Wood, Seascraper (2025)

Benjamin Wood.
Seascraper.
London: Viking (Penguin Random House UK), 2025.
New York: Scribner (Simon & Schuster), 2025.

Book Information : Publisher UK; Publisher USA; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com, UK ed; Amazon.com, USA ed.

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Author Information :

• Benjamin Wood, benjaminwood.info, author's website.
• Seascraper at benjaminwood.info.
• "Seascraper" song by Thomas Flett at benjaminwood.info.
• Benjamin Wood (b. 1981), Wikipedia.
• Seascraper (2025), Wikipedia.
• 2025 Booker Prize, Wikipedia.
  (Seascraper was Nominated (long list) for the 2025 Booker Prize.)
• Walter Scott Prize.
  (Seascraper was Nominated for the 2026 Walter Scott Prize.)
• Benjamin Wood, GoodReads.com.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• British literature: 21st-century literature.

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Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (1994)

William Shakespeare.
Twelfth Night, or What You Will.
Edited by Roger Warren and Stanley Wells.
Book Series: The Oxford Shakespeare; Oxford World's Classics.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, 2008.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Editors: Roger Warren and Stanley Wells

• Roger Warren was a Senior Lecturer of English, University of Leicester.
• Roger Warren edited four additional individual plays in The Oxford Shakespeare series: Cymbeline; Henry VI, Part Two; Pericles; The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
• Warren, Roger, 1943-, The Library of Congress, LC Name Authority File (LCNAF).
~~~~~~~~~~
• Stanley Wells, his website.
• Stanley Wells (b. 1930), Wikipedia.
• Stanley Wells has written and edited many, many books related to Shakespeare. Some of them are described in the Books section of the Stanley Wells website.
• Stanley Wells, OCLC WorldCat Entities.
• Wells, Stanley, 1930-, The Library of Congress, LC Name Authority File (LCNAF).

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Wikipedia Articles :

Shakespeare :

• William Shakespeare (1564–1616).
• Twelfth Night, probably written in 1601; first documented performance 02 February 1602; first printed in 1623 (First Folio).
• Chronology of Shakespeare's plays: Twelfth Night (1601).
• Shakespearean comedy.
• Shakespeare's influence.
• List of idioms attributed to Shakespeare.

English Renaissance Literature, Drama :

• English Renaissance, 16th - 17th Centuries.
• English literature: English Renaissance (1500–1660).
• Elizabethan literature.
• English literature: Jacobean period (1603–1625).
• English Renaissance theatre.

England during Shakespeare's Time :

• Tudor period, 1485–1603.
• Elizabeth I (1533–1603); Queen of England and Ireland 1558–1603.
• Elizabethan era, 1558–1603.
• Elizabethan government.
• Elizabethan [religious] settlement, "implemented from 1559 to 1563".
• English society: Tudor society.
• Elizabeth I: Later years.
• James VI and I (1566–1625); King of Scotland as James VI 1567–1625; King of England and Ireland as James I 1603–1625.
• Jacobean era, 1603–1625.
• Stuart period, 1603–1714.
• Early modern Britain, 16th – 18th Centuries.

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Discussions of Shakespeare and Twelfth Night :

• Erik McCarthy, Introduction to William Shakespeare, YouTube, 21 January 2025.
  (The literary, social, and political context of Shakespeare; Shakespeare biography; book production; printing the plays. A very good survey.)
• Erik McCarthy, William Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, YouTube, 15 February 2025.
• David Kern, Angelina Stanford, and Tim McIntosh, Twelfth Night, "Close Reads Podcast" at SubStack, "The Play's The Thing" at Apple Podcasts, 2017.
  Note: This podcast series on Twelfth Night was published on two different platforms under two different podcast names: Close Reads Podcast at SubStack and The Play's The Thing at Apple Podcasts. (The Apple Podcasts episodes may have advertisements.)
  1. Twelfth Night: Act I, Substack link, Apple Podcasts link, 24 November 2017.
     Angelina recommends :
     • E. M. W. Tillyard. The Elizabethan World Picture. London: Chatto & Windus, 1943; New York: Vintage Books, 1959.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
     • Harold C. Goddard. The Meaning of Shakespeare, Volume 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
     • Harold C. Goddard. The Meaning of Shakespeare, Volume 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
     See also:
     • Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks, The Literary Life Podcast. Episodes also at Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
  2. Twelfth Night: Act II, Substack link, Apple Podcasts link, 01 December 2017.
  3. Twelfth Night: Act III, Substack link, Apple Podcasts link, 08 December 2017.
     (The restraints on Angelina's and Tim's religious enthusiasm are released for a moment in this episode. An interesting digression.)
  4. Twelfth Night: Act IV, Substack link, Apple Podcasts link, 15 December 2017.
  5. Twelfth Night: Act V, Substack link, Apple Podcasts link, 22 December 2017.
  6. Twelfth Night: Q&A, Substack link, Apple Podcasts link, 29 December 2017.
     (While the Close Reads Podcast folk are puzzled by the animus towards Malvolio, Paul Cantor's lectures present a very clear explanation of the political, social, and religious differences between the followers of the Church of England and the radical separatist Puritan sect (Brownists). Cantor also cites plays by Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614), which also feature the ridicule of Puritan characters. Cantor addresses the Malvolio and Puritanism topic(s) in both of his lectures.)
     See also History of the Puritans under Elizabeth I.
• Paul Cantor, "Twelfth Night", Shakespeare and Politics, recorded Spring 2015, posted to YouTube 01 March 2017.
  1. Twelfth Night (Lecture 1 of 2).
     (The first 15 minutes of this lecture finishes the discussion of a previous lecture on As You Like It and the All the world's a stage / seven ages of man speech.)
  2. Twelfth Night (Lecture 2 of 2).
  Paul Cantor information:
  • Paul Cantor (1945–2022), Wikipedia.
  • In Memoriam: Wide-Ranging Literary and Pop Culture Critic Paul Cantor, College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia, 08 March 2022.
  • In Memoriam, Virginia Magazine, Summer/Fall 2022.
• Jonathan Bate, Shakespeare's Lover's, Third Lecture in the Series Classic Shakespeare, Gresham College, 23 January 2018, YouTube 29 January 2018.
• Jonathan Bate, Shakespeare's Politics, Fourth Lecture in the Series Classic Shakespeare, Gresham College, 27 February 2018, YouTube 02 March 2018.
  (Not about Twelfth Night but provides some political context of Shakespeare, which may be of interest in light of Paul Cantor's lecture series Shakespeare and Politics.
  Bate's lecture mainly refers to Shakespeare's Roman history plays and doesn't directly say much about the politics of the Elizabethan era.)
• Jonathan Bate, Shakespeare's Fame, Sixth and Final Lecture in the Series Classic Shakespeare, Gresham College, 08 May 2018, YouTube 10 May 2018.
• Melvyn Bragg, Pascale Aebischer, Michael Dobson, Emma Smith, "Twelfth Night, or What You Will," In Our Time, BBC Radio 4, 28 December 2023.
  (Reading List, References in Episode Notes.
  Unfortunately, these once free programs now require a subscription.)

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Some Other Recent Editions of Twelfth Night :

• William Shakespeare. Twelfth Night, or What You Will. Edited by Keir Elam. The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2008.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• William Shakespeare. Twelfth Night: or What You Will, Third Edition. Edited by Elizabeth Story Donno. The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

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Essays about Twelfth Night :

• Harold Jenkins, "Shakespeare's Twelfth Night," pages 72-87 in Shakespeare: The Comedies: A Collection of Critical Essays, Edited by Kenneth Muir, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1965.
  [Archive.org; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
  (Roger Warren's and Stanley Wells' Introduction to The Oxford Shakespeare edition of Twelfth Night refers to this essay several times.)
• Laurence Lerner, editor. Shakespeare's Comedies: An Anthology of Modern Criticism. Penguin Shakespeare Library. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1967.
  [Archive.org; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
  (The section on Twelfth Night, pages 265-283, contains four brief essays and suggestions for further reading.)
• Stanley Wells, editor. Twelfth Night: Critical Essays. New York: Garland Publishing, 1986; Routledge, 2015.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

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Note :
I previously read Twelfth Night in 2024. My 2024 blog post is here.

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Defoe, Moll Flanders (1722; 2011)

Daniel Defoe.
Moll Flanders.
Text Edited by G. A. Starr and Linda Bree.
Introduction and Notes by Linda Bree.
Book Series: Oxford World's Classics.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Editors: G. A. Starr and Linda Bree

• Professor George Starr Remembered, Department of English, University of California at Berkeley, 19 August 2024.
• In Memoriam, George A. Starr, 1934–2024, Academic Senate, University of California.
• G. A. Starr, GoodReads.com.
• G. A. Starr, OCLC WorldCat Entities.
• Starr, G. A. (George A.), LC Name Authority File (LCNAF), The Library of Congress.
~~~~~~~~~~
• Linda Bree, @LindaBree1, Twitter / X.
• Linda Bree, GoodReads.com.
• Interview with Linda Bree, Cambridge University Press, YouTube, 17 December 2013.
• Linda Bree, OCLC WorldCat Entities.
• Bree, Linda, LC Name Authority File (LCNAF), The Library of Congress.

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Wikipedia Articles: Author, Book; English Literature; England during Defoe's times; William Hogarth

• Daniel Defoe (c.1660 – 1731).
• Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders (1722).
• Spiritual autobiography.
• Picaresque novel.
• Literary realism.
• Unreliable narrator.
  (Despite Moll Flanders' seemingly candid and unrestrained telling of her story, on several occasions she describes instances where she deceived others, or at least withheld important details in order to manipulate others' perception of herself. I think we should expect that the reader is receiving a similar treatment from the narrator.)
• Rogue literature.
  (Disappointingly short article.)
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• English literature: Stuart Restoration (1660–1714).
• Restoration literature.
• English literature: Georgian era (1714–1837).
• English literature: Augustan literature (1714–1745).
• Augustan literature.
  (A good survey; provides context of Daniel Defoe.)
• Augustan prose.
• English novel: Early novels in English.
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• 1722 in Great Britain.
• English society: 17th century.
• English society: Georgian society: 1714–1837.
• Kingdom of England: Early modern history, 1603–1707.
• Kingdom of Great Britain, 1707–1800.
• History of England: 17th century.
• Early modern Britain: Early Stuart era: 1603–1660.
• Early modern Britain: Later Stuart era: 1660–1714.
• Stuart Restoration, 1660–1688.
• Glorious Revolution, 1688.
• Nine Years' War, 1688–1697.
• War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–1714.
• Early modern Britain: 18th century.
• Georgian era, 1714 to c.1830–1837.
• Economic history of the United Kingdom: 16th–17th centuries.
• Economic history of the United Kingdom: 18th century.
~~~~~~~~~~
• English overseas possessions.
• British Empire: English overseas possessions (1583–1707).
• British colonization of the Americas.
• British America.
• Colony of Virginia, 1606–1776.
  (Moll Flanders' third husband owns a plantation in Virginia; she lives there for several years.)
• Province of Maryland, 1632–1776.
  (Moll Flanders is sentenced to Transportation, arriving in Virginia, she and her husband settle in Maryland.)
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The works of William Hogarth provide a view of London during the first half of the Eighteenth Century. Perhaps they allow us to visualize the world of Moll Flanders as she would have known it (although Defoe sets Moll Flanders' story as occurring during the Seventeenth Century).

• William Hogarth (1697 – 1764).
• List of works by William Hogarth.
• William Hogarth, A Harlot's Progress (1732).
  (Plate Three in this collection was used for the cover art of the 2011 Oxford World's Classics edition of Moll Flanders.)
• William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress (1735).
• William Hogarth, Marriage A-la-Mode (1743-1745).
• William Hogarth, Industry and Idleness (1747).
  (Plate One in this collection shows a broadside version of Moll Flanders; the story was widely known.)
• William Hogarth, Beer Street and Gin Lane (1751).
• William Hogarth, The Four Stages of Cruelty (1751).
• William Hogarth at Archive.org.

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Some other editions of Moll Flanders :

• Daniel Defoe. The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders. Edited by David Blewett. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1989.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Daniel Defoe. Moll Flanders. Edited by Edward Kelly. Norton Critical Editions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1973.
  [Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Daniel Defoe. Moll Flanders. Edited by Albert J. Rivero. Norton Critical Editions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004.
  [Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Daniel Defoe. Moll Flanders, Second Edition. Edited by Albert J. Rivero. Norton Critical Editions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2024.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

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Miscellaneous Discussions of Daniel Defoe and/or Moll Flanders :

• John Mullan, Convincing Fiction: Daniel Defoe to Ishiguro and Knausgaard, First Lecture in the Series The Powers of the Novel, Gresham College, 28 October 2020, YouTube 11 November 2020.
  (Discusses Robinson Crusoe.)
• John Mullan, Crime in Fiction: Defoe and Dickens to Spark, Highsmith and McEwan, Second Lecture in the Series The Powers of the Novel, Gresham College, 24 February 2021, YouTube 02 March 2021.
  (Discusses Moll Flanders.)
• Erik McCarthy, Daniel Defoe and the Novel, YouTube, 27 March 2023.
  (Good introductory survey of Daniel Defoe, the novel, and Moll Flanders.)
• Timothy H. Wilson, Eighteenth-Century Literature: An Introduction, The Literature Channel, YouTube, 24 November 2024.
  (A very good survey.)
• Timothy H. Wilson, Robinson Crusoe: An Introduction, The Literature Channel, YouTube, 24 November 2024.
  (A very good lecture on Robinson Crusoe; much of the general analysis also applies to Moll Flanders.)
• Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks, Episode 325: Introduction to Alexander Pope and the Neo-Classical Poets, The Literary Life Podcast, 21 April 2026.
  (Loosely discusses the Eighteenth Century period when and after Defoe was writing. For more on this period of English literature see the article on Augustan literature.)

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