Classic fiction: literary and general

6752 products


  • Guy Mannering

    Edinburgh University Press Guy Mannering

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisGuy Mannering; or, The Astrologer, first published in 1815, was Walter Scott''s second novel. Guy Mannering only half-believes in his art, but does believe in the ability of patriarchal power, wealth, and social position to sort out social confusion. However, he has to learn the limits of a nabob''s authority in a society that (in the 1780s) is no longer a single hierarchy but has many subsets, each with its own laws - gypsies, smugglers, Edinburgh lawyers, the Border store farmer, the traditional landowner.This is the first modern edition of one of Scott''s finest works. It is based on the first edition, but is corrected from the manuscript, and restores around two thousand readings lost through error or misunderstanding. For the first time it includes Scott''s extended portraits of the Edinburgh literati which were unaccountably omitted from the printed version.Trade ReviewThe volumes have been carefully and critically edited from the original manuscripts and now the texts, which in each case capture large numbers of readings never before printed and clear away elements of corruption in existing editions, are as close to what Scott originally wrote as the skills of the editorial team can make them. The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary! The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously. The Edinburgh Edition is essential to any Scott scholar![the student] will turn first to the superbly specific textual essays that follow the readings. Unique to this handsome edition is Scott's graphic depiction of characters from Edinburgh's literary scene. The latest additions to the monumental Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels ! all three editors maintain consistently high quality in preparing what will surely be the standard edition of Scott's complete novels ! as might be expected, the Essays on the Text are of central importance in the editions, because of the minutely detailed yet lucid accounts of the textual choices made. The volumes have been carefully and critically edited from the original manuscripts and now the texts, which in each case capture large numbers of readings never before printed and clear away elements of corruption in existing editions, are as close to what Scott originally wrote as the skills of the editorial team can make them. The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary! The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously. The Edinburgh Edition is essential to any Scott scholar![the student] will turn first to the superbly specific textual essays that follow the readings. Unique to this handsome edition is Scott's graphic depiction of characters from Edinburgh's literary scene. The latest additions to the monumental Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels ! all three editors maintain consistently high quality in preparing what will surely be the standard edition of Scott's complete novels ! as might be expected, the Essays on the Text are of central importance in the editions, because of the minutely detailed yet lucid accounts of the textual choices made.Table of Contents"Guy Mannering"; essays on the text; emendation list; end-of-line hyphens; historical note; explanatory notes.

    5 in stock

    £90.25

  • Rob Roy

    Edinburgh University Press Rob Roy

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisFirst published in 1817, Rob Roy was not only a resounding success but also one of the first historical novels of its time. Full of swashbuckling action and intrigue, it tells the story of Frank Osbaldistone, the son of a wealthy British businessman, who travels to Scotland, where he is drawn into the lawless world of the fiercely noble outlaw Robert Roy MacGregor. Osbaldistone and Rob Roy, along with the witty Diane Vernon, embark on numerous adventures during the height of the Jacobite uprising. With sweeping descriptions of Scottish landscapes and vivid characterizations, Rob Roy is an epic tale of heroism set against the backdrop of true Scottish history.

