本书由三个文本组成。 *个文本是D（狄亚努斯）的日志，它构成了被称为 鼠的故事 的*部分。这部分以D的视角展开，记述了他与B的情乱，同时，在这场混乱的激情中，A（阿尔法主教）作为一个衔接D与B之关系的人物在场。 *部分也涉及了D与E的情乱，而这构成了第二个文本的记述核心。第二部分被称为 狄亚努斯 ，是A的笔记。这部分以A的视角展开。 这两个文本共同结构了本书的故事。被称为 俄瑞斯忒斯 的第三部分则更像是一个总的视角，或者说，一则诗性概述。它由诗歌和诗论组成。巴塔耶写道： 为了在一片明显的不可能中抓住一丝可能，我必须首先想象相反的情境。
Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells hissoul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works.Written in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full ofstinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of DorianGray's moral disintegration caused something of a scandal when itfirst appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his decadence andcorrupting influence, and a few years later the book and theaesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trialsoccasioned by Wilde's homosexual liaisons, trials that resulted inhis imprisonment. Of the book's value as autobiography, Wilde notedin a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry whatthe world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages,perhaps."
Edith Wharton's masterpiece brings to life the grandeur and hypocrisy of a gilded age. Set among the very rich in 1870s New York, it tells the story of Newland Archer, a young lawyer engaged to marry virginal socialite May Welland, when he meets her cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, a woman unbound by convention and surrounded by scandal. As all three are drawn into a love triangle filled with sensuality, subtlety, and betrayal, Archer faces a harrowing choice between happiness and the social code that has ruled his life. The resulting tale of thwarted love is filled with irony and surprise, struggle and acceptance. Recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize for fiction ever awarded to a woman, this great novel paints a timeless portrait of "society" still unmatched in American literature—an arbitrary, capricious social elite that professes inviolable standards but readily abandons them for greed and desire.
From its spectacular opening–the astonishing scene in whichdrunken Michael Henchard sells his wife and daughter to a passingsailor at a county fair–to the breathtaking series of discoveriesat its conclusion, The Mayor of Casterbridge claims a unique placeamong Thomas Hardy’s finest and most powerful novels. Rooted in an actual case of wife-selling in earlynineteenth-century England, the story build into an awesomeSophoclean drama of guilt and revenge, in which the strong, willfulHenchard rises to a position of wealth and power–only to suffer amost bitter downfall. Proud, obsessed, ultimately committed to hisown destruction, Henchard is, as Albert Guerard has said, “Hardy’sLord Jim…his only tragic hero and one of the greatest tragic heroesin all fiction.
Sparkling with mischief, jumping with youthful adventure, MarkTwain's Tom Sawyer is one of the most splendid re-creations ofchildhood in all of literature. It is a lighthearted romp, full ofhumor and warmth. It shares with its sequel, Huckleberry Finn, notonly a set of unforgettable characters--Tom, Huck, Aunt Polly andothers--but a profound understanding of humanity as well. Throughsuch hilarious scenes as the famous fence-whitewashing incident,Twain gives a portrait--perceptive yet tender--of a humanityrendered foolish by his own aspirations and obsessions. Written asmuch for adults as for young boys and girls, Tom Sawyer is the workof a master storyteller performing in his shirt sleeves, using hisbest talents to everyone's delight.
The masterpiece of Joseph Conrad's later years, theautobiographical short novel "The Shadow-Line "depicts a young manat a crossroads in his life, facing a desperate crisis that marksthe "shadow-line" between youth and maturity. This brief butintense story is a dramatically fictionalized account of Conrad'sfirst command as a young sea captain trapped aboard a becalmed,fever-wracked, and seemingly haunted ship. With no wind in sightand his crew disabled by malaria, the narrator discovers that themedicine necessary to save the sick men is missing and its absencehas been deliberately concealed. Meanwhile, his increasinglyfrightened first mate is convinced that the malignant ghost of theprevious captain has cursed them. Suspenseful, atmospheric, anddeceptively simple, Conrad's tale of the sea reflects the complexthemes of his most famous novels, "Lord Jim "and "Heart ofDarkness. "
A young Indian mystic, a contemporary of Buddha, sacrificeseverything to search for the true meaning of life.
