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books tagged “classic fiction”
books tagged “classic fiction”
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The Absenteeby Maria Edgeworth, Kim WalkerISBN 0140436456 (0-14-043645-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Absentee'Book summary:Lord and Lady Clonbrony are more concerned with fashionable London society than with their responsibilities to those who live and work on their Irish estates. Concerned by this negligence, their son, Lord Colambre, goes incognito to Ireland to observe the situation and to discover the truth about the origins of his beloved cousin Grace. Can he find a solution that will bring prosperity and contentment to every level of society, including his own family? Rich in atmosphere and local character, "The Absentee" (1812) helped establish the regional' novel form, which influenced such varied writers as Scott, Thackeray and Turgenev. In this sparkling satire on Anglo-Irish relations, Maria Edgeworth created a landmark work of morality and social realism. [via]
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Against Natureby Joris Karl Huysmans, Robert Baldick, Patrick McGuinessISBN 0140447636 (0-14-044763-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Against Nature'Book summary:As Joris-Karl Huysmans predicted in 1884, Against Nature (A rebours) was fated to be a novel like no other. Resisting the models of classic nineteenth-century fiction, it focuses on the attempts of its anti-hero, the hypersensitive neurotic and aesthete Des Esseintes, to escape Paris and the vulgarity of modern life. Holed up in his private museum of high taste, he indulges his pleasure in fine art and literature. A compendium of fin-de-siecle cultural decadence, Against Nature anticipates strains of modernism in its appreciation of Baudelaire, Moreau, Redon, Mallarme, and Poe. This new translation is supplemented by substantial annotation to enhance the understanding of a highly allusive work. [via]
The American Senatorby Anthony TrollopeISBN 0140438386 (0-14-043838-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Antiquaryby Walter Scott, David HewittISBN 0140436529 (0-14-043652-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Antiquary'Book summary:Set in Scotland at the end of the 18th century, this novel centres around a young man call Lovel who meets Johnathon Oldbuck, the loquacious old antiquary, on a trip to Scotland. When he is introduced to Sir Arthur Wardour and his daughter, Isabella, his life is irrevocably changed. [via]
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The Aspern Papers and the Turn of the Screwby Henry James, Anthony CurtisISBN 0141439904 (0-14-143990-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Aspern Papers and the Turn of the Screw'Book summary:In these two chilling stories, Henry James shows himself to be a master of haunting atmosphere and unbearable tension. The Turn of the Screw tells of a young governess sent to a country home to take charge of two orphans, Miles and Flora. Unsettled by a sense of intense evil within the house, she soon becomes obsessed with the belief that malevolent forces are stalking the children in her care. Obsession of a more worldly variety lies at the heart of The Aspern Papers, the tale of a literary historian determined to get his hands on some letters written by a great poet-and prepared to use trickery and deception to achieve his aims.[via]More editions of The Aspern Papers and the Turn of the Screw:
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Au Bonheur Des Damesby Emile Zola, Robin BussISBN 0140447830 (0-14-044783-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Au Bonheur Des Dames'Book summary:Through charm, drive, and diligent effort Octave Mouret has become the director of one of the finest new department stores in Paris, Au Bonheur des Dames. Supremely aware of the power of his position, Mouret seeks to exploit the desire that his luxuriantly displayed merchandise arouses in the ladies who shop, and the aspirations of the young female assistants he employs. Charting the beginnings of the capitalist economy and bourgeois society, Zola captures in lavish detail the greedy customers and gossiping staff, and the obsession with image, fashion, and gratification that was a phenomenon of nineteenth-century French consumer society. Of all Zola's novels, this may be the one with the most relevance for our own time.[via]More editions of Au Bonheur Des Dames:
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Billy Buddby Herman Melville, Harold BeaverISBN 0140430296 (0-14-043029-6)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Billy Budd'Book summary:Melville's short stories are masterpieces. The best are to be appreciated on more than one level and those presented here are rich with symbolism and spiritual depth. Set in 1797, Billy Budd, Foretopman exploits the tension of this period during the war between England and France to create a tale of satanic treachery, tragedy and great pathos that explores human relationships and the inherently ambiguous nature of man-made justice. Tales such as Bartleby, Benito Cereno, The Lightning Rod Man, The Tartarus of Maids or I and My Chimney, show the timeless poetic power of Melville's writing as he consciously uses the disguise of allegory in various ways and to various ends. [via]
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Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Storiesby Herman MelvilleISBN 0140390537 (0-14-039053-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories'Book summary:Stung by the difficult reception of Moby Dick, Herman Melville became obsessed with the difficulties of communicating his vision to readers. His sense of isolation lies at the heart of these later works. "Billy Budd, Sailor" is a classic confrontation between good and evil, and the story of an innocent young man unable to defend himself against a wrongful accusation. The other stories also illuminate the way fictions are created and shared by society. [via]
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The Black Sheepby Honore De Balzac, Donald AdamsonISBN 0140442375 (0-14-044237-5)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Black Sheep'Book summary:Philippe and Joseph Bridau are two extremely different brothers. The elder, Philippe, is a superficially heroic soldier and adored by their mother Agathe. He is nonetheless a bitter figure, secretly gambling away her savings after a brief but glorious career in Napoleon's army. His younger brother Joseph, meanwhile, is fundamentally virtuous - but their mother is blinded to his kindness by her disapproval of his life as an artist. Foolish and prejudiced, Agathe lives on unaware that she is being cynically manipulated by her own favourite child, but will she ever discover which of her sons is truly the black sheep of the family? A dazzling depiction of the power of money and the cruelty of life in nineteenth-century France, The Black Sheep compellingly explores is a compelling exploration of the nature of deceit. [via]
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The Book of Lamentationsby Rosario CastellanosISBN 0141180331 (0-14-118033-1)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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Bride of Lammermoorby Walter Scott, Kathryn Sutherland, J. H. AlexanderISBN 0140436561 (0-14-043656-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bride of Lammermoor'Book summary:Less sprawling than most of Scott's novels, "lean and tragic" (E. M. Forster), but still boasting his characteristic humor and wisdom, The Bride of Lammermoor (1819) brings to vivid life a historical incident from his own family lore and from Scotland's turbulent past.[via]More editions of Bride of Lammermoor:
The Call of the Wildby Jack LondonISBN 014130538X (0-14-130538-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Cannery Rowby John SteinbeckISBN 014200068X (0-14-200068-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cannery Row'Book summary:Unburdened by the material necessities of the more fortunate, the denizens of Cannery Row discover rewards unknown in more traditional society. Henry the painter sorts through junk lots for pieces of wood to incorporate into the boat he is building, while the girls from Dora Floods bordello venture out now and then to enjoy a bit of sunshine. Lee Chong stocks his grocery with almost anything a man could want, and Doc, a young marine biologist who ministers to sick puppies and unhappy souls, unexpectedly finds true love. Cannery Row is just a few blocks long, but the story it harbors is suffused with warmth, understanding, and a great fund of human values.[via]First published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it isboth the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. John Steinbeck draws on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, and interweaves their stories in this world where only the fittest survivecreating what is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works. In Cannery Row, John Steinbeck returns to the setting of Tortilla Flat to create another evocative portrait of life as it is lived by those who unabashedly put the highest value on the intangibleshuman warmth, camaraderie, and love.
