The English Language: A Linguistic History

The English Language is an essential survey of the development of the language from its Indo-European past to the present day. The early chapters introduce students to the fundamental concepts they will need in order to understand phonological, morphological, syntactic, orthographic, semantic, and lexical changes in the language, before tracing the language’s development through each of its major periods. The second edition offers enhanced discussion of such cutting-edge topics as the effects of media on language; the socio-cultural causes of change; computer-mediated communications; text messaging; and the sources and dialects of present day English. Current and in-depth, with a new quick reference guide and a comprehensive timeline of major events, the second edition is a compelling, invaluable resource on the history of the English language.

Virginia Woolf was one of the most significant literary figures of the twentieth century, and when she died was perhaps the best-known woman novelist in the English-speaking world. Her distinctive writing style inspired a whole generation of writers while her moving novels, such as Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and Orlando remain hugely influential today. Featuring new details about Woolf’s homes and personal life, this engaging biography offers a fresh insight into her work, focusing on how place as much as imagination fashioned her writing, as well as how the context of her life shaped her her work and artistic ambitions.

Drawing on her letters, journals, diaries, essays and fiction, the book reveals Woolf’s response to her dwellings and surroundings, from the enclosed space of Hyde Park Gate to the open and free-spirited Bloomsbury of Gordon Square. Throughout the book Ira Nadel gives consideration to her technique as a novelist, the skills she learned from reading others, the experimental nature of her fiction and her concern with history, narrative, art and friendship. He discusses her role in the famous Bloomsbury group, her relationship with a series of other fascinating figures including Vita Sackville-West and Lady Ottoline Morrel, her attitude towards sex and marriage, her uncertain social and political views, and the toll of writing upon her state of mind: Woolf suffered from mental illness and breakdowns from a very young age, which eventually led her to commit suicide in 1941 at the age of 59. Accessible, concise yet comprehensive, Virginia Woolf will appeal to the many admirers of this highly influential yet troubled figure.

Viewed as fierce, menacing or mysterious, badgers have been both admired and reviled throughout human history. Their global reputation for ferocious self-defence has led to brutalization by hunters and sport-seekers; their association with the mythic underworld has made them symbols of earth-based wisdom and steadfast tradition; their burrowing and predation habits have resulted in widespread persecution as pests or public nuisances. Whether as living animals, abstract symbols or commercial resources, badgers have fascinated humans for thousands of years – though often to the animals’ detriment.

From the iconic European badger to the African honey badger, the hog badger of Southeast Asia and the North American badger, this book is the first truly global cultural history of the animal in over 30 years. Profusely illustrated with images spanning centuries, cultures, continents and species, Badger considers badgers’ lives and lore, from their evolution and widespread distribution to their current and often imperilled status throughout the world. It travels from natural history and life in the wild to the myths, legends and spiritual beliefs badgers continue to inspire, as well as their representation and exploitation in industry, religion and the arts. Appealing to anyone interested in a deeper understanding of these much misunderstood and often maligned creatures, Badger traces the complex and often contradictory ways in which this fascinating animal endures.

At the turn of the twentieth century, London was a breeding ground for the avant-garde. Modernist writers like T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats and Ezra Pound became infatuated with the Orient. Pound in particular was inspired by the clarity and precision of Eastern poetry to rethink the nature of an English poem. Published in 1915, Cathay, Pound’s collection of fourteen experimental translations of classic Chinese poems, was a groundbreaking work that set the stage for a new-found East in the West.