For deft plotting, riotous inventiveness, unforgettablecharacters, and language that brilliantly captures the livelyrhythms of American speech, no American writer comes close to MarkTwain. This sparkling anthology covers the entire span of Twain'sinimitable yarn-spinning, from his early broad comedy to the bitingsatire of his later years. Every one of his sixty stories is here:ranging from the frontier humor of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog ofCalaveras County," to the bitter vision of humankind in "The ManThat Corrupted Hadleyburg," to the delightful hilarity of "Is HeLiving or Is He Dead?" Surging with Twain's ebullient wit andpenetrating insight into the follies of human nature, this volumeis a vibrant summation of the career of-in the words of H. L.Mencken-"the father of our national literature."
Robert Prentice has spent all his life attempting to escape hismother's stifling presence. His mother, Alice, for her part,struggles with her own demons as she attempts to realize her dreamsof prosperity and success as a sculptor. As Robert goes off tofight in Europe, hoping to become his own man, Richard Yatesportrays a soldier in the depths of war striving to live up to hisheroic ideals. With haunting clarity, Yates crafts an unforgettableportrait of two people who cannot help but hope for more even aslife challenges them both.
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.
Dickens's classic morality tale of a starving orphan caughtbetween opposing forces of good and evil is a powerful indictmentof Victorian England's Poor Laws. Filled with dark humor and anunforgettable cast of characters Oliver Twist, Fagin, Nancy, BillSykes, and the Artful Dodger, to name a few Dickens's second novelis a compelling social satire that has remained popular since itwas first serialized in 1837-39. The text for this Modern LibraryPaperback Classic is taken from the 1846 New Edition, revised andcorrected by the author. It includes new explanatory notes and anappendix, "A Brief History of the English Poor Laws."
在线阅读本书 An immensely popular bestseller upon its publication in 1905, The House of Mirth was Edith Wharton’s first great novel.Set among the elegant brownstones of New York City and opulentcountry houses like gracious Bellomont on the Hudson, the novelcreates a satiric portrayal of what Wharton herself called “asociety of irresponsible pleasure-seekers” with a precisioncomparable to that of Proust. And her brilliant and complexcharacterization of the doomed Lily Bart, whose stunning beauty anddependence on marriage for economic survival reduce her to adecorative object, becomes an incisive commentary on the nature andstatus of women in that society. From her tragic attraction tobachelor lawyer Lawrence Selden to her desperate relationship withsocial-climbing Rosedale, Lily is all too much a product of theworld indicated by the title, a phrase taken from Ecclesiastes:“The heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” For it is Lily’svery specialness that threatens the elegance and f
aNo other popular writer of his time did any better writingthan you will find in The Call of the Wild.a--H. L. Mencken One ofthe greatest American storytellers, Jack London enjoyed phenomenalpopularity in his own time and remains widely read throughout theworld. His work is characterized by thrilling action, an intuitivefeeling for animal life, and a sense of justice that oftenmanifests itself through violence. "The Call of the Wild," perhapsthe best novel ever written about animals, traces a dogas suddenentry into the wild and his education in survival among the wolves.Library of America Paperback Classics feature authoritative textsdrawn from the acclaimed Library of America series and introducedby todayas most distinguished scholars and writers. Each bookfeatures a detailed chronology of the authoras life and career, andessay on the choice of the text, and notes. The contents of thisPaperback Classic are drawn from "Jack London: Novels and Stories,"volume number 6 in The Library of America series. I
An American frigate, tracking down a ship-sinking monster,faces not a living creature but an incredible invention -- afantastic submarine commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo.Suddenly a devastating explosion leaves just three survivors, whofind themselves prisoners inside Nemo's death ship on an underwaterodyssey around the world from the pearl-laden waters of Ceylon tothe icy dangers of the South Pole . . .as Captain Nemo, one of thegreatest villians ever created, takes his revenge on allsociety. More than a marvelously thrilling drama, this classic novel,written in 1870, foretells with uncanny accuracy the inventions andadvanced technology of the twentieth century and has become aliterary stepping-stone for generations of science fictionwriters.