    5 in stock

    £103.50

  • The Heart of MidLothian

    Edinburgh University Press The Heart of MidLothian

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Heart of Mid-Lothian is precisely focused on the trials for murder of John Porteous and of Effie Deans in 1736 and 1737.Trade ReviewThe Edinburgh Edition! aims to rescue these superb works of fiction from an unfortunate history of errors...!A huge project, very scholarly, and altogether very grand indeed! it is perhaps Scott's most profound novel, being a considered meditation on the nature of justice! the novel is, above all, a superb story with a cast of rich characters. -- Harry Reid A part of our immediate response to these exemplary volumes is to feel the discrepancy between Scott's slapdash, hearty, headlong method of composition and the painstaking toil of his editors!the Edinburgh editors have reverted to the first editions, but have also combed the manuscripts for missed readings and lost material; some of the latter, such as the portraits of Edinburgh literati in Guy Mannering, are substantial discoveries. From the outset, readers of this volume will know themselves to be in the hands of learned and accomplished editors. By comparing the first edition of Scott's famous work to the manuscript, the editors of this excellent edition produce 'an ideal first edition'! all serious readers wil find the discussion of Scott's creative method fascinating, especially the case Hewitt and Lumsden make for him as a far more careful writer than scholars have heretofore believed! The present volume offers the modern reader a version very close to that a reader in 1818 would have experienced ... Highly recommended. I recommend the book to admirers of Scott and to those who, like me, have never read his work but always felt they should. The Edinburgh Edition! aims to rescue these superb works of fiction from an unfortunate history of errors...!A huge project, very scholarly, and altogether very grand indeed! it is perhaps Scott's most profound novel, being a considered meditation on the nature of justice! the novel is, above all, a superb story with a cast of rich characters. A part of our immediate response to these exemplary volumes is to feel the discrepancy between Scott's slapdash, hearty, headlong method of composition and the painstaking toil of his editors!the Edinburgh editors have reverted to the first editions, but have also combed the manuscripts for missed readings and lost material; some of the latter, such as the portraits of Edinburgh literati in Guy Mannering, are substantial discoveries. From the outset, readers of this volume will know themselves to be in the hands of learned and accomplished editors. By comparing the first edition of Scott's famous work to the manuscript, the editors of this excellent edition produce 'an ideal first edition'! all serious readers wil find the discussion of Scott's creative method fascinating, especially the case Hewitt and Lumsden make for him as a far more careful writer than scholars have heretofore believed! The present volume offers the modern reader a version very close to that a reader in 1818 would have experienced ... Highly recommended. I recommend the book to admirers of Scott and to those who, like me, have never read his work but always felt they should.

    5 in stock

    £103.50

  • Peveril of the Peak

    Edinburgh University Press Peveril of the Peak

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisA new edition of Scott's longest, and arguably most intriguing, novel.Trade ReviewThe standard of work is to be commended highly. It is also a testament to the perseverance of the editor herself in producing such an exemplary volume to a new readership. -- Anthony Mandal Studies in Hogg and His World Reviving... a seldom remembered novel, the editor invite[s] us to share [her] vision of an energetically creative Scott whose imaginative works can still surprise and affect us. -- Regina Hewitt Scottish Literary Review The standard of work is to be commended highly. It is also a testament to the perseverance of the editor herself in producing such an exemplary volume to a new readership. Reviving... a seldom remembered novel, the editor invite[s] us to share [her] vision of an energetically creative Scott whose imaginative works can still surprise and affect us.

