The Seen and Unseen at Stratford-On-Avon
Автор: William Dean Howells
Год издания: 0000
'The Seen and Unseen at Stratford-on-Avon' is a fantasy in which Mr. Howells enjoys the society of the great dramatist while they leisurely go to various pageants and festivities together. Shakespeare becomes his guest for a week-end and the immortal play wright confides that he «Never felt quite happy about the way people talked of Anne.» The dialogue between them is rich in humor and quite as delicious as anything that the distinguished American author has ever done, putting many of his pungent ideas into the mouth of Shakespeare. There are some lovely descriptive nature bits and the atmosphere of English feeling and history. The showery past is wonderfully mirrored in this characteristically perfect workmanship. Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the book is where Francis Bacon joins them and they all talk together – three hundred years being no impediment to conversation with the Shades conjured up by the author's magic pen, which flows as easily and as convincingly as ever, showing an imagination undimmed by time and a sense of humor as keen as ever. There is no better evidence of his linking the past with the present than in his description of the Moving Picture Show which almost confronted the Shakespeare monument. Only Mr. Howells could have done this whimsical thing.
A Little Pilgrim in the Unseen
Автор: Маргарет Олифант
Год издания:
Agatha Christie’s Murder in the Making: Stories and Secrets from Her Archive - includes an unseen Miss Marple Story
Автор: John Curran
Год издания:
Agatha Christie’s life and career told through the decades, from the never-before-published original ending to her first book to the unused ideas for her last, complete with two unpublished Agatha Christie stories – including a lost Miss Marple.In this follow-up volume to the acclaimed Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks, Christie archivist and expert John Curran leads the reader through the six decades of Agatha Christie's writing career, unearthing some remarkable clues to her success and a number of never-before-published excerpts and stories from her archives.Starting his investigation in the 1920s, John Curran examines the conventions of detective novels as they existed then and how Agatha Christie's publisher talked her into changing the ending of her very first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a move that almost certainly changed the fortunes of not only her career but the future of the whole crime writing genre. For the very first time, this book prints Agatha's original ending, painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks.Every decade saw Agatha Christie's success grow to new heights. The emergence of the world-famous Collins Crime Club in 1930 brought with it the very first Miss Marple mystery, the austerity of the 1940s had Agatha Christie preparing to kill off Hercule Poirot, and the 1950s saw her experiment increasingly with formats influenced by more modern thrillers. Focusing on the detail of more than 20 Christie novels to illustrate this, John Curran shows the evolution of Agatha's writing through the decades, including the influence of the swinging sixties and seventies, concluding the book with a look at Agatha's last notebook, using his Christie knowledge to speculate about what she had in mind based on her brief notes for an unwritten final book.Also includes a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full, including the unpublished The Man Who Knew, How I Created Hercule Poirot, and an early draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker's Wife.
Kenneth Williams Unseen: The private notes, scripts and photographs
Автор: Russell Davies
Год издания:
To mark the 20th anniversary of Kenneth Williams’ death, a beautiful coffee table book celebrating his life, including never-before-seen photographs, sketches and personal testimony from Williams’ closest friends, for the very first time.2008 marks the 20th anniversary of the death of legendary comic actor and broadcaster Kenneth Williams. Among the actor's bequests, in a will which itself was controversial enough to require re-examination, was a large cache of private papers and memorabilia inherited by his godson, Robert Chiddell, and subsequently acquired by the broadcaster and Williams fanatic, Wesley Butters.This material, none of which has been seen before, includes scripts and drafts by Williams, lectures and speeches delivered by him (to an audience of policemen, in a couple of cases), a large number of superb photographs from all phases of his career, and creative writing which even extends to a fictional recreation of his own turbulent Cockney childhood.Without ever arranging it formally Williams had unwittingly assembled a brilliant scrapbook of his life. Kenneth Williams Unseen is that scrapbook, enlarged and emboldened by contributions from those who knew and loved him and is a must for every fan of the great man himself. This is the first authorised book on Williams in over a decade and will re-define the Williams legacy.
True Confessions of the Stratford Park PTA
Автор: Nancy Thompson Robards
Год издания:
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH…Join the PTA? Yes, according to Maggie, Barbara and Elizabeth. Because despite their differences–one is a recent widow; one is a late-in-life mother; and one is a supermom whose surprise pregnancy, she fears, will result in complications–all three women have one thing in common: their daughters. They'd do anything for them….But is anything enough?Because one girl just can't adjust, one is terrified to be alone–and one is the mystery blogger who's wreaking havoc from one end of the student body to the other. Seems as if there are a lot of secrets in this small town. And despite the gossip, not a lot of talking going on….