Paradise Lost

Together yet alone, the Misses Bede occupy the central crossroads of parish life. Harriet, plump, elegant and jolly, likes nothing better than to make a fuss of new curates, secure in the knowledge that Count Ricardo Bianco will propose to her yet again this year. Belinda, meanwhile, has harboured sober feelings of devotion towards Archdeacon Hoccleve for thirty years. Then into their quiet, comfortable lives comes a famous librarian, Nathaniel Mold, and a bishop from Africa, Theodore Grote - who each takes to calling on the sisters for rather more unsettling reasons.

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. This second edition of Much Ado About Nothing retains the text and introduction prepared by F. H. Mares and features a new section by Angela Stock on recent film, stage and critical interpretations of the play. Mares pays special attention in the Introduction to the range of theatrical interpretations that have flourished since the first documented production of the play in the early seventeenth century. In particular, he explores notable performances of the roles of Benedick and Beatrice, from David Garrick to John Gielgud, and Peggy Ashcroft to Judi Dench. The commentary explicates the many sexual jokes in the text that are obscured by the complexity of Elizabethan English.

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to readers worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series, edited by an expert international team, includes all Shakespeare's plays, sonnets and poems, presented in attractively designed volumes. - modernised texts - full notes and lively introductions - informative illustrations - precise details of staging and performance. Norman Sanders provides a full analysis of the textual problem and theories of transmission of Othello, and presents possible solutions to the stylistic and racial issues which face modern readers and spectators. For this updated edition, Scott McMillin has added a new section on the key events in both scholarship and theatre since the 1980s, including political, feminist and postcolonial treatments in various parts of the world. A detailed description of performances of the play on stage, film and television tackles the issue of black/white casting of the main characters.

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to readers worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series, edited by an expert international team, includes all Shakespeare's plays, sonnets and poems, presented in attractively designed volumes. - modernised texts - full notes and lively introductions - informative illustrations - precise details of staging and performance. In performance, As You Like It can appear bright or sombre: a feast of language and a delight for comic actors, or a risk-taking exploration of gender roles. This updated edition provides an account of what makes this popular play both innocent and dangerous. There is a section on recent critical, stage and film interpretations of the play, an updated reading list and a new appendix on an early court performance of As You Like It in 1599. Mapping the complexities of the plays setting - a no man's land related to both France and England - the edition also offers detailed commentary on its language and an analytical account of performance.

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) was an English novelist of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, which revolves around the imaginary county of Barsetshire. Since its first appearance in 1870, "Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite" has been regarded as one of Trollope's finest short novels. On the death of his only son, the wealthy baronet Sir Harry Hotspur has determined to give his property to his daughter Emily. She is vigorous, beautiful and as strong-willed as her father. So when she falls in love with George, the black sheep of the family, Sir Harry must decide what to do.