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.

Based on the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who survivedalone for almost five years on an uninhabited island off the coastof Chile, "The Mysterious Island" is considered by many to be JulesVerne's masterpiece. "Wide-eyed mid-nineteenth-century humanisticoptimism in a breezy, blissfully readable translation by Stump"("Kirkus Reviews"), here is the enthralling tale of five men and adog who land in a balloon on a faraway, fantastic island ofbewildering goings-on and their struggle to survive as they uncoverthe island's secret.

Seventeen interlinked tales by the winner of the 1988 NobelPrize for Literature follow such themes as betrayal, intrigue,obsessive love, social injustice, reincarnations, and wrongsrighted or made worse. Reprint. K.

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.

At forty, the writer Nathan Zuckerman comes down with amysterious affliction--pure pain, beginning in his neck andshoulders, invading his torso, and taking possession of his spirit.Zuckerman, whose work was his life, is unable to write a line. Nowhis work is trekking from one doctor to another, but none can finda cause for the pain and nobody can assuage it. Zuckerman himselfwonders if the pain can have been caused by his own books. Andwhile he is wondering, his dependence on painkillers grows into anaddiction to vodka, marijuana, and Percodan. The Anatomy Lesson isa great comedy of illness written in what the English criticHermione Lee has described as "a manner at once...brash andthoughtful... lyrical and wry, which projects through comicexpostulations and confessions...a knowing, humane authority." Thethird volume of the trilogy and epilogue "Zuckerman Bound," TheAnatomy Lesson provides some of the funniest scenes in all ofRoth's fiction as well as some of the fiercest.

Portnoy's Complaint "n." after Alexander Portnoy (1933- )] Adisorder in which strongly-felt ethical and altruistic impulses areperpetually warring with extreme sexual longings, often of aperverse nature. Spielvogel says: 'Acts of exhibitionism,voyeurism, fetishism, auto-eroticism and oral coitus are plentiful;as a consequence of the patient's "morality," however, neitherfantasy nor act issues in genuine sexual gratification, but ratherin overriding feelings of shame and the dread of retribution,particularly in the form of castration.' (Spielvogel, O. "ThePuzzled Penis," "Internationale Zeitschrift fur Psychoanalyse,"Vol. XXIV, p. 909.) It is believed by Spielvogel that many of thesymptoms can be traced to the bonds obtaining in the mother-childrelationship. With a new Afterword by the author for the 25thAnniversary edition.

(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed) Set in the secluded forestcommunity of Little Hintock, Thomas Hardy's "The Woodlanders"inextricably links the dramatic English landscape with the story ofa woman caught between two rivals of radically different socialstatures. Grace Melbury is promised to her longtime companion,Giles Winterborne, a local woodlander and a gentle, steadfast man.When her socially motivated father pressures her to wed theambitious doctor Edred Fitzpiers, Grace's loyalties shift--and herdecision leads to tumultuous consequences. With its explorations ofclass and gender, lust and betrayal, "The Woodlanders" is one ofHardy's most vivid and powerful works. This Modern LibraryPaperback Classic is set from the text of the 1912 Wessex editionand includes Hardy's map of fictional Wessex.

A stunning novel by the widest-read Arab writer currentlypublished in the U.S. The age of Nasser has ushered in enormoussocial change, and most of the middle-aged and middle-class sonsand daughters of the old bourgeoisie find themselves trying torecreate the cozy, enchanted world they so dearly miss. One night,however, art and reality collide--with unforeseencircumstances.

