Athens and Sparta, the mighty city states of ancient Greece, locked together in a quarter century of conflict: the Peloponnesian War. Alexias the Athenian was born, passed through childhood and grew to manhood in those troubled years, that desperate and dangerous epoch when the golden age of Pericles was declining into uncertainty and fear for the future. Of good family, he and his friends are brought up and educated in the things of the intellect and in athletic and martial pursuits. They learn to hunt and to love, to wrestle and to question. And all the time his star of destiny is leading him towards the moment when he must stand alongside his greatest friend Lysis in the last great clash of arms between the cities.
J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a 'dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told'. And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dûr and the rise of Sauron. It was not until Christopher Tolkien published The Silmarillion after his father's death that a fuller story could be told. Although much of the book's content concerned the First Age of Middle-earth, there were at its close two key works that revealed the tumultuous events concerning the rise and fall of the island of Númenor. Raised out of the Great Sea and gifted to the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for aiding the angelic Valar and the Elves in the defeat and capture of the Dark Lord Morgoth, the kingdom became a seat of influence and wealth; but as the Númenóreans' power increased, the seed of their downfall would inevitably be sown, culminating in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Even greater insight into the Second Age would be revealed in subsequent publications, first in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, then expanded upon in Christopher Tolkien's magisterial twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth, in which he presented and discussed a wealth of further tales written by his father, many in draft form. Now, adhering to the timeline of 'The Tale of Years' in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, editor Brian Sibley has assembled into one comprehensive volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth, told substantially in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien from the various published texts, with new illustrations in watercolour and pencil by the doyen of Tolkien art, Alan Lee.
M. R. James's classic ghost stories are some of the finest in English, creating menace and terror in lonely country houses and remote inns. This is the only one-volume edition to include all James's published stories, an appendix of James's writings on the ghost story, and a critical introduction and notes.
"In the vast literature of love, The Seducer's Diary is an intricate curiosity--a feverishly intellectual attempt to reconstruct an erotic failure as a pedagogic success, a wound masked as a boast," observes John Updike in his foreword to Sren Kierkegaard's narrative. This work, a chapter from Kierkegaard's first major volume, Either/Or, springs from his relationship with his fiance, Regine Olsen. Kierkegaard fell in love with the young woman, ten years his junior, proposed to her, but then broke off their engagement a year later. This event affected Kierkegaard profoundly. Olsen became a muse for him, and a flood of volumes resulted. His attempt to set right, in writing, what he feels was a mistake in his relationship with Olsen taught him the secret of "indirect communication." The Seducer's Diary, then, becomes Kierkegaard's attempt to portray himself as a scoundrel and thus make their break easier for her. Matters of marriage, the ethical versus the aesthetic, dread, and, increasingly, the severities of Christianity are pondered by Kierkegaard in this intense work.
Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three, leaving behind an empire that stretched from Greece and Egypt to India. After Alexander's death in 323 B.C. his only direct heirs were two unborn sons and a simpleton half-brother. Every long-simmering faction exploded into the vacuum of power. Wives, distant relatives and generals all vied for the loyalty of the increasingly undisciplined Macedonian army. Most failed and were killed in the attempt. For no one possessed the leadership to keep the great empire from crumbling. But Alexander's legend endured to spread into worlds he had seen only in dreams.
Old rabbanic tradition teaches that Eve was not Adam's first wife, rather a mysterious woman named Lilith who was thrown out of Eden before Adam and Eve were. This is a lyrical telling of that legend and what happens to Lilith as she encounters various dem
This very special collector's edition brings together all twelve books into three hardback volumes--over 5,000 pages of fascinating Tolkien material--and places them in one matching box. J.R.R. Tolkien is famous the world over for his unique lit
The Pictures of Dorian Gray is a literary work that typically induces strong emotions from the reader. They either love it or hate it. For one thing Oscar Wilde depicted the world as he saw it; harsh, shallow and terminal. Brutal honestly is often not accepted en masse and some readers expect a feel good story as entertainment. Critics say that the novel is homoerotic and vulgar. It is important to know that "Socratic love" has been around for a long time and it was considered quite natural by the Greeks whom we consider the founders of our western civilization. The young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward, who is greatly impressed by Dorian's physical beauty and becomes strongly infatuated with him, believing that his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art. The fact that Basil Hallward is a bachelor hints that he is not interested in the opposite sex. Meeting in Basil's garden, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil's, and becomes enthralled by Lord Henry's world view. The novel has strong Faustian theme whereby Lord Henry Wotton can be construed as the tempter and the "dark side".
