The dramatic concluding months of The Wars of the Rosesprovide the setting for Shakespeare’s incomparable saga of powerand intrigue. Under the editorial supervision of Jonathan Bate and EricRasmussen, two of today’s most accomplished Shakespearean scholars,this Modern Library series incorporates definitive texts andauthoritative notes from William Shakespeare: CompleteWorks. Each play includes an Introduction as well as anoverview of Shakespeare’s theatrical career; commentary on past andcurrent productions based on interviews with leading directors,actors, and designers; scene-by-scene analysis; key facts about thework; a chronology of Shakespeare’s life and times; andblack-and-white illustrations. Ideal for students, theater professionals, and general readers,these modern and accessible editions set a new standard inShakespearean literature for the twenty-first century.
Alex Jennings will be the reader for this unabridged recordingof the The Sonnets. --This text refers to the AudioCassette edition.
Play in three acts by Luigi Pirandello, produced and publishedin Italian in 1921 as Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore. IntroducingPirandello's device of the "theater within the theater," the playexplores various levels of illusion and reality. It had a greatimpact on later playwrights, particularly such practitioners of theTheater of the Absurd as Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, and JeanGenet, as well as Jean Anouilh and Jean-Paul Sartre.
A continuation of the major series of individualShakespeare plays from the world renowned Royal ShakespeareCompany, edited by two brilliant, younger generation Shakespeareanscholars Jonathan Bate and EricRasmussen Incorporating definitive text andcutting-edge notes from William Shakespeare: CompleteWorks -the first authoritative, modernized edition ofShakespeare's First Folio in more than 300 years-this remarkableseries of individual plays combines Jonathan Bate's insightfulcritical analysis with Eric Rasmussen's textual expertise.
This superb translation of Death in Venice and six otherstories by Thomas Mann is a tour de force, deserving to be thedefinitive text for English-speaking readers. These seven storiesrepresent Mann's early writing career and a level of literaryquality Mann himself despaired of ever again matching. In thesestories he began to grapple with themes that were to recurthroughout his work. In" Little Herr Friedemann, " a character'scarefully structured way of life is suddenly threatened by anunexpected sexual passion. In "Gladius Dei, " puritanical intellectclashes with beauty. In "Tristan, " Mann presents an ironic andcomic account of the tension between an artist and bourgeoissociety. All seven of these stories are accomplished and memorable,but it is Death in Venice that truly forms the centerpiece of thecollection. The themes that Mann weaves through the shorter piecescome to a climax in this stunning novella, one of the mosthauntingly magnificent tales of art and self-destruction everwritten.
In this powerful book we enter the world of Jurgis Rudkus, ayoung Lithuanian immigrant who arrives in America fired with dreamsof wealth, freedom, and opportunity. And we discover, with him, theastonishing truth about "packingtown," the busy, flourishing,filthy Chicago stockyards, where new world visions perish in ajungle of human suffering. Upton Sinclair, master of the"muckraking" novel, here explores the workingman's lot at the turnof the century: the backbreaking labor, the injustices of"wage-slavery," the bewildering chaos of urban life. The Jungle, astory so shocking that it launched a government investigation,recreates this startling chapter if our history in unflinchingdetail. Always a vigorous champion on political reform, Sinclair isalso a gripping storyteller, and his 1906 novel stands as one ofthe most important -- and moving -- works in the literature ofsocial change. --This text refers to an alternate Mass MarketPaperback edition.
Tolstoy startled the world with this powerful story ofadultery and its aftermath, of the human need for love andhappiness, and of the unyielding demands of society.
Shakespeare became famous as a dazzling poet before most peopleeven knew that he wrote plays. His sonnets are the Englishlanguage's most extraordinary anatomy of love in all itsdimensions-desire and despair, longing and loss, adoration anddisgust. To read them is to confront morality and eternity in thesame breath. Produced under the editorial supervision of JonathanBate and Eric Rasmussen, two of today's most accomplishedShakespearean scholars, The Sonnets and Other Poems includes all ofShakespeare's sonnets, the long narrative poems "Venus and Adonis"and "The Rape of Lucrece," and several other shorter works.Incorporating definitive texts and authoritative notes from WilliamShakespeare: Complete Works, this unique volume also includes anexpanded Introduction by Jonathan Bate that places the poems inliterary and historical context and illuminates their relationshipto Shakespeare's dramatic writing. Also featured are key factsabout the individual selections; an index of the first lines of thesonnets; a chron
Reason, Facts, and statistics... Dickens’ scathing portrait of Victorian industrial society andits misapplied utilitarian philosophy, Hard Times featuresschoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind, one of his most richly dimensional,memorable characters. Filled with the details and wonders ofsmall-town life, it is also a daring novel of ideas—and ultimately,a celebration of love, hope, and limitless possibilities of theimagination.