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Captains Courageousby Rudyard Kipling, John D. SeelyeISBN 0142437719 (0-14-243771-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Captains Courageous'Book summary:First published in 1897, Captains Courageous tells of the high-seas adventures of Harvey Cheyne, the son of an American millionaire, who, after falling from a luxury ocean liner, is rescued by the raucous crew of the fishing ship Were Here. Obstinate and spoiled at first, Harvey in due course learns diligence and responsibility and earns the camaraderie of the seamen, who treat him as one of their own. A true test of character, Harveys months aboard the Were Here provide a delightful glimpse of life at sea and well-told morals of discipline, empathy, and self-reliance.[via]More editions of Captains Courageous:
Castle Rackrent and Ennuiby Maria Edgeworth, Marilyn ButlerISBN 0140433201 (0-14-043320-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Castle Richmondby Anthony TrollopeISBN 0140438084 (0-14-043808-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Castle Richmond'Book summary:"The Penguin Trollope" series contains all of Trollope's novels and collected short stories, as well as his "Autobiography". This is a drama of blackmail, disinheritance and romance set in Ireland. [via]
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Clarissaby Angus Ross, Samuel RichardsonISBN 0140432159 (0-14-043215-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Clarissa'Book summary:[via]Oh thou savage-hearted monster! What work hast thou made in one guilty hour, for a whole age of repentance!
Pressured by her unscrupulous family to marry a wealthy man she detests, the young Clarissa Harlowe is tricked into fleeing with the witty and debonair Robert Lovelace and places herself under his protection. Lovelace, however, proves himself to be an untrustworthy rake whose vague promises of marriage are accompanied by unwelcome and increasingly brutal sexual advances. And yet, Clarissa finds his charm alluring, her scrupulous sense of virtue tinged with unconfessed desire. Told through a complex series of interweaving letters, Clarissa is a richly ambiguous study of a fatally attracted couple and a work of astonishing power and immediacy. A huge success when it first appeared in 1747, and translated into French and German, it remains one of the greatest of all European novels.
In his introduction, Angus Ross examines characterization, the epistolary style, the role of the family and the position of women in Clarissa. This edition also includes a chronology, suggestions for further reading, tables of letters, notes, a glossary and an appendix on the music for the Ode to Wisdom.
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Confidence Manby Herman MelvilleISBN 0140445471 (0-14-044547-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Confidence Man'Book summary:Onboard the Fidele, a steamboat floating down the Mississippi to New Orleans, a confidence man sets out to defraud his fellow passengers. In quick succession he assumes numerous guises - from a legless beggar and a worldly businessman to a collector for charitable causes and a cosmopolitan' gentleman, who simply swindles a barber out of the price of a shave. Making very little from his hoaxes, the pleasure of trickery seems an end in itself for this slippery conman. Is he the Devil? Is his chicanery merely intended to expose the mercenary concerns of those around him? Set on April Fool's Day, The Confidence-Man (1857) is an engaging comedy of masquerades, digressions and shifting identity, and a devastating satire on the American dream. [via]
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Cyrano De Bergeracby Edmond Rostand, Carol ClarkISBN 014044968X (0-14-044968-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cyrano De Bergerac'Book summary:The legendary romance about a quick-witted swashbuckler whose nose is as big as his heart[via]
Set during the reign of Louis XIII, Cyrano de Bergerac is a play about one of the most estimable characters in literature. Desperately in love with the beautiful Roxane but convinced she will never look past his titanic proboscis, Cyrano helps the tongue-tied Christian pen exquisite verse with which to woo her. Presented in an elegant new translation, this comic adventure continues to be popular for its dramatic power and, above all, its magnetic hero.
* Includes an introduction, chronology, explanatory notes, and historical note
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Daisy Millerby Henry James, Geoffrey MooreISBN 0140432620 (0-14-043262-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Daisy Miller'Book summary:"Daisy Miller" is a fascinating portrait of a young woman from Schenectady, New York, who, traveling in Europe, runs afoul of the socially pretentious American expatriate community in Rome. First published in 1878, the novella brought American novelist Henry James(1843-1916), then living in London, his first international success. Like many of James's early works, it portrays a venturesome American girl in the treacherous waters of European society - a theme that would culminate in his 1881 masterpiece, "The Portrait of a Lady."