    5 in stock

    £90.25

  • Quentin Durward

    Edinburgh University Press Quentin Durward

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisFind Out What Scott Really WroteGoing back to the original manuscripts, a team of scholars has uncovered what Scott originally wrote and intended his public to read before errors, misreadings and expurgations crept in during production. Quentin Durward is a young Scotsman seeking fame and fortune in the France of Louis XI in the fifteenth century. He knows little and understands less, but Scott represents his ignorance and naiveté as useful to ''the most sagacious prince in Europe'' who needs servants motivated solely by the desire for coin and credit and lacking any interest in France which would interfere with the execution of his political aims. In Quentin Durward Scott studies the first modern state in the process of destroying the European feudal system.By far the most important of Scott''s sources for Quentin Durward is the splendid Memoirs of Philippe de Comines. Comines, who has more than a walk-on role in the novel itself, was trusted councillor of Charles the Bold of Burgundy until 1472, whenTrade ReviewWilll certainly be the definitive scholarly edition of Scott for the foreseeable future. The notes and emendation lists ! evince years of thorough, diligent research into manuscripts, editions, sources, references, and allusions. The information will give the serious reader inestimable help in understanding Scott. Alexander and Wood give us a Quentin Durward that corresponds to no previous version of the novel. It is a social text for our moment in time which, given the publication history of the Waverley Novels, is eminently appropriate. This is the fifth volume of the EEWN to be edited by J. H. Alexander. In each the scholarly apparatus has been superb, and this edition of Quentin Durward is no exception, The Explanatory Notes, Historical Notes, Glossary, Map and Essay on the Text make this an indispensable work. For the study of Scott's first fictional foray on to the European continent. The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary ! The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously. Willl certainly be the definitive scholarly edition of Scott for the foreseeable future. The notes and emendation lists ! evince years of thorough, diligent research into manuscripts, editions, sources, references, and allusions. The information will give the serious reader inestimable help in understanding Scott. Alexander and Wood give us a Quentin Durward that corresponds to no previous version of the novel. It is a social text for our moment in time which, given the publication history of the Waverley Novels, is eminently appropriate. This is the fifth volume of the EEWN to be edited by J. H. Alexander. In each the scholarly apparatus has been superb, and this edition of Quentin Durward is no exception, The Explanatory Notes, Historical Notes, Glossary, Map and Essay on the Text make this an indispensable work. For the study of Scott's first fictional foray on to the European continent. The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary ! The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously.

    5 in stock

    £90.25

  • The Betrothed

    Edinburgh University Press The Betrothed

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Betrothed is set at the time of the Third Crusade (1189--92) and is the first of Scott's Tales of the Crusaders.

    5 in stock

    £90.25

  • Woodstock

    Edinburgh University Press Woodstock

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisGoing back to the original manuscripts, a team of scholars has uncovered what Scott originally wrote and intended his public to read before errors, misreadings and expurgations crept in during production. The Edinburgh Edition offers you:* A clean, corrected text* Textual histories* Explanatory notes* Verbal changes from the first-edition text* Full glossariesTitle DescriptionWoodstock opens in farce, yet it is one of Scott''s darkest novels. It deals with revolution, to Scott the most disturbing of all subjects: ''it appears that every step we made towards liberty, has but brought us in view of more terrific perils.'' Written during the financial crisis which led to his insolvency in January 1826, the novel, Scott feared, ''would not stand the test''. Yet it does: it is set in England in 1651 as Parliamentary forces hunt the fugitive Charles Stewart who days previously had been defeated at Worcester. In the superb portrait of Cromwell we see a self-torturing despot who attempts to be in full control in the name of religion; in the rakish Charles we see a man without self-reflection whose own libertarianism after his restoration to the English throne in 1660 permitted a great burgeoning in scientific enquiry and the arts. This edition of Woodstock is based on the first, but emended in the light of readings in the manuscript and proofs that were misread, and at times deliberately suppressed, as Scott''s own handwritten words were turned into a printed book.

    5 in stock

    £103.50

  • The Fair Maid of Perth

    Edinburgh University Press The Fair Maid of Perth

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Fair Maid of Perth centres on the merchant classes of Perth in the fourteenth century, and their commitment to the pacific values of trade, in a bloody and brutal era in which no right to life is recognised.Trade ReviewThe volumes have been carefully and critically edited from the original manuscripts and now the texts, which in each case capture large numbers of readings never before printed and clear away elements of corruption in existing editions, are as close to what Scott originally wrote as the skills of the editorial team can make them. The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary ! The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously. The Edinburgh Edition is essential to any Scott scholar ... [the student] will turn first to the superbly specific textual essays that follow the readings. The latest additions to the monumental Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels ... all three editors maintain consistently high quality in preparing what will surely be the standard edition of Scott's complete novels ... as might be expected, the Essays on the Text are of central importance in the editions, because of the minutely detailed yet lucid accounts of the textual choices made. The volumes have been carefully and critically edited from the original manuscripts and now the texts, which in each case capture large numbers of readings never before printed and clear away elements of corruption in existing editions, are as close to what Scott originally wrote as the skills of the editorial team can make them. The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary ! The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously. The Edinburgh Edition is essential to any Scott scholar ... [the student] will turn first to the superbly specific textual essays that follow the readings. The latest additions to the monumental Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels ... all three editors maintain consistently high quality in preparing what will surely be the standard edition of Scott's complete novels ... as might be expected, the Essays on the Text are of central importance in the editions, because of the minutely detailed yet lucid accounts of the textual choices made.