Shakespeare’s greatest achievement in nondramatic verse washis collection of 154 magnificent sonnets that portray a tumultuousworld of love, rivalry, and conflict among a poet, an aristocraticyoung man, a rival poet, and a mysterious “dark lady.” Moreprofound than other Elizabethan sonnet sequences and neversurpassed as archetypes of the form, these poems explore almostevery imaginable emotional complexity related to love andfriendship. Some poems are dark, bitter, and self-hating, othersexpress idealism with unmatchable eloquence–and all are ofquintessential beauty, part of the world’s great literaryheritage. In addition to his sonnets, Shakespeare published two long poemsearly in his career: Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.Immediately popular in Shakespeare’s time, they display a richnessthat can also reward us with insights into the powerful imagery ofhis plays. Rounding out this volume are two minor poems, “A Lover’sComplaint” and “The Phoenix and Turtle,”
One of the last plays Shakespeare penned on his own, TheWinter’s Tale is a transcendent work of death and rebirth,exploring irrational sexual jealousy, the redemptive world ofnature, and the magical power of art. Under the editorial supervision of Jonathan Bate and EricRasmussen, two of today’s most accomplished Shakespearean scholars,this Modern Library series incorporates definitive texts andauthoritative notes from William Shakespeare: Complete Works. Eachplay 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, and general readers,these modern and accessible editions from the Royal ShakespeareCompany set a new standard in Shakespearean literature for thetwenty-first century
Capturing the grandeur of a gracious, splendid Europe ofwealth and Old World sensibilities, this glorious, complex novelhas become a touchstone for a great writer’s entire literaryachievement. From the opening pages, when the high-spiritedAmerican girl Isabel Archer arrives at the English manorGardencourt, James’s luminous, superbly crafted prose creates anatmosphere of intensity, expectation, and incomparablebeauty. Isabel, who has been taken abroad by an eccentric aunt to fulfillher potential, attracts the passions of a British aristocrat and abrash American, as well as the secret adoration of her invalidcousin, Ralph Touchett. But her vulnerability and innocence leadher not to love but to a fatal entrapment in intrigue, deception,and betrayal. This brilliant interior drama of the forming of awoman’s consciousness makes The Portrait of a Lady a masterpiece ofJames’s middle years.
Widely acknowledged as his most influential work, Republic presents Plato's philosophical views on the nature of justice and his vision for the ideal state. THIS ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: A concise introduction that gives the reader important background information A chronology of the author's life and work A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context An outline of key themes to guide the reader's own interpretations Detailed explanatory notes Critical analysis and modern perspectives on the work Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Simon & Schuster Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, underst
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.
In a beleaguered city where rats and roving gangs terrorizethe streets, where government has broken down and meaninglessviolence holds sway, a woman -- middle-aged and middle-class -- isbrought a twelve-year-old girl and told that it is herresponsibility to raise the child. This book, which the author hascalled "an attempt at autobiography," is that woman's journal -- aglimpse of a future only slightly more horrendous than our present,and of the forces that alone can save us from totaldestruction.
Set in a topsy-turvy world like a holiday revel, this comedydevises a romantic plot around separated twins, misplaced passions,and mistaken identity. Juxtaposed to it is the satirical story of aself-deluded steward who dreams of becoming “Count Malvolio” onlyto receive his comeuppance at the hands of the merrymakers hewishes to suppress. The two plots combine to create a farce touchedwith melancholy, mixed throughout with seductively beautifulexplorations on the themes of love and time, and the play ends, notwith laughter, but with a clown’s sad song. 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 filmography
To read a story by Henry James is to enter a world--a rich,perfectly crafted domain of vivid language and splendid, complexcharacters. Devious children, sparring lovers, capricious Americangirls, obtuse bachelors, sibylline spinsters and charming Europeanspopulate these five fascinating Nouvelles --works which representthe author in both his early and late phases. From the apparitionsof evil that haunt the governess in The Turn Of The Screw to thestartling self-scrutiny of an egotistical man in The Beast In TheJungle, the mysterious tumings of human behavior are skillfully andcoolly observed--proving Henry James to be a master ofpsychological insight as well as one of the finest stylists ofmodern English literature.
In his long-awaited, vastly innovative new novel, Naipaul,"one of literature's great travelers" (Los Angles Times), spanscontinents and centuries to create what is at once an autobiographyand a fictional archaeology of colonialism. "Dickensian . . . abrilliant new prism through which to view (Naipaul's) life andwork."--New York Times.
Almayer’s Folly, Joseph Conrad’s first novel, is a tale ofpersonal tragedy as well as a broader meditation on the evils ofcolonialism. Set in the lush jungle of Borneo in the late 1800s, ittells of the Dutch merchant Kaspar Almayer, whose dreams of richesfor his beloved daughter, Nina, collapse under the weight of hisown greed and prejudice. Nadine Gordimer writes in herIntroduction, “Conrad’s writing is lifelong questioning . . . Whatwas ‘Almayer’s Folly’? The pretentious house never lived in? Hisobsession with gold? His obsessive love for his daughter, whoseprogenitors, the Malay race, he despised? All three?” Conradestablished in Almayer’s Folly the themes of betrayal, isolation,and colonialism that he would explore throughout the rest of hislife and work.
Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace isat once an epic of the Napoleonic Wars, a philosophical study, anda celebration of the Russian spirit. Tolstoy's genius is seenclearly in the multitude of characters in this massivechronicle--all of them fully realized and equally memorable. Out ofthis complex narrative emerges a profound examination of theindividual's place in the historical process, one that makes itclear why Thomas Mann praised Tolstoy for his Homeric powers andplaced War and Peace in the same category as the Iliad": " "To readhim . . . is to find one's way home . . . to everything within usthat is fundamental and sane."
在线阅读本书 The story of an Ancient Roman soldier whose political machinationsand military might gain him heroic status, but ultimately lead tohis assassination.
