Best Selling Books by Michael Bishop

"Perhaps the most difficult task in undertaking a study of nineteenth-century French poetry would be the selection of poets to study: who among us would care to choose only one from among Mallarme, Vigny, Hugo - and literally dozens of others - who so thoroughly and powerfully interpreted, shaped, and challenged the art forever more? Author Michael Bishop, charged with that forbidding duty, has concentrated his study on ten central figures of that century: Desbordes-Valmore, Lamartine, Vigny, Baudelaire, Hugo, Mallarme, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Laforgue, and Lautreamont. And while the list of subjects is compact, Bishop''s intense critical and personal analysis of th ese extraordinary giants is astounding. Not only has he delved deeply into the complex structure of each of these ten poetic oeuvres, but in so doing has introduced to the discussion a number of those poets seemingly excluded from the book. Indeed, his thoughts on Nerval, Gautier, and others are frequently as perspicacious and comprehensive as those put forth in works devoted solely to those poets." "In examining the clearest and most distinct voices of nineteenth-century French poetry, Bishop has shrewdly probed a tradition, come to terms with modern criticisms, imparted truly fresh details of coherence resulting from intimate and informed readings, and joined hands across the ages - all the while preserving (and occasionally solidifying) the exquisite, individual integrity of particular oeuvres. As he canvasses the charm and strength of Desbordes-Valmore''s unaltered passion, Baudelaire''s unsurpassed powers of versification, the stunning descriptive-narrative specificity of Hugo''s lexicon, or the interplay of fiction and reality in Mallarme, Bishop constantly reflects the teeming fascinations and elan of the poets themselves."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Fifteen offbeat tales. They range from the title piece, on a man in the U.S. South who decides to commit harakiri, to God''s Hour, on a TV program hosted by God.

Beloved understand the beginning, understand the Creator and then you will know and understand creation Between the face of the deep and the face of darkness is a womb- a place and realm where physical things are nurtured While it is there it is still void and without form-reduced to infinite density

From Smock To Cassock tells the fascinating story of a young boy who makes his career in farming but changes mid-life into the priesthood. Born in 1927, his father''s ill health brings him to London during the Second World War where he experiences the horrors of the Blitz. While he survives the bombings, the end of the war brings the death of his father. This deeply personal loss, combined with a change in family fortunes, results in Michael seeking his own way in the world. He soon finds his passion in farming. Michael gains experience working for a variety of farmers, learning different methods and skills. Ultimately, he is able to acquire his own farm. His life continues to flourish as he marries and starts a family. Sadly tragedy strikes in the form of a disabling injury, which brings an end to this career. Before long, Michael finds himself living in a caravan. Searching for a new purpose, Michael is drawn to the Church. Completing various educational requirements, he achieves ordination into the priesthood. This autobiography details this journey and provides a fascinating story about overcoming the odds, pursuing your dreams and following your heart.

Sonny Peacock comes of age in this poignant tale set in the Kansas heartland of the early 1960s. ''Apartheid, Superstrings, and Mordecai Thubana'' is set in 1980s Pretoria, South Africa, where a black man''s quest for the ''Theory of Everything'' is juxtaposed against the inhumanity of apartheid. In ''Cri de Coeur'', aboard a 21st century generation wheel ship, agrogeologist and poet Dr Abel Gwiazda and his Down''s-syndrome son Dean travel on course for a new home in Epsilon Eridani. In the final novella, ''Death and Designation Among the Asadi'', reprinted here for the first time in 20 years, ethnologist Egan Chaney''s private journals of his studies of the alien Asadi are the centrepiece of the story.

Xavier Thaxton is the arts editor of a great metropolitan newspaper, and is a man whose aesthetic values are of only the highest calibre. But after an accidental dip in a radioactive swimming hole, Xavier finds his life changing as he is forced, step by step, despite all he can do, to assume the mantle and manner of a comic book superhero, and to be a living icon of the pop culture he has spent his life detesting.

In the domed city of Atlanta, after the breakup of the United States, a young writer named Julian Cawthorn is in trouble. Because he insulted the daughter of a public official, Cawthorn is out of work, and virtually unemployable. He begs a temporary job on the city newspaper and finds himself assigned to cover the first public appearance of the aliens Cygnusians, travelers from outer space who have been living in seclusion in Atlanta while visiting Earth. A Christian revivalist dictatorship rules Atlanta; church services are as much social as they are religious events. When one of the aliens chooses to appear at a church service, Julian watches as the first alien from space stands up and is "saved". The alien''s voluntary salvation is taken as a sign that the state religion is indeed the one true religion, and minority groups, previously tolerated, are attacked by gangs, leaving Atlanta in turmoil. The service is a turning point in Julian''s life. He is hired by Fiona Bitler, hostess to and protector of the aliens; at her invitation he goes to work in the secret alien enclave. In this environment Julian comes to know the fascinating aliens. He is mystified by the aliens'' interest in his personal life and cannot understand how they have acquired so many oddly human characteristics in their brief period on Earth.