    5 in stock

    £90.25

  • The Shorter Fiction

    Edinburgh University Press The Shorter Fiction

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis collection comprise eight pieces of shorter fiction all from periodicals. They show both Scott's versatility and his continuous exploration of the possibilities of fiction.Trade ReviewThe Shorter Fiction, as with all the volumes of the EEWN, contains all the full texts based on the first published version, followed by an 'Essay on the Text' by the editors of the volume offering a detailed and comprehensive account of the genesis, composition, and editorial history of each work. It also includes an 'Emendation List' made to the first editions, comprehensive historical accounts, explanatory notes and a glossary. These supplementary materials will be indispensable to scholars and students alike. -- Deirdre A. Shepherd, University of Edinburgh BARS Bulletin and Review Reviving almost forgotten stories... the editors [...] invite us to share their vision of an energetically creative Scott whose imaginative works can still surprise and affect us. -- Regina Hewitt Scottish Literary Review The Shorter Fiction, as with all the volumes of the EEWN, contains all the full texts based on the first published version, followed by an 'Essay on the Text' by the editors of the volume offering a detailed and comprehensive account of the genesis, composition, and editorial history of each work. It also includes an 'Emendation List' made to the first editions, comprehensive historical accounts, explanatory notes and a glossary. These supplementary materials will be indispensable to scholars and students alike. Reviving almost forgotten stories... the editors [...] invite us to share their vision of an energetically creative Scott whose imaginative works can still surprise and affect us.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Introduction; The Inferno of Altisidora; Christopher Corduroy; Alarming Increase of Depravity Among Animals; Phantasmagoria; My Aunt Margaret's Mirror; The Tapestried Chamber; Death of the Laird's Jock; A Highland Anecdote; Essay on the Text; Emendation List; End-of-line Hyphens; Historical Note; Explanatory Notes; Glossary.

    5 in stock

    £90.25

  • The Bush Aboon Traquair and the Royal Jubilee

    Edinburgh University Press The Bush Aboon Traquair and the Royal Jubilee

    Book SynopsisTwo of James Hogg's pastoral dramas with songs, presented here with full explanatory notes and glossary.Trade ReviewThe excellent edition of The Bush aboon Traquair and The Royal Jubilee, edited by Douglas S. Mack, contains two versions of Hogg's lifely pastoral drama, with songs, as well as his masque, written as part of the welcoming celebrations for George IV's visit to Edinburgh in 1822. -- Deirdre A. Shepherd, University of Edinburgh BARS Bulletin and Review The excellent edition of The Bush aboon Traquair and The Royal Jubilee, edited by Douglas S. Mack, contains two versions of Hogg's lifely pastoral drama, with songs, as well as his masque, written as part of the welcoming celebrations for George IV's visit to Edinburgh in 1822.Table of ContentsIntroduction; The Bush aboon Traquair; Version of the Wellington Fair-Copy Manuscript; Act First; Act Second; Act Third; Version of Blackie's Tales & Sketches; Act First; Act Second; Act Third; The Royal Jubilee; Note on the Texts; Hyphenation List; Editorial Notes; Glossary.

