One of the defining works of twentieth-century sociology: a revelatory analysis of how we present ourselves to others'The self, then, as a performed character, is not an organic thing ... it is a dramatic effect'How do we communicate who we are to other people? This landmark work by one of the twentieth century's most influential sociologists argues that our behaviour in social situations is defined by how we wish to be perceived - resulting in displays startlingly similar to those of actors ...

"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood". So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank's mother, Angela, has no money to fe...

The elegant and insightful memoir from the bestselling author of Call Me By Your Name, Find Me and The Gentleman From Peru.

From the bestselling author of Mayflies and Caledonian Road, a heart-enriching celebration of what makes us great: our friends.

Examines how readers interact with literary works, how they understand and are moved by them. Mick Short considers how meanings and effects are generated in the three major literary genres, carrying out stylistic analysis of poetry, drama and prose fiction in turn. He analyses a wide range of extracts from English literature.

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • An insightful look into the mind of a master storyteller—and a unique look at the craft of writing from the beloved and best-selling author of 1Q84, Norwegian Wood, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

"Murakami is like a magician who explains what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers" —New York Times Book Review

Aspiring writers and readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist...

Modernist movements radically transformed the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literary establishment, and their effects are still felt today. Modernism introduces and analyzes what amounted to nothing less than a literary and cultural revolution.

In this fully updated, expanded, and revised third edition, charting modernism in its global and local contexts, Peter Childs:

details the origins of modernism and the influence of thinkers such as Darwin, Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, Saussur...