One of the most celebrated writers of our time gives us hisfirst cycle of short fiction: five brilliantly etched,interconnected stories in which music is a vivid and essentialcharacter. A once-popular singer, desperate to make a comeback, turningfrom the one certainty in his life . . . A man whose unerring tastein music is the only thing his closest friends value in him . . . Astruggling singer-songwriter unwittingly involved in the failingmarriage of a couple he’s only just met . . . A gifted,underappreciated jazz musician who lets himself believe thatplastic surgery will help his career . . . A young cellist whosetutor promises to “unwrap” his talent . . . Passion or necessity—or the often uneasy combination of thetwo—determines the place of music in each of these lives. And, inone way or another, music delivers each of them to a moment ofreckoning: sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes justeluding their grasp. An exploration of love, need, and the ineluctable fo

Founded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has alwaystried to make the best books ever written available to the greatestnumber of people at the lowest possible price. Unique editorialfeatures that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from thecrowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic's introductionto the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or hislife and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a conciseplot summary. All books published since 1993 have also beencompletely restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarityand ease of reading unique among editions of the classics; avibrant, full-color cover design now complements these great textswith beautiful contemporary works of art. But the best feature mustbe Everyman's uniquely low price. Each Everyman title offers theseextensive materials at a price that competes with the mostinexpensive editions on the market-but Everyman Paperbacks havedurable binding, quality paper, and the highest editorial an

Henry Bech, the moderately well known Jewish-American writerwho served as the hero of John Updike's previous Bech: A Book(1970) and Bech Is Back (1982), has become older but scarcelywiser. In these five new chapters from his life, he is still atbay, pursued by the hounds of desire and anxiety, of unbridledcriticism and publicity in a literary world ever more cheerfullycrass. He fights intimations of annihilation in still-CommunistCzechoslovakia, while promiscuously consorting with dissidents,apparatchiks, and Midwestern Republicans. Next, he succumbs to thetemptations of power by accepting the presidency of a quaint andcosseted honorary body patterned on the Académie Fran?aise. Then,the reader finds him on trial in California and on a criminalrampage in a gothic Gotham, abetted by a nubile sidekick calledRobin. Lastly, our septuagenarian veteran of the literary wars isrewarded with a coveted medal, stunning him into a well-deservedsilence. It's not easy being Henry Bech in the post-Gutenbergianworld,

"It is, quite simply, Updike's best novel yet." NEWSWEEK Adeftly satirical portrait of life and love in a suburban town asonly Updike can paint it. "From the Paperback edition."

An iconic novel dressed in a fierce design by acclaimedfashion illustrator Ruben Toledo Ruben Toledo's breathtakingdrawings have appeared in such high-fashion magazines as "Vogue,Harper's Bazaar," and "Visionaire." Now he's turning his talentedhand to illustrating the gorgeous deluxe editions of three of themost beloved novels in literature. Here Elizabeth Bennet'srejection of Mr. Darcy, Hester Prynne's fateful letter "A," andCatherine Earnshaw's wanderings on the Yorkshire moors aretransformed into witty and surreal landscapes to appeal to thenovels' aficionados and the most discerning designer's eyes.

Stevenson’s brooding historical romance demonstrates his mostabiding theme—the elemental struggle between good and evil—as itunfolds against a hauntingly beautiful Scottish landscape, amid thefierce loyalties and violent enmities that characterized Scottishhistory. When two brothers attempt to split their loyalties betweenthe warring factions of the 1745 Jacobite rising, one family findsitself tragically divided. Stevenson’s remarkably vividcharacterizations create an acutely moving, psychologically complexwork; as Andrea Barrett points out in her Introduction, “Thebrothers’ characters, not the historical facts, shape thedrama.” This Modern Library Paperback Classic includes illustrationsreproduced from the original edition.

Featuring the brilliantly drawn Roxanna, a mulatto slave whosuffers dire consequences after switching her infant son with hermaster's baby, and the clever Pudd'nhead Wilson, an ostracizedsmall-town lawyer, Twain's darkly comic masterpiece is aprovocative exploration of slavery and miscegenation. Leslie A.Fiedler described the novel as "half melodramatic detective story,half bleak tragedy," noting that "morally, it is one of the mosthonest books in our literature." "Those Extraordinary Twins," theslapstick story that evolved into Pudd'nhead Wilson, provides afascinating view of the author's process. The text for this ModernLibrary Paperback Classic was set from the 1894 first Americanedition.

