Oxford History of English Literature – serie

Shakespeare is usually set apart from his contemporaries, in kind no less than quality. This book sees Elizabethan drama as drawn together by a shared need to deal with contradictory pressures from heterogeneous audiences, censorious authorities, profit driven managers, and authors looking for classic status and social esteem. The power of poetry gives these contradictory purposes an intensity and scope that speaks directly to our own motives, aspirations, and evasions. But this connection must be shallow if we do not face the strangeness as well as the accessibility of this repertory. Starting from texts rather than systems, experience rather than explanation, Hunter argues that only by treating the unfamiliar and even the distasteful with equal seriousness can we allow the familiar in Shakespeare its historical separateness as well as its imaginative intimacy.

The magisterial Oxford History of English Literature is here reissued in its entirety, so that readers can collect any volumes that they missed on first publication, and new purchasers can obtain all thirteen published volumes at once. For the purposes of the reissue certain of the volumes have been retitled and the series has been renumbered; all volumes appear in handsome matching jackets. Of the two outstanding volumes, The Victorian Novel will be available in , (see P. 00), and The English Drama 1588-1642 will follow.Reviews of the volumes on their first publication spoke of `traditional literary scholarship at its best' and `essential basic reading for anyone who is interested in the subject'. The series - individual volumes of which can be purchased separately - should appeal to general readers and students alike.

Aims to study the age of Chaucer and the events that shaped his career, and to show how the age made the poet. It also pays considerable attention to the precise poetic means Chaucer used to produce his effects. The writings of Lydgate, Hoccleve, Pecock, Fortescue, Caxton and other unknown writers of the 15th century are also assessed. Their work covered subjects such as love, war, religion, history, medicine, travel and practical affairs. This book sums up the contribution of the 15th century to the body and continuity of English literature.

This book is intended for students of English literature at `A' level and above; general readers interested in a complete history of literature from Middle English to the earlier twentieth century.

This book is intended for students of English literature at `A' level and above; general readers interested in a complete history of literature from Middle English to the earlier twentieth century.

This book is intended for students of English literature at `A' level and above; general readers interested in a complete history of literature from Middle English to the earlier twentieth century.