Richard Bradford Livres

The biography offers an in-depth exploration of Alan Sillitoe, crafted with his close cooperation and unrestricted access to his personal archives. It presents a comprehensive portrait of Sillitoe, highlighting his literary and artistic connections, including a significant friendship with Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. This work stands out as a controversial yet definitive account of Sillitoe's complex character and contributions to literature over the last decade.

The biography offers an in-depth exploration of Kingsley Amis's life, revealing the autobiographical elements woven into his fiction. While Amis claimed his works were not reflective of his own experiences, the author, Bradford, illustrates how his personal life influenced his writing. The narrative balances admiration for Amis's literary talent with candid accounts of his flaws, such as his hedonistic lifestyle and contentious relationships. Bradford also highlights Amis's dedication to his craft, showcasing how his later works surpassed his early fame. Fans will appreciate the engaging, straightforward analysis.

Richard Bradford's new introduction to poetry begins with and answers the slippery question, 'what is poetry?'. The book provides a compact history of English poetry from the 16th century to the present day and surveys the major critical and theoretical approaches to verse.

Exploring themes of identity and the human condition, this novel presents a paradoxical yet uplifting narrative that celebrates life with a sense of wonder. The story invites readers to reflect on the complexities of existence while embracing the joys and challenges that come with it. Renowned author Harper Lee praises it as a work of art, highlighting its unique perspective and emotional depth.

It is hard to overstate the role that John Milton played in the historical, political and literary controversies of seventeenth century England; his writings and very life challenged the status quo. Living through one of the most tumultuous periods in British history, Milton was involved at every turn. Struggling to reconcile his private beliefs with his involvement with a radical political experiment, a republic which involved the killing of the monarch, his star rose and fell several times during his life. Married three times, struck blind at a cruelly early age, he was a famed pamphleteer and political activist whose revolutionary political credos placed him in mortal danger after the Restoration. Milton's varied life makes for fascinating reading but it also produced some of the most important poetry in the English language. Paradise Lost, the only poem in English recognized as an epic, challenged conventional thinking on widespread topics from religion and gender equality to the fundamental question of why we behave as we do

A vibrant portrait of the acclaimed author Patricia Highsmith, nominated for the H.R.F. Keating Award.

Focusing on modern critical theories, this guide offers students essential insights into literary style and stylistics. Richard Bradford presents a comprehensive introduction that equips readers with foundational knowledge for understanding stylistics and conducting literary analysis effectively.

Ernest Hemingway was an involuntary chameleon, who would shift seamlessly from a self-cultivated image of hero, aesthetic radical, and existential non-conformist to a figure made up at various points of selfishness, hypocrisy, self-delusion, narcissism and arbitrary vindictiveness. Richard Bradford shows that Hemingway's work is by parts erratic and unique because it was tied into these unpredictable, bizarre features of his personality. Impressionism and subjectivity always play some part in the making of literary works. Some authors try to subdue them while others treat them as the essentials of creativity but they endure as a ubiquitous element of all literature. They are the writer's private signature, their authorial fingerprint. In this ground-breaking and intensely revealing biography, which includes a complete reassessment of Hemingway's oeuvre Hemingway's unfixed personality is shown to be the index to why and how he wrote as he did.

An enjoyable romp through the world of the fiercest writers' rivalries and most bizarre literary stand-offs.

One of the most enduring popular and controversial writers of the twentieth century, George Orwell's work is as relevant today as it was in his own lifetime. Possibly, in the age of Brexit, Trump, and populism, even more so. Aside from his importance as a political theorist and novelist, Orwell's life is fascinating in its own right. Caught between uncertainty and his family's upper middle-class complacency, Orwell grew to despise the class system that spawned him despite finding himself unable to fully detach himself from it. This book offers a vivid portrait of the man behind the writings, and places him and his work at the centre of the current political landscape