Though this great tragedy of unsurpassed intensity and emotionis played out against Renaissance splendor, its story of the doomedmarriage of a Venetian senator’s daughter, Desdemona, to a Moorishgeneral, Othello, is especially relevant to modern audiences. Thedifferences in race and background create an initial tension thatallows the horrifyingly envious villain Iago methodically topromote the “green-eyed monster” jealousy, until, in one of themost deeply moving scenes in theatrical history, the noble Moordestroys the woman he loves–only to discover too late that she wasinnocent. Each Edition Includes: · Comprehensive explanatory notes · Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship · Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enablingcontemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English · Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performancehistories · An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, alongwith an extensive fi
(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed) If William Shakespeare hadnever written a single play, if his reputation rested entirely uponthe substantial and sterling body of nondramatic verse he leftbehind, he would still hold the position he does in the hierarchyof world literature. The strikingly modern ?sonnets-intimate,baroque, and expansive at once; the invigorating narratives drawnfrom classical subjects; and the flawless lyricism represented by apoem like "The Phoenix and the Turtle"-permanently deepen ourunderstanding of the multiplicity and extravagant energy of ourgreatest poet.
Inspired by the long-standing affair between Frieda, Lawrence'sGerman wife, and an Italian peasant who eventually became her thirdhusband, Lady Chatterley's Lover is the story of ConstanceChatterley, who, while trapped in an unhappy marriage to anaristocratic mine owner whose war wounds have left him paralyzedand impotent, has an affair with Mellors, the gamekeeper. FrankKermode calls the book Lawrence's "great achievement" and Anais Nindescribes it as "artistically . . . his best novel." This ModernLibrary Paperback Classics edition includes the tran* of thejudge's decision in the famous 1959 obscenity trial that allowedthe novel to be published in the United States.
The beloved sequel to Little Women , this classiccontinues the story of Jo March, who goes on to get married andinherit an estate with which she creates an experimental school forboys.
" A stranger could drive through Miguel Street and just say 'Slum ' because he could see no more." But to its residents thisderelict corner of Trinidad' s capital is a complete world, whereeverybody is quite different from everybody else. There' s Popo thecarpenter, who neglects his livelihood to build " the thing withouta name." There' s Man-man, who goes from running for public officeto staging his own crucifixion, and the dreaded Big Foot, the bullywith glass tear ducts. There' s the lovely Mrs. Hereira, in thrallto her monstrous husband. In this tender, funny early novel, V. S.Naipaul renders their lives (and the legends their neighborsconstruct around them) with Dickensian verve and Chekhoviancompassion.Set during World War II and narrated by an unnamed- butprecociously observant- neighborhood boy, Miguel Street is a workof mercurial mood shifts, by turns sweetly melancholy andanarchically funny. It overflows with life on every page.
A beautiful and hearty farm girl, Tess Durbeyfield is about tohave her life tragically changed by forces outside her control:lust, poverty, and hypocrisy. This controversial Victorian tale hascome to be recognized as a triumph of literary art.
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Shakespeare's four greatesttragedies were written in a remarkably short period of time,between 1598 and 1606. "Hamlet," "Othello," "Macbeth," and "KingLear" are each so singular an achievement that any rereading ofthem reinforces the awe and almost idolatrous worship that thismost uncanny of the world's great writers invariably inspires. Inthese four plays, Shakespeare engages the problem that is centralto tragedy and crucial to any human community--the problem ofviolence and revenge--on an unprecedented scale. No other literarytexts have been more instrumental in deepening our knowledge ofourselves as individuals and as a civilization. This authoritativeedition of the plays is supplemented with footnotes,bibliographies, a detailed chronology of Shakespeare's life andtimes, and a substantial introduction in which Tony Tannerdiscusses each play individually while setting each in context.
Stories of terror and suspense. Master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe brings his nightmarevisions to vivid, dramatic life in this definitive collection of 14of his classic stories, including "The Pit and the Pendulum," "TheTell-Tale Heart," and his only full-length novel, "Narrative of A.Gordon Pym."
The blind energies and defiant acts that bring an ambitiousmanto power can also destroy him. This is the theme thatThomas Hardyexplores through his greatest and mosttragic hero: MichaelHenchard, the driven grain merchant of Casterbridge. From hisdrunken sale of his wife and baby at a county fair to hissubjugation of a farming village, Henchard's life is an epicattempt to bring the world to heel as he hides, even from himself,all vestiges of emotionalvulnerability. Combining the suspense of amystery with the poetry of the most powerful English novels, TheMavyor of Casterbridge is a masterpiece of psychological insightand profound tragedy.
"The Star Rover" is the story of San Quentin death-row inmateDarrell Standing, who escapes the horror of prison life--and longstretches in a straitjacket--by withdrawing into vivid dreams ofpast lives, including incarnations as a French nobleman and anEnglishman in medieval Korea. Based on the life and imprisonment ofJack London's friend Ed Morrell, this is one of the author's mostcomplex and original works. As Lorenzo Carcaterra argues in hisIntroduction, "The Star Rover" is "written with energy and force,brilliantly marching between the netherworlds of brutality andbeauty." This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the textof the first American edition, published in 1915.
