The first biography of Shakespeare. Written by Nicholas Rowe with assistance from Thomas Betterton. They researched and interviewed widely to collect as much information about Shakespeare as possible.

Walt Whitman, a world poet and the father of American free verse, has been read by diverse audiences from around the world. Literary and cultural scholars have studied Whitman’s interaction with social, political and literary movements of different countries. Despite his continuing presence in Iran, Whitman’s reception in this country has remained unexplored. Additionally, Iranian reception of Western literature is a field still in its infancy and under-researched, particularly due to con...

Reappraisal of the pioneering humanist scholar Biondo Flavio.

During his lifetime the historian and antiquarian Biondo Flavio (1392- 1463) struggled to obtain recognition as a major contributor to the humanistic movement of the fifteenth century. Throughout the Renaissance, fellow Italian scholars far too often condemned rather than endorsed his scholarly works. His troublesome career and mixed reputation among his peers stand in stark contrast with the highly innovative character of his lear...

De Chinese cultuur mag zich verheugen in een groeiende belangstelling. Chinese films bereiken in Nederland een steeds omvangrijker publiek en ook de moderne Chinese literatuur, die sinds de jaren tachtig een grote bloei doormaakt, wordt door veel liefhebbers op de voet gevolgd. Chinese Letterkunde behandelt de Chinese literatuur vanaf haar oorspron

Professor Jozef IJsewijn's most relevant essays collected in one volume.

'Jozef IJsewijn. Humanism in the Low Countries' contains twenty-one essays written by the late Professor Jozef IJsewijn during the period 1966-1996. All essays were selected by his pupil Professor Gilbert Tournoy, who collaborated with him since the foundation of the Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae in 1966 until his untimely death in 1998. They are now published in one volume in homage to the most brilliant scholar i...

New insights into Pietro d'Abano's unique approach to translations.

The commentary of the Italian physician and philosopher Pietro d'Abano on Bartholomew of Messina's Latin translation of Pseudo-Aristotle's Problemata Physica, published in 1310, constitutes an important historical source. In a section of the corpus Aristotelicum that was not part of the standard curriculum at the medieval university, the commentary of Pietro d'Abano investigates the complex relationship between text, translat...

Sublime calligraphy, marvellous art, and amazing initials, have charmed and captivated the audience of the Book of Kells for over twelve hundred years. This remarkable illuminated Gospel book attracts the attention of scholars as well as those more generally interested in the fabulous artefacts of the past.

Everybody knows it was made by an extensive team of scribes and artists. Donncha MacGabhann knew that too. However, he was certain that a thorough examination could clearly identify the va...

The Padmavat (1540 CE) by the Indian Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi is a classic of pre-modern Indian literature. It relates how the Rajput king Ratansen of Chitor finds and marries the beautiful princess Padmavati, and how the sultan Alauddin Khilji, on hearing of her beauty, besieges Chitor in a fruitless attempt to capture her.

'The Ruby in the Dust' presents a reading of Padmavat that challenges existing interpretations of Jayasi’s work and describes how its semantic polyphony reflects t...

There are many publications dealing with the political career of Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989), who transformed the political landscape of Iran and the Middle East after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Most of the research conducted in the West is on Khomeini’s political strategies, while the influential role of mysticism in all facets of his life is ignored. This book is the first study examining Khomeini’s poetry, mysticism and the reception of his poetry both in Iran and the West. It...

Afrika is niet alleen de bakermat van de mensheid, maar ook van prachtige literatuur. Naast oude schriftculturen, bijvoorbeeld in Ethiopië, Noord-Afrika en het Swahiligebied, is het continent rijk aan uiteenlopende mondelinge genres, van mythe tot spreekwoord, van liefdespoëzie tot epos en theater. Deze mondelinge tradities blijken een bron van inspiratie voor de geschreven literatuur, die ook beïnvloed is door een Europees genre als de roman. Er is een rijke verscheidenheid aan literaire ...