In The Tragedy of King Richard III, Shakespeare chronicles the rise and fall of one of history’s most repellent, and the theater’s most mesmerizing, figures. This Norton Critical Edition of Richard III is based on the First Quarto (1597) edition of the play with interpolations from the First Folio (1623). The play is accompanied by a preface, explanatory annotations, A Note on the Text, a list of Textual Variants, and eighteen illustrations of seminal scenes from major dramatic productions and film versions of the play. “Contexts” provides readers with the sources and analogues that informed Shakespeare’s composition of Richard III. These include excerpts from Robert Fabyan’s New Chronicles of England and France, Thomas More’s The History of King Richard III, Edward Hall’s The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York, A Mirror for Magistrates, and The True Tragedy of Richard III. A selection from Colley Cibber’s eighteenth-century adaptation records the compr

He is a good man, a brilliant corporate executive, an honest,handsome family man admired by men and desired by women. But a lifetime ago Ben Tyson was a lieutenant in Vietnam. There the men under his command committed a murderous atrocity --and together swore never to tell the world what they had done. Nowthe press, army justice, and the events he tried to forget havecaught up with Ben Tyson. His family, his career, and his personalsense of honor hang in the balance. And only one woman can revealthe truth of his past -- and set him free.

Once in a lifetime, a writer puts it all together. This is JamesPatterson's best book ever Total For 36 years, James Patterson has writtenunputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book thatsurpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born towrite. World All over the world, brutal attacks are cripplingentire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches theescalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When hewitnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of theviolence to come becomes terrifyingly clear. Destruction With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Ozraces to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks aregrowing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will beno place left for humans to hide. With wildly inventive imaginationand white-knuckle suspense that rivals Stephen King at his verybest, James Patterson's ZOO is an epic, non-stop thrill-ride from"One of the best of the best." (TIME)

Joseph Epstein demonstrates time and again his talent fortaking nearly any subject and polishing it into a gem of sparklingwit and fascination. In Narcissus Leaves the Pool, he displays hissignature verve and charm in sixteen agile, entertaining pieces.Among his targets in this collection are name-dropping, talentversus genius, the cult of youthfulness, and the informationrevolution.

Slaughterhous-Five is one of the world's great anti-warbooks. Centering on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden, BillyPilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of ourown fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraidto know.

Around the World in Eighty Days (French: Le tour du monde enquatre-vingts jours) is a classic adventure novel by the Frenchwriter Jules Verne, first published in 1872. In the story, PhileasFogg of London and his newly-employed French valet Passepartoutattempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a ￡20,000 wagerset by his friends at the Reform Club. Publisher Comments: Jules Verne Great excitement and awe greeted its publication in1873, and today Around the World in Eighty Days remains JulesVerne’s most successful novel. A daring wager by the eccentric andmysterious Englishman Phileas Fogg that he can circle the globe injust eighty days initiates this marvelous travelogue and excitingsuspense story. Together with his manservant, Passepartout, Foggmakes a breathless world tour, overcoming wild misadventures andfinding time to rescue a beautiful Indian maharani from a burningfuneral pyre—all the while restlessly pursued by a bumblingdetective called Mr. Fix. Realistically utilizing nearly everymean

Here is a portrait of greed, ambition, and squandered talent,as depicted in the lives of the very wealthy Anthony Patch and hiswillful wife Gloria.

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs.

The Winter's Tale was one of the very last plays Shakespeare wrote, a moving romance whose themes are sin, forgiveness, death, rebirth, and the power of Time and Nature to heal all wounds. Based on a novella by Shakespeare's enemy and arch rival Robert Greene, The Winter's Tale introduces Perdita, perhaps the Bard's most richly symbolic character. At times tragic, at times humorous, but always entertaining and instructive, The Winters Tale is a complex and rewarding work by the greatest dramatist of all time.

Leo Tolstoy’s short works, like his novels, show readers his narrative genius, keen observation, and historical acumen—albeit on a smaller scale. This Norton Critical Edition presents twelve of Tolstoy’s best-known stories, based on the Louise and Aylmer Maude translations (except “Alyosha Gorshok”), which have been revised by the editor for enhanced comprehension and annotated for student readers. The Second Edition newly includes “A Prisoner in the Caucasus,” “Father Sergius,” and “After the Ball,” in addition to Michael Katz’s new translation of “Alyosha Gorshok.” Together these stories represent the best of the author’s short fiction before War and Peace and after Anna Karenina. “Backgrounds and Sources” includes two Tolstoy memoirs, A History of Yesterday (1851) and The Memoirs of a Madman (1884), as well as entries—expanded in the Second Edition—from Tolstoy’s “Diary for 1855” and selected letters (1858–95) that shed light on the author’s creative p

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) The most famous day inliterature is June 16, 1904, when a certain Mr. Leopold Bloom ofDublin eats a kidney for breakfast, attends a funeral, admires agirl on the beach, contemplates his wife's imminent adultery, and,late at night, befriends a drunken young poet in the city'sred-light district. An earthy story, a virtuoso technical display,and a literary revolution all rolled into one, James Joyce's"Ulysses" is a touchstone of our modernity and one of the toweringachievements of the human mind.

