Cambridge Scholars Publishing

The Beggar's "Children"; how John Gay changed the course of England's musical theatre.

Atkins examines ballad opera, particularly successors to The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, beginning with the historical context and other forms of theater in England before its inception, the opera itself, and the origins of the genre. She then discusses the musical and textual details of several ballad operas, comic operas, and burlettas of the period, based on contemporary accounts of their popularity with the London public. These include The Beggar's Wedding and The Devil to Pay by Charles Coffey, and Thomas and Sally, Love in a Village, The Maid in the Mill, and The Golden Pippin. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Byron and Orientalism.

Scholars of English literature, most in Britain but also representing Ireland, Russian, and Iran, explore how notions of eastern Otherness found expression in the work of British Romantic poet Lord Byron (1788-1824), and survey expressions of the notion adrift in his milieu. Their topics include Edward Said's failure with Byron, the bride of the east, and investigating antitheses in The Siege of Corinth. Many of the seven papers were delivered to an April 2005 conference in Nottingham. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The study and use of English in Africa.

Arua, Bagwasi, Sebina, and Seboni (all U. of Botswana) present a collection of papers from an international conference on language and literature, held at the U. of Botswana in 2005. Twenty contributions, all directly or indirectly related to the theme, "English Studies in Africa: The Crisis of Relevance," are organized into sections on language, literature, and humanistic values; language, literature, and pedagogy; language, culture and identity; and language, literature, postcolonialism and the African renaissance. A sampling of topics: dominant motifs and the crisis of relevance; reading English as a second language — explorations of reading patterns among university students; slang and aspects of students' academic culture at the U. of Botswana; theater and the African renaissance; and the relevance of Chinua Achebe, Langston Hughes and Ngugi wa Thiong'o to the African renaissance. No subject index. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)