    £90.25

  • Alices Adventures in Wonderland

    The History Press Ltd Alices Adventures in Wonderland

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisA captivating new series to spark the imagination and breathe new life into classic works

    5 in stock

    £9.50

  • 15 in stock

    £16.57

  • McClelland & Stewart Inc. This Side Jordan

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisIn 1957, the British colony of the Gold Coast broke free to become the independent nation of Ghana. Margaret Laurence’s first novel, This Side Jordan, recreates that colour-drenched world: a place where men and women struggle with self-betrayal, self-discovery, and the dawning of political pride.This Side Jordan transcends the traditional limits of the first novel. Its powerful and compassionate characterizations and its themes of exile and community anticipate the five later novels that make up Laurence’s acclaimed Manawaka series. A major work of lasting significance, This Side Jordan creates echoes in the mind of the reader as resonant as the drums of Ghana.

    Out of stock

    £999.99

  • The TomorrowTamer

    McClelland & Stewart The TomorrowTamer

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe ten stories gathered together in The Tomorrow-Tamer are Margaret Laurence’s first published fiction. Set in raucous and often terrifying Ghana, where shiny Jaguars and modern jazz jostle for eminence against fetish figures, tribal rites, and the unchanging beat of jungle drums, the stories tell of individuals, European and African, trying to come to terms with the frightening world brought about by the country’s new freedom.With the same compassion and understanding she would bring to her later fiction set in Canada, Laurence succeeds brilliantly in capturing the atmosphere of a continent and of individual men and women struggling for survival under the impact of the wind of change.

    10 in stock

    £13.50

  • Park Row Books The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £16.19

  • Park Row The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    3 in stock

    £26.09

  • A Lost Lady

    University of Nebraska Press A Lost Lady

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisDescribes the origin, writing, and reception of the novel, "The Lost Lady". This essay features photographs that illuminate the connection between the novel and the people and places from the author's formative years in Nebraska.Trade Review"This 1923 novel is among the best examples of Cather's experiment with minimalism and one of her finest works overall. As such, it deserves an edition produced to the highest standards of textual scholarship. It has found one here."-Choice Choice

    2 in stock

    £14.24

  • Epic of Gilgamesh

    Stanford University Press Epic of Gilgamesh

    Book SynopsisSince the discovery over one hundred years ago of a body of Mesopotamian poetry preserved on clay tablets, what has come to be known as the Epic of Gilgamesh has been considered a masterpiece of ancient literature. It recounts the deeds of a hero-king of ancient Mesopotamia, following him through adventures and encounters with men and gods alike. Yet the central concerns of the Epic lie deeper than the lively and exotic storyline: they revolve around a man''s eternal struggle with the limitations of human nature, and encompass the basic human feelings of loneliness, friendship, love, loss, revenge, and the fear of the oblivion of death. These themes are developed in a distinctly Mesopotamian idiom, to be sure, but with a sensitivity and intensity that touch the modern reader across the chasm of three thousand years. This translation presents the Epic to the general reader in a clear narrative. Table of ContentsA note to the reader; A note on the translation; Introduction; The epic of Gilgamesh; Appendixes.

    £45.00

  • The Epic of Gilgamesh

    Stanford University Press The Epic of Gilgamesh

    Book SynopsisSince the discovery over one hundred years ago of a body of Mesopotamian poetry preserved on clay tablets, what has come to be known as the Epic of Gilgamesh has been considered a masterpiece of ancient literature. This title presents the Epic to the general reader in a clear narrative.Table of ContentsA note to the reader; A note on the translation; Introduction; The epic of Gilgamesh; Appendixes.

    £11.39

  • Wildside Press A Gent from Bear Creek and Other Tales

    15 in stock

    15 in stock

    £22.50

  • 15 in stock

    £17.05

  • Northwestern University Press Billy Budd Scholarly 11 Melville

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisAs a whole, the Northwestern-Newberry Edition of The Writings of Herman Melville, now complete in fifteen volumes, offers for the first time the total body of Melville's extant writings in a critical text, faithful to his intentions.

