In this celebrated novel, Nobel Prize-winning author ToniMorrison created a new way of rendering the contradictory nuancesof black life in America. Its earthy poetic language and strikinguse of folklore and myth established Morrison as a major voice incontemporary fiction. Song of Solomon begins with one of the most arresting scenes inour century's literature: a dreamlike tableau depicting a manpoised on a roof, about to fly into the air, while cloth rosepetals swirl above the snow-covered ground and, in the astonishedcrowd below, one woman sings as another enters premature labor. Thechild born of that labor, Macon (Milkman) Dead, will eventuallycome to discover, through his complicated progress to maturity, themeaning of the drama that marked his birth. Toni Morrison's novelis at once a romance of self-discovery, a retelling of the blackexperience in America that uncovers the inalienable poetry of thatexperience, and a family saga luminous in its depth, imaginativegenerosity, and universality. I

With the publication of her first novel, THE HEART IS A LONELYHUNTER, Carson McCullers, all of twenty-three, became a literarysensation. With its profound sense of moral isolation and itscompassionate glimpses into its characters' inner lives, the novelis considered McCullers' finest work, an enduring masterpiece firstpublished by Houghton Mifflin in 1940. At its center is thedeaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for various typesof misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearnsfor escape from small town life. When Singer's mute companion goesinsane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, thebook's heroine (and loosely based on McCullers), finds solace inher music. Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation thatunderlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racialtensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettablestory that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and themistreated -- and, through Mick Kelly, gives voice to the quiet,in

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) One of the most swiftly movingand unified of Charles Dickens's great novels, "Oliver Twist" isalso famous for its re-creation-through the splendidly realizedfigures of Fagin, Nancy, the Artful Dodger, and the evil BillSikes-of the vast London underworld of pickpockets, thieves,prostitutes, and abandoned children. Victorian critics took Dickensto task for rendering this world in such a compelling, believableway, but readers over the last 150 years have delivered analternative judgment by making this story of the orphaned OliverTwist one of its author's most loved works. This edition reprintsthe original Everyman's introduction by G. K. Chesterton andincludes twenty-four illustrations by George Cruikshank.

Set in late 1980s Europe at the time of the fall of the BerlinWall, Black Dogs is the intimate story of the crumbling of amarriage, as witnessed by an outsider. Jeremy is the son-in-law ofBernard and June Tremaine, whose union and estrangement beganalmost simultaneously. Seeking to comprehend how their deep lovecould be defeated by ideological differences Bernard and Junecannot reconcile, Jeremy undertakes writing June's memoirs, only tobe led back again and again to one terrifying encouner forty yearsearlier--a moment that, for June, was as devastating andirreversible in its consequences as the changes sweeping Europe inJeremy's own time. In a finely crafted, compelling examination ofevil and grace, Ian McEwan weaves the sinister reality ofciviliation's darkest moods--its black dogs--with the tensions thatboth create love and destroy it.

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romanticexpressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and redroses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful incommunicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in thefoster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and heronly connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go,Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through theflowers she chooses for them. But an unexpected encounter with amysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in herlife. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from herpast, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for asecond chance at happiness.

In his widely acclaimed new collection of stories, JulianBarnes addresses what is perhaps the most poignant aspect of thehuman condition: growing old. The characters in The Lemon Table are facing the ends of theirlives–some with bitter regret, others with resignation, and othersstill with defiant rage. Their circumstances are just as varied astheir responses. In 19th-century Sweden, three brief conversationsprovide the basis for a lifetime of longing. In today’s England, aretired army major heads into the city for his regimentaldinner–and his annual appointment with a professional lady namedBabs. Somewhere nearby, a devoted wife calms (or perhaps torments)her ailing husband by reading him recipes. In stories brimming with life and our desire to hang on to it oneway or another, Barnes proves himself by turns wise, funny, clever,and profound–a writer of astonishing powers of empathy andinvention.

