A wide-ranging exploration of the creative power of literary tradition, from Chaucer to the present In literary and cultural studies, "tradition" is a word everyone uses but few address critically. In Reading Old Books, Peter Mack offers a wide-ranging exploration of the creative power of literary tradition, from the middle ages to the twenty-first century, revealing in new ways how it helps writers and readers make new works and meanings. Reading Old Books argues that the best way to understand tradition is by examining the moments when a writer takes up an old text and writes something new out of a dialogue with that text and the promptings of the present situation. The book examines Petrarch as a user, instigator, and victim of tradition. It shows how Chaucer became the first great English writer by translating and adapting a minor poem by Boccaccio. It investigates how Ariosto, Tasso, and Spenser made new epic meanings by playing with assumptions, episodes, and phrases translated from their predecessors. It analyzes how the Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell drew on tradition to address the new problem of urban deprivation in Mary Barton. And, finally, it looks at how the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, in his 2004 novel Wizard of the Crow, reflects on biblical, English literary, and African traditions. Drawing on key theorists, critics, historians, and sociologists, and stressing the international character of literary tradition, Reading Old Books illuminates the not entirely free choices readers and writers make to create meaning in collaboration and competition with their models.

Excerpt from Classics Old and New: A Series of School Readers Good expression in reading is the product of sympathy and understanding, and therefore, the child who likes to read is quite sure to take first rank as a good reader. The controlling purpose of Classics, Old and New is to inspire in children a love for reading, and thus, without their being conscious of the fact, induce in them the reading habit. This is about the best and safest of all habits. If we contrive to teach young people the mechanical art of reading, and fail, at the same time, to breed in them the impulse and desire to continue their education throughout life by reading, we have cheated them out of the best thing to be obtained by going to school. Good literature is an expression for the best of the world's activity, and the power latent in such literature to lift and en lighten the mind and spirit is greater than any other power, save, perhaps, the influences of home. The formal education of many of the children that will use this series of readers will cease with the elementary schools. This fact makes the prepara tion of the readers a very serious task, especially to one who knows children well enough to realize how difficult it is to know them at all. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work is a catalog of upcoming publications by Greening & Co., Ltd, released in 1901. It contains recommendations of prose, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, criticism, and more exciting literature of the day. It included writers that were most prominent at that time such as Rudyard Kipling, Bret Harte, and Algernon Charles Swinburne.

"Other introductory texts seem reluctant to abandon the 'serious' philological and historical background to Old English, a reluctance that can have serious consequences for the subject's appeal to today's students. By focusing on the main goal of learning to translate Old English texts, students gain access to this fascinating body of literature much more quickly. Their confidence is bolstered, and as my experience has shown, many of them go on to learn more about the language and culture once they have mastered the basics. In short, this approach generates enthusiasm and a desire to learn, rather than stifling it." David F. Johnson, Florida State University

Excerpt from Classics Old and New: A Series of School Readers; A Third Reader At frequent intervals through the volume, language lessons are given which furnish a systematic language drill, without any attempt whatever to teach technical grammar. The suggestions of each language lesson should not be limited in application to the story under which it is found, but should be judiciously used by teachers as an exercise with other reading lessons. Each colored illustration teaches its own lesson and has an educational value. These illustrations give pictures of the people, costumes, and homes of other lands, and are of geographic or historic interest. Grateful acknowledgment is made to publishers whose kind ness has permitted us to use copyrighted material. In most instances special acknowledgments are made in connection with the selection and in the biographical sketch of the author. Among those not included in this way are Thinking Only of Myself. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Trieste Publishing has a massive catalogue of classic book titles. Our aim is to provide readers with the highest quality reproductions of fiction and non-fiction literature that has stood the test of time. The many thousands of books in our collection have been sourced from libraries and private collections around the world.The titles that Trieste Publishing has chosen to be part of the collection have been scanned to simulate the original. Our readers see the books the same way that their first readers did decades or a hundred or more years ago. Books from that period are often spoiled by imperfections that did not exist in the original. Imperfections could be in the form of blurred text, photographs, or missing pages. It is highly unlikely that this would occur with one of our books. Our extensive quality control ensures that the readers of Trieste Publishing's books will be delighted with their purchase. Our staff has thoroughly reviewed every page of all the books in the collection, repairing, or if necessary, rejecting titles that are not of the highest quality. This process ensures that the reader of one of Trieste Publishing's titles receives a volume that faithfully reproduces the original, and to the maximum degree possible, gives them the experience of owning the original work.We pride ourselves on not only creating a pathway to an extensive reservoir of books of the finest quality, but also providing value to every one of our readers. Generally, Trieste books are purchased singly - on demand, however they may also be purchased in bulk. Readers interested in bulk purchases are invited to contact us directly to enquire about our tailored bulk rates.