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,”
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
Eminent Shakespearean scholars Jonathan Bate and EricRasmussen provide a fresh new edition of Richard II,chronologically the first of the eight plays in Shakespeare’sHistory Cycle, which marks the beginning of a great schism withinthe nobility of England that will leave the nation riven by bloodyconflict for the next hundred years. This volume also includes morethan a hundred pages of exclusive features, including: ? an original Introduction to Richard II ? incisive scene-by-scene synopsis and analysis with vital factsabout the work ? commentary on past and current productions based on interviewswith leading directors, actors, and designers ? photographs of key RSC productions ? an overview of Shakespeare’s theatrical career and chronologyof his plays 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
In Aristophanes’ most popular play, sex is a powerful agent ofreconciliation. As war ravages ancient Greece, a band of women, ledby Lysistrata, promise to deny their husbands all sex until theystop fighting. And the battle of the sexes begins
No dramatist has ever seen with more frightening clarity intothe heart and mind of a murderer than has Shakespeare in thiscompelling tragedy of evil. Taunted into asserting his“masculinity” by his ambitious wife, Macbeth chooses to embrace theWeird Sisters’ prophecy and kill his king–and thus, seals his owndoom. Fast-moving and bloody, this drama has the extraordinaryenergy that derives from a brilliant plot replete with treacheryand murder, and from Shakespeare’s compelling portrait of theultimate battle between a mind and its own guilt.
When Sir Francis Drake returned to England in 1580, manyquestions concerning his momentous voyage were left unanswered—hisjournals were impounded and his men were forbidden, on pain ofdeath, to divulge where they had been. Drawing on newly uncoveredevidence, geographer and maritime historian Samuel Bawlfmasterfully reconstructs Francis Drake’s historic round-the-worldexpedition, exploring the drama surrounding the voyage and offeringintriguing insights into life at sea in the sixteenth century. Butit is Bawlf’s assertion of Drake’s whereabouts in the summer of1579 that gives the book even greater originality: from anintensive study of maps of the period, Bawlf shows with certaintythat Drake sailed all the way to Alaska—much farther than anyonehas heretofore imagined—thereby rewriting the history ofexploration in North America.
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 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.
After King Shahryar had his wife killed for cheating, he beganto corrupt-then kill-one virgin a night, as revenge on womankind.Then he meets Scheherazade, who, night after night, saves her ownlife by telling him fantastical tales of genies, wishes, terror,and passion.
Book De*ion In this striking tragedy of political conflict, Shakespeare turnsto the ancient Roman world and to the famous assassination ofJulius Caesar by his republican opponents. The play is one oftumultuous rivalry, of prophetic warnings–“Beware the ides ofMarch”–and of moving public oratory, “Friends, Romans, countrymen!”Ironies abound and most of all for Brutus, whose fate it is tolearn that his idealistic motives for joining the conspiracyagainst a would-be dictator are not enough to sustain the movementonce Caesar is dead. Each Edition Includes: * Comprehensive explanatory notes * Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship * Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporaryreaders to understand the Elizabethan English * Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performancehistories * An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along withan extensive filmography Synopsis: In this striking tragedy of political conflict, Shakespeare turnsto the
A collection of the short stories of the Nobel Prize-winningauthor of Palace Walk represents thirty years of work andfeatures tales of the citizens of Cairo, who struggle to surviveamid the city's poverty. Reprint. PW. K.
The Everyman's Library Pocket Poets hardcover series ispopular for its compact size and reasonable price which does notcompromise content. Poems: Shakespeare contains selections fromShakespeare's work, including his sonnets, his narrative poems"Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece," songs and speeches,and an index of first lines.
Eleanor Cahn, a professor of literature, wife of a preeminentsurgeon, and devoted mother of two, is in Paris to present a paperon Anna Karenina. A chance encounter brings to the surface passionsshe has suppressed for years. As The Life Room unfolds, we learnthe secrets of her erotic past: ethereal William, her high schoolboyfriend; her role as muse to troubled painter Adam; her marriageto loyal, steady Michael. On her return to New York, Eleanor'scharged attraction to another man takes on a life of its own,threatening to destroy everything she has. Jill Bialosky hascreated a fresh, piercingly real heroine who must choose betweenresponsibility and desire.
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.
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
Eminent Shakespearean scholars Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussenprovide a fresh new edition of this scathing account of manners andmatrimony—along with more than a hundred pages of exclusivefeatures, including: ? an original Introduction to The Taming of theShrew ? incisive scene-by-scene synopsis and analysiswith vital facts about the work ? commentary on past and current productionsbased on interviews with leading directors, actors, anddesigners ? photographs of key RSC productions ? an overview of Shakespeare’s theatrical careerand chronology of his plays Ideal for students, theater professionals, andgeneral readers, these modern and accessible editions from theRoyal Shakespeare Company set a new standard in Shakespeareanliterature for the twenty-first century.
A philosopher and his disciple journey to find "the best of all possible worlds" in this classic work of eighteenth-century satire. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: A concise introduction that gives readers 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 and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations Detailed explanatory notes Critical analysis, including 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 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, understand, and enjoy the wo
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.