After defeat at the Battle of Shrewsbury the rebels regroup. ButPrince Hal’s reluctance to inherit the crown threatens to destroythe ailing Henry IV’s dream of a lasting dynasty. Shakespeare’sportrait of the prodigal son’s journey from youth to maturityembraces the full panorama of society. Under the editorial supervision of Jonathan Bateand Eric Rasmussen, two of today’s most accomplished Shakespeareanscholars, this Modern Library series incorporates definitive textsand authoritative notes from William Shakespeare: Complete Works.Each play includes an Introduction as well as an overview ofShakespeare’s theatrical career; commentary on past and currentproductions based on interviews with leading directors, actors, anddesigners; scene-by-scene analysis; key facts about the work; achronology of Shakespeare’s life and times; and black-and-whiteillustrations. Ideal for students, theater professionals, andgeneral readers, these modern and accessible editions from theRoyal Shakespeare Company
Kafka's first and funniest novel, Amerika tells the story ofthe young immigrant Karl Rossmann who, after an embarrassing sexualmisadventure, finds himself "packed off to America" by his parents.Expected to redeem himself in this magical land of opportunity,young Karl is swept up instead in a whirlwind of dizzyingreversals, strange escapades, and picaresque adventures. Although Kafka never visited America, images of its vastlandscape, dangers, and opportunities inspired this saga of the"golden land." Here is a startlingly modern, fantastic andvisionary tale of America "as a place no one has yet seen, in ahistorical period that can't be identified," writes E. L. Doctorowin his new foreword. "Kafka made his first novel from his ownmind's mythic elements," Doctorow explains, "and the research datathat caught his eye were bent like light rays in a field ofgravity."
Nabokov's first novel. A tale of youth, first love andnostalgia. In a Berlin rooming house, a vigorous young officerpoised between his past and his future relives his first loveaffair.
In The Purgatorio , Dante describes his journey to therenunciation of sin, accepting his suffering in preparation for hiscoming into the presence of God. This brilliant translation ofDante's canticle crystallizes the great poet's immortal conceptionof the aspiring soul.
The debut of an American original. Here is the accomplished first novel that catapulted F. ScottFitzgerald to literary fame-at the age of 23. It follows theeducation-intellectual, spiritual, and sexual-of young AmoryBlaine.
If there ever has been a groundbreaking edition that likewisereturns the reader to the original Shakespeare text, it will be theApplause Folio Texts. If there has ever been an accessible versionof the Folio, it is this edition, set for the first time in modernfonts. The Folio is the source of all other editions. The Foliotext forces us to re-examine the assumptions and prejudices whichhave encumbered over four hundred years of scholarship andperformance. Notes refer the reader to subsequent editorialinterventions, and offer the reader a multiplicity ofinterpretations. Notes also advise the reader on variations betweenFolios and Quartos. The heavy mascara of four centuries ofShakespearean glossing has by now glossed over the originalcountenance of Shakespeare's work. Never has there been a Folioavailable in modern reading fonts. While other complete Folioeditions continue to trade simply on the facsimile appearance ofthe Elizabethan "look," none of them is easily and practicallyutilized in general Shakespeare
Anchor proudly presents a new omnibus volume of threenovels--previously published separately by Anchor--by NaguibMahfouz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Assembled here isa collection of Mahfouz's artful meditations on the vicissitudes ofpost-Revolution Egypt. Diverse in style and narrative technique,together they render a rich, nuanced, and universally resonantvision of modern life in the Middle East. The Beggar is a complex tale of alienation and despair. In theaftermath of Nasser's revolution, a man sacrifices his work andfamily to a series of illicit love affairs. Released from jail inpost-Revolutionary times, the hero ofThe Thief and the Dogs blamesan unjust society for his ill fortune, eventually bringing himselfto destruction. Autumn Quail is a tale of moral responsibility,isolation, and political downfall about a corrupt bureaucrat who isone of the early victims of the purge after the 1952 revolution inEgypt.
This 19th-century author created "some of the most colorful andhaunting fiction of his century" ( Kirkus Reviews ). And withhis special blend of comedy, social commentary, and fantasy, hepaved the way for Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.
The adventures of Mowgli, a man-child raised by wolves in thejungle, have captured the imaginations not just of children, but ofall readers, for generations.
"Transparent Things revolves around the four visits of thehero--sullen, gawky Hugh Person--to Switzerland . . . As a youngpublisher, Hugh is sent to interview R., falls in love with Armandeon the way, wrests her, after multiple humiliations, from agrinning Scandinavian and returns to NY with his bride. . . . Eightyears later--following a murder, a period of madness and a briefimprisonment--Hugh makes a lone sentimental journey to wheedle outhis past. . . . The several strands of dream, memory, and time[are] set off against the literary theorizing of R. and, morecentrally, against the world of observable objects." --MartinAmis
A dying man cautiously unravels the mysteries of memory and creation. Vadim is a Russian emigre who, like Nabokov, is a novelist, poet and critic. There are threads linking the fictional hero with his creator as he reconstructs the images of his past from young love to his serious illness.
In The Paradiso, Dante explores the goal of human striving:the merging of individual destiny with universal order. One of thetowering creations of world literature, this epic discovery oftruth is a work of mystical intensity- an immortal hymn to God,Nature, Eternity, and Love.