(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed) An immediate success on itspublication in 1726, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS was read, as John Gay putit, "from the cabinet council to the nursery." Dean Swift's greatsatire is presented here in its unexpurgated entirety.

The "Guermantes Way," in this the third volume of "In Searchof Lost Time," refers to the path that leads to the Duc and Duchessde Guermantes's chateau near Combray. It also represents thenarrator's passage into the rarefied "social kaleidoscope" of theGuermantes's Paris salon, an important intellectual playground forParisian society, where he becomes a party to the wit and mannersof the Guermantes's drawing room. Here he encounters nobles,officers, socialites, and assorted consorts, including Robert deSaint Loup and his prostitute mistress Rachel, the Baron deCharlus, and the Prince de Borodino. For this authoritativeEnglish-language edition, D. J. Enright has revised the lateTerence Kilmartin's acclaimed reworking of C. K. Scott Moncrieff'stranslation to take into account the new definitive French editionsof "A la recherche du temps perdu" (the final volume of these neweditions was published by the Bibliotheque de la Pleiade in1989).

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) By 1854, when Hard Times waspublished, Charles Dickens' magisterial progress as a writer hadcome to incorporate a many-sided, coherent vision of Englishsociety, both as it was and as he wished it to be. Hard Times. aclassic Dickensian story of redemption set in a North of Englandtown beset by industrialism, everywhere benefits from this vision -in the trenchancy of its satire, in its sweeping indignation atsocial injustice, and in the persistent humanity with which itsauthor enlivens his largest and smallest incidents.

On a windy spring day in the Chilterns, the calm, organizedlife of science writer Joe Rose is shattered when he witnesses atragic accident: a hot-air balloon with a boy trapped in its basketis being tossed by the wind, and in the attempt to save the child,a man is killed. A stranger named Jed Parry joins Rose in helpingto bring the balloon to safety. But unknown to Rose, somethingpasses between Parry and himself on that day--something that givesbirth to an obsession in Parry so powerful that it will test thelimits of Rose's beloved rationalism, threaten the love of hiswife, Clarissa, and drive him to the brink of murder and madness.Brilliant and compassionate, this is a novel of love, faith, andsuspense, and of how life can change in an instant.

Sixteen-year-old suburbanite Chris Lloyd and his mate Tonispend their free time wishing they were French, making up storiesabout strangers, and pretending to be fl?neurs. When they grow upthey'd like to be "artists-in-residence at a nudist colony." Ifyouthful voyeurism figures heavily in their everyday lives, so,too, do the pleasures of analogy, metaphor, and deliberatemisprision. Sauntering into one store that dares to call itself MANSHOP, Toni demands: "One man and two small boys, please." Julian Barnes could probably fill several books with these boys'clever misadventures, but in his first novel he attempts somethingmore daring--the curve from youthful scorn to adult contentment. In1968, when Chris goes off to Paris, he misses the May événementsbut manages, more importantly, to fall in love and learn thepleasures of openness: "The key to Annick's candour was that therewas no key. It was like the atom bomb: the secret is that there isno secret." The final section finds Chris back in suburb

In Barcelona, an aging Brazilian prostitute trains her dog toweep at the grave she has chosen for herself. In Vienna, a womanparlays her gift for seeing the future into a fortunetellingposition with a wealthy family. In Geneva, an ambulance driver andhis wife take in the lonely, apparently dying ex-President of aCaribbean country, only to discover that his political ambition isvery much intact. In these twelve masterly stories about the livesof Latin Americans in Europe, Garcia Marquez conveys the peculiaramalgam of melancholy, tenacity, sorrow, and aspiration that is theemigre experience.

Winner of the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Ten years after RABBIT REDUX, Harry Angstrom has come to enjoyprosperity as the Chief Sales Representative of Springer Motors.The rest of the world may be falling to pieces, but Harrry's doingall right. That is, until his son returns from the West, and theimage of an old love pays a visit to his lot....

