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This is a celebrated biography of Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), prehaps the greatest lyric poet of this century. Rilke was born in Prague, but his nomadic existence led him through Germany, Russia, Spain, Italy, and France, until his death in Switzerland from leukaemia. Uniquely, he dedicated himself exclusively to his art while remaining receptive to the most varied influences of European culture. He visited Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana, acted for a time as secretary to Rodin, and was a frien...

Mann introduces you to people and places that inspire him. His physical journeys - to gay meccas like Key West and provincetown and overseas to Germany, Ireland and Scotland - lead to examination of gay history, family legacy, and the journey from youth's unrequited passions to mature adult relationships.

The definitive biography of Soviet Jewish dissident writer Vasily Grossman, called "gripping" and "fascinating" by William Taubman in the New York Times "[Popoff] tells Grossman's story with sensitivity and a keen understanding of his world, drawing on little-known archival collections to produce what must be considered the definitive biography."-Douglas Smith, Wall Street Journal Longlisted for the 2019 Cundill History Prize sponsored by McGill University; finalist in the 2019 National Jewi...

What is The Tiger Who Came to Tea really about? How is Meg and Mog related to Polish embroidery? And why does death in picture books involve being eaten? Fierce Bad Rabbits explores the stories behind our favourite picture books, weaving in tales of Clare Pollard's childhood reading and her re-discovery of the classic tales as a parent. Because the best picture books are far more complex than they seem - and darker too. Monsters can gobble up children and go unnoticed, power is not always used...

Award winning Paul Theroux has written many iconic shorter pieces of travel writing which have been collected together in the captivating Sunrise with Seamonsters. Sunrise with Seamonsters is Paul Theroux's immensely entertaining collection of his shorter writings, ranging from sketches to critical essays. Each piece marks a new 'confrontation with the world' and throws new light on the political and social climate of diverse cultures such as those of New York, Singapore, Ireland and Malawi. Oth...

This is an essential early Johnson biography, recovered from obscurity and reissued in celebration of the tercentenary of Johnson's birth. This is the first and only scholarly edition of Sir John Hawkins' Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., a work that has not been widely available in complete form for more than two hundred years. Published in 1787, some four years before James Boswell's biography of Johnson, ""Hawkins' Life"" complements, clarifies, and often corrects numerous aspects of Boswell's L...

This study surveys Hughes's entire achievement, including "Birthday Letters". It contains a great deal of new information, including extracts from Hughes's letters, and the first publication of the background story of Crow. There are chapters on the mythic imagination, on the poetic relationship of Hughes and Plath, and on the evolution of a Hughes poem through all its manuscript drafts. However, the main purpose is to attempt an adequate reading of his poetry, revealing the underlying quest whi...

This book of conversations with one of America's most revered writers extends the firsthand account of Eudora Welty's life and work from the early 1980s to the present and supplements Conversations with Eudora Welty, which novelist Anne Tyler said brought her "pure pleasure."These interviews include many that refer to Welty's memoir, One Writer's Beginnings, and greatly amplify the picture of her personal life that emerged from the earlier collection of interviews. She reminisces here about her...

This brilliant memoir is Adam Zagajewski's recollection of 1960s and 1970s communist Poland, where he was a fledgling writer, student of philosophy, and vocal dissident at the university in Krakow, Poland's most beautiful and ancient city.