Never has contemporary fiction been more widely discussed and passionately analysed; recent years have seen a huge growth in the number of reading groups and in the interest of a non-academic readership in the discussion of how novels work. Drawing on his weekly Guardian column, 'Elements of Fiction', John Mullan examines novels mostly of the last ten years, many of which have become firm favourites with reading groups. He reveals the rich resources of novelistic technique, settingrecent f...

"An Austen lover's greatest wish is for more of her novels. This intimate guide to the world of her books in the next best thing." ― The AtlanticWhich important Austen characters never speak? Is there any sex in Austen? What do the characters call one another, and why? What are the right and wrong ways to propose marriage? In What Matters in Jane Austen?, John Mullan shows that we can best appreciate Austen's brilliance by looking...

Some of the greatest works in English literature were first published without their authors' names. Why did so many authors want to be anonymous--and what was it like to read their books without knowing for certain who had written them? In Anonymity, John Mullan gives a fascinating and original history of hidden identity in English literature. From the sixteenth century to today, he explores how the disguises of writers were first used and eventually penetrated, how anonymity teas...

Bloomsbury presents the 250TH BIRTHDAY EDITION of What Matters in Jane Austen? by John Mullan, read by Charles Armstrong"An Austen lover’s greatest wish is for more of her novels. This intimate guide to the world of her books in the next best thing." **—**The AtlanticMarking the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, What Matters in Jane Austen? solves the mysteries of Austen’s fictiona...

Bloomsbury presents The Artful Dickens by John Mullan, read by Jonathan Oliver.'This is a marvellous, endlessly illuminating book ... It doesn’t go on the shelf alongside other critics; it goes on the shelf alongside Dickens' Howard Jacobson___________________Discover the tricks of a literary master in this essential guide to the fictional world of Charles Dickens.From Pickwick to Scrooge, Copperfield to Twist, how did Dickens find the perfect names for his c...

Captain John Mullan is one of the unsung heroes of the American Northwest. He has 42 markers, including 12 statues, 12 stone or pyramid monuments, 12 road signs, and 6 historical markers scattered from eastern Washington to central Montana, for explorations and road construction in 1853 to 1862, all by horseback. No other man has as much historical recognition for what had been accomplished in the great Northwest of America. Americans owe their ability to see this beautiful corner of the c...

We're treating mental health backwards. Billions are poured into downstream fixes-fitness, nutrition, therapy, medication, mindfulness apps-yet the crisis keeps getting worse.Why? Because we're skimming rubbish off the surface whilst the pollution keeps pouring in from upstream.The source is mentality-the way you think, feel, and respond to life. Until we fix that first, nothing else holds.Most people don't own their mentality. They're living scripts written...

With a special emphasis on the exchange of land between medieval servile tenants—especially from the 13th century onward—this scholarly examination of the peasant land market of the Middle Ages explores the identification of peasant families with particular lands to which they had a hereditary right. Using this theme to explore village life and showing how peasants were affected by the changes over time and place, this study employs primary source material from the Winchester estates. Anal...

The memoirs in this collection are written by those who had personal knowledge of Shelley, Byron and Wordsworth, or who claimed to be recording the accounts of those who had such knowledge. Each volume in this set contains facsimilies of the original memoirs.

In this second collection of biographical accounts of Romantic writers, the characters of Keats, Coleridge and Scott are recalled by their contemporaries, offering insights into their lives and writings, as well as into the art of 19th-century biography.

In this second collection of biographical accounts of Romantic writers, the characters of Keats, Coleridge and Scott are recalled by their contemporaries, offering insights into their lives and writings, as well as into the art of 19th-century biography.

This volume documents the literary controversy and debate over Samuel Richardson's novel, "Pamela", published in 1741. It brings together and reprints key sources within the debate, including artists such as Francis Hayman, Hubert Gravelot, Joseph Highmore and Philip Mercer.