The Unconsoled is at once a gripping psychological mystery, awicked satire of the cult of art, and a poignant character study ofa man whose public life has accelerated beyond his control. Thesetting is a nameless Central European city where Ryder, a renownedpianist, has come to give the most important performance of hislife. Instead, he finds himself diverted on a series of cryptic andinfuriating errands that nevertheless provide him with vital cluesto his own past. In The Unconsoled Ishiguro creates a work that isitself a virtuoso performance, strange, haunting, and resonant withhumanity and wit. "A work of great interest and originality....Ishiguro has mapped out an aesthetic territory that is all hisown...frankly fantastic and] fiercer and funnier thanbefore."--"The New Yorker"

These beautifully crafted poems - by turns dark, playful,intensely moving, tender, and intimate - make up Margaret Atwood'smost accomplished and versatile gathering to date, " setting footon the middle ground / between body and word." Some draw onhistory, some on myth, both classical and popular. Others, morepersonal, concern themselves with love, with the fragility of thenatural world, and with death, especially in the elegiac series ofmeditations on the death of a parent. But they also inhabit acontemporary landscape haunted by images of the past. Generous,searing, compassionate, and disturbing, this poetry rises out ofhuman experience to seek a level between luminous memory and therealities of the everyday, between the capacity to inflict and thestrength to forgive.

""He is a religious writer; he is a comic realist; he knows whateverything feels like, how everything works. He is putting togethera body of work which in substantial intelligent creation willeventually be seen as second to none in our time."--William H.Pritchard, The Hudson Review, reviewing Museums and Women (1972)" Aharvest and not a winnowing, "The Early Stories" preserves almostall of the short fiction John Updike published between 1954 and1975. The stories are arranged in eight sections, of which thefirst, "Olinger Stories," already appeared as a paperback in 1964;in its introduction, Updike described Olinger, Pennsylvania, as "asquare mile of middle-class homes physically distinguished by abend in the central avenue that compels some side streets todeviate from the grid pattern." These eleven tales, whose heroesage from ten to over thirty but remain at heart Olinger boys, arefollowed by groupings titled "Out in the World," "Married Life,"and "Family Life," tracing a common American trajectory. Familyl

Wishing she could enjoy the freedoms and pleasures so casuallyenjoyed by ordinary women, orthodox rabbi's daughter Rachelanticipates her arranged marriage and imagines what her life willbe like. Reprint.

On a chilly February day, two old friends meet in the throngoutside a London crematorium to pay their last respects to MollyLane. Both Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday had been Molly's loversin the days before they reached their current eminence: Clive isBritain's most successful modern composer, and Vernon is editor ofthe newspaper "The Judge." Gorgeous, feisty Molly had other lovers,too, notably Julian Garmony, Foreign Secretary, a notoriousright-winger tipped to be the next prime minister. In the days thatfollow Molly's funeral, Clive and Vernon will make a pact withconsequences that neither could have foreseen. Each will make adisastrous moral decision, their friendship will be tested to itslimits, and Julian Garmony will be fighting for his political life.A sharp contemporary morality tale, cleverly disguised as a comicnovel, Amsterdam is "as sheerly enjoyable a book as one is likelyto pick up this year" ("The Washington Post Book World").

Marcel Proust （1871-1922） spent the last fourteen years of his life writing A la recherche du temps perdu. It is an intimate epic, an excavation of the self, and a comedy of manners by turns and all at once. Proust is the twentieth century's Dante, presenting us with a unique, unsettling picture of ourselves as jealous lovers and unmitigated snobs, frittering our lives away, with only the hope of art as a possible salvation. He offers us a form of redemption for a sober and secular age. Scott Moncrieff's delightful translation was for many years the only access to Proust in English. A labour of love that took him nearly as many years as Proust spent writing the original. Moncrieff's translation strives to capture the extraordinary blend of muscular analysis with poetic reverie that typifies Proust's style. It remains a justly famous classic of translation.