To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the first ever illustrated edition of this collection of tales which takes readers further into the stories told in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, featuring 18 full-colour paintings depicting scenes from the First, Second and Third Ages of Middle-earth. Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring, and provides those who have read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with a whole collection of background and new stories. The book concentrates on the realm of Middle-earth and comprises such elements as The Quest of Erebor, Gandalf's lively account of how it was that he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End; the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before the eyes of Tuor on the coast of Beleriand; and an exact description of the military organization of the Riders of Rohan.Unfinished Tales also contains the only story about the long ages of Numenor before its downfall, and all that is known about such matters as the Five Wizards, the Palantiri and the legend of Amroth. The tales were edited by Christopher Tolkien, who provides a short commentary on each story, helping the reader to fill in the gaps and put each story into the context of the rest of his father's writings. In celebration of its 40th anniversary, this new edition features 18 stunning paintings from critically acclaimed Tolkien artists, Alan Lee, John Howe & Ted Nasmith, which reveal the three Ages of Middle-earth like never before.
A classic work that has charmed generations of readers, this collection assembles Carson McCullers' best stories, including her beloved novella "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe." A haunting tale of a human triangle that culminates in an astonishing brawl, the novella introduces readers to Miss Amelia, a formidable southern woman whose cafe serves as the town's gathering place. Among other fine works, the collection also includes "Wunderkind," McCullers' first published story written when she was only seventeen about a musical prodigy who suddenly realizes she will not go on to become a great pianist.
Wessex Tales was the first collection of Hardy's short stories, and they reflect the experience of a novelist at the height of his powers. These seven tales, in which characters and scenes are imbued with a haunting realism, show considerable diversity of content, form and style, and range from fantasy to realism and from tragedy to comedy.
Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Now, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with a drug overdose. But the evening post brought Roger one last fatal scrap of information. Unfortunately, before he could finish the letter, he was stabbed to death...
This edition, published to coincide with the eightieth anniversary of the first publication in 1939, fully incorporates Joyce's manuscript amendments and includes a critical introduction by Dr Sam Slote of Trinity College Dublin."
`The Funniest writer ever to put words on paper' Hugh Laurie`I mean, if you're asking a fellow to come out of a room so that you can dismember him with a carving knife, it's absurd to tack a 'sir' on to every sentence.
The Double, Dostoevskys second published work of fiction, which foreshadows in its themes many of his mature novels, is the surreal and hallucinatory tale of an unfortunate anti-hero, at once chilling in its depiction of the dark sides of human nature and exuberantly comical.
Austen's hilarious early stories and sketches, now collected in one gorgeous clothbound volume Jane Austen's earliest writing dates from when she was just eleven-years-old, and already shows the hallmarks of her mature work. But it is also a product of the times in which she grew up--dark, grotesque, often surprisingly bawdy, and a far cry from the polished, sparkling novels of manners for which she became famous. Drunken heroines, babies who bite off their mothers' fingers, and a letter-writer who has murdered her whole family all feature in these highly spirited pieces. This edition includes all of Austen's juvenilia, including her "History of England" and the novella Lady Susan, in which the anti-heroine schemes and cheats her way through high society.
The annotated text of this modern classic. It assiduously illuminates the extravagant wordplay and the frequent literary allusions, parodies, and cross-references. Edited with a preface, introduction and notes by Alfred Appel, Jr.
With an introduction by Allison Pease, this new edition of House of Incest is a lyrical journey into the subconscious mind of one of the most celebrated feminist writers of the twentieth-century.Originally published in 1936, Hous
Language: English, Binding: Hardback, Number of pages: 288, Publishers: Chronicle Books, Author: Stephen Fry, ISBN-13: 9781797207070, Date of issue: 2021
Read Pushkin's most famous poems without the need for a dictionary with this insightful edition. Passages in Russian and English word-by-word translation are displayed side by side on separate pages, the stressed syllables labeled in bold for each Russian
EXCEPTIONAL UNABRIDGED EDITION TWO NOVELS IN A SINGLE BOOK Fully illustrated with the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. Read two of the greatest English masterpieces of all time: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1866) and its se
Language: English, Binding: Hardback, Number of pages: 288, Publishers: Flame Tree Publishing, Author: Judith John, ISBN-13: 9781839649684, Date of issue: 2022
Brand-new translation from acclaimed translator Hugh Aplin of One of the best-selling Russian classics in the UK over the last year.Includes many stories never translated into English before
This 25th anniversary edition, about a modern black woman who is snatched away to the antebellum South, celebrates a classic work with "much to say about love, hate, slavery, and racial dilemmas, then and now" ("Los Angeles Herald Examiner").
