With private security firms supplying bodyguards in every theatre of war, who will notice the emergence of a sexual psychopath from the ranks of the mercenaries? Reuters correspondent Connie Burns is no stranger to the world's troublespots, including the vicious civil unrest in Sierra Leone and the war in Iraq. But as she begins to suspect that a foreigner is using the chaos of war to act out sadistic fantasies against women, her efforts to bring him to justice leave her devastated. Degraded and terrified, she goes into hiding in England and strikes up a friendship with Jess Derbyshire, a loner whose reclusive nature may well be masking secrets of her own. Connie draws from the other woman's strength and makes the hazardous decision to attempt a third unmasking of a serial killer . . . Knowing he will come looking for her . . .
Stephen Dedalus grows up in Dublin, feel-ing different from the other boys. His child-hood and adolescence are shaped bybullying, his father's weaknesses and thegrowing realization that in order to makehis way in the world he must reject a con-ventional life and become an artist. PENGUIN POPULAR CLASSICS are the per-fect introduction to the world-famousPENGUIN CLASSICS series -which en-compasses the bestbooks ever written,from Homer's Odyssey tO Orwell's 1984and everything in between. For a full listand ideas on what to read next, visit
《堂吉诃德》,全名《匪夷所思的拉曼查绅士堂吉诃德》,是伟大的西班牙作家塞万提斯的传世经典。作者以一位因误信骑士小说而毅然自号堂吉诃德的没落绅士人世行侠为主线,通过描写堂吉诃德大战风车、英勇救美、恶斗群羊、贸然释囚、挑战雄师、地穴探险、爵府奇遇等等荒诞故事,热烈地讴歌了真善美、无情地挞伐了假恶丑,充分表现出了盛行于当时的人文精神。《堂吉诃德》不愧为世界文学史上具有划时代意义的杰作,问世后四百年来,仅流传于各国的译本就有一千多种,成为世界人民的共有精神财富,泽及一代又一代杰出作家,堂吉诃德这一形象也作为耽于幻想、脱离实际的代表人物融入了现今社会生活的各个领域之中。据挪威诺贝尔学会透露,全世界五十多个国家的一百位作家在2002年上半年经过投票,评选出《堂吉诃德》为世界小说。
米歇尔·图尔尼埃(1924-),法国当代文学大师,当代著名的新寓言派文学的主将。他不仅是才华横溢的小说家,而且是睿智深刻的哲学家。西方批评界对他的小说以及融汇在小说中的现代哲学思想推崇备至,评价极高,认为他以自己独特的风格为法国小说开创了新局面。《礼拜五或太平洋上的灵薄狱》是他的代表作之一,发表当年即获法兰西学院文学大奖。《礼拜五或太平洋上的灵薄狱》是一篇“现代文明衰亡记”的寓言,它戏仿笛福的名著《鲁滨孙漂流记》的题材,在主题上却反其道而行之。鲁滨孙孤独一人被弃荒岛后,按西方文明社会的模式将荒岛治理得井井有条。礼拜五来到荒岛后,非但没有被驯化为鲁滨孙的奴隶,反而以其自然的天性将文明的迹象破坏得一干二净,同时也慢慢影响了鲁滨孙,使这个西方文明的代表逐步抛弃了原有的文化传统,变成了一个能