Daisy Miller is one of Henry James's most attractive heroines: she represents youth and frivolity. As a tourist in Italy, her American freedom and freshness of spirit come up against the corruption and hypocrisy of European manners. From its first publication, readers on both sides of the Atlantic have quarrelled about her, defending or attacking the liberties that Daisy takes and the conventions that she ignores. All three tales in this collection, Daisy Miller, An International Episode and Lady Barbarina, express James's most notable subject, 'the international theme', the encounters, romantic and cultural, between Americans and Europeans. His heroes and heroines approach each other on unfamiliar ground with new freedoms, yet find themselves unexpectedly hampered by old constraints. In An International Episode, an English lord visiting Newport, Rhode Island, falls in love with an American girl, but their relationship becomes more complicated when she travels to London. In the light-hearted comedy
Introduction and Notes by Keith Wren, University of Kent at Canterbury A historical romance, The Three Musketeers tells the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman, D'Artagnan and his three friends from the regiment of the King's Musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of Cardinal Richelieu, and the honour of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of seventeenth century France are vividly played out in the background. But their most dangerous encounter is with the Cardinal's spy, Milady, one of literature's most memorable female villains, and Dumas employs all his fast-paced narrative skills to bring this enthralling novel to a breathtakingly gripping and dramatic conclusion
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,Gentleman took fiction into unknown realms,combining an entirely new concept in form with an idiosyncratic type of sentimental comedy.The poblication of the first two of nine volumes brought the novel's exuberant mixture of bawdry and virtuous feeling also provided considerable moral outrage,which the author relished. An amorphous mass of inconsequential incidents,musings,reminiscences and countless hilarious digressins into side issues of the vaguest tangential relevance,make up this engaging anti-novel which has no beginning middle or end,and is dominated by the author's vibrant personality which commands the reader's active participation.
Henry James's last completed novel，The Golden Bowl，is the story of two flawed marriages. The lives and relationships of Maggie Verver and her widowed American millionaire father，Adam，are changed and challenged by the beautiful and charming Charlotte Stant，who is the former lover of Maggie's husband，the impoverished Italian，Prince Amerigo. The narrative is underpinned by complex symbolism. The gilded crystal bowl with its almost invisible flaw is the vehicle which James uses to reveal past misdemeanours and make his characters face their own defects in this classic tale of redemption.
It is a Wednesday in mid-June 1923 andMrs Dalleway is to have a party. As Shespends the day in preparation, worryingabout the evening's success, she looks backover her life at the choices that have led herhere. Then an unexpected visitor calls ... PENGUIN POPULAR CLASSICS are the per-fect introduction to the world-famousPENGUIN CLASSICS series - which en-compasses the best books ever written,from Homer's Odyssey to Orwelrs 1984and everything in between. For a full listand ideas on what to read next, visitwww.penguinclassics.com
The classic story of kindness, love, honor and poverty is not as depressing as some of Hugo's other works. Its historical sweep, during the brewing of the French Revolution, is large, and its emotional sweep even larger. British actor Michael York throws his considerable histrionic skills into the task--each character is carefully articulated, both by tone and pacing. Having played classic French characters before--notably D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers and its sequel--York knows how to manipulate scene and feeling in this type of ambiance, and he performs effortlessly and superbly. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a powerful and sometimes violentnovel of expectation，love，oppression，sin，religion and betrayal.It portrays the disintegration of the marriage of HelenHuntingdon，the mysterious 'tenant' of the title，and herdissolute，alcoholic husband. Defying convention，Helen leavesher husband to protect their young son from his father'sinfluence，and earns her own living as an artist. Whilst in hidingat Wildfell Hall，she encounters Gilbert Markham. who falls inlove with her. On its first publication in 1848，Anne Bront 's second novel was criticised for being 'coarse' and 'brutal'. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall challenges the social conventions of the early nineteenth century in a strong defence of women's rights in the face of psychological abuse from their husbands. Anne Bront 's style is bold，naturalistic and passionate，and this novel，which her sister Charlotte considered 'an entire，has earned her a position in English Literature in her own right，not just as
