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  The Poetry of George Meredith -...

  George Meredith

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  George Meredith, OM, was born in Portsmouth, England on February 12th, 1828. His mother died when he was five. As a fourteen year old teenager he was sent to a Moravian School in Neuwied, Germany, staying there for two years. After reading law he was articled as a solicitor, but quickly abandoned that career path for journalism and poetry. He collaborated with Edward Gryffydh Peacock, son of Thomas Love Peacock in publishing a privately circulated literary magazine, the Monthly Observer. At age twenty-one he married Mary Ellen Nicolls, Edward Peacock's beautiful widowed sister, on August 8th, 1849. Mary Ellen was 28. 
  The marriage produced one child; Arthur (1853–1890). Meredith collected his early writings, all previously published in periodicals, in an 1851 volume, Poems. In 1856 he posed as the model for The Death of Chatterton, a well-known picture by the English Pre-Raphaelite painter Henry Wallis, which romantised the teenage Chatterton’s demise. Although Meredith received some publicity for this his wife received rather more attention from Wallis because of it. Mary Ellen ran off with Wallis in 1858, shortly before giving birth to a child that all assumed to be Wallis. Tragically she died three years later. From that dreadful experience emerged a collection of sonnets entitled Modern Love in 1862 together with much of his first major novel; The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. 
  Meredith married Marie Vulliamy in 1864 and they settled in Surrey. Together they had two children; William (1865) and Mariette (1874). He had a keen understanding of comedy and his Essay on Comedy (1877) remains a reference work in the history of comic theory. In The Egoist, published in 1879, he applies some of his theories of comedy in one of his most thoughtful and enduring novels. During most of his career, he had difficulty crossing over from critical acclamation to popular success. It was only in 1885 that his first genuine commercial success appeared; Diana of the Crossways.  With an unreliable income stream he sought to bolster that with a job as a publisher's reader. 
  The company that gave him this lifeline was Chapman & Hall. His advice to the company was very well received and made him influential in the world of letters. In 1868 Meredith was introduced to Thomas Hardy. Hardy had submitted his first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady. Meredith felt the book was too bitter a satire on the rich and told Hardy to put it aside as it was likely it would be savaged by reviewers and destroy his nascent career. Meredith had received the same reaction with The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. Although it had brought him success it was judged so shocking that Mudie's circulating library cancelled an order of 300 copies. But these years, creatively, were very prolific and successful for Meredith. Novels and poems flowed from his pen including everything from The Adventures of Harry Richmond to many poetry volumes including The Lark Ascending (which later inspired the Vaughan Williams music). In 1886, tragedy struck when Marie Vulliamy, died of cancer. 
  Whilst his personal life was producing horrendous scars he was receiving many accolades. Oscar Wilde was a fan. In The Decay of Lying, he says of Meredith "Ah, Meredith! Who can define him? His style is chaos illumined by flashes of lightning". In 1891 Meredith was even the subject of homage when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes short story The Boscombe Valley Mystery. Holmes turns to Watson during case discussions and says "And now let us talk about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all minor matters until tomorrow." George Meredith, aged 81, died at his home in Box Hill, Surrey on May 18th, 1909. He is buried in the cemetery at Dorking, Surrey. 
   
  This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing.  Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

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  Reflections of Life

  E. Barrett La Mont

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  I began writing poems in my 20's. I was motivated by 18th Century poets including Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who is a relative. My wife and I moved to Oregon a few years ago and I began writing poems once again. My latest book, Reflections of Life, is comprised of love poems to my wife, Martha and many other types of poetry. My hope is that my readers will be touched by these poems.

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  The Supine Cobbler

  Jill Connell

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  A contemporary clinical abortion in the spirit of a Western.
    
     
  The Doctor introduces the gang: The Supine Cobbler (wanted), her estranged sister (dead by hanging), her former best friend (missing, presumed dead) and her apprentice (a turncoat). Together they negotiate integrity in a lawless world. The Supine Cobbler is an unsentimental legend and a true story. It is a hero myth for girls.
    
     
  Praisefor the productions of The Supine Cobbler:
    
     
  ‘The show is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.’
    
     
  – Theatre Reader
    
     
  ‘Jill Connell … is consistently one of the most innovative playwrights in the country.’
    
     
  – Vue Weekly
    
     
  ‘The Supine Cobbler is brilliant, subversive and deeply hilarious. The play is about an abortion – but also: waiting, haunting, cheating, hurting, daring and the private cultivation of one’s humanity. It is singular and surprising and epic and lean as Bowie. You cannot help but talk about this play. It is the work of a lover and a rebel. To miss it, would be to miss a master in her early bloom.’
    
     
  – Claudia Dey, author of Trout Stanley and Stunt
    
     
  ‘I love this absolutely idiosyncratic play. It’s very funny, moving and sharp, and the only work of art about abortion I can think of that doesn’t sentimentalize or simplify the experience, but gets the strangeness and banality of it exactly right.’
    
     
  – Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?

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  When Love Grows Hot

  Yahchanan

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  A chapbook of experimental Christian poems that push the boundaries of typical patterns and topics. For those who have a basic understanding of scriptures already and wish to think in ways we habitually choose not to think about. Enjoy.

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  Red House Rising

  Chris Côté, Dayle Kerry

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  Imagine you’re listening to the acclaimed WWII melodrama, Casablanca. But instead of Rick’s café in Vichy-occupied North Africa, you’re in the South Pacific, trapped on Truk Lagoon – island stronghold of the Japanese. Well, that’s exactly where this romantic World War II audiobook, Red House Rising, begins its story. It’s July, 1941. War is already raging in Europe. Japan has swallowed up Korea, and now terrorizes China. Pearl Harbor is about to explode. And three women, an ace transport pilot, a Chinese Intelligence officer and a local Island leader, must join forces to rescue young girls sexually enslaved by the Japanese Navy and its ruthless secret police, the Tokkeitai. As World War Two roils the Pacific, the story continues in the islands, in Hawaii, in China and Japan. There’s flying and spying and action galore. And the story calls out the fascism, racism and misogyny of that dark time. But this audiobook is most definitely about lovers – star-crossed or otherwise – finding their way in a world at war.

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  The Poetry of Evenings - The...

  John Keats, Sara Teasdale,...

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  In England summer evenings remind us of the falling of the light, of village greens and the thump of willow on leather.  In winter, evenings are dark, unlit and a time to be inside. 
  The evening light, of twilight, of sunset, has another name in the movie business. They call it ‘magic hour’ and sometimes it is just that. The heavy, golden light suffuses everything with a glow and fullness that gladdens our hearts and delights our eyes. 
  For our poets this was a time of mystery and wonder; between the bright day and the canopy of stars that heralded sleep. 
   This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing.  Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

  Show book