The real Life of Sebastian Knight is a perversely magicalliterary detective story--subtle, intricate, leading to atantalizing climax--about the mysterious life of a famouswriter.

First published in 1919, "Within a Budding Grove" was awardedthe Prix Goncourt, bringing the author immediate fame. In thissecond volume of "In Search of Lost Time," the narrator turns fromthe childhood reminiscences of "Swann's Way" to memories of hisadolescence. Having gradually become indifferent to Swann'sdaughter Gilberte, the narrator visits the seaside resort of Balbecwith his grandmother and meets a new object ofattention--Albertine, "a girl with brilliant, laughing eyes andplump, matt cheeks." For this authoritative English-languageedition, D. J. Enright has revised the late Terence Kilmartin'sacclaimed reworking of C. K. Scott Moncrieff's translation to takeinto account the new definitive French editions of "A la recherchedu temps perdu" (the final volume of these new editions waspublished by the Bibliotheque de la Pleiade in 1989).

Hermann Hesse's classic novel "Siddhartha" has delighted,inspired, and influenced generations of readers, writers, andthinkers. Though set in a place and time far removed from theGermany of 1922, the year of the book's debut, the novel is infusedwith the sensibilities of Hesse's time, synthesizing disparatephilosophies-Eastern religions, Jungian archetypes, Westernindividualism-into a unique vision of life as expressed through oneman's search for meaning. It is the story of the quest ofSiddhartha, a wealthy Indian Brahmin who casts off a life ofprivilege and comfort to seek spiritual fulfillment and wisdom. Onhis journey, Siddhartha encounters wandering ascetics, Buddhistmonks, and successful merchants, as well as a courtesan namedKamala and a simple ferryman who has attained enlightenment.Traveling among these people and experiencing life's vitalpassages-love, work, friendship, and fatherhood-Siddharthadiscovers that true knowledge is guided from within. SusanBernofsky's magnificent new translation br

(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed) Introduction by E. S.Shaffer

This is, in short, a complete, unsettling, and frequentlyexhilarating vision of the world, starting with the voyage ofNoah's ark and ending with a sneak preview of heaven!

This new collection of Sandburgs finest and most representativepoetry draws on all of his previous volumes and includes fourunpublished poems about Lincoln. The Hendricks comprehensiveintroduction discusses how Sandburgs life and beliefs colored hiswork and why it continues to resonate so deeply with americanstoday. Edited and with an Introduction by George and WilleneHendrick.

From one of the 20th century's great writers comes one of thefinest autobiographies of our time. Speak, Memory was firstpublished by Vladimir Nabokov in 1951 as Conclusive Evidence andthen assiduously revised and republished in 1966. The Everyman'sLibrary edition includes, for the first time, the previouslyunpublished "Chapter 16"--the most significant unpublished piece ofwriting by the master, newly released by the Nabokov estate--whichprovided an extraordinary insight into Speak, Memory. Nabokov's memoir is a moving account of a loving, civilizedfamily, of adolescent awakenings, flight from Bolshevik terror,education in England, and émigré life in Paris and Berlin. TheNabokovs were eccentric, liberal aristocrats, who lived a lifeimmersed in politics and literature on splendid country estatesuntil their world was swept away by the Russian revolution when theauthor was eighteen years old. Speak, Memory vividly evokes avanished past in the inimitable prose of Nabokov at his best.

In a small Pennsylvania town in the late 1940s, schoolteacherGeorge Caldwell yearns to find some meaning in his life. Alone withhis teenage son for three days in a blizzard, Caldwell sees his songrow and change as he himself begins to lost touch with his life.Interwoven with the myth of Chiron, the noblest centaur, and hisown relationship to Prometheus, The Centaur one of John Updike'smost brilliant and unusual novels.

"One of the most noble and moving plays of our generation, athrenody of hope deceived and deferred but never extinguished;a play suffused with tenderness for the whole humanperplexity; with phrases that come like a sharp stab ofbeauty and pain."