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(More customer reviews)English literature is one of the most prolific and well known of all national literary traditions. Inclusion of Shakespeare alone tends to intimidate all other literary accomplishment, English or otherwise. Everyone who has been brought up in an English speaking country is already probably somewhat familiar with many of the most famous works of English literature, so reading a very short introduction on this subject seems superfluous at best. Nonetheless Jonathan Bate, the author of this small book, manages to make the subject of his inquiry fresh and interesting, so even if you think you know everything there could be said in such a small format you may benefit from reading this short introduction. Bete's writing style is extremely engaging and literary, and this alone makes this a very interesting and fun book to read. You are likely to discover new interesting tidbits about Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Blake, Wordsworth, and many other literary giants. You will also discover how truly protean English literature is, and how England, long before the term was applied to the United States, was a veritable melting pot of various cultures and literary traditions. Bate makes his point particularly forcefully when showing that out of a dozen or so "English" literature Nobel Prize laureates, only two can be considered "fully" English in the sense that they were born and raised in England to English parents. I tend not to put too much stock in the fascination with "multiculturalism," but it's hard to argue that this diversity of the individual personal experiences has not greatly enriched English literature, as well as all literature written in English language.
This short book is very well written and it will probably inspire you to reach for a classic or two of English literature right after you finish reading it. That is probably the greatest accomplishment that any one of these very short introductions can aspire for - to inspire the reader to learn even more about its subject.
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A renowned critic, biographer, and Shakespeare scholar, Jonathan Bate provides in this Very Short Introduction a lively and engaging overview of the literature that Jorge Luis Borges called "the richest in the world." From the medieval "Hymn of Caedmon" to George Orwell's "Why I Write," from Jane Austen to Ian McEwan, and from Winnie the Pooh to Dr. Johnson, this brilliant, compact survey stretches across the centuries, exploring the major literary forms (poetry, novel, drama, essay and more), the many histories and theories of the very idea of literature, and the role of writers in shaping English, British, and post-imperial identities. Bate illuminates the work of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Dickens, and many other major figures of English literature. He looks at the Renaissance, Romanticism, and Modernism, at the birth of the novel and the Elizabethan invention of the idea of a national literature, and at the nature of writing itself. Ranging from children's literature to biography, this is an indispensable guide and an inspiration for anyone interested in England's magnificent literary heritage.
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