In the mid-eleventh century, secular Byzantine poetry attained a hitherto unseen degree of wit, vividness, and personal involvement, chiefly exemplified in the poetry of Christophoros Mitylenaios, Ioannes Mauropous, and Michael Psellos. This is the first volume to consider this poetic activity as a whole, critically reconsidering modern assumptions about Byzantine poetry, and focusing on Byzantine conceptions of the role of poetry in society. By providing a detailed account of the various media through which poetry was presented to its readers, and by tracing the initial circulation of poems, this volume takes an interest in the Byzantine reader and his/her reading habits and strategies, allowing aspects of performance and visual representation, rarely addressed, to come to the fore. It also examines the social interests that motivated the composition of poetry, establishing a connection with the extraordinary social mobility of the time. Self-representative strategies are analyzed against the background of an unstable elite struggling to find moral justification, which allows the study to raise the question of patronage, examine the discourse used by poets to secure material rewards, and explain the social dynamics of dedicatory epigrams. Finally, gift exchange is explored as a medium that underlines the value of poetry and confirms the exclusive nature of intellectual friendship.

In its first edition Dictionary of Literary Pseudonyms established itself as a comprehensive dictionary of pseudonyms used by literary writers in English from the 16th century to the present day. This new Second Edition increases coverage by 35%! There are two sequences: Part I - which now includes more than 17,000 entries- is an alphabetical list of pseudonyms followed by the writer's real name. Part II is an alphabetical list of writers cited in Part I-more than 10,000 writers included-providing brief biographical details followed by pseudonyms used by the wrter and titles published under those pseudonyms. Dictionary or Literary Pseudonyms has now become a standard reference work on the subject for teachers, student, and public, high school, and college/universal librarians. The Second Edition will, we believe, consolidate that reputation.

Contains 4000 entries listing the published works of late Victorian poets (1880-1899). Arranged alphabetically by author, the work includes biographical information, bibliographical details of published works and cross-references to other names. It lists many minor poets unrecorded elsewhere.