'"Everything Flows" is as important a novel as anything written by Solzhenitsyn, and Robert Chandler's superb translation makes it a joy to read' - Antony Beevor. Ivan Grigoryevich has been in the Gulag for thirty years. Released after Stalin's death, he finds that the years of terror have imposed a collective moral slavery. He must struggle to find a place for himself in an unfamiliar world. Grossman tells the stories of those people entwined with Ivan's fate: his cousin Nikolay, a scientist who never let his conscience interfere with his career, Pinegin, the informer who had Ivan sent to the camps and Anna Sergeyevna, Ivan's lover, who tells of her involvement as an activist in the Terror famine of 1932-3. "Everything Flows" is Vasily Grossman's final testament, written after the Soviet authorities suppressed "Life and Fate". 'Vasily Grossman is the Tolstoy of the USSR' - Martin Amis.
Los mejores libros jamás escritosEdición de Marina Mayoral,catedrática de literatura espa?ola en la Universidad Complutense deMadri Los pazos de Ulloa es una de las obras más conocidas de EmiliaPardo Bazán, una culminación de su peculiar concepción delnaturalismo. El texto es un gran fresco rural donde recrea a su gustoel campo gallego, violento, sensual, lleno de contrastes sociales yculturales. Novela de aprendizaje, plasma a la perfección el tránsitode la inocencia a la desencantada madurez.Esta edición incluye unaintroducción que contextualiza la obra, un aparato de notas, unacronología y una bibliografía esencial, así como también variaspropuestas de discusión y debate en torno a la lectura. Está alcuidado de Marina Mayoral catedrática emérita de literatura espa?olade la Universidad Complutense de Madrid.«La aldea, cuando se cría unoen ella y no sale de allí jamás, envilece, empobrece y embrutece.»
Alors que Napoléon, son modèle, est à jamais défait, Julien Sorel est condamné à grandir dans une famille mesquine, à vivre dans une province trop étroite. Soldat privé de bataille, il ne lui reste que le coeur des femmes à faire saigner. Ce sera d'abord Mme de Rênal, jeune femme mélancolique dont il est devenu le précepteur des enfants. Arrivé à Paris, il séduira Mathilde de la Mole, jeune et fougueuse aristocrate, non pour sa fortune mais par défi. Tous se retrouveront dans le claquement des pistolets.Stendhal puise dans un fait divers sanglant la singularité tranchante de son roman. Loin d'une fresque abstraite, Le Rouge et le Noir a tout d'un corps rouge du sang qui s'y écoule, noir de la poudre qui y brûle.
Summoned to take up the position of a land surveyor to the mysterious lord of a castle, the character known as K. finds himself in a bitter and baffling struggle to contact his new employer and go about his duties.