"I do not say there is no character as well drawn inShakespeare [as D'Artagnan]. I do say there is none that I love sowholly." "The lasting and universal popularity of The Three Musketeersshows that Dumas, by artlessly expressing his own nature in thepersons of his heroes, was responding to that craving for action,strength and generosity which is a fact in all periods and allplaces."

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Wizarding classic, first came to Muggle readers’ attention in the book known as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now, thanks to Hermione Granger’s new translation from the ancient runes, we present this stunning edition with an introduction, notes, and illustrations by J. K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore. Never before have Muggles been privy to these richly imaginative tales: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot,” “The Fountain of Fair Fortune,” “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart,” “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump,” and of course, “The Tale of the Three Brothers.” But not only are they the equal of fairy tales we now know and love, reading them gives new insight into the world of Harry Potter. The stories are accompanied by delightful pen-and-ink illustrations by Ms. Rowling herself, featuring a still-life frontispiece for each one. Professor Dumbledore’s commentary—apparently written some eighteen months befor

Hugely admired by Tolstoy, David Copperfield is the novel thatdraws most closely from Charles Dickens's own life. Its eponymoushero, orphaned as a boy, grows up to discover love and happiness,heartbreak and sorrow amid a cast of eccentrics, innocents, andvillains. Praising Dickens's power of invention, Somerset Maughamwrote: andquot; There were never such people as the Micawbers,Peggotty and Barkis, Traddles, Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, UriahHeep and his mother. They are fantastic inventions of Dickens'sexultant imagination...you can never quite forget them.andquot;This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes a newIntroduction by Pulitzer Prize finalist David Gates, in addition tonew explanatory notes.

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days - as he has done before - and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home. But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manu* featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him. And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before ...A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, The Silkworm is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant Robin Ellacott.

Though generally overlooked during her lifetime, EmilyDickinson's poetry has achieved acclaim due to her experiments inprosody, her tragic vision and the range of her emotional andintellectual explorations.

These controversial epic poems demonstrate Milton's genius forfusing sense and sound, classicism and innovation, narrative anddrama in profound explorations of the moral problems of God'sjustice-and what it truly means to be human.

Struck by Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal follows thestory of outcast high school senior Carson Phillips who blackmailsthe most popular students into contributing to his literary journalto bolster his college application; his goal in life is to get intoNorthwestern and eventually become the editor of The NewYorker. At once laugh-out-loud funny, deliciously dark, and remarkablysmart, Struck by Lightning unearths the dirt that lies just belowthe surface of high school. The major motion picture Struck by Lightning features Colfer'sown original screenplay and stars Allison Janney, ChristinaHendricks, Dermot Mulroney, and Colfer in leading roles.

If a recent spate of new translations is any evidence, Dante remains as popular as ever with the general reading public. Durling's new verse translation of the Inferno joins recent versions by Robert Pinsky (LJ 1/93) and Mark Musa (LJ 3/1/95). While Durling's translation (with Italian on the facing page) does not use Dante's rhyme or line divisions, it captures the metrical rhythm of the original. S imilarly, his rendering of Dante's diction is literal and accurate, conveying the tone and feel while remaining accessible. Supplemented with an introduction, useful notes, and appendixes, this version, soon to be joined by Purgatorio and Paradiso, can be recommended to the general reader. In a new reader's guide to the Divine Comedy, Gallagher, a Catholic priest as well as a poet and scholar, presents the Comedy canto by canto in a series of mini-essays that discuss content, themes, characters, major allusions, and religious doctrines, particularly from the perspective of Dante as a Christian. For

Beowulf is not folk-song,but belongs to a much more conscious and devepoped stage of art than the popular.The exploits narrted in the poem belong to the life of Germanic peoples before they crossed the North Sea,and the least one of the characters can be identified whith a historical personage.Simple almple almost to bareness in style,withour subtlety or high imageination,the Song of Roland is yet not without grandeur;and its patriotic ardor gives it a place as the earliest of the truly national poems of the modern world,Of the lrish epic tales,The Destruction of DA Derga's Hostel is a specimen of remarkable beauty and power.The primitive nature of the story is shown by the fact that the plot turns upon the disasters that follow on the violation of tabus,or prohibitions often with a supernatural sanction,by the mostrous nature of many of the warrious,and by the utter absence of any attempt of rationalize or explain the beliefs implede or the marvels related in it.The powers and achievements of the heroes are

New package for Austen's brilliant satire of the gothicnovel A sly commentary on the power of literature and a warning for womenabout being too innocent, here is a fresh, funny novel of a youngwoman receiving, as Margaret Drabble reveals in her illuminatingintroduction, "intensive instruction in the ways of the world."