Robert Louis Stevenson's cherished, unforgettable adventuremagically captures the thrill of a sea voyage and a treasure huntthrough the eyes of its teenage protagonist, Jim Hawkins. Crossingthe Atlantic in search of the buried cache, Jim and the ship's crewmust brave the elements and a mutinous charge led by thequintessentially ruthless pirate Long John Silver. Brilliantlyconceived and splendidly executed, it is a novel that has seizedthe imagination of generations of adults and children alike. And asDavid Cordingly points out in his Introduction, Treasure Island isalso the best and most influential of all the stories aboutpirates.
Mike Gayle has carved a whole new literary niche out of the male confessional novel. He's a publishing phenomenon'EVENING STANDARD 'Delightfully observant nostalgia.., will strike a chord with both sexes' SHE 'A warm, funny romantic comedy' DAILY MAIL 'Gayle's chatty style sustains a cracking pace' THE TIMES "Thirty means only going to the pub if there,s somewhere to sit down, Thiity means owning at least one classical CD, even if it's New That's What I Call Classical Vol 6. Thirty means calling off the search for the perfect partner because now, after al! thee years in the wilderness, you've finally found what you've been looking for." Unlike most people Matt Beckford is actually looking forward to turning thirty. After struggling through most of his twenties he thinks his career, finances and love life are finally sorted. But when he splits up with his girlfriend, he realises that life has different plans for him.and Matt temporarily moves back home to his parents. Within hours,his mum and dad
Comedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, performed in1598-99 and printed in a quarto edition from the author's fairpapers in 1600. The play takes an ancient theme--that of a womanfalsely accused of unfaithfulness--to brilliant comedic heights.Claudio is deceived by his jealous cousin into believing that hislover, Hero, is unfaithful--a plot unveiled by the bumblingconstables Dogberry and Verges. Meanwhile, Beatrice and Benedickhave "a kind of merry war" between them, matching wits in cleverrepartee that anticipates other playfully teasing literary couples.Each is tricked into believing that the other is in love, whichallows the true affection between them to grow. Both couples areunited at the end, after Hero's simulated resurrection from thedead. In this play Shakespeare eschewed devices of obvious magic ordisguise of sex, which he employed in other comedies; the wit andambiguity of the dialogue and the exquisite pacing of the actionsustain the play, which remains popular in repertory. -- TheMerria
Dickens's widely read satirical account of the IndustrialRevolution. Dickens creates the Victorian industrial city of Coketown, innorthern England, and its unforgettable citizens, such as theunwavering utilitarian Thomas Gradgrind and the factory ownerJosiah Bounderby, and the result is his famous critique ofcapitalist philosophy, the exploitative force he believed wasdestroying human creativity and joy. This edition includes newnotes to the text.
With Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami gives us a novel every bit as ambitious and expansive as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which has been acclaimed both here and around the world for its uncommon ambition and achievement, and whose still-growing popularity suggests that it will be read and admired for decades to come. This magnificent new novel has a similarly extraordinary scope and the same capacity to amaze, entertain, and bewitch the reader. A tour de force of metaphysical reality, it is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and peopl
In the CliffsComplete guides, the play′s complete text and aglossary appear side–by–side with coordinating numbered lines tohelp you understand unusual words and phrasing. You′ll also findall the commentary and resources of a standard CliffsNotes forLiterature.
