues that an understanding of Thackeray's writings for periodicals and the literary and commercial context of these is central to an understanding of his literary achievement.

This title was first published in 2000: Thackeray's "minor writings" remain caught in a debate about what constitutes "literature" and whether magazine writing and journalism might be construed as such. This debate was present during the inception of the mass periodical press in the 1830s when Thackeray began his career and forms part of the context of, reasoning within, and techniques of Thackeray's work. Throughout his career, Thackeray was enmeshed in critical arguments about periodicals, novels, "realism" and commercialism. He was himself both (and neither) journalist and literary artist and was at once a product of and critical of emerging writing practices. This book argues that an understanding of Thackeray's writings for periodicals and the literary and commercial context of these is central to an understanding of his literary achievement. Focusing principally on the foundational part of his career, from 1833-1847, but relating this to the novels, particularly "Pendennis" and "The Adventures of Philip" and the "Cornhill Magazine" of the 1860s, the book explores Thackeray's ambiguous response to the burgeoning periodical press, and considers his negotation and critique of the market-place through a variety of publishing media.