Ffangs The Vampire Bat And The Kiss Of Truth

Newly re-jacketed, this is the strange tale of a vampire who longs to be human. Ffangs lives with the other vampires on Vampire Island, but he is different from the rest - he can't stand the sight of blood! When he arrives in London, everyone is too frightened to listen when he explains that he only wants to be human. And soon he finds himself alone in Buckingham Palace to face Thomas the Vampire Hunter . . .

Despite the fame Ted Hughes’s poetry has achieved, there has been surprisingly little critical writing on his children’s literature. This book identifies the importance of Hughes’s children’s writing from an ecocritical perspective and argues that the healing function that Hughes ascribes to nature in his children’s literature is closely linked to the development of his own sense of environmental responsibility. This book will be the first sustained examination of Hughes’s greening in relation to his writing for children, providing a detailed reading of Hughes’s children’s literature through his poetry, prose and drama as well as his critical essays and letters. In addition, it also explores how Hughes’s children’s writing is a window to the poet’s own emotional struggles, as well as his environmental consciousness and concern to reconnect a society that has become alienated from nature. This book will be of great interest to not only those studying Ted Hughes, but also students and scholars of environment and literature, ecocriticism, children’s literature and twentieth-century literature.

This is the first collection of essays to be published since the poet's death. Continuing a tradition of more than thirty years of Ted Hughes studies, it gathers contributions by most of the major international Hughes scholars, voicing their critical preoccupations at the turn of the century. Over the years, academic criticism on the poetry of Ted Hughes has established some well-trodden paths, which this collection still strongly reflects, however, the productions of the latter Hughes, in poetry as well as in criticism, demand a revisiting of the critical discourse on his work. The biographical dimension, for instance, has gradually gathered momentum, and it is no longer possible to study the work of Ted Hughes without due reference to the life and work of Sylvia Plath. This book is, nonetheless, also motivated by the wish to bring some fresh blood to the Hughes studies by politely rocking the boat of a rather comfortably established critical reception that has prided itself on being the mouthpiece of the poet's own ideological discourse. For this reason, some of the chapters in this collection belong to a continental European tradition that is resolutely foreign to the former partisanships. For all that, Ted Hughes: Alternative Horizons suggests that steering clear of the polemical ruts dug by fans and detractors alike can only benefit the future of scholarly studies devoted to a great poet.

Children's literature continues to be one of the most rapidly expanding and exciting of interdisciplinary academic studies, of interest to anyone concerned with literature, education, internationalism, childhood or culture in general. The second edition of Peter Hunt's bestselling International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature offers comprehensive coverage of the subject across the world, with substantial, accessible, articles by specialists and world-ranking experts. Almost everything is here, from advanced theory to the latest practice – from bibliographical research to working with books and children with special needs. This edition has been expanded and includes over fifty new articles. All of the other articles have been updated, substantially revised or rewritten, or have revised bibliographies. New topics include Postcolonialism, Comparative Studies, Ancient Texts, Contemporary Children's Rhymes and Folklore, Contemporary Comics, War, Horror, Series Fiction, Film, Creative Writing, and 'Crossover' literature. The international section has been expanded to reflect world events, and now includes separate articles on countries such as the Baltic states, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Iran, Korea, Mexico and Central America, Slovenia, and Taiwan.

For the first time, one volume surveys the life, works and critical reputation of one of the most significant British writers of the twentieth-century: Ted Hughes. This accessible guide to Hughes’ writing provides a rich exploration of the complete range of his works. In this volume, Terry Gifford: offers clear and detailed discussions of Hughes’ poetry, stories, plays, translations, essays and letters includes new biographical information, and previously unpublished archive material, especially on Hughes’ environmentalism provides a comprehensive account of Hughes’ critical reception, separated into the major themes that have interested readers and critics offers useful suggestions for further reading, and incorporates helpful cross-references between sections of the guide. Part of the Routledge Guides to Literature series, Ted Hughes presents an accessible, fresh, and fascinating introduction to a major British writer whose work continues to be of crucial importance today.

A brilliant new study guide to perhaps the finest English poet of the 20th Century, by a distinguished critic and scholar. This book opens with a section on Hughes's life, including an authoritative treatment of the relationship with Sylvia Plath and the effect of her suicide on his poetry and reputation, followed by a review of Hughes's artistic strategies, his poetic language, and influences on his work, including his openness to mythology and the poets of Eastern Europe. The body of the study guide offers an approach to reading New Selected Poems (1995), taking in turn each of the remarkable and remarkably varied works from which the poems were selected—The Hawk in the Rain, Lupercal, Wodwo, Crow, Cave Birds, Season Songs, Gaudete, Remains of Elmet, Moortown Diary, River and Wolfwatching. It concludes with a review of Hughes's reception, and a six-page bibliography.

Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, is tired of being told that she doesn't exist. In this crackling, lolloping story in verse, Ted Hughes describes how she sets out on the road to London for an audience with the Queen...

Explores the life, work and literary significance of the late Poet Laureate.