On the surface, "Daisy Miller" unfolds a simple story of a young American girl's willful yet innocent flirtation with a young Italian, and its unfortunate consequences. But throughout the narrative, James contrasts American customs and values with European manners and morals in a tale rich in psychological and social insight. A vivid portrayal of Americans abroad and a telling encounter between the values of the Old and New Worlds, "Daisy Miller" is an ideal introduction to the work of one of America's greatest writers of fiction. [via]
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Desperate Remediesby Thomas Hardy, Mary RimmerISBN 0140435239 (0-14-043523-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Drinking Denby Emile Zola, Robin BussISBN 014044954X (0-14-044954-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Drinking Den'Book summary:Previously published as L'assommoir ("The Dram Shop"), Emile Zola's "The Drinking Den" is an unflinching study of a desperate young woman struggling against the ravages of vice. This "Penguin Classics" edition is translated from the French with an introduction by Robin Buss. Abandoned by her lover and left to bring up their two children alone, Gervaise Macquart has to fight to earn an honest living. When she accepts the marriage proposal of Monsieur Coupeau, it seems as though she is on the path to a decent, respectable life at last. But with her husband's drinking and the unexpected appearance of a figure from her past, Gervaise's plans begin to unravel tragically. "The Drinking Den" caused a sensation when it was first published, with its gritty depiction of the poverty and squalor, slums and drinking houses of the Parisian underclass. The seventh novel in Zola's great Rougon-Macquart cycle, it was the work that made his reputation. And, in his moving portrayal of Gervaise's struggle for happiness, Zola created one of the most sympathetic heroines in nineteenth-century literature. Robin Buss' translation renders Zola's street argot into clear, contemporary English. This edition also includes an introduction discussing Zola's Naturalistic method, with maps of Paris, Zola's preface responding to his critics, notes, a chronology and further reading. Emile Zola (1840-1902) was the leading figure in the French school of naturalistic fiction. His principal work, Les Rougon-Macquart, is a panorama of mid-19th century French life, in a cycle of 20 novels which Zola wrote over a period of 22 years, including "Au Bonheur des Dames" (1883), "The Beast Within" (1890), "Nana" (1880), and "The Drinking Den" (1877). If you enjoyed "The Drinking Den", you might like Zola's "The Beast Within", also available in "Penguin Classics". [via]
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The Duke's Childrenby Anthony Trollope, Dinah BirchISBN 0140433449 (0-14-043344-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Duke's Children'Book summary:Plantagenet Palliser, the Duke of Omnium and former Prime Minister of England, is widowed and wracked by grief. Struggling to adapt to life without his beloved Lady Glencora, he works hard to guide and support his three adult children. Palliser soon discovers, however, that his own plans for them are very different from their desires. Sent down from university in disgrace, his two sons quickly begin to run up gambling debts. His only daughter, meanwhile, longs passionately to marry the poor son of a county squire against her father's will. But while the Duke's dearest wishes for the three are thwarted one by one, he ultimately comes to understand that parents can learn from their own children. The final volume in the Palliser novels, "The Duke's Children" (1880) is a compelling exploration of wealth, pride and ultimately the strength of love. [via]
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End of the Affairby Graham Greene, Michael GoraISBN 0142437980 (0-14-243798-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'End of the Affair'Book summary:Set in London during and just after World War II, Graham Greene's The End of the Affair is a pathos-laden examination of a three-way collision between love of self, love of another, and love of God. The affair in question involves Maurice Bendrix, a solipsistic novelist, and a dutifully married woman, Sarah Miles. The lovers meet at a party thrown by Sarah's dreary civil-servant husband, and proceed to liberate each other from boredom and routine unhappiness. Reflecting on the ebullient beginnings of their romance, Bendrix recalls: "There was never any question in those days of who wanted whom--we were together in desire." Indeed, the affair goes on unchecked for several years until, during an afternoon tryst, Bendrix goes downstairs to look for intruders in his basement and a bomb falls on the building. Sarah rushes down to find him lying under a fallen door, and immediately makes a deal with God, whom she has never particularly cared for. "I love him and I'll do anything if you'll make him alive.... I'll give him up forever, only let him be alive with a chance.... People can love each other without seeing each other, can't they, they love You all their lives without seeing You."
Bendrix, as evidenced by his ability to tell the story, is not dead, merely unconscious, and so Sarah must keep her promise. She breaks off the relationship without giving a reason, leaving Bendrix mystified and angry. The only explanation he can think of is that she's left him for another man. It isn't until years later, when he hires a private detective to ascertain the truth, that he learns of her impassioned vow. Sarah herself comes to understand her move through a strange rationalization. Writing to God in her journal, she says:
You willed our separation, but he [Bendrix] willed it too. He worked for it with his anger and his jealousy, and he worked for it with his love. For he gave me so much love, and I gave him so much love that soon there wasn't anything left, when we'd finished, but You.
It's as though the pull toward faith were inevitable, if incomprehensible--perhaps as punishment for her sin of adultery. In her final years, Sarah's faith only deepens, even as she remains haunted by the bombing and the power of her own attraction to God. Set against the backdrop of a war-ravaged city, The End of the Affair is equally haunting as it lays forth the question of what constitutes love in troubling, unequivocal terms. --Melanie Rehak [via]More editions of End of the Affair:
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Epic of Gilgameshby Andrew GeorgeISBN 0140449191 (0-14-044919-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Epic of Gilgamesh'Book summary:Originally the work of an anonymous Babylonian poet who lived more than 3,700 years ago, The Epic of Gilgamesh tells of the heroic exploits of the ruler of the walled city of Uruk. Not content with the immortality conveyed by the renown of his great deeds, Gilgamesh journeys to the ends of the earth and beyond in his search for eternal life, encountering the wise man Utanapishti, who relates the story of a great flood that swept the earth. This episode and several others in the epic anticipate stories in the Bible and in Homer, to the great interest of biblical and classical scholars. Told with intense feeling and imagination, this masterful tale of love and friendship, duty and death, is more than an object of scholarly concern; it is a vital rendering of universal themes that resonate across the ages and is considered the world's first truly great work of literature. [via]
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The Epic of Gilgameshby N.K. SandarsISBN 014044100X (0-14-044100-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Epic of Gilgamesh'Book summary:'I am Gilgamesh who seized and killed the Bull of Heaven, I killed the watchman of the cedar forest, I overthrew Humbaba who lived in the forest' Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, and his companion Enkidu are the only heroes to have survived from the ancient literature of Babylon, immortalized in this epic poem that dates back to the third millennium BC. Together they journey to the Spring of Youth, defeat the Bull of Heaven and slay the monster Humbaba. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh's grief and fear of death are such that they lead him to undertake a quest for eternal life. A timeless tale of morality, tragedy and pure adventure, The Epic of Gilgamesh is a landmark literary exploration of man's search for immortality. N. K. Sandars's lucid, accessible translation is prefaced by a detailed introduction that examines the narrative and historical context of the work. In addition, there is a glossary of names and a map of the Ancient Orient. @UrukRockCity All the ladies want to get it on now that I've slain the demon. But I must decline. I'm a clean man these days. I just can't win with women. Before, nailing all the ladies was bad. Now I refuse to seduce, and the Gods send a giant bull to kill me? From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less [via]
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The Epic of Gilgameshby Not AvailableISBN 0141026286 (0-14-102628-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Epic of Gilgamesh'Book summary:A great king, strong as the stars in Heaven. Enkidu, a wild and mighty hero, is created by the gods to challenge the arrogant King Gilgamesh. But instead of killing each other, the two become friends. Travelling together to the Cedar Forest, they fight and slay the evil monster Humbaba. But when Enkidu is killed, his death haunts and breaks the mighty Gilgamesh. Terrified of mortality, he resolves to find the secret of eternal life...[via]
@UrukRockCity All the ladies want to get it on now that Ive slain the demon. But I must decline. Im a clean man these days.
I just cant win with women. Before, nailing all the ladies was bad. Now I refuse to seduce, and the Gods send a giant bull to kill me?