Mining crimes of the past and politics, Truman ( Murder at thePentagon ) scants the basic plotting requirements of her 11thCapital Crimes case, which is marred by superfluous unsolvedmurders and an unconvincing conclusion. When the body of PaulineJuris, personal secretary of wealthy developer Wendell Tierney, isfound in the Potomac River, Tierney calls former attorney, now lawprofessor, Mackenzie Smith for advice. Mac, whose beloved wifeAnnabel wants him to stop dabbling in detection, agrees to seeWendell, but he refuses to ferret out the police line on the case,even though a former student of his heads the investigation team.Tierney, becoming chief suspect when love letters, purportedly fromhim, are found in the dead woman's apartment, again begs for Mac'shelp. Both Mac and Annabel are drawn into the case, which takes onanother twist when the suspect's adopted son, Sun Ben Cheong, isarrested for money laundering. Truman plumps up Mac's low-keysleuthing with the goings on of the fictitious Scarlet Sin
Dickens wrote of David Copperfield: 'Of all my books I like this the best'。 Millions of readers in almost every language on earth have subsequently come to share the author's own enthusiasm for this greatly loved classic，possibly because of its autobiographical form。 Following the life of David through many sufferings and great adversity，the reader will also find many light-hearted moments in the company of a host of English fiction’s greatest stars including Mr Micawber，Traddles，Uriah Heep，Creakle，Betsy Trotwood，and the Peggoty family。 Few readers,arriving at the end of David Copprfidld,will not wish to echo Thackeray’s famous praise,having read the first monthly part-‘Bravo Dickens’。
Edited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, research Professor of English, University of Sussex Julius Caesar is among the best of Shakespeare's historical and political plays. Dealing with events surrounding the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., the drama vividly illustrates the ways in which power and corruption are linked. The cry 'Peace, freedom and liberty!' is used to exculpate brutal realities, while personal ambitions taint public actions. Rich in characterisation and replete with eloquent rhetoric, Julius Caesar remains engrossing and topical: a play for today.
The life and times of Everyone's favorite thief Filled with action, villains, and surprises, the legend lives on.Days of old bursting with pageantry, knights, and beautiful maidensreturn in a superb edition of this favorite classic story.
Fathers and Sons is one of the greatest of nineteenth century Russian novels, and has long been acclaimed as turgenev's finest work. It is a political novel set in a domestic context, with a universal theme, the generational divide between fathers and sons. Set in 1859 at the moment when the Russian autocratic state began to move hesitantly towards social and political reform, the novel explores the conflict between the liberal-minded fathers of Russian reformist sympathies and their free-thinking intellectual sons whose revolutionary ideology threatened the stability of the state. At its centre is Evgeny Bazarov, a strong-willed antagonist of all forms of social orthodoxy who proclaims himself a nihilist and believes in the need tooverthrow all the institutions of the state. As the novel develops Bazarov's politial ambitions become fatally meshed with emotional and private concerns, and his end is a tragic failure. the novel caused a bitter furore on its publication in 1862, and this, a year later, drove Tur
Lorna Doone，a Romance of Exmoor is an historical novel of high adventure set in the South West of England during the turbulent time of Monmouth's rebellion（1685）.It is also a moving love story told through the life of the young farmer John Ridd，as he grows to manhood determined to right the wrongs in his land，and to win the heart and hand of the beautiful Lorna Doone. Continuously in print since its first publication in 1869，Lorna Doone has remained perennially popular with a wide readership ever since.
Born into poverty and obscurity, DavidCopperfield fights hard to find his place inlife. Only the intercession of a stern butkindly aunt sets him out on the road to goodfortune, but it is a route lined with roguesand friends in equal measure. PENGUIN POPULAR CLASSICS are the per-fect introduction to the world-famousPENGUIN CLASSICS series - which en-compasses the best books ever written,from Homer's Odyssey to OrweJi's 1984and everything in between. For a full listand ideas on what to read next, isitwww.penguinclassics.com
As You Like It is one of Shakespeare's finest romantic comedies, variously lyrical, melancholy, satiric, comic and absurd. Its highly implausible plot generates a profusion of love-lorn men, a resourceful heroine in disguise, sexual ambiguity, melancholy philosophising and finally a multiplicity of marriages. The ironic medley of pastoral artifice, romantic ardour and quizzical reflection has helped to make As You Like It perennially popular in the theatre. The text of this edition is taken,by arrangement,from the Cambridge University Press 'New Shakespeare',edited by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch and John Dover Wilson.
