This work provides biographical, historical, and literary support for readers approaching the works of poets in Europe from the late nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century.

A Reader's Guide to Fifty Modern European Poets

Literature & Fiction

Pilling, John

Poetry

Barnes & Noble Imports

Frescoes of the Skull: The Later Prose and Drama of Samuel Beckett

Knowlson, James

Dramas & Plays

Grove Pr

The Cambridge Companion to Beckett

Cambridge University Press

In Beckett before Godot, John Pilling reevaluates the formative years of Beckett between the publication of his first work in 1929 and the composition late in 1946 of The Calmative, his last work before "the trilogy." Using a wealth of unpublished manuscripts and correspondence from around the world, Pilling offers for the first time a coherent critical narrative of Beckett's development during this long period of apprenticeship. Beckett before Godot modifies and enhances our understanding of one of this century's most influential authors.

Beckett Before Godot

In Beckett before Godot, John Pilling reevaluates the formative years of Beckett between the publication of his first work in 1929 and the composition late in 1946 of The Calmative, his last work before "the trilogy." Using a wealth of unpublished manuscripts and correspondence from around the world, Pilling offers for the first time a coherent critical narrative of Beckett's development during this long period of apprenticeship. Beckett before Godot modifies and enhances our understanding of one of this century's most influential authors.

Beckett before Godot

Samuel Beckett

Routledge and Kegan Paul

Known around the world for its famous Royal Regatta, the Henley-on-Thames of today is a picturesque centre for the fashionable and successful. This was not always the case for this vibrant riverside town however—once a thriving river port, the railway boom of the 1840s took Henley’s traditional trade with it, and the town’s once beautiful buildings gradually fell into disrepair. Henley had to find a new source of prosperity—and in 1851, Prince Albert’s patronage of the Henley annual regatta was just what it needed. Oxfordshire historian John Pilling and photographer Laurence Waters have curated a selection of archive images and stunning modern photographs of Henley "then" and "now," fascinatingly illustrating the changing face of this popular town and providing an amazing insight into its history.

Henley on Thames Then & Now: In Colour

Arts & Photography

Waters, Laurence

Photography & Video

The History Press

Originally published in 1981. This book looks at the autobiographical work of nine twentieth-century writers – Henry Adams, Henry James, W. B. Yeats, Boris Pasternak, Leiris, Jean-Paul Sartre, Vladimir Nabokov, Henry Green and Adrian Stokes. The author argues that often the writer has shaped his life through his craft, coming to understand the pattern of his own existence through the formalism of language. In each case the writer stamps his personality on the work by mean of a distinctive verbal surface whose discipline enables him to evade narrow egotism and forces both reader and writer into an act of collaboration and corroboration. Written at a time when criticism was turning to focus on the relation between the reader and the text, this study added a provocative dimension to the debate and is still an important read today.

Autobiography and Imagination: Studies in Self-scrutiny (Routledge Library Editions: Autobiography)

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Routledge

Originally published in 1981. This book looks at the autobiographical work of nine twentieth-century writers – Henry Adams, Henry James, W. B. Yeats, Boris Pasternak, Leiris, Jean-Paul Sartre, Vladimir Nabokov, Henry Green and Adrian Stokes. The author argues that often the writer has shaped his life through his craft, coming to understand the pattern of his own existence through the formalism of language. In each case the writer stamps his personality on the work by mean of a distinctive verbal surface whose discipline enables him to evade narrow egotism and forces both reader and writer into an act of collaboration and corroboration. Written at a time when criticism was turning to focus on the relation between the reader and the text, this study added a provocative dimension to the debate and is still an important read today.

History & Criticism

Drawing on private correspondence and little known documents, published and unpublished, Pilling explores every aspect of the More Pricks Than Kicks short story collection. From its publishing history to why they were written, Pilling reveals Beckett's conflicted feelings about the 'compromise' of writing short stories and his struggle to find a voice distinct from James Joyce, his friend and authority of the form. By discussing each story as separate entity, in a grouping that deviates from the collection, and by analysing 'Echo's Bones', Pilling makes new comparisons and contrasts, illustrating Beckett's idiosyncratic handling of the form. Making sure to place the stories in the context of the post-war work, this early study of Beckett highlights the years and work central to his development as a writer.

Samuel Beckett's 'More Pricks Than Kicks': In A Strait Of Two Wills (Historicizing Modernism)

Bloomsbury Academic

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Books by Pilling, John