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Eugene Oneginby Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin, Charles Hepburn JohnstonISBN 0140448039 (0-14-044803-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Eugene Onegin'Book summary:This is the widely acclaimed translation of Russian literature's most seminal work. Pushkin's "novel in verse" has influenced Russian prose as well as poetry for more than a century. By turns brilliant, entertaining, romantic and serious, it traces the development of a young Petersburg dandy as he deals with life and love. Influeneced by Byron, Pushkin reveals the nature of his heroes through the emotional colorations found in their witty remarks, nature descriptions, and unexpected actions, all conveyed in stanzas of sonnet length (a form which became known as the Onegin Stanza), faithfully reproduced by Walter Arndt inthis Bollingen Prize translation. [via]
An Eye for an Eyeby Anthony TrollopeISBN 0140438408 (0-14-043840-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasureby John ClelandISBN 0140432493 (0-14-043249-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'Book summary:Memoirs of a woman of pleasure, commonly known as fanny hill, has been shrouded in mystery and controversy since john cleland completed it in 1749. The bishop of london called the work 'an open insult upon religion and good manners' and james boswell referred to it as 'a most licentious and inflaming book'. The story of a prostitute's rise to respectability, it has been recognized more recently as a unique combination of parody, sensual entertainment and a philosophical concept of sexuality borrowed from french libertine novels. Modern readers will appreciate it not only as an important contribution to revolutionary thought in the age of enlightenment, but also as a thoroughly entertaining and important work of erotic fiction, deserving of a place in the history of the english novel beside richardson, fielding and smollett [via]
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Faustby Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Philip WayneISBN 0140440127 (0-14-044012-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Faust'Book summary:A brief analysis of the development, style, and protagonists of "Faust" is included with Goethe's classic tale about a troubled man who sells his soul to the devil. [via]
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Felix Holt, the Radicalby George Eliot, Lynda MugglestoneISBN 0140434356 (0-14-043435-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Felix Holt, the Radical'Book summary:When the young nobleman Harold Transome returns to England from the colonies with a self-made fortune, he scandalizes the town of Treby Magna with his decision to stand for Parliament as a Radical. But, after the idealistic Felix Holt also returns to the town, the difference between Harold's opportunistic values and Holt's profound beliefs becomes apparent. Forthright, brusque and driven by a firm desire to educate the working-class, Felix is at first viewed with suspicion by many, including the elegant but vain Esther Lyon, the daughter of the local clergyman. As she discovers, however, his blunt words conceal both passion and deep integrity. Soon the romantic and over-refined Esther finds herself overwhelmed by a heart-wrenching decision: whether to choose the wealthy Transome as a husband, or the impoverished but honest Felix Holt. [via]
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He Knew He Was Rightby Anthony Trollope, John Sutherland, Frank KermodeISBN 0140433910 (0-14-043391-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'He Knew He Was Right'Book summary:Louis Trevelyan, rich, handsome and intelligent, marries Emily, the beautiful and spirited daughter of the Governor of the Mandarin Islands. Perfectly matched, the Trevelyans seem to be the epitome of comfortable upper middle-class Victorian values, until the mischievous Colonel Osborne appears. [via]
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The Heart of Mid-Lothianby Walter Scott, Tony InglisISBN 0140431292 (0-14-043129-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The History of Mr Pollyby H. G. Wells, Simon J. James, John SutherlandISBN 0141441070 (0-14-144107-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The History of Mr Polly'Book summary:Fans of H.G. Wells's famous, genre-spawning science fiction novels may be startled to read his less-remembered but once bestselling The History of Mr. Polly. Its comically romping narrative voice is worlds away from the stern, melancholy tone of The Time Machine. Wells won fame for his apocalyptic, preachy books about the history of the future, but this history is strictly, as Mr. Polly would put it in his creatively cracked version of English, a series of "little accidentulous misadventures."
Mr. Alfred Polly is a dyspeptic, miserably married shopkeeper in what he terms that "Beastly Silly Wheeze of a hole!"--Fishbourne, England. He is inclined to spark arguments and slapstick calamity wherever he goes. Education was lost on him: when he left school at 14, "his mind was in much the same state that you would be in, dear reader, if you were operated upon for appendicitis by a well-meaning, boldly enterprising, but rather overworked and underpaid butcher boy, who was superseded towards the climax of the operation by a left-handed clerk of high principles but intemperate habits& the operators had left, so to speak, all their sponges and ligatures in the mangled confusion." Still, Polly's mind burns with eccentric genius, and his thwarted romantic heart beats him senseless. His despair results in the most amusing suicide attempt this side of Lisa Alther's novel Kinflicks. We won't spoil the surprise by saying precisely how his scheme misfires--and beware: the introduction gives it away. Note that you can't expect Polly to do anything right, and of course he'll become an inadvertent hero to the whole town. Then he promptly vanishes for further misadventure.
Many critics compare Mr. Polly's broad social satire to Dickens, but it smacks of Mark Twain and the dialect humor of Finley Peter Dunne's Mr. Dooley too. "I think it is one of my good books," Wells opined. What makes it so is Polly's heroic incompetence, his subversion of Edwardian propriety, and his bewildered unawareness that he is a revolutionary. --Tim Appelo [via]
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The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissiniaby Samuel Johnson, D.J. EnrightISBN 014043108X (0-14-043108-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia'Book summary:Rasselas compresses everything that puts Dr Johnson among the great lions of English literature and life into this text [via]
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Home of the Gentryby Ivan Sergeevich TurgenevISBN 0140442243 (0-14-044224-3)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Home of the Gentry'Book summary:On one level the novel is about the homecoming of Lavretsky, who, broken and disillusioned by a failed marriage, returns to his estate and finds love again - only to lose it. The sense of loss and of unfulfilled promise, beautifully captured by Turgenev, reflects his underlying theme that humanity is not destined to experience happiness except as something ephemeral and inevitably doomed. On another level Turgenev is presenting the homecoming of a whole generation of young Russians who have fallen under the spell of European ideas that have uprooted them from Russia, their 'home', but have proved ultimately superfluous. In tragic bewilderment, they attempt to find reconciliation with their land. [via]
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Hungerby Sverre Lyngstad, Knut HamsunISBN 0141180641 (0-14-118064-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Hunger'Book summary:[via]
First published in Norway in 1890, probes into the depths of consciousness with frightening and gripping power. Like the works of Dostoyevsky, it marks an extraordinary break with Western literary and humanistic traditions.More editions of Hunger:
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flowerby Marcel Proust, James GrieveISBN 0143039075 (0-14-303907-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Italianby Robert Miles, Ann RadcliffeISBN 0140437541 (0-14-043754-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Jack London's Call of the Wildby Jack London, Alex Nino, Neil KleidISBN 014240571X (0-14-240571-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Jack London's Call of the Wild'Book summary:[via]Part St. Bernard, part Scotch shepherd, Buck is a sturdy crossbreed canine accustomed to a comfortable life as a family dog -- until he's seized from his pampered surroundings and shipped to Alaska to be a sled dog. There, the forbidding landscape is as harsh as life itself during the gold rush of the 1890s. Forced to function in a climate where every day is a savage struggle for survival, Buck adapts quickly. Traces of his earlier existence are obliterated and he reverts to his dormant primeval instincts, encountering danger and adventure as he becomes the leader of a wolf pack and undertakes a journey of nearly mythical proportions. Superb details, taken from Jack London's firsthand knowledge of Alaskan frontier life, make this classic tale of endurance as gripping today as it was over a century ago. One of literature's most popular and exciting adventure stories, The Call of the Wild will enrich the reading experience of youngsters, and rekindle fond memories of a favorite among older generations.
