A House and Its Head


Book Description

A radical thinker, one of the rare modern heretics, said Mary McCarthy of Ivy Compton-Burnett, in whose austere, savage, and bitingly funny novels anything can happen and no one will ever escape. The long, endlessly surprising conversational duels at the center of Compton-Burnett's works are confrontations between the unspoken and the unspeakable, and in them the dynamics of power and desire are dramatized as nowhere else. New York Review Books is reissuing two of the finest novels of this singular modern genius—works that look forward to the blacky comic inventions of Muriel Spark as much as they do back to the drawing rooms of Jane Austen. A House and Its Head is Ivy Compton-Burnett's subversive look at the politics of family life, and perhaps the most unsparing of her novels. No sooner has Duncan Edgeworth's wife died than he takes a new, much younger bride whose willful ways provoke a series of transgressions that begins with adultery and ends, much to everyone's relief, in murder.




Ivy Compton-Burnett


Book Description

The first fully detailed and critically contextualised study of the novels of Ivy Compton-BurnettIvy Compton-Burnett is a strikingly original novelist, writing conversation-novels in which talk is the medium and subject. She is innovative like Joyce and Woolf but more accessible and less theoretical, a modernist unawares. She makes readers think and her terse cool witty style reminds us that the novel is an art. To read most living writers of fiction after reading her is to feel novelists have become lazy and made their readers lazy. She requires attention, and she doesn't write to pass the time or invite identification, but she is amusing and challenging.This re-valuation of a neglected artist is a close analysis of forms, ideas and language in novels which range from her first conventionally moral love-story, Dolores, which she tried to suppress, to startling stories about landed gentry in Victorian and Edwardian England.Key FeaturesProvides incisive and accessible close readings of Compton-Burnett's language, life-narratives, emotional expression and thoughtPresents new work of a leading criticPlaces Compton-Burnett in the context of Modernist writing




Two Worlds and Their Ways


Book Description







Mother and Son


Book Description

The exacting Miranda's search for a suitable companion brings her family into contact with a very different kind of household, raising a plenitude of questions about the ability to manage alone, the difficulties of living with strangers and some strange discoveries about intimates.




The Uncommon Reader


Book Description

From one of England's most celebrated writers, a funny and superbly observed novella about the Queen of England and the subversive power of reading When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J. R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically. Abetted in her newfound obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large. With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, England's best loved author Alan Bennett revels in the power of literature to change even the most uncommon reader's life.




They


Book Description

A dark, dystopian portrait of artists struggling to resist violent suppression—“queer, English, a masterpiece.” (Hilton Als) Set amid the rolling hills and the sandy shingle beaches of coastal Sussex, this disquieting novel depicts an England in which bland conformity is the terrifying order of the day. Violent gangs roam the country destroying art and culture and brutalizing those who resist the purge. As the menacing “They” creep ever closer, a loosely connected band of dissidents attempt to evade the chilling mobs, but it’s only a matter of time until their luck runs out. Winner of the 1977 South-East Arts Literature Prize, Kay Dick’s They is an uncanny and prescient vision of a world hostile to beauty, emotion, and the individual.




Indian Doctoral Dissertations in English Studies


Book Description

Indian Research In English Studies Has A Long And Rich Tradition But, Unfortunately, It Has Failed To Make Any Notable Impact On The Academic World. This Is Largely Due To The Fact That Most Of The Indian Doctoral Dissertations In English Studies Lie Buried In University Libraries And Are Inaccessible To Aspiring Researchers. No Attempt Has Been Made So Far To Establish Any Link Or Co-Ordination Between Research Activities Of Different Universities/Institutes. This Has Resulted In A Total Neglect Of Earlier Research And Unnecessary Duplication.The Present Volume Is Designed To End This Unhappy Situation By Providing A Complete And Authentic Account Of Research Carried Out In Indian Universities Not Only In British, American, Commonwealth And Indian English Literature But Also In Comparative Studies, Translation Studies, Language, Linguistics And Elt. Entries On The Above Mentioned Are Arranged Subject-Wise In Chronological Sequence And Are Followed By A Separate Section On Individual Authors In Alphabetical Order. Thus It Provides A Consolidated View Of Indian Research In English And Serves As An Invaluable Reference Manual. It Is A Step Towards Orientation And Systematisation Of Indian Research In English Studies And Will Help To Make Research A Well-Informed, Well-Planned And Meaningful Exercise.