    1 in stock

    £41.25

  • The Desert and Its Seed

    New Directions Publishing Corporation The Desert and Its Seed

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisAn undiscovered modern Argentinian classic, based on the tragic lives of the renowned Raúl Barón Biza (a wealthy politician and notorious writer) and his wife Rosa Clotilde SabattiniTrade Review"A marvel." -- Will Noah - 4Columns"A provocative, meticulous novel that’s both utterly repulsive and morbidly fascinating." -- Booklist"Elegant prose." -- Publisher Weekly"The Desert and Its Seed chronicles the aftermath of an attack identical to the one that Baron Biza's father perpetrated against his mother. Baron Biza maintains [a] mixture of unflinching scrutiny and cool lyricism through the novel. It feels strikingly of the moment, as a resurgent feminist movement draws attention to the wide scope of misogyny." -- Alejandro Chacoff - The New Yorker"An emotionally (and physically) harrowing account of isolation, violence, and hypocrisy." -- Tobias Carroll - Words Without Borders"A cult masterpiece. The author has been compared to Joyce and Proust." -- Enrique Vila-Matas"Grips and perturbs the reader simultaneously." -- Les Monde des Livres"A great novel." -- Alejandro Zambra"A sublime explosion that results from an unpredictable art." -- El Pais"An Argentinian masterpiece." -- La Stampa

    15 in stock

    £12.34

  • A Childs Christmas in Wales

    New Directions Publishing Corporation A Childs Christmas in Wales

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe classic Christmas tale, with beautiful new illustrationsTrade Review"A merrier and more pungent celebration of the season for family reading aloud has not been written in our time." -- The Nation"Enchanting." -- Chicago Tribune"Surely this Christmas story ranks among the great experiences of the language." -- Harper’s Magazine"The language is enchanting and the poetry shines with an unearthly radiance." -- The New York Times

    10 in stock

    £8.99

  • The Lost Writings

    New Directions Publishing Corporation The Lost Writings

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA windfall for every reader: a trove of marvelous impossible-to-find Kafka stories in a masterful new translation by Michael HofmannTrade Review"Kafka himself stays well enough afloat. Even when he fumbles, he never falls wholly flat: at his worst, he is provocative yet provisional. But at his best, he is hilarious and mordant, mired in the impossibilities that he could neither live with nor without." -- Becca Rothfeld - Bookforum"This delightful collection features dozens of untitled fragments, false starts, and unfinished work by Kafka, found and chosen by biographer Stach...Opening sentences such as “I was allowed to set foot in a strange garden” and “The city resembles the sun,” make the reader’s pulse heighten with the thrill of entering the space of great literature. This offers precisely the kind of fare Kafka enthusiasts would hope for from the legendary writer’s archives. " -- Publishers Weekly"They have been translated by polyphonic, wizardly Michael Hofmann, who has made of Kafka a marvelous, often very humorous writer of eccentric English prose." -- Reading in Translation"These marks make visible the fourth wall that is implicit in each work Kafka left in some way unfinished, and even in those whose publication he permitted. It’s not only the characters, but Kafka himself who could find no way out. The Lost Writings helps us linger with him, in his impassable doorways." -- Nathan Goldman - The Baffler"I think of a Kafka story as a perfect work of literary art, as approachable as it is strange, and as strange as it is approachable." -- Michael Hofmann"Kafka is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him." -- Vladimir Nabokov"If the mundane is, for Kafka, the domain of improbability and impossibility—wherein even the simplest of gestures cannot be guaranteed—the extraordinary is evoked with an air of sheer certitude." -- Ari Linden - Public Books

    1 in stock

    £14.24

  • New Directions Publishing Corporation Mazurka for Two Dead Men

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisA New York Times Best Book of the Year Nobel Prize Laureate Trade Review"Cela never forgets that the mazurka is a dance. He writes with gusto about that fundamental two-step of human existence: sex and death." -- Los Angeles Times"The definitive novel of how the Spanish Civil War was actually experienced by ordinary people." -- Newsday"If there is any Spanish novelist who deserves the Nobel Prize on the merit of narrative experimentation alone, it is without a doubt Camilo José Cela." -- Miguel Ugarte - The Nation"His most mesmerizing fiction, about life during the first four decades of the twentieth century, a life so brutal that the Spanish Civil War, when it occurs, seems a mere continuation of the ordinary. A fiendishly haunting story." -- The New York Times"Cela is the Goya of Franco’s Spain." -- Paul West"There is a secret slot for Cela at his best, as one of the great prose stylists, plural, of Spain—a man dangerously like us." -- Roberto Bolaño