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Journal of the Plague Yearby Daniel Defoe, Cynthia WallISBN 0140437851 (0-14-043785-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Journal of the Plague Year'Book summary:The shocking immediacy of Daniel Defoe's description of a plague-racked city makes it one of the most convincing accounts of the Great Plague of 1665 ever written. [via]
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L'Assommoirby Emile ZolaISBN 0140442316 (0-14-044231-6)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'L'Assommoir'Book summary:This title is part of the "Les Rougon-Macquart" series which tells about two branches of a French family traced through several generations. The behaviour of the two families is shown to be conditioned by environment and inherited characteristics, chiefly drunkenness and mental instability. [via]
LA BOEte Humaineby Emile ZolaISBN 0140443274 (0-14-044327-4)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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Lady Audley's Secretby Mary E. Braddon, Jenny Bourne TaylorISBN 0140435840 (0-14-043584-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lady Audley's Secret'Book summary:Lady Audleys Secret epitomized the scandalous and irresistible "sensation" fiction of the period and established Braddon as the doyenne of the genre. Lady Audley, a beautiful woman with a mysterious past, serves as a commentary on the rise of the middle class and the consumer culture, and her fate reflects the publics fascination with psychological theories about the nature of identity and the definition of madness.[via]More editions of Lady Audley's Secret:
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Lady Susan ; The Watsons ; Sanditonby Margaret Drabble, Jane AustenISBN 0140431020 (0-14-043102-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lady Susan ; The Watsons ; Sanditon'Book summary:Collecting three lesser-known works by one of the nineteenth century's greatest authors, Jane Austen's "Lady Susan", "The Watsons" and "Sanditon" is edited with an introduction by Margaret Drabble in "Penguin Classics". These three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel "Lady Susan" depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying with the affections of several men. In contrast, "The Watsons" is a delightful fragment, whose spirited heroine Emma Watson finds her marriage opportunities limited by poverty and pride. Written in the last months of Austen's life, the uncompleted novel "Sanditon", set in a newly established seaside resort, offers a glorious cast of hypochondriacs and speculators, and shows an author contemplating a the great social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution with a mixture of scepticism and amusement. Margaret Drabble's introduction examines these three works in the context of Jane Austen's major novels and her life, and discusses the social background of her fiction. This edition features a new chronology. Jane Austen (1775-1817) was extremely modest about her own genius but has become one of English literature's most famous women writers. Austen began writing at a young age, embarking on what is possibly her best-known work, "Pride and Prejudice", at the age of 22. She was also the author of "Sense and Sensibility", "Persuasion", "Northanger Abbey" and "Mansfield Park". If you enjoyed "Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon", you may like Charlotte Bronte's "Tales of Angria", also available in "Penguin Classics". "In ["Sanditon"] she exploits her greatest gifts, her management of dialogue and her skill with monologue. The book feels open and modern ...as vigorous and inventive as her earlier work". (Carol Shields). [via]
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The Law and the Ladyby Wilkie Collins, David SkiltonISBN 0140436073 (0-14-043607-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Law and the Lady'Book summary:Despite the grave misgivings of both their families, Valeria Brinton and Eustace Woodville are married. But before long the new bride begins to suspect a dark secret in her husband's past and when she discovers that he has been living under a false name, she determines to find out why he is concealing his true identity from her. Soon she must endure an even greater shock: the revelation that her husband has been on trial for poisoning his first wife. Convinced of his innocence, Valeria is prepared to do anything to clear her husband's name, and in so doing upturns the conventions of polite nineteenth century society. [via]
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Le Morte D'Arthurby Janet Cowen, Thomas MaloryISBN 014043044X (0-14-043044-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Le Morte D'Arthur'Book summary:An immortal story of love, adventure, chivalry, treachery and death. Edited and first published by William Caxton in 1485, Le Morte D'Arthur is Sir Thomas Malory's unique and splendid version of the Arthurian legend. Mordred's treason, the knightly exploits of Tristan, Lancelot's fatally divided loyalties and his love for Guenever, the quest for the Holy Grail; all the elements are there woven into a wonderful completeness by the magic of his prose style. The result is not only one of the most readable accounts of the knights of the Round Table but also one of the most moving. As the story advances towards the inevitable tragedy of Arthur's death the effect is cumulative, rising with an impending sense of doom and tragedy towards its shattering finale. [via]
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The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild, the Greatby Henry FieldingISBN 0140431519 (0-14-043151-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild, the Great'Book summary:Following the most notorious criminal of his generation, Fielding relays a moral satire on the true nature of greatness when it is not legitimized by political institutions or worldly eminence, as he romanticizes the "greatness" of his hero even unto the gallows. 6 cassettes. [via]
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Lost Illusions: Part I, Two Poetsby Honore De Balzac, Herbert James HuntISBN 0140442510 (0-14-044251-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Maiasby Eca De QueirosISBN 014044694X (0-14-044694-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Maias'Book summary:Eca de Queiros was Portugal's greatest nineteenth-century novelist, whose works brilliantly evoke -- and condemn -- the rapidly changing society of his times. The Maias (1888) depicts the declining fortunes of a landowning family over three generations as they are gradually undermined by hypocrisy, complacency, and sexual license. With a vivid, comprehensive portrayal of nineteenth-century Portuguese politics and social history, Eca creates a kind of comedie humaine that, despite the force of its social satire and its damning critique of the Portugal from which he had exiled himself, is a supreme work of humor and irony.
