Showing titles in Literary History & Criticism

Jane Austen Stories is the new show from the Noiser podcast network, narrated by Dame Julie Andrews.Season One begins with Julie reading an all-time classic of English literature, Pride and Prejudice, in its original masterful form.Join us twice a week as we walk grand estates, take tea with well-dressed gentlewomen, and enter ballrooms to dance with the great and good of the county. But in this tranquil corner of England, not everything is quite as it appears... Can our heroine Elizabeth navigate a world of secrets and simmering passions? Can the Bennet family avoid scandal and destitution? ...

Warmups and all the Beginner's Level Grammar in Italian!Welcome, benvenuti! 😊

Dive into the intriguing life of Madame Guyon, a French mystic and primary advocate of Quietism, which was deemed heretical by the Roman Catholic Church. Experience her resilience as she endured imprisonment from 1695 to 1703 for her controversial book, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer. This rendition of her autobiography, translated by Thomas Taylor Allen, was first published in 1897.

The Follycast is a bookclub podcast series focused on the Rivers Of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. Each episode we discuss a book in the series.

With an introduction by Harriet McDougal, Origins of The Wheel of Time by Michael Livingston explores the inspirations behind the acclaimed series The Wheel of Time, including a biography of Robert Jordan for the first time. ‘Jordan has come to dominate the world Tolkien began to reveal’ –...

The long-awaited portrait of a literary master from one of our generation's greatest biographers. Anthony Powell: the literary genius who gave us A Dance to the Music of Time, an undisputed classic of English literature. Spanning 12 spectacular volumes and written over 25 years, his comic masterpiece teems with idiosyncratic characters, capturing 20th-century Britain through war and peace. Drawing on Powell's letters and journals, and the memories of those who knew him, Hilary Spurling explores his life.

Taking an analytical approach to Hogwarts's irascible, protective Potions professor, author Lorrie Kim presents a closer look at how Dumbledore's double agent operates behind the scenes throughout the Harry Potter series. By examining the story from Snape's point of view, this in-depth exploration pierces the defenses of the wizarding world's famed Occlumens, revealing the man for who he truly is: one of pop culture's most memorable heroes.

Recorded at the modestly sized West Beth Centre in New York City, this album is Eddie's first recorded outside the UK. It is a brilliant tour de force on empire, religion, and the relationship between Europe and America.

Short Stories in Italian for Intermediate Learners has been written specifically for students from a low-intermediate to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement and, most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to B1-B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories will both entertain you and give you a feeling of progress when listening.

Winter, with its unsettling blend of the cosy and the sinister, has long been a popular time for gathering by the bright flame of a candle, or the warm crackling of a fire, and swapping stories of ghosts and strange happenings. Now eight best-selling, award-winning authors, master storytellers of the sinister and the macabre bring this time-honoured tradition to vivid life in a spellbinding collection of new and original haunted tales.

Ursula K. Le Guin witnessed and contributed to many of the twentieth century’s rebellions and upheavals, including women’s liberation, the Civil Rights movement and US anti-war and environmental activism. Spanning fifty years of her life and work, Space Crone brings together Le Guin’s writings on feminism and gender for the first time, offering new insights into her imaginative, multispecies feminist consciousness: from its roots in deep ecology and philosophies of non-violence to her self-education about racism and her writing on motherhood and ageing.

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is a classic Japanese novel from the 11th century, following the life of Hikaru Genji, the son of an emperor. A romantic and cultured noble, Genji navigates courtly politics and love affairs, experiencing passion, loss, and exile. His relationships, particularly with women, shape his fate, reflecting Heian-era ideals. After his death, the story follows his descendants, exploring themes of impermanence and sorrow. Renowned for its psychological depth and poetic elegance, it is considered the world's first novel, offering insight into Japan’s aristocratic ...

A stunningly beautiful youth and the city of Venice set the stage for Thomas Mann’s introspective examination of erotic love and philosophical wisdom.

New York Times bestselling author Alan Furst pens evocative and urbane novels of World War II espionage. Focusing on the European theater, Furst writes about ordinary people struggling to cope with the chaos of the world around them.

C S Lewis’s philosophical defence of Natural Law (absolute morality) – without which human beings are reduced to less than fully human, and are, thus ‘abolished’. CS Lewis argues that objective value actually exists and that to believe otherwise is to create nonsense. Human beings...

Dante Alighieri was early in recognizing that our age has a problem. His hometown, Florence, was at the epicenter of the move from the medieval world to the modern. The Divine Comedy was born in a time of troubling transition, which is why it still speaks today. In this narrative retelling and guide, from the gates of hell, up the mountain of purgatory, to the empyrean of paradise, Mark Vernon offers a vivid introduction and interpretation of a book that, 700 years on, continues to open minds and change lives.

Short Stories in Russian for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories are designed to give you a sense of achievement and a feeling of progress when listening. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Russian for Beginners will make learning Russian easy and enjoyable. 

A Princess of Mars was the first book by Edgar Rice Burroughs to feature the character John Carter. It led to an 11-book series featuring his adventures and became the basis for the 2012 movie. Carter is a war-weary former military captain during the Civil War who is inexplicably transported to Mars. He quickly (and reluctantly) becomes embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions among the inhabitants of the planet.

Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan has captivated millions around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters. In this series companion book, the listener will learn about the exotic beasts used by the Seanchan and hear of the rise and fall of Artur Hawking, and peruse the deeper story of the War of the Shadow. Here is the tale of the founding of the White Tower, and the creation of the Ajahs. The inner workings of the closed country, Shara, are revealed, as is the existence of a hitherto unknown continent, The Land of the Madmen.

A collection of Larkin's best-known poems, read by the poet. The Sunday Sessions consists of 26 poems, the contents of two tapes recorded by Philip Larkin in Hull in February 1980 - reportedly, each on a Sunday, after lunch with John Weeks, a sound engineer and colleague of the poet. The tapes contain work from Larkin's first major collection, The North Ship as well as poems from his best-known collections, The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows.