Paradise Lost Books 1 and 2: revised edition has been freshly brought out under the series Orient BlackSwan Annotated Study Texts which is a series designed to bring classic English texts closer to students so that they are able to enjoy and understand the literary beauty and value of these excellent works. The introductions, commentaries and notes are aimed to provide guidance to the student to perceive the complete literary and cultural matrix of the work as well as to draw on the stylistic and technical mastery of the writers. Frequently, the student finds himself/herself confronted with not only the intricacies of the text under study but also the necessity to grapple with it contextually in terms of genre, literary and historical background and critical commentary. These editions provide the necessary background and analysis, including a list of questions and topics for discussion in class as well as a select bibliography.

Vrinda Nabar was formerly Lecturer in English, University of Bombay, was later Visiting Professor at Northwestern University (Evanston, U.S.A.) and the Open University (Milton Keynes, U.K.). Till recently, she was Chair of English at the University of Bombay.

Nissim Ezekiel retired as Professor of English at the University of Bombay. A winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Ezekiel has edited several journals including Quest and Imprint. His verse collections are A Time to Change (1952), Sixty Poems (1953), The Third (1959), The Unfinished Man (1960), The Exact Name (1965), Hymns and Darkness (1976) and Latter Day Psalms (1982). Ezekiel died in 2004.

Ajanta Paul is Principal, Women’s Christian College, Kolkata, and has been teaching English literature for several years