Language: English, Binding: Paperback, Number of pages: 476, Publishers: Manga Classics Inc., Author: William Shakespeare,Crystal S Chan, ISBN-13: 9781947808232, Date of issue: 2022
From the bestselling author of Alone in Berlin, his acclaimed novel of a young couple trying to survive life in 1930s Germany'Nothing so confronts a woman with the deathly futility of her existence as darning socks'A young couple fall in love, get married and start a family, like countless young couples before them. But Lammchen and 'Boy' live in Berlin in 1932, and everything is changing. As they desperately try to make ends meet amid bullying bosses, unpaid bills, monstrous mothers-in-law and Nazi streetfighters, will love be enough?The novel that made Hans Fallada's name as a writer, Little Man, What Now? tells the story of one of European literature's most touching couples and is filled with an extraordinary mixture of comedy and desperation.It was published just before Hitler came to power and remains a haunting portrayal of innocents whose world is about to be swept away forever. This brilliant new translation by Michael Hofmann brings to life an entire era of austerity and turmoil in Weimar Germany. 'An inspired work of a great writer ...Fallada is a genius. The "Little Man" is Mr Everybody' Beryl Bainbridge'There are chapters which pluck the nerves...there are chapters which raise the spirits like a fine day in the country. The truth and variety of the characterization is superb...it recognizes that the world is not to be altered with moral fables' Graham Greene'Fallada deserves high praise for having reported so realistically, so truthfully, with such closeness to life' Herman Hesse'Fallada at his best' Philip Hensher'Performs the most astounding task, of taking us to a moment before history' Los Angeles Review of Books
Jane Austen's?Persuasion?is now available in a fine exclusive collector's edition featuring beautiful cover art from artist Laci Fowler and distinctive interior treatments, making it ideal for fiction lovers and book collectors alike. Each collectible volume will be the perfect addition to any well-appointed library.The Harper Muse Classics: Painted Edition of?Persuasion?is perfect for special-edition book collectors, Jane Austen lovers, fans of literary fiction and classic literature, and people who love both the book and the cinematic adaptations it inspired.Persuasion?is Austen's final completed novel, published six months after her death in 1817. The story revolves around Anne Elliot who at 27 is no longer considered young enough for worthy romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain with neither fortune nor rank. What transpires when they reunite is movingly told in this remarkable love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities.Whether you're buying this as a gift or for yourself, this remarkable edition features:A beautiful high-end hardcover featuring Laci Fowler's distinctive hand-painted art, perfect for standing out on any discerning fiction-lover's bookshelfEmbossed cover art and gold foiling?Decorative interior pages featuring pull quotes distributed throughoutMatching ribbon marker and gold page edgesPart of a 4-volume collection including?Jane Eyre, Little Women,?and?The Mysterious Affair at Styles.Persuasion?by Jane Austen?is a title in the Harper Muse Classics: Painted Editions collection and is being released alongside?Jane Eyre?(Charlotte Bronte),?Little Women?(Louisa May Alcott), and?The Mysterious Affair at Styles?(Agatha Christie).
2011 Reprint of 1922 First Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The Martino Reprint is a exact facsimile of the original 1922 Edition published in Paris by Sylvia Beach in 1922. One of the most important works of Modernist literature, "Ulysses" has been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire modernist movement. "Ulysses" chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day, 16 June 1904 (the day of Joyce's first date with his future wife, Nora Barnacle). The title alludes to Odysseus (Ulysses), the hero of Homer's Odyssey, and establishes a series of parallels between characters and events in Homer's poem and Joyce's novel (e.g., the correspondence of Leopold Bloom to Odysseus, Molly Bloom to Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus to Telemachus). The novel is approximately 265,000 words in length and uses a lexicon of 30,030 words (including proper names, plurals and various verb tenses), divided into eighteen episodes. Since publication, the book attracted controversy and scrutiny, ranging from early obscenity trials to protracted textual "Joyce Wars." Ulysses' stream-of-consciousness technique, careful structuring, and experimental prose-full of puns, parodies, and allusions, as well as its rich characterizations and broad humor, made the book a highly regarded novel in the Modernist pantheon. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Ulysses first on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
'...in suspecting General Tilney of either murdering or shutting up his wife, she had scarcely sinned against his character, or magnified his cruelty.' Northanger Abbey is about the misadventures of Catherine Morland, young, ingenuous, and mettlesome, and an indefatigable reader of gothic novels. Their romantic excess and dark overstatement feed her imagination, as tyrannical fathers and diabolical villains work their evil on forlorn heroines in isolated settings. What could be more remote from the uneventful securities of life in the midland counties of England? Yet as Austen brilliantly contrasts fiction with reality, ordinary life takes a more sinister turn, and edginess and circumspection are reaffirmed alongside comedy and literary burlesque. Also including Austen's other short fictions, Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon, this valuable new edition examines the ambitious and innovative works with which she inaugurated as well as closed her career. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe.Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Lilith is considered among the darkest of MacDonald's works, and among the most profound. It is a story concerning the nature of life, death and salvation. Many believe MacDonald is arguing for Christian universalism, or the idea that all will eventually b
In 1851, at the age of twenty-two, Tolstoy joined the Russian army and travelled to the Caucasus as a soldier. The four years that followed were among the most significant in his life, and deeply influenced the stories collected here. Begun in 1852 but unfinished for a decade, "The Cossacks" describes the experiences of Olenin, a young cultured Russian who comes to despise civilization after spending time with the wild Cossack people. Sevastopol Sketches, based on Tolstoy's own experiences of the siege of Sevastopol in 1854-55, is a compelling consideration of the nature of war, while Hadji Murat, written towards the end of his life, returns to the Caucasus of Tolstoy's youth to explore the life of a great leader torn apart by a conflict of loyalties. Written at the end of the nineteenth century, it is amongst the last and greatest of Tolstoy's shorter works.