The author was a diplomat who traveled widely, and although he claimed to be an apostle of naturalist realism, he reveals with detached irony the lethargy and decadence of his native land. The book initially attracted attention through its account of an incestuous romance, yet today we can see this as just one element in a novel whose compelling story, depth of thought, and compassion make it one of Europe's great literary masterpieces. [via]
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The Marble Faunby Nathaniel Hawthorne, Richard H. BrodheadISBN 0140390774 (0-14-039077-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Marion Fayby Anthony TrollopeISBN 0140438483 (0-14-043848-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Melmoth the Wandererby Charles Robert MaturinISBN 0140431101 (0-14-043110-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Melmoth the Wandererby Victor Sage, Charles Robert MaturinISBN 014044761X (0-14-044761-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Melmoth the Wanderer'Book summary:Created by an Irish clergyman, Melmoth is one of the most fiendish characters in literature. In a satanic bargain, Melmoth exchanges his soul for immortality. The story of his tortured wanderings through the centuries is pieced together through those who have been implored by Melmoth to take over his pact with the devil. Influenced by the Gothic romances of the late 18th century, Maturin's diabolic tale raised the genre to a new and macabre pitch. Its many admirers include Poe, Balzac, Oscar Wilde and Baudelaire. [via]
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A Midsummer Night's Dreamby William Shakespeare, Russ McDonaldISBN 0140714553 (0-14-071455-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'Book summary:Traditionally seen as one of Shakespeare's more romantic and enchanting plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream has more recently been seen as a darker and more sinister play than generations of schoolchildren have ever imagined. The play has usually been seen as a comical tale and confused identities and the fickleness of youthful love, as the young lovers, Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena escape parental control and the "sharp Athenian law" of their elders by eloping into the forest outside the city. Unfortunately they stumble into civil war in fairyland, where King Oberon and Queen Titania fight over possession of a beautiful young Indian "changeling" boy. The appearance of the "rude mechanicals", a group of Athenian workers, including the weaver Nick Bottom, compounds the confusion. Chaos, confusion and "shaping fantasies" reign before the final settlement of the play, but underneath all the hilarity many critics have discerned more ambivalent attitudes towards coercive parental control, bestial sexuality and the destructive power of desire. These approaches in no way detract from the exquisite lyricism of many sections of the play, but make it a more complex and effective comedy than has often been appreciated. --Jerry Brotton [via]
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The Ministry Of Fear: An Entertainmentby Graham Greene, Alan FurstISBN 0143039113 (0-14-303911-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Ministry Of Fear: An Entertainment'Book summary:[via]For Arthur Rowe, the trip to the charity fete was a joyful step back into adolescence, a chance to forget the nightmare of the blitzand the aching guilt of having mercifully murdered his sick wife. He was surviving alone, aside from the war, until he happened to guess both the true and the false weight of the cake. From that moment, he finds himself ruthlessly hunted, the quarry of malign and shadowy forces, from which he endeavors to escape with a mind that remains obstinately out of focus.
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Monkey: Folk Novel Of Chinaby Arthur Waley, Cheng'En WuISBN 0140441115 (0-14-044111-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Monkey: Folk Novel Of China'Book summary:Monkey depicts the adventures of Prince Tripitaka, a young Buddhist priest on a dangerous pilgrimage to India to retrieve sacred scriptures accompanied by his three unruly disciples: the greedy pig creature Pipsy, the river monster Sandy and Monkey. Hatched from a stone egg and given the secrets of heaven and earth, the irrepressible trickster Monkey can ride on the clouds, become invisible and transform into other shapes skills that prove very useful when the four travellers come up against the dragons, bandits, demons and evil wizards that threaten to prevent them in their quest. Wu Ch'eng-en wrote Monkey in the mid-sixteenth century, adding his own distinctive style to an ancient Chinese legend, and in so doing created a dazzling combination of nonsense with profundity, slapstick comedy with spiritual wisdom. [via]
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The Newcomesby William Makepeace Thackeray, David PascoeISBN 014043481X (0-14-043481-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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No Nameby Wilkie Collins, Mark FordISBN 014043397X (0-14-043397-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'No Name'Book summary:A witty, intricately-plotted exploration of a sudden fall from grace, the "Penguin Classics" edition of Wilkie Collins' "No Name" is edited with an introduction and notes by Mark Ford. Magdalen and her sister Norah, beloved daughters of Mr and Mrs Vanstone, find themselves the victims of a catastrophic oversight. Their father has neglected to change his will, and when the girls are suddenly orphaned, their inheritance goes to their uncle. Now penniless, the conventional Norah takes up a position as a governess, but the defiant and tempestuous Magdalen cannot accept the loss of what is rightfully hers and decides to do whatever she can to win it back. With the help of cunning Captain Wragge, she concocts a scheme that involves disguise, deceit and astonishing self-transformation. In this compelling, labyrinthine story Wilkie Collins brilliantly demonstrates the gap between justice and the law, and in the subversive Magdalen he portrays one of the most exhilarating heroines of Victorian fiction. In his introduction Mark Ford examines themes of identity and illegitimacy within Victorian society and compares "No Name" to Collins' more 'sensational' fiction. This edition also includes notes and a bibliography. Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) was born in London in 1824, the eldest son of the landscape painter William Collins. In 1846 he was entered to read for the bar at Lincoln's Inn, where he gained the knowledge that was to give him much of the material for his writing. From the early 1850s he was a friend of Charles Dickens, who produced and acted in two melodramas written by Collins, "The Lighthouse" and "The Frozen Deep". Of his novels, Collins is best remembered for "The Woman in White" (1859), "No Name" (1862), "Armadale" (1866) and "The Moonstone" (1868). If you enjoyed "No Name", you might like Anthony Trollope's "Can You Forgive Her?", also available in "Penguin Classics". [via]
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The Nunby Denis DiderotISBN 0140443002 (0-14-044300-2)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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Odd Womenby George GissingISBN 0140433791 (0-14-043379-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Old Wives' Talesby Arnold BennettISBN 0140431632 (0-14-043163-2)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Old Wives' Tales'Book summary:The Old Wives' Tale (1908) celebrates the romance of even the most ordinary lives as it tells the story of the two Baines sisters, placid stay-at-home Constance and rebellious Sophia, from their girlhood to their last days. They move from the family drapery shop in provincial Bursley during the repressive mid-Victorian period to old age in the modern era of mass marketing and the internal combustion engine. The setting ranges from the Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Bursley to a Paris brothel, the action from the controlled domestic routine of the Baines household to wife murder and the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1.
This edition of The Old Wives' Tale gives fascinating critical insights into Bennett's most wide-ranging novel, considered by many to be his masterpiece. [via]More editions of The Old Wives' Tales:
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Orley Farmby Anthony TrollopeISBN 0140438122 (0-14-043812-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Orley Farm'Book summary:"The Penguin Trollope" series contains all of Trollope's novels and collected short stories, as well as his "Autobiography". This novel blends realism with suspense in unfolding the strange case of the alleged forgery of a codicil to Sir Joseph Mason's will. [via]
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Oroonokoby Aphra Behn, Janet M. ToddISBN 0140439889 (0-14-043988-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Oroonoko'Book summary:[via]When Prince Oroonokos passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonokos noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behns visit to Surinam, Oroonoko reflects the authors romantic views of native peoples as being in the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin. The novel also reveals Behns ambiguous attitude toward slavery: while she favored it as a means to strengthen Englands power, her powerful and moving work conveys its injustice and brutality.
