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The Hungry Tide
€14,40di Amitav Ghosh
‘Amitav Ghosh is such a fascinating and seductive writer… I cannot think of another contemporary writer with whom it would be this thrilling to go so far, so fast’ The Times
January 2001: A small ship, led by wealthy Scotsman Daniel Hamilton, arrives in the Sundarbans, a vast archipelago of islands in the mythical river Ganges, a half-drowned land where the waters of the Himalayas merge with the incoming tides of the sea.
In the Sundarbans the tides reach more than 100 miles inland, and every day thousands of hectares of forest disappear only to re-emerge hours later. Dense as the mangrove forests are, from Hamilton’s point of view, it is only a little less barren than a desert.
The eccentric Scotsman and the scientists on board the ship disembark to study this little-known environment, and to trace the journeys of the descendants of this society. Their goal? To create a utopian society, of all races and religions, and conquer the might of the Sundarbans.
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Krapp’s Last Tape and Other Shorter Plays
€14,25di Samuel Beckett
Krapp’s Last Tape was first performed by Patrick Magee at the Royal Court Theatre in October 1958, and described as ‘a solo, if that is the word, for one voice and two organs: one human, one mechanical. It fills few pages. It is perhaps the most original and important play of its length ever written.’ (Roy Walker)
The present volume brings together Krapp’s Last Tape and Beckett’s other shorter works or ‘dramaticules’ written for the stage. It will be complemented by a forthcoming Faber edition of dramatic works written for radio and screen.
Arranged in chronological order of composition, these shorter plays exhibit the laconic means and compassionate ends of Beckett’s dramatic vision.
KRAPP ‘Here I end this reel. Box – [Pause.] – three, spool – [Pause.] – five. [Pause.] Perhaps my best years have gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn’t want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn’t want them back. [Staring motionless before him.]
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Castle Rackrent and Ennui
€14,00di Maria Edgeworth
Thady Quirk, devoted steward to the decaying estate of the Rackrent family, narrates a riotous story of four generations of a dying dynasty in Castle Rackrent (1800). Thady will defend his masters to the end, but eventually his naivety and blind loyalty cause him to ignore the warning signs as the family’s excesses lead them to ruin. This volume also includes Ennui, the entertaining ‘confessions’ of the Earl of Glenthorn, a bored, spoiled aristocrat. Desperate to be free from ‘the demon of ennui’, Glenthorn’s quest for happiness takes him through violence and revolution, and leads to intriguing twists of fate. Both novels offer a darkly comic and satirical exposé of the Irish class system, and a portrait of a nation in turmoil.
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Towards Autonomy
€14,00di Sharon Hartle
Contemporary English Language Teaching is going through a period of change. This is just as true of university language teaching as it is of teaching in other contexts. By looking at language and learning theories alongside the development of both applied linguistics and language teaching in the twentieth century, a clear progression can be seen as one approach takes over from its forerunner, assimilating effective teaching practices and eschewing ineffective ones as it goes. The process, however, is not linear and the situation today reflects that. At this point in time languages are being taught in many different ways, in many different contexts. The specific context of foreign language learning in universities is only one example of these, but as far as methodology is concerned it reflects the trend towards developing autonomous learning, and the move towards creating learner-centred classrooms. These are trends that can be seen fairly generally in language teaching as a whole at this time. In this discussion the aim is to assess the development of classroom practices that are currently in use, to look at their development throughout the history of foreign language teaching from the nineteenth century to the present and to see how the way forward in teaching is moving towards a mixed syllabus focus, where both structural grammar and lexical grammar have their roles, as well as the development of skills and communicative competence. This will be examined in the light of language and learner theories, and current research in the field of language acquisition. Finally, the particular context of university language teaching in Italian university language centres will be considered and ways in which learner autonomy can be implemented successfully in this context will be examined. A blended approach would seem to be the answer, where learner-centred classroom work is combined with autonomous work, and where a balance is achieved between the communicative use of language, on the one hand, and the cognitive analysis of how language works on the other. The roles of both teacher and learner are also discussed as these too have changed over the years, as a result of research findings.