    10 in stock

    £14.24

  • Michael Kohlhaas

    New Directions Publishing Corporation Michael Kohlhaas

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisAn extraordinary masterpiece of German literature, now in a gripping new English translation Trade Review"Kleist’s two abiding concerns, politics and metaphysics, come together powerfully in Michael Kohlhaas, his longest and best-known narrative, which now appears in a lively new translation by Michael Hofmann." -- Ratik Asokan - Bookforum"It is this critical combination of fiction and philosophy that accounts for Kleist’s enduring originality and Michael Kohlhaas’s appeal to writers like Walser and Kafka. Despite the novella being set amid the tumult of the German Reformation, Kleist’s portrait of a man ‘in the Hell of unsatisfied vengeance’, beset on all sides by bureaucratic obstacles and governmental corruption, possesses a stubborn timelessness." -- Literary Review"The most inscrutable of all Kleist's works, newly translated by the incomparable Michael Hofmann. Set in the sixteenth century, the book follows its namesake, a petty horse trader who grows enraged when a nobleman subjects him to a minor injustice. Kleist's sentences, hypnotic and exquisitely controlled, span entire pages, rippling into ever wider and ever dreamier rings." -- Becca Rothfeld - The Baffler"Kleist is a giant, Cervantes's heir, and a one-man avant-garde of the modern German novel." -- The Guardian"Heinrich von Kleist is one of the great neglected figures of European literature. His work is at once tragic, grotesque, hectic, tender, hilarious and heartbroken, a powerful current in that underground of European literature that includes Holderlin, Buchner, Diderot, Kafka, Rilke, Witold Gombrowiez, Thomas Bernhard, Paul Celan, Samuel Beckett, upon many of whom Kleist had a direct influence. His work is peculiarly apt for our fractured times, and speaks in a voice which, despite the occasional High Romantic inflection, sounds startlingly modern." -- John Banville - The Independent"Michael Kohlhaas could be called a pathology of obsession, or a juridical riddle, or even a kind of magnificent taunt, though none of these is right, or right enough. One must merely read it, and then read it again, staggered by its sheer acceleration, its furious savagery, its vertiginous authority, its exquisite prolongment of closure as event follows improbable event. Kohlhaas is one of literature’s eternal characters because he outpaces any interpretive framework. His indomitable reality exceeds our own." -- Dustin Illingworth - The New Yorker"A masterwork—at once a savage indictment of a corrupt legal system and an object lesson in the ways that all-out combat can ignite from the most picayune personal slights. In Michael Hofmann, whose own writing style is frenetic and steeply erudite, the novella may have found the perfect translator. Absurdities compound with a devil’s logic that presages Kafka (who adored the book)." -- Sam Sacks - Wall Street Journal"Kleist is a great master. He wrote a kind of chronicle fiction which to this day dazzles me as no other." -- E. L. Doctorow"Kleist tells you what sort of people his characters are—often impetuous, wrongheaded, overly emotional, but essentially good at heart—and lets them run around the narrative at the speed of windup toys. He has no time for their motives, nor do they, as they struggle, like the reader, to keep up with the pace at which one surprise follows another." -- Francine Prose"His sentences are remarkable—great hatchet-blows of thought, an implacable narrative speed, a pulverizing sense of inevitability. No wonder Kafka liked him so much…" -- Paul Auster"Our sort is nothing compared to Kleist." -- Rainer Maria Rilke"Michael Kohlhaas: a story about bravery and its twin, stupidity." -- Roberto Bolaño"What revolted the mature Goethe in the young Kleist, who submitted his works to the elder statesman ‘on the knees of his heart’—the morbid, the hysterical, the sense of the unhealthy, the enormous indulgence in suffering out of which Kleist’s plays and tales were mined—is just what we value today. Today Kleist gives pleasure, most of Goethe is a classroom bore." -- Susan Sontag"Perhaps the strongest of all German stories. Michael Kohlhaas seems to me to have a peculiar resonance to the present time, when apathy toward the law, callousness toward injustice, a limp acceptance of "the way things are" exercise a paralyzing influence all over the world. Kleist shows us, incidentally, with a superb, mordant humor, the predicament into which a society accustomed to constant abuse of the law is thrown by a man who refuses to put up with such abuse; how his associates gradually withdraw from the doltish robber baron who created the whole mess—with whom they would have continued to get along easily had it not been for the unpleasant consequences of his insolent act... We are filled with anxiety and terror, shudder in the face of mystery, doubt in the powers of reason, and, indeed, in the power of God himself—all our 'affects are confounded.' Kleist knows how to put us on the rack and—such is his triumph as an artist—succeeds in making us thank him for that torture." -- Thomas Mann"Sometimes you find a brother, and you instantly know that you are no longer alone. I experienced this with Kleist." -- Werner Herzog"I did not write to you last night, it got too late because of Michael Kohlhaas (have you read it? If not, don’t! I shall read it to you!); apart from a short section which I had read the day before, I finished it in one sitting. Probably for the tenth time. This is a story I read with true piety; it carries me along waves of wonder." -- Franz Kafka