Living overseas but writing，always，about his native city， Joyce made Dublin unforgettable。The stories in Dubliners show us truants， seducers， gossips， rally-drivers， generous hostesses，corrupt politicians，failing priests， amateur theologians，struggling musicians，moony adolescents， victims of domestic brutishness，sentimental aunts and poets， patriots earnest or cynical， and people striving to get by。In every sense an international figure，Joyce was faithful to his own country by seeing it unflinchingly and challenging every precedent and piety in Irish literature。
The #1 bestseller that raises the price of greed... A new store has opened in the little townof Castle Rock. It has just what you want. But you won't discoverjust how high the price is until it's too late.
The young Robert Louis Stevenson suffered from repeated nightmares of living a double life,in which by day he worked as a respectable doctor and by night he roamed the back alleys of old-town Edinburgh.In three days of furious writing,he produced a story about his dream existence.His wife found it too gruesome,so he promptly burned the manu*.In another three days,he wrote it again."The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde" was published as a "shilling shocker" in 1886,and became an instant classic.In the first six months 40,000 copies were sold.Queen Victoria read it.Sermons and editorials were written about it.When Stevenson and his family visited America a year later,they were mobbed by reporters at the dock in New York City.Compulsively readable from its opening pages,Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde is still one of the best tales ever written about the divided self.
Set against the turbulent years of the Napoleonic era, Alexandre Dumas' thrilling adventure story is one of the most widely read novels of all time. In it the dashing young hero, Edmond Dantes, is betrayed by his enemies and thrown in a secret dungeon in the Chateau d'Lf -- doomed to spend his life in a dark prison cell. The story of his long, intolerable years in captivity, his miraculous escape, and his carefully wrought revenge creates a dramatic tale of mystery and intrigue, and paints a vision of France -- a dazzling, dueling, exuberant France -- that has become immortal. 作者简介 Alexandre Dumas was born in a small town in France in 1802.His father was a general and a companion of Napoleon.Later Dumas used Napoleon and his friends as characters in his novels.Dumas grew up to be a huge man like his father.He loved to eat,spend money,be with friend——and write. The most famous of all Dumas' books are The Three Musketeers,The Man in the Iron Mask,and The Count of Monte Cristo.The
Adapted from Sir Richard F. Burton's lavish unexpurgated translation, this volume illuminates the sensual mystery and lushness of the original Arabic tales. It includes a wide variety of tales--from magic fairy tales to torrid erotic tales--that reveal a great deal about what life was like in the Middle East during the Medieval period. The companion volume to the popular Signet Classic edition of Arabian Nights (8/91), also edited by Jack Zipes Jack Zipes is the author of several books of fairy tales and is the editor of the Signet Classic edition of The Complete Fairy Tales Of Oscar Wilde (5/96) These volumes offer the uncensored, erotic versions of the tales, not the rewritten fairy tales for children 作者简介： A. S. Byatt is the author of The Biographer's Tale, Elementals, and the Booker Prize winning novel Possession, among other books. She lives in London. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Since its first publication in 1908,generations of adults and children have cherished kenneth Grahame's classic,The Wind in the Wilows,For in this entrancing,Lyrical world of gurgling rivers and whispering reeds live four of the wisest,Wittiest,noblest,and most lovable creatures in literature-Rat,Mole,Badger,and Toad of Toad Hall,Like true adventurers,they glory in life's simplest pleasures and natural wonders,But it is Toad,cocky and irrepressible in his goggles and overcoat,whose passion for motorcars represents the free and fearless spirit in all of us;as it is toad's downfall that inspires the others to test Grahame's most precious theme—the miracle of loyalty and firendship.
With little more than courage and ingenuity, five Union prisoners escaped the siege of Richmond-by hot-air balloon. They have no idea if they'll ever see civilization again-especially when they're swept off by a raging storm to the shores of an uncharted island.
