Description

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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

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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.