Le Second Empire vise à faire de Paris la capitale de la mode et du luxe. La ville se modernise. Les boutiques du Paris ancien laissent place peu à peu aux grands magasins, dans le voisinage des boulevards et de la gare Saint-Lazare. La nouvelle architecture illustre l'évolution des goûts : on entre dans le royaume de l'illusion. Octave Mouret, directeur du Bonheur des Dames, se lance dans le nouveau commerce. L'exploit du romancier est d'avoir transformé un épisode de notre histoire économique en aventure romanesque et en intrigue amoureuse. Rien d'idyllique pourtant : le magasin est construit sur un cadavre ensanglanté, et l'argent corrompt tout. Pour Zola, la réussite du grand magasin s'explique par la vanité des bourgeoises et le règne du paraître. Il nous décrit ici la fin et la naissance d'un monde : Paris, incarné ici dans un de ses mythes principaux, devient l'exemple de la cité moderne.
Las mil y unas nochesno sólo es un mosaico que contiene cuentos de los distintos pueblos que en un momento u otro los acogieron, sino quetambién es un mosaico de las diversas morales de los mismos. Y así, al lado de cuentos piadosos y de fábulas didácticas, se encuentranhistorias de tono subido, incluso de bestialismo y homosexualidad.Son, por tanto, un verdadero cajón de sastre, tanto en su temáticacomo en su temática como en su actitud moral.
Language: English, Binding: Paperback, Number of pages: 208, Publishers: Alma Books Ltd., Author: Alain Robbe-Grillet, ISBN-13: 9780714544595, Date of issue: 2018
Language: English, Binding: Hardback, Number of pages: 132, Publishers: Royal Classics, Author: Francis Scott Fitzgerald, ISBN-13: 9781774761175, Date of issue: 2021
HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. JACOB'S ROOM, Virginia Woolf's third novel, marks her first foray into Modernist experimentation. The narrative traces Jacob's childhood in Cornwall and his education at Cambridge, culminating in an evocative portrait of his adult life in London and abroad. Jacob is romantically torn between the artistic Florinda, the upper-middle-class Clara Durrant and the beautiful, but married, Sandra Wentworth Williams. This tissue of romance, though, is torn apart by the cataclysmic events of the First World War. Woolf poignantly depicts the life of Jacob through a sequence of alternating perspectives that combine letters, fragments of dialogue and the ephemeral impressions of those nearest to him. Jacob's voice becomes the absent centre of one of Modernism's first great novels.
The library of America is dedicated to publishing America's best and most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts. Hailed as the "finest-looking, longest-lasting editions ever made" (The New Republic), Library of America volumes make a fine gift for any occasion. Now, with exactly one hundred volumes to choose from, there is a perfect gift for everyone.
La selva es el escenario y personaje omnipresente de estos cuentos. La selva misionera, con su violencia natural incontenible, frente al hombre, aliado a veces, destructor las m s, de esa naturaleza salvaje. Humor y tragedia se combinan eficazmente en esto
Pretty, impecunious Mary Preston, newly arrived as a guest of her Aunt Agnes at the magnificent wooded estate of Rushwater, falls head over heels for handsome playboy David Leslie. Meanwhile, Agnes and her mother, the eccentric matriarch Lady Emily, have hopes of a different, more suitable match for Mary. At the lavish Rushwater dance party, her future happiness hangs in the balance ...
Combining detailed description with perceptive psychological insight, the stories collected in this volume showcase Tolstoy's brilliance as well as his immense influence on modern literature. Includes OThe Death of Ivan Ilych, O OFamily Happiness, O OMaster and Man, O and OThe Kreutzer Sonata.O Revised reissue.
