(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Dostoevsky's toweringreputation as one of the handful of thinkers who forged the modernsensibility has sometimes obscured the purely novelisticvirtues-brilliant characterizations, flair for suspense andmelodrama, instinctive theatricality-that made his work soimmensely popular in nineteenth-century Russia. "The BrothersKaramazov," his last and greatest novel, published just before hisdeath in 1881, chronicles the bitter love-hate struggle between theoutsized Fyodor Karamazov and his three very different sons. It isabove all the story of a murder, told with hair-raisingintellectual clarity and a feeling for the human conditionunsurpassed in world literature. This award-winning translation byRichard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky-the definitive version inEnglish-magnificently captures the rich and subtle energies ofDostoevsky's masterpiece.
Two girls who grow up to become women. Two friends who becomesomething worse than enemies. In this brilliantly imagined novel,Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, whomeet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Theirdevotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of adreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be apillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. Buttheir friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end?Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work thatoverflows with life.
The Sorrow Gondola was the great Swedish poet TomasTranstromer's first collection of poems after his stroke in 1990.Translated by Michael McGriff, Transtromer's great work isavailable in its first single-volume English edition.
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
In these "impishly witty and ingeniously irreverent" essays(Atlantic Monthly), "the Andy Rooney of academia" (Los AngelesTimes) takes on computer jargon, librarians, bureaucrats, meals onairplanes, bad coffee, taxi drivers, 33-function watches, soccerfans, and more. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and KurtWolff Book
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.
In this classic collision of the New World with Old Europe,James weaves a fable of thwarted desire that shifts between comedy,tragedy, romance, and melodrama.
Vintage Readers are a perfect introduction to some of thegreatest modern writers presented in attractive, accessiblepaperback editions. “It was Nabokov’s gift to bring paradise wherever he alighted.”—John Updike, The New York Review of Books Novelist, poet, critic, translator, and, above all, a peerlessimaginer, Vladimir Nabokov was arguably the most dazzling prosestylist of the twentieth century. In novels like Lolita, Pale Fire,and Ada, or Ardor, he turned language into an instrument ofecstasy. Vintage Nabokov includes sections 1-10 of his most famous andcontroversial novel, Lolita; the stories “The Return of Chorb,”“The Aurelian,” “A Forgotten Poet,” “Time and Ebb,” “Signs andSymbols,” “The Vane Sisters,” and “Lance”; and chapter 12 from hismemoir Speak, Memory.
Nabokov's third novel, The Defense, is a chilling story ofobsession and madness. As a young boy, Luzhin was unattractive,distracted, withdrawn, sullen--an enigma to his parents and anobject of ridicule to his classmates. He takes up chess as a refugefrom the anxiety of his everyday life. His talent is prodigious andhe rises to the rank of grandmaster--but at a cost: in Luzhin' sobsessive mind, the game of chess gradually supplants the world ofreality. His own world falls apart during a crucial championshipmatch, when the intricate defense he has devised withers under hisopponent's unexpected and unpredictabke lines of assault.
"Time" Magazine Best American Novel (1993) In this fiendishlyimaginative book (which may or may not be fiction), Philip Rothmeets a man who may or may not be Philip Roth. Because "someone"with that name has been touring Israel, promoting a bizarre reverseexodus of the Jews. Roth is intent on stopping him, even if thatmeans impersonating his own impersonator. With excruciatingsuspense, unfettered philosophical speculation, and a cast ofcharacters that includes Israeli intelligence agents, Palestinianexiles, an accused war criminal, and an enticing charter member ofan organization called Anti-Semites Anonymous, Operation Shylockbarrels across the frontier between fact and fiction, seriousnessand high comedy, history and nightmare.
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
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.
A desperate young man plans the perfect crime -- the murder ofa despicable pawnbroker, an old women no one loves and no one willmourn. Is it not just, he reasons, for a man of genius to commitsuch a crime, to transgress moral law -- if it will ultimatelybenefit humanity? So begins one of the greatest novels everwritten: a powerful psychological study, a terrifying murdermystery, a fascinating detective thriller infused withphilosophical, religious and social commentary. Raskolnikov, animpoverished student living in a garret in the gloomy slums of St.Petersburg, carries out his grotesque scheme and plunges into ahell of persecution, madness and terror. Crime And Punishment takesthe reader on a journey into the darkest recesses of the criminaland depraved mind, and exposes the soul of a man possessed by bothgood and evil ... a man who cannot escape his own conscience.
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.
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward.' In Carroll's sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice once again finds herself in a bizarre and nonsensical place when she passes through a mirror and enters a looking-glass world where nothing is quite as it seems. From her guest appearance as a pawn in a chess match to her meeting with Humpty Dumpty, Through the Looking Glass follows Alice on her curious adventure and shows Carroll's great skill at creating an imaginary world full of the fantastical and extraordinary.
Joyce Carol Oates's Wonderland Quartet comprises fourremarkable novels that explore social class in America and theinner lives of young Americans. Spanning from the Great Depressionto the turbulent Vietnam War era, "Wonderland" is the epic accountof Jesse Vogel, a boy who emerged from a family tragedy with hislife spared but his world torn apart. Orphaned after watching hisfather murder his entire family, Jesse embarks on a personalodyssey that takes him from a Dickensian foster home to college andgraduate school to the pinnacle of the medical profession. As anadult, Jesse must summon the strength to reach across the"generation gap" and rescue his endangered teenaged daughter, whohas fallen into the drug-infused 1960s counterculture. Hailed byLibrary Journal as "the greatest of Oates's novels," "Wonderland"is the capstone of a magnificent literary excursion that plungesbeneath the glossy surface of American life. "Wonderland" is thefinal novel in Joyce Carol Oates's Wonderland Quartet. The booksthat co
From the author who gave us THE SCARLET LETTER and THE HOUSEOF THE SEVEN GABLES, here is a comprehensive selection of hisbest short stories, including: Endicott and the Red Cross Young Goodman Brown Earth's Holocaust Ethan Brand My Kinsman, Major Molineux And more!
An international team of scholars offers:?? modernised, easilyaccessible texts?? ample but unobtrusive academic guidance??attention to the theatrical qualities of each play and its stagehistory?? informative illustations, including reconstructions ofearly performances --This text refers to an out of print orunavailable edition of this title.
Filled with adventure, passion, and intrigue, The Narrow Corneris a classic tale of the sea by one of the twentieth-century'sfinest writers. Island hoping across the South Pacific, theesteemed Dr. Saunders is offered passage by Captain Nichols and hiscompanion Fred Blake, two men who appear unsavory, yet any means oftransportation is hard to resist. The trip turns turbulent,however, when a vicious storm forces them to seek shelter on theremote island of Kanda. There these three men fall under the spellof the sultry and stunningly beautiful Louise, and their storyspirals into a wicked tale of love, murder, jealousy, andsuicide.