- A new single-volume edition of this early anti-slavery novel
- Includes introduction, carefully modernized text, chronology, suggestions for further reading, and explanatory notes
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The Prime Ministerby Anthony Trollope, David SkiltonISBN 014043349X (0-14-043349-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Prime Minister'Book summary:The story of the unscrupulous Ferdinand Lopez, who succeeds in being selected as a parliamentary candidate for the Palliser pocket borough. A blackmail scandal involving Lady Glencora involves the Prime Minister in making a payment to Lopez, an affair which then appears in the gutter press. [via]
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Pudd'Nhead Wilsonby Mark Twain, Malcolm BradburyISBN 0140430407 (0-14-043040-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Pudd'Nhead Wilson'Book summary:Determined that her baby son Tom shall not share her fate and remain in slavery, Roxy secretly exchanges him with his playmate Chambers, the son of her master. The two boys' lives in the quiet Missouri town of Dawson's Landing remain entwined even though they take very different directions. The indulged Tom (now heir to a fortune rightfully that of Chambers) goes to Yale, where he learns how to drink and gamble, while Chambers looks set to remain a subservient drudge. But then a strange sequence of events begins - one in which the much-derided lawyer, 'Pudd'nhead' Wilson, has a key part to play - and changes everything. Darkly ironic, blending farce and tragedy, "Pudd'nhead Wilson" is a complex and fascinating depiction of human nature under slavery. [via]
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Resurrectionby Leo Tolstoy, Rosemary EdmondsISBN 0140441840 (0-14-044184-0)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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Roderick Hudsonby Henry JamesISBN 0140432647 (0-14-043264-7)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Roderick Hudson'Book summary:'I had but hugged the shore' until Roderick Hudson, wrote Henry James. This is his first full-length novel and executed with such blazing, confident, thirty-one-year-old talent that even if he had produced nothing else, his fame would have been assured.[via]Roderick Hudson, egotistical, beautiful and an exceptionally gifted sculptor, but poor, is taken from New England to Rome by Rowland Mallet, a rich man of fine appreciative sensibilities, who intends to give Roderick the scope to develop his genius. Together they seem like twins or lovers, opposing halves of what should have been an ideal whole.
Roderick Hudson contains the obsessions that inspired all James's fiction but put across with a simple force and fire that he never quite caught again. 'Whatever the merits of "The Master" who wrote The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove, and The Golden Bowl,' observes Geoffrey Moore, 'they are not those of the "young Harry"for whom the writing of Roderick Hudson was such a pleasure, and a triumph.'
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Ruthby Elizabeth Gaskell, Angus EassonISBN 0140434305 (0-14-043430-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ruth'Book summary:Ruth Hilton is an orphaned young seamstress who catches the eye of a gentleman, Henry Bellingham, who is captivated by her simplicity and beauty. When she loses her job and home, he offers her comfort and shelter, only to cruelly desert her soon after. Nearly dead with grief and shame, Ruth is offered the chance of a new life among people who give her love and respect, even though they are at first unaware of her secret - an illegitimate child. When Henry enters her life again, however, Ruth must make the impossible choice between social acceptance and personal pride.[via]In writing Ruth, Elizabeth Gaskell daringly confronted prevailing views about sin and illegitimacy with her compassionate and honest portrait of a 'fallen woman'.
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Salammboby Gustave Flaubert, A.J. KrailsheimerISBN 0140443282 (0-14-044328-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Selected Talesby Henry James, John LyonISBN 0140436944 (0-14-043694-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Selected Tales'Book summary:Throughout his writing life, Henry James was drawn to the short-story form for the freedom it offered himand he made the genre his own. This new selection comprises both brief tales and longer works that explore James's concerns with the old world and the new, and with money, fame, class, and art. "Daisy Miller," "The Lesson of the Master," "The Real Thing," "The Figure in the Carpet," "In the Cage," "The Beast in the Jungle," and "The Jolly Corner" are included here, along with twelve others. Haunting, witty, and beautifully drawn, these stories are as rich and resonant as James's novels.[via]More editions of Selected Tales:
Sentimental Journey Through France and Italyby Laurence SterneISBN 0140430261 (0-14-043026-1)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Mr. Yorickby Laurence Sterne, Paul GoringISBN 0140437797 (0-14-043779-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Sign of Fourby Arthur Conan Doyle, Peter AckroydISBN 0140439072 (0-14-043907-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sign of Four'Book summary:Yellow fog is swirling through the streets of London, and Sherlock Holmes himself is sitting in a cocaine-induced haze until the arrival of a distressed and beautiful young lady forces the great detective into action. Each year following the strange disappearance of her father, Miss Morstan has received a present of a rare and lustrous pearl. Now, on the day she is summoned to meet her anonymous benefactor, she consults Holmes and Watson.[via]More editions of Sign of Four:
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The Song of the Larkby Willa Cather, Sherrill HarbisonISBN 0141181044 (0-14-118104-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Song of the Lark'Book summary:Beautiful and lyrical, this third novel by Willa Cather follows the life of Thea Kronberg from her childhood in 19th-century Nebraska to her career as a renowned opera singer.[via]Since the time of its publication in 1915, this novel had captivated readers with its sharp observations, shimmering descriptions, sly humor, and its provocative heroine--a feisty young woman who strives to create her own destiny, regardless of social restrictions.
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A Study in Scarletby Arthur Conan Doyle, Ed Glinert, Iain SinclairISBN 0140439080 (0-14-043908-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Study in Scarlet'Book summary:Arthur Conan Doyle's Study in Scarlet is the first published story involving the legendary Sherlock Holmes, arguably the world's best-known detective, and the first narrative by Holmes's Boswell, the unassuming Dr. Watson, a military surgeon lately returned from the Afghan War. Watson needs a flat-mate and a diversion. Holmes needs a foil. And thus a great literary collaboration begins.
Watson and Holmes move to a now-famous address, 221B Baker Street, where Watson is introduced to Holmes's eccentricities as well as his uncanny ability to deduce information about his fellow beings. Somewhat shaken by Holmes's egotism, Watson is nonetheless dazzled by his seemingly magical ability to provide detailed information about a man glimpsed once under the streetlamp across the road.
Then murder. Facing a deserted house, a twisted corpse with no wounds, a mysterious phrase drawn in blood on the wall, and the buffoons of Scotland Yard--Lestrade and Gregson--Holmes measures, observes, picks up a pinch of this and a pinch of that, and generally baffles his faithful Watson. Later, Holmes explains: "In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backward.... There are few people who, if you told them a result, would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led up to that result." Holmes is in that elite group.
