An aphorism is "a short pithy statement or maxim," but beneath this definition lies a wealth of wit and insight to which neither the word nor a brief description can do justice. This anthology demonstrates just how rewarding an art form the aphorism can be, and just how brilliantly the aphorist can illuminate the hidden truth, or lay bare the ironies of existence. Specific sections on desires and longings, self-doubt, fame and reputations, happiness and sorrow, cover the whole range of aphoristic literature. This book brings together the most diverse figures-the classic aphorists, like La Rochefoucauld; the philosophers, from the Greeks to Samuel Johnson to Virginia Woolf-as well as statesmen, scientists, boulevardiers, Olympians, and gadflies. John Gross draws on their wisdom and wit to produce an anthology that will be referred to time and time again.

Oxford Book of Aphorisms (Oxford Books of Prose)

Gross, John

Literature & Fiction

Oxford University Press

Parodies come in all shapes and sizes. There are broad parodies and subtle parodies, ingenious imitations and knockabout spoofs, scornful lampoons and affectionate pastiches. All these varieties, and many others, appear in this delightful anthology, which has been hailed as "delightful" (Wall Street Journal), "enjoyable" (The New Yorker), and "sparkling" (The Financial Times). The classics of the genre are all here, but so are scores of lesser known but scarcely less brilliant works. At every stage there are surprises. Proust visits Chelsea, Yeats re-writes "Old King Cole," Harry Potter encounters Mick Jagger, a modernized Sermon on the Mount rubs shoulders with an obituary of Sherlock Holmes. The collection provides a hilarious running commentary on literary history, but it also looks beyond literature to include such things as ad parodies, political parodies, and even a scientific hoax. The collection includes work by such accomplished parodists as Max Beerbohm, Robert Benchley, H. L. Mencken, and Evelyn Waugh. And the "victims" include Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Poe, Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, Cole Porter, Martin Amis, and many others.

The Oxford Book of Parodies

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

The essay is one of the richest of literary forms. Its most obvious characteristics are freedom, informality, and the personal touch--though it can also find room for poetry, satire, fantasy, and sustained argument. All these qualities, and many others, are on display in The Oxford Book of Essays. The most wide-ranging collection of its kind to appear for many years, it includes 140 essays by 120 writers: classics, curiosities, meditations, diversions, old favorites, recent examples that deserve to be better known. A particularly welcome feature is the amount of space allotted to American essayists, from Benjamin Franklin to John Updike and beyond. This is an anthology that opens with wise words about the nature of truth, and closes with a consideration of the novels of Judith Krantz. Some of the other topics discussed in its pages are anger, pleasure, Gandhi, Beau Brummell, wasps, party-going, gangsters, plumbers, Beethoven, potato crisps, the importance of being the right size, and the demolition of Westminster Abbey. It contains some of the most eloquent writing in English, and some of the most entertaining.

The Oxford Book of Essays (Oxford Books of Prose & Verse)

Essays & Correspondence

Multiphonics for the Saxophone by John Gross features diagrams and explanations for over 170 different note combinations for all saxophones---designed to build strength, flexibility, and endurance.

Multiphonics for the Saxophone: A Practical Guide

Arts & Photography

Music

advance music GmbH

First U.S. edition. A study of the English man of letters and his treatment during the Victorian, Edwardian and contemporary eras. Jacket chipped with tears and a piece missing near the top of the spine. xiv, 322 pages. cloth, dust jacket.. 8vo..

The rise and fall of the man of letters: Aspects of English literary life since 1800

Macmillan

James Joyce

Penguin??Books

James Joyce: 2 (Modern masters)

Viking Adult

A sociological look at the influence of Shakespeare's Shylock on world mythology describes the character's creation and his evolution on the stage, and presents writing about him by Proust, James, T. S. Eliot, and others. 10,000 first printing.

Shylock: A Legend and Its Legacy

Simon&Schuster

A Double Thread

Biographies & Memoirs

Chatto&Windus

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Books by Gross, John