Corre el año 1982. Estados Unidos posee una base permanente en la luna; Richard M. Nixon se encuentra en el cuarto mandato del «Imperio Presidencial»; y un excéntrico novelista llamado Philip K. Dick acaba de morir en California. ¿O no está muerto? La doctora Lia Pickford se queda perpleja cuando Dick entra en su despacho de un pueblo de Georgia para pedirle ayuda. Cal Pickford, eterno admirador del autor y conmocionado por la noticia de la muerte de su héroe, se entusiasma cuando su esposa le habla de su visita. Comienza entonces una serie de acontecimientos que implican a Cal en la política represiva del régimen de Nixon junto con una envejecida diva del cine, un inmigrante y un hombre negro que trabaja como mozo de cuadra.

Reconnu depuis longtemps comme un des grands écrivains exemplaires de notre modernité, André du Bouchet nous lègue une oeuvre richement diversifiée, dense et transparente à la fois, transgénérique à bien des égards mais incontestablement poiétique dans sa conception et sa pratique. La présente étude cherche à privilégier les nombreux textes – essais, traductions, notes de carnet et autres accompagnements - où s’enlacent et s’entretissent une méditation critique profondément sentie, parfois obsessivement vécue, et une écriture poétique étonnamment originale visant à installer naturellement, mais avec discrétion, ses propres spécificités, tout en creusant selon des angles d’approches très variés celles des grands auteurs et artistes constamment et librement interrogés. Ecriture d’altérité et de non-différence, d’automultiplication et d’harmonisation intersubjective, celle qu’on analyse ici – avec ses textes consacrés à Baudelaire ou Hugo, Tal-Coat ou Segers, Mandelstam ou Joyce, Poussin ou Hölderlin – ne cesse de révéler cet instinct de généreuse et fraternelle affinité qui, au coeur des brillantes explorations que voue le moi à son être-dans-le-monde, tisse son réseau de résonances subtiles et sûres.

La Collection monographique Rodopi en littérature française contemporaine vise à faire découvrir, à travers un riche éventail d''approches critiques, les écrivain/e/s français/es d''aujourd''hui dont l''œuvre s''impose de par l''originalité de sa vision et la profondeur de ses enjeux. Rédigées en français ou en anglais, les études traiteront à la fois de la pertinence globale et des spécificités marquantes de ces œuvres dont la force d''interpellation innerve le champ de la production littéraire récente. The Collection monographique Rodopi en littérature française contemporaine engages, by way of a rich variety of critical approaches, with today''s French writers whose work exhibits a striking originality of vision and breadth of creative endeavour. Written in French or English, studies will explore at once the overall significance and the distinctive features of these works whose multifaceted appeal places them at the fore of recent literary production. Single authors and editors of collected volumes are cordially invited to submit proposals and/or full manuscripts to the publisher at BRILL, Christa Stevens.

La Collection monographique Rodopi en littérature française contemporaine vise à faire découvrir, à travers un riche éventail d''approches critiques, les écrivain/e/s français/es d''aujourd''hui dont l''œuvre s''impose de par l''originalité de sa vision et la profondeur de ses enjeux. Rédigées en français ou en anglais, les études traiteront à la fois de la pertinence globale et des spécificités marquantes de ces œuvres dont la force d''interpellation innerve le champ de la production littéraire récente. The Collection monographique Rodopi en littérature française contemporaine engages, by way of a rich variety of critical approaches, with today''s French writers whose work exhibits a striking originality of vision and breadth of creative endeavour. Written in French or English, studies will explore at once the overall significance and the distinctive features of these works whose multifaceted appeal places them at the fore of recent literary production. Single authors and editors of collected volumes are cordially invited to submit proposals and/or full manuscripts to the publisher at BRILL, Christa Stevens.

In an alternate universe, Richard M. Nixon, in the fourth term of the "imperial presidency," is about to undertake a fateful meeting

Now back in print--a powerful science fiction masterwork from the Nebula Award-winning author of Count Geiger''s Blues. Ancient of Days is among Michael Bishop''s most appealing works--the story of a prehistoric man found wandering in a Georgia orchard, whose honesty and deep spirituality bring him into conflict with the modern world.

Met vrienden als de goedhartige Mol, de dichterlijke Rat, de verstandige Das en Pad de branieschopper is het leven bij de rivieroever en zelfs in het Wilde Woud heel fijn. Prentvertelling met grote kleurige illustraties. Vanaf ca. 5 jaar.