Conan Doyle quickly learned that it was Holmes's deductions that were of most interest to his readers. The lengthy flashback, while a convention of popular fiction, simply distracted from readers' real focus. It is when Holmes and Watson gather before the coal fire and Holmes sums up the deductions that led him to the successful apprehension of the criminal that we are most captivated. Subsequent Holmes stories--The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes--rightly plunge the twosome directly into the middle of a baffling crime, piling mystery upon mystery until Holmes's denouement once more leaves the dazzled Watson murmuring, "You are wonderful, Holmes!" Generations of readers agree. --Barbara Schlieper [via]
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Swann's Wayby Marcel Proust, C. K. Scott-MoncrieffISBN 0141180587 (0-14-118058-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Swann's Way'Book summary:Swann's Way begins with one of the most famous incidents in all of literature -- the taste of a madeleine and tea that reawakens the elusive childhood memories of the narrator, Marcel. An image of Charles Swann, a wealthy and fashionable neighbor, precipitates Marcel's recollection of Swann's marriage to Odette de Crecy, a beautiful, manipulative woman far beneath him in social standing, and of the jealousy, aroused by Odette's many affairs with both men and women, that eventually destroys Swarm. Marcel recounts, too, his own initiation into the aesthetic pleasures and sexual intrigues of belle-epoque Paris. The themes introduced in Swann's Way -- the destructive force of obsessive love, the allure and the consequences of transgressive sex, and the selective eye that shapes memories -- form the threads that unite all the volumes of Remembrance of Things Past. [via]
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Trilbyby George Du MaurierISBN 0140434038 (0-14-043403-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Trilby'Book summary:In the Latin Quarter of Paris, Trilby O'Ferrall - graceful, charming and innocent - is working as an artist's model. Her ingenuous nature makes her the perfect prey for the cruel magnetism of the demonic musician Svengali, under whose spell she falls. Using hypnotic powers Svengali shapes her into a virtuoso singer and soon she becomes Europe's most captivating soprano. But her golden voice, and even her life, will become fatally tied to him. With its thrilling plot and legendary villain, "Trilby" caused a sensation when it appeared in 1894, spawning songs, shoes and, most famously, the Trilby hat. Yet it is also a fascinating portrayal of its times, holding up a mirror to fin de siecle obsessions with sexuality, mesmerism and the occult. [via]
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The Turn of the Screwby Henry JamesISBN 0140620613 (0-14-062061-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Turn of the Screw'Book summary:The story starts conventionally enough with friends sharing ghost stories 'round the fire on Christmas Eve. One of the guests tells about a governess at a country house plagued by supernatural visitors. But in the hands of Henry James, the master of nuance, this little tale of terror is an exquisite gem of sexual and psychological ambiguity. Only the young governess can see the ghosts; only she suspects that the previous governess and her lover are controlling the two orphaned children (a girl and a boy) for some evil purpose. The household staff don't know what she's talking about, the children are evasive when questioned, and the master of the house (the children's uncle) is absent. Why does the young girl claim not to see a perfectly visible woman standing on the far side of the lake? Are the children being deceptive, or is the governess being paranoid? By leaving the questions unanswered, The Turn of Screw generates spine-tingling anxiety in its mesmerized readers. [via]
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Under Western Eyes: Library Editionby Joseph Conrad, Boris FordISBN 0140432434 (0-14-043243-4)
Softcover, Penguin Books
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Ursule Mirouetby Honore De Balzac, Donald AdamsonISBN 0140443169 (0-14-044316-9)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ursule Mirouet'Book summary:An essentially simple tale about the struggles and triumph of innocence reviled, "Ursule Mirouet" is characterized by that wealth of penetrating observation so readily associated with Balzac's work. The twin themes of redemption and rebirth are illumianted by a consistently passionate rejection of both philosophic and practical materialsm is favor of love. In this case love is aided by supernatural intervention, which itself effectively illustrated Balzac's lifelong fascination with the occult. [via]
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Walden and Civil Disobedienceby Henry David Thoreau, Michael MeyerISBN 0140390448 (0-14-039044-8)
Softcover, Penguin USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Walden and Civil Disobedience'Book summary:'If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away.' Disdainful of America's growing commercialism and industrialism, Henry David Thoreau left Concord, Massachusetts, in 1845 to live in solitude in the woods by Walden Pond. Walden, the classic account of his stay there, conveys at once a naturalist's wonder at the commonplace and a Transcendentalist's yearning for spiritual truth and self-reliance. But even as Thoreau disentangled himself from worldly matters, his solitary musings were often disturbed by his social conscience. 'Civil Disobedience', expressing his antislavery and antiwar sentiments, has influenced nonviolent resistance movements worldwide. Michael Meyer's introduction points out that Walden is not so much an autobiographical study as a 'shining example' of Transcendental individualism. So, too, 'Civil Disobedience' is less a call to political activism than a statement of Thoreau's insistence on living a life of principle. [via]
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The War Of The Worldsby H. G. Wells, Patrick Parrinder, Andy Sawyer, Brian Wilson AldissISBN 0141441038 (0-14-144103-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The War Of The Worlds'Book summary:This is the granddaddy of all alien invasion stories, first published by H.G. Wells in 1898. The novel begins ominously, as the lone voice of a narrator tells readers that "No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's..."
Things then progress from a series of seemingly mundane reports about odd atmospheric disturbances taking place on Mars to the arrival of Martians just outside of London. At first the Martians seem laughable, hardly able to move in Earth's comparatively heavy gravity even enough to raise themselves out of the pit created when their spaceship landed. But soon the Martians reveal their true nature as death machines 100-feet tall rise up from the pit and begin laying waste to the surrounding land. Wells quickly moves the story from the countryside to the evacuation of London itself and the loss of all hope as England's military suffers defeat after defeat. With horror his narrator describes how the Martians suck the blood from living humans for sustenance, and how it's clear that man is not being conquered so much a corralled. --Craig E. Engler [via]
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Waverleyby Walter ScottISBN 0140430717 (0-14-043071-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Wild Ass's Skinby Honore De BalzacISBN 0140443304 (0-14-044330-4)
Softcover, Viking Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wild Ass's Skin'Book summary:Balzac is concerned with the choice between ruthless self-gratification and asceticism, dissipation and restraint, in a novel that is powerful in its symbolism and realistic depiction of decadence. [via]
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The Wizard of Ozby L. Frank Baum, Michael CavallaroISBN 0142404713 (0-14-240471-3)
Softcover, Puffin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wizard of Oz'Book summary:For many of us, the adventures of Dorothy in Oz will forever be associated not with Judy Garland singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" but with W. W. Denslow's exceedingly odd line drawings for the original editions of Baum's Oz series. The Viennese artist Lisbeth Zwerger, however, goes a long way toward providing a new and refreshed set of images for the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the humbug wizard. These illustrations are often cockeyed, with occasional realistic details thrown in, like a crow with a corncob in its beak in the first portrait of the Scarecrow. The characters have a poignance and oddity that escaped the makers of the Oz movie. [via]
The Wonderful World of Ozby L. Frank Baum, Jack David ZipesISBN 0141180854 (0-14-118085-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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