Joseph Conrad
- 80 pages
- 3 hours of reading
Professor Watts’s study examines the main phase in Joseph Conrad’s literary development.
Cedric Thomas Watts Books
Cedric Watts is a distinguished literary critic and scholar whose extensive publications delve deeply into literary analysis and scholarly critique. His works explore complex themes and styles, often drawing from a profound understanding of classic literature and Shakespearean drama. Watts's approach is characterized by its analytical precision and his ability to uncover hidden meanings and nuances within literary texts. His scholarship offers readers an enriching perspective on the art of the written word.
Typhoon and Other Tales
- 356 pages
- 13 hours of reading
The four tales in this volume share autobiographical origins in Conrad's experience at sea and his exile from Poland, the country of his birth. Typhoon is the story of a steamship and her crew beset by tempest, and of the stolid captain whose dogged courage is tested to the limit. In Falk a taciturn young woman is bizarrely courted by a tug-boat master who is haunted by a terrible secret. Amy Foster tells of an emigrant Pole struggling to overcome isolation and prejudice in England. The final tale, The Secret Sharer , is Conrad's most famous short story, a masterpiece of suspense and ambiguity. Giving sanctuary to a fugitive sailor, a young sea-captain risks his ship and his command in order to save him. This revised edition uses the English first edition texts and has a new chronology and bibliography.
Three men in a boat: Three friends along with the dog, Montmorency, experience the hazards and vicissitudues of life in a boating expedition along the Thames.
Othello
- 176 pages
- 7 hours of reading
The destructive effects of jealousy underlie this tale. Othello, a man of quality and superior intelligence, is brought down by his suspicions of his wife, Desdemona.
Macbeth
- 96 pages
- 4 hours of reading
Complete text of Shakespeare's tragedy, with an introduction, criticism, and stage history. Signet Shakespeare.
Based on Plutarch's account of the lives of Brutus, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony, Julius Caesar is the first of Shakespeare's Roman history plays. Presented for the first time in 1599, the play showcases the dramatist's ability to explore and express profound human emotions and instincts. It offers compelling insights into history and human behavior, making it a staple in secondary-school curricula. The drama unfolds as Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators plot to overthrow Caesar, the dictator of Rome. After Caesar's assassination, Mark Antony skillfully turns the crowd against the conspirators with one of literature's most famous speeches. The ensuing civil war sees the forces of Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar triumph over Cassius and Brutus. Humiliated and desperate, both conspirators choose to end their lives. These tragic events raise profound questions about power, government, ethics, and loyalty, creating a riveting dramatic spectacle that resonates with timeless themes.
Slavná a nesmrtelná Shakespearova tragedie o lásce dvou milenců z nesvářených rodů Monteků a Kapuletů.
Loose ends and red herrings are the stuff of detective fiction, and under the scrutiny of master sleuths John Sutherland and Cedric Watts Shakespeare's plays reveal themselves to be as full of mysteries as any Agatha Christie novel. Is it summer or winter in Elsinore? Do Bottom and Titania make love? Does Lady Macbeth faint, or is she just pretending? How does a man putrefy within minutes of his death? Is Cleopatra a deadbeat Mum? And why doesn't Juliet ask 'O Romeo Montague, wherefore art thou Montague?' As Watts and Sutherland explore these and other puzzles Shakespeare's genuius becomes ever more apparent. Speculative, critical, good-humoured and provocative, their discussions shed light on apparent anachronisms, performance and stagecraft, linguistics, Star Trek and much else. Shrewd and entertaining, these essays add a new dimension to the pleasure of reading or watching Shakespeare.
