Open University Set Books

The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (Penguin Classics)

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Published in 1860, Burckhardt?s great work redefined our sense of the European past, wholly reinterpreting what has since been known simply as the Italian Renaissance. With unsurpassed erudition, Burckhardt illuminates a world of artistic and cultural ferment, innovation, and discovery; of revived humanism; of fierce tensions between church and empire; and of the birth of both the modern state and the modern individual. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy remains the single most important and influential account of this crucial moment in the history of the West.

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The Complete Essays (Penguin Classics)

Product DescriptionSynopsisAbout the Author
In 1572, Montaigne retired to his estates in order to devote himself to leisure, reading and reflection. There he wrote his constantly expanding 'essays', inspired by the ideas he found in books from his library and his own experience. He discusses subjects as diverse as war-horses and cannibals, poetry and politics, sex and religion, love and friendship, ecstasy and experience. Above all, Montaigne studied himself to find his own inner nature and that of humanity. The Essays are among the most idiosyncratic and personal works in all literature. An insight into a wise Renaissance mind, they continue to engage, enlighten and entertain modern readers.In 1572, Montaigne retired to his estates in order to devote himself to leisure, reading and reflection. There he wrote his constantly expanding 'essays', inspired by the ideas he found in books from his library and his own experience. He discusses subjects as diverse as war-horses and cannibals, poetry and politics, sex and religion, love and friendship, ecstasy and experience. Above all, Montaigne studied himself to find his own inner nature and that of humanity. The Essays are among the most idiosyncratic and personal works in all literature. An insight into a wise Renaissance mind, they continue to engage, enlighten and entertain modern readers.Born in 1533, Montaigne studied law and spent a number of years working as a counsellor before devoting his life to reading, writing and reflection. He died in 1586. Dr M.A. Screech is regarded as the world's greatest authority on Montaigne.

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The Merchant of Venice (Oxford World's Classics)

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This edition of The Merchant of Venice, based on a fresh examination of the early editions, includes an exceptionally lucid and accessible introduction which addresses Shakespeare's attitude toward Semitism and establishes the cultural, historical, and literary context in which Shakespeare wrote the play. An interesting range of production photographs and drawings of Renaissance merchants and Jews, and a survey of the play's stage history ranging from discussions of its early staging to important twentieth-century productions and performances outside England, particularly Israel, makes this an ideal edition for students, actors, and the general reader.

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The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse: 1509-1659 (Penguin Classics)

Product DescriptionSynopsisAbout the Author
The era between the accession of Henry VIII and the crisis of the English republic in 1659 formed one of the most fertile epochs in world literature. This anthology offers a broad selection of its poetry, and includes a wide range of works by the great poets of the age - notably Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Sepnser, John Donne, William Shakespeare and John Milton. Poems by less well-known writers also feature prominently - among them significant female poets such as Lady Mary Wroth and Katherine Philips. Compelling and exhilarating, this landmark collection illuminates a time of astonishing innovation, imagination and diversity.The era between the accession of Henry VIII and the crisis of the English republic in 1659 formed one of the most fertile epochs in world literature. This anthology offers a broad selection of its poetry, and includes a wide range of works by the great poets of the age - notably Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Sepnser, John Donne, William Shakespeare and John Milton. Poems by less well-known writers also feature prominently - among them significant female poets such as Lady Mary Wroth and Katherine Philips. Compelling and exhilarating, this landmark collection illuminates a time of astonishing innovation, imagination and diversity.David Norbrook is Fellow and Tutor in English at Magdalen College, Oxford and Lecturer in English at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Poetry and Politics in the English Renaissance (Routledge, 1984). H. R. Woudhuysen is a lecturer in the Department of English at University College London. He has edited Samuel Johnson on Shakespeare for the New Penguin Shakespeare Library.

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The Prince (Penguin Classics)

Product DescriptionAmazon.com
Rejecting the traditional values of political theory, Machiavelli drew upon his own experiences of office in the turbulent Florentine republic to write his celebrated treatise on statecraft. While Machiavelli was only one of the many Florentine "prophets of force," he differed from the ruling elite in recognizing the complexity and fluidity of political life.

Translated by George Bull
Introduction by Anthony GraftonWhen Lorenzo de' Medici seized control of the Florentine Republic in 1512, he summarily fired the Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Signoria and set in motion a fundamental change in the way we think about politics. The person who held the aforementioned office with the tongue-twisting title was none other than Niccolò Machiavelli, who, suddenly finding himself out of a job after 14 years of patriotic service, followed the career trajectory of many modern politicians into punditry. Unable to become an on-air political analyst for a television network, he only wrote a book. But what a book The Prince is. Its essential contribution to modern political thought lies in Machiavelli's assertion of the then revolutionary idea that theological and moral imperatives have no place in the political arena. "It must be understood," Machiavelli avers, "that a prince ... cannot observe all of those virtues for which men are reputed good, because it is often necessary to act against mercy, against faith, against humanity, against frankness, against religion, in order to preserve the state." With just a little imagination, readers can discern parallels between a 16th-century principality and a 20th-century presidency. --Tim Hogan

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The Renaissance in Europe: A Reader (Renaissance in Europe: A Cultural Enquiry)

Synopsis
An essential reference for any student of the Renaissance, this book is a collection of readings on one of the most fascinating periods of Western development. Eminent scholars explore themes of humanism, structures of authority, and levels of culture among different social orders, assessing current knowledge and offering new interpretations.

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Virtue Magnificence: Art of the Italian Renaissance Courts (Perspectives)

Product DescriptionSynopsis

For introductory college-level courses in art history that include a survey of Italian Renaissance art. It may also appeal to the general reader interested in art history, especially the Renaissance.

This text combines a discussion of history and art as it focuses on the smaller courts of Mantua, Ferrara, Naples, and Urbino that produced an extraordinary amount of great art. The book presents the work created there as the culmination of the desire of princes and dukes wishing to show the world their magnificence as rulers and their virtue as leaders of culture.

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The Witch of Edmonton (Revels Student Editions)

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This edition of the multi-authored text The Witch of Edmonton offers a thorough reconsideration of the text, comprehensive notes and glossary, together with a complete transcription of the original pamphlet by Henry Goodcole.

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