Synopses & Reviews
Truly the source of eternal fascination, the sea is one of the enduring subjects of literature, and certainly the most protean. Now, inveterate sailor and bestselling author of
Hunting Mister Heartbreak, Jonathan Raban, has compiled a remarkable anthology of our changing visions of the sea, a rich treasury of writings as varied and enthralling as the ocean itself. Arranged chronologically, and spanning everything from Anglo-Saxon poetry to modern oceanography, these excerpts capture the work of poets, novelists, scientists, explorers, in a collection that blends the practical with the beautiful, the comic with the terrifying. Readers can savor Samuel Eliot Morison's picture of October spring tides on the coast of Maine, "when the blueberry bushes on top of the granite cliffs turn a brilliant crimson and the maple near shore sends up torches of gold and scarlet among the evergreen, all reflected in the quiet waters." Or James Boswell's intimate portrait of Samuel Johnson below deck, "lying in philosophical tranquillity, with a greyhound of Col's at his back, keeping him warm." Or Dickens's comic memoir of being seasick on a rolling deck ("I found myself standing...holding on to something. I don't know what. I think it was the boatswain: or it may have been the pump: or possibly the cow").
Those who love nature writing will find that Raban includes a wide selection, such as Darwin's account of the Beagle surging through a glimmering, phosphorescent nighttime sea, Rachel Carson's explanation of the color of the sea, and David Lewis's discovery that Pacific islanders navigate more by feel than by sight, by the roll and pitch of their vessels as they corkscrew over the waves. And for everyone who loves great writing, Raban includes not only passages from the great sea classics such as Moby Dick, The Old Man and the Sea, and Two Years Before the Mast but also lesser-known gems by writers such as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Elizabeth Bishop, E.B. White, Emily Dickinson, and John Barth.
Whether you love Darwin or Rachel Carson, Joseph Conrad or Robert Lowell, The Oxford Book of the Sea is as bountiful and alluring as its subject. For everyone interested in the sea, from sailors and beachcombers to armchair voyagers, and for everyone drawn to fine writing, this book is an excursion you won't want to miss.
Review
"The Oxford Book of the Sea, edited by Jonathan Raban is one of the most romantic books I have read in a long time." Sunday Herald,Glasgow, 02/12/01
Review
"this splendid anthology...so rich a mix...There is something here for everyone and that is as it should be." Barry Unsworth, Sunday Telegraph
Synopsis
This is an anthology of writing about the sea from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. It is extraordinarily varied, including fiction and non-fiction, prose and poetry, documentary accounts, and oceanographic writing. Familiar names, such as Byron, Defoe, Melville, and Conrad are well represented, but there are many new names too.
Synopsis
The sea has served as a source of inspiration for writers throughout the ages. Now, in The Oxford Book of the Sea, bestselling author Jonathan Raban has compiled a remarkable anthology of our changing visions of the sea, a rich treasury of writings as varied and enthralling as the ocean itself. Arranged chronologically, and spanning everything from Anglo-Saxon poetry to modern oceanography, these excerpts capture the work of poets, novelists, scientists, and explorers. We read pieces from Samuel Eliot Morison, James Boswell, Charles Dickens, Rachel Carson, Charles Darwin, and John Barth, among many others. And for those who love great writing, Raban not only includes passages from the great sea classics--such as Moby Dick, and The Old Man and the Sea--but also lesser known gems by such writers as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, E.B. White, and Emily Dickinson. For everyone interested in the sea, and those drawn to fine writing, The Oxford Book of the Sea is a bountiful, alluring, and essential collection.
About the Author
Jonathan Raban was born in 1942, educated at Hull University, and was for a time a lecturer at UCW Aberystwyth and the University of East Anglia before becoming a full-time writer in 1969.
His books include 'Soft City' (1973), 'Arabia Through the Looking Glass' (1979), 'Old Glory' (1981, Heinemann Award, RSL Thomas Cook Award), 'Foreign Land' (1985), 'Coasting' (1986), 'For Love and Money' (1987), and 'Hunting Mister Heartbreak' (1990, Thomas Cook Award).
He has sailed alone round Britain and has spent much time afloat on the coastal seas of Europe. He is now living in Seattle, where he sails a Swedish ketch on the rim of the North Pacific.