Pat Rogers Books

Traces the history of English literature from Anglo-Saxon poetry to the present day.

This revised and updated volume explores the richness, diversity, and continuity of Britains literary heritage. Under the general editorship of Pat Rogers, some of Britain's foremost literary scholars trace the history of English literature from its first stirrings in Anglo-Saxon poetry tothe present day.An Outline of English Literature, Second Edition, offers detailed treatments of major writers such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, Donne, Wordsworth, Dickens, Eliot, and Auden, and up-to-date discussions of living authors such as Muriel Spark, Seamus Heaney, and Martin Amis. It also moves beyond thesefacts and events to characterize the broad sweep of ideas and the main concerns of British writers over the past thirteen centuries. An Outline of English Literature, Second Edition weaves together the complex strands of English literature into a highly readable narrative.

James Boswell's "The Life of Samuel Johnson" is perhaps the best-known biography in English literature, and it marked a turning point in the art of biography writing. Through Boswell's prose Johnson comes across as a wholly believable man. We do not get just an account of his life, but feel we have been there with Boswell and seen and heard Johnson for ourselves. Boswell revolutionized the art of biography, and was well aware that he was doing so. At the time he was writing there were two traditions of biography, the ethical (deriving from Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives'), in which incidents were shown for the moral instruction of the reader, and the anecdotal (deriving from Xenophon's 'Memorabilia of Socrates'), in which incidents were shown for their own sake, without moral lessons being attached

Shipwrecked on an unknown island, Lemuel Gulliver wakes to find himself surrounded by its six-inch-tall natives, the Lilliputians. But this is only the first in a long line of wonderful discoveries, as his adventures take him to other far-off lands such as Brobdingnag, populated by a race of giants, Luggnagg, home to the eternally ageing Struldbrugs, and the country of the Houyhnhnms, a race of benevolent talking horses. Parodying the popular travel accounts of its time, Gulliver's Travels is not only a tour de force of imaginative and comic writing, which has thrilled readers of all ages for almost three centuries, but also a masterly, merciless satire on Western society and human nature.

At eighty-one, Pat Rogers shares a lifelong passion for literature through her third published work, filled with vibrant characters and engaging activities. Despite not knowing how to write music, she channels melodies that inspire her writing, resulting in a collection of her handwritten creations. Readers are invited to connect with her through her website, reflecting her desire for interaction and feedback. This book showcases her unique perspective and dedication to storytelling.

Austen's last novel is the crowning achievement of her matchless career. Her heroine, Anne Elliot, a woman of integrity, breeding and great depth of emotion, stands in stark contrast to the brutality and hypocrisy of Regency England. Includes a new Introduction by Margaret Drabble, famed novelist and editor of The Oxford Companion to the English Language.