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A passage to India
€13,65di E.M. Forster
When Adela and her elderly companion Mrs Moore arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore, they quickly feel trapped by its insular and prejudiced British community. Determined to explore the ‘real India’, they seek the guidance of the charming and mercurial Dr Aziz, a cultivated Indian Muslim. But a mysterious incident occurs while they are exploring the Marabar caves with Aziz, and the well-respected doctor soon finds himself at the centre of a scandal that rouses violent passions among both the British and their Indian subjects. A masterly portrait of a society in the grip of imperialism, A Passage to India compellingly depicts the fate of individuals caught between the great political and cultural conflicts of the modern world.
A Passage to India, written by E.M. Forster and published in 1924, is one of the most acclaimed novels in English literature. Set against the backdrop of British colonial India, the novel explores complex themes such as colonialism, racial prejudice, cultural misunderstandings, and the challenges of communication between East and West.
Through vivid characters and evocative storytelling, Forster highlights the social and political tensions of the era, delivering a nuanced critique of British imperialism and its impacts. The narrative balances moments of humor, tragedy, and profound philosophical reflection, making it a timeless masterpiece.
This novel is ideal for lovers of classic literature, students of British colonial history, and anyone interested in cross-cultural relationships and postcolonial studies.
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Age of Iron
€13,50by J.M. Coetzee
Nobel Laureate and two-time Booker prize-winning author of Disgrace and The Life and Times of Michael K, J. M. Coetzee tells the remarkable story of a nation gripped in brutal apartheid in his Sunday Express Book of the Year award-winner Age of Iron.
In Cape Town, South Africa, an elderly classics professor writes a letter to her distant daughter, recounting the strange and disturbing events of her dying days. She has been opposed to the lies and the brutality of apartheid all her life, but now she finds herself coming face to face with its true horrors: the hounding by the police of her servant’s son, the burning of a nearby black township, the murder by security forces of a teenage activist who seeks refuge in her house. Through it all, her only companion, the only person to whom she can confess her mounting anger and despair, is a homeless man who one day appears on her doorstep.
In Age of Iron, J. M. Coetzee brings his searing insight and masterful control of language to bear on one of the darkest episodes of our times.
‘Quite simply a magnificent and unforgettable work’ Daily Telegraph
‘A superbly realized novel whose truth cuts to the bone’ The New York Times
‘A remarkable work by a brilliant writer’ Wall Street Journal
South African author J. M. Coetzee was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003 and was the first author to win the Booker Prize twice for his novels Disgrace and The Life and Times of Michael K. His novel, Foe, an exquisite reinvention of the story of Robinson Crusoe is also available in Penguin paperback.
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The Translator
€12,00di Leila Aboulela
Sammar is a young Sudanese widow, working as an Arabic translator at a British university. Following the sudden death of her husband, and estranged from her young son, she drifts, grieving and isolated. Life takes a positive turn when she finds herself falling in love with Rae, a Scottish academic. To Sammar, he seems to come from another world and another culture, yet they are drawn to each other. ‘The Translator’ is a story about love, both human and divine. Leila Aboulela’s first novel, first published in 1999, was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and the IMPAC Dublin Award, and was shortlisted for the Saltire Prize. It has subsequently appeared in editions worldwide.
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Angels & Insects
€12,00di A.S. Byatt
Like A.S. Byatt’s Booker Prize-winning novel, Possession, these two mesmerising novellas are set in the nineteenth century. In Morpho Eugenia, an explorer realises that the behaviour of the people around him is alarmingly similar to that of the insects he studies. In The Conjugal Angel, curious individuals – some fictional, others drawn from history – gather to connect with the spirit world. Throughout both, Byatt examines the eccentricities of the Victorian era, weaving fact and fiction, reality and romance, science and faith into a sumptuous, magical tapestry.
