Simon Kövesi – författare

'Tom was the gayest of the gay! Pleasure was his idol—novelty his ruling passion—and to gratify this propensity, every avenue was traced that led to it.'Life in London was a smash hit sensation when it appeared serially between 1820 and 1821. Its plot is ostensibly simple: the country gentleman Jerry Hawthorn visits his suave metropolitan cousin Corinthian Tom, who, in the company of the Oxonian Bob Logic and Tom's amour Corinthian Kate, shows Jerry the highs and lows of life in the world's most populus city. The novel ranges promiscuously, taking in cock fighting and the Royal Academy; a ball in high society and a gin shop in the East End; masquerades and street fighting; lords and bawds; gallants and beggars; and Jacco Macacco the fighting monkey. Showing us the London swirl that Jane Austen's novels largely avoided and employing an exuberant style that informed Charles Dickens' early work, Life in London sweeps its readers through the early-nineteenth-century metropolis, from its exclusive clubs to its poorest slums and from a fortune-teller's shabby parlour to the throne room of George IV.This new edition presents the text in its full extravagant glory. It is supported by detailed notes and glossaries to help situate readers amidst the vastness and rush of a city within which, in Egan's words, 'The extremes, in every point of view, are daily to be met with'.

This book investigates what it is that makes John Clare’s poetic vision so unique, and asks how we use Clare for contemporary ends. It explores much of the criticism that has appeared in response to his life and work, and asks hard questions about the modes and motivations of critics and editors. Clare is increasingly regarded as having been an environmentalist long before the word appeared; this book investigates whether this ‘green’ rush to place him as a radical proto-ecologist does any disservice to his complex positions in relation to social class, work, agriculture, poverty and women. This book attempts to unlock Clare’s own theorisations and practices of what we might now call an ‘ecological consciousness’, and works out how his ‘ecocentric’ mode might relate to that of other Romantic poets. Finally, this book asks how we might treat Clare as our contemporary while still being attentive to the peculiarities of his unique historical circumstances.

Poets of labouring class origin were published in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some were popular and important in their day but few are available today. This is a collection of some of those poems from the 18th century.

Poets of labouring class origin were published in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some were popular and important in their day but few are available today. This is a collection of some of those poems from the 18th century.

Poets of labouring class origin were published in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some were popular and important in their day but few are available today. This is a collection of some of those poems from the 18th century.