Brothers of the Quill


Book Description

Oliver Goldsmith arrived in England in 1756 a penniless Irishman. He toiled for years in the anonymity of Grub Street—already a synonym for impoverished hack writers—before he became one of literary London’s most celebrated authors. Norma Clarke tells the extraordinary story of this destitute scribbler turned gentleman of letters as it unfolds in the early days of commercial publishing, when writers’ livelihoods came to depend on the reading public, not aristocratic patrons. Clarke examines a network of writers radiating outward from Goldsmith: the famous and celebrated authors of Dr. Johnson’s “Club” and those far less fortunate “brothers of the quill” trapped in Grub Street. Clarke emphasizes Goldsmith’s sense of himself as an Irishman, showing that many of his early literary acquaintances were Irish émigrés: Samuel Derrick, John Pilkington, Paul Hiffernan, and Edward Purdon. These writers tutored Goldsmith in the ways of Grub Street, and their influence on his development has not previously been explored. Also Irish was the patron he acquired after 1764, Robert Nugent, Lord Clare. Clarke places Goldsmith in the tradition of Anglo-Irish satirists beginning with Jonathan Swift. He transmuted troubling truths about the British Empire into forms of fable and nostalgia whose undertow of Irish indignation remains perceptible, if just barely, beneath an equanimous English surface. To read Brothers of the Quill is to be taken by the hand into the darker corners of eighteenth-century Grub Street, and to laugh and cry at the absurdities of the writing life.




The Good-natured Man


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Poems, Plays and Essays


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Delphi Complete Works of Oliver Goldsmith (Illustrated)


Book Description

The eighteenth century author Oliver Goldsmith produced a diverse body of works, featuring a famous novel, plays, poetry, essays, histories and many other non-fiction works. This comprehensive eBook presents the complete fictional works of Oliver Goldsmith, with almost the complete non-fiction, as well as numerous illustrations, rare texts appearing in digital print for the first time, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Goldsmith’s life and works * Concise introductions to the novel, plays and other texts * ALL the plays, with individual contents tables * Images of how the books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Excellent formatting of the texts * Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry * Goldsmith’s rare children’s tale THE HISTORY OF LITTLE GOODY TWO-SHOES * Includes Goldsmith’s essays * Many rare non-fiction works appearing in digital print for the first time * Features four biographies - discover Goldsmith’s literary life * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles CONTENTS: The Novel THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD The Plays THE GOOD-NATUR’D MAN SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER The Children’s Tale THE HISTORY OF LITTLE GOODY TWO-SHOES The Poems LIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER The Non-Fiction AN ENQUIRY INTO THE PRESENT STATE OF POLITE LEARNING IN EUROPE THE CITIZEN OF THE WORLD THE LIFE OF RICHARD NASH OF BATH THE MYSTERY REVEALED THE MARTIAL REVIEW AN HISTORY OF ENGLAND, IN A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM A NOBLEMAN TO HIS SON THE HISTORY OF ROME THE LIFE OF HENRY LORD VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE THE LIFE OF THOMAS PARNELL, D.D. ARCHDEACON OF CLOGHER THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND: FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE II DR. GOLDSMITH’S ROMAN HISTORY ABRIDGED BY HIMSELF FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS AN HISTORY OF THE EARTH AND ANIMATED NATURE THE GRECIAN HISTORY AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND DR. GOLDSMITH’S HISTORY OF GREECE, ABRIDGED, FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS A SURVEY OF EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY The Essays THE BEE: BEING ESSAYS ON THE MOST INTERESTING SUBJECTS MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS ESSAYS BY MR. GOLDSMITH: COLLECTA REVIRESCUNT The Biographies OLIVER GOLDSMITH: A BIOGRAPHY by Washington Irving OLIVER GOLDSMITH by Henry Francis Cary OLIVER GOLDSMITH by E. S. LANG Buckland INTRODUCTION TO OLIVER GOLDSMITH by Austin Dobson Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles




She Stoops To Conquer


Book Description

"She Stoops to Conquer" is a comedy play written by the Anglo-Irish playwright Oliver Goldsmith. It was first performed in London in 1773. The play is a classic of English literature and is known for its humor, wit, and exploration of social class distinctions. The plot revolves around the attempts of two young men, Marlow and Hastings, to court the wealthy Miss Kate Hardcastle and her cousin Constance Neville. Mistaken identities, misunderstandings, and comedic situations ensue when Marlow mistakes the Hardcastle home for an inn and behaves differently towards Kate than he does towards ladies of his own class. The title, "She Stoops to Conquer," refers to the central plot point where Kate pretends to be a barmaid to win over Marlow, who is shy and awkward around upper-class women but more confident with women of lower social status.