    Out of stock

    £11.39

  • Sevastopol

    New Directions Publishing Corporation Sevastopol

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisThree subtly connected stories converge in this chimerical debut, showcasing a powerful new Brazilian voiceTrade Review"Like the writers I most admire, Fraia sets for himself the hardest and most respectable task a writer can face: unraveling the mystery without revealing the secret." -- Javier Montes"A literary jewel." -- Fernanda Torres"Three stories track the wanderings of contemporary Brazilians in Fraia’s subtle and melancholy English-language debut, a collection inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s Sevastopol Sketches." -- Publishers Weekly"With deft precision, Fraia bares his characters just enough to reveal only these stories—nothing is extraneous." -- Kirkus"A truly beautiful book that is hard to describe without using words like precision, subtlety and, mostly, wisdom." -- Alejandro Zambra"These tales don’t operate the way most tales do; they adhere to their own separate sense of languid time." -- Tope Folarin - Vulture"As Sevastopol masterfully demonstrates, all one can do against time’s attrition is organize the losses into a story of the self." -- Marshall Shord - Southwest Review"Quite excellent." -- Erin Bloom - Full Stop"A vibe is, by definition, inexplicable. To say Sevastopol’s vibe is a bit gloomy, desolate, styled in a color palette that includes grays, greens, and violets, is both true and inexact. The vibe accumulates over time and amounts to something. But exactly what remains evasive, thrillingly open-ended." -- Melanie Broder - Public Books

    10 in stock

    £11.39

  • Baron Bagge

    New Directions Publishing Corporation Baron Bagge

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis astonishing short novel concerns the unfathomable, otherworldly experiences of an aristocratic young calvary officer in WWITrade Review"[For I Was Jack Mortimer] Brilliant, extra stylish, excellently written and fearsomely gripping." -- The Times (UK)"A rare and special pleasure—your Baron Bagge is a masterpiece! It is positively magical the way dream and reality glide seamlessly into one another, creating a realm of visionary luminescence, a visual plenitude whose color derives from fever and coursing blood: in this flawless chef d’oeuvre, every word and every sentence rests lightly right where it belongs. Truly you wrote this unforgettable novella in a state of grace" -- Stefan Zweig, in a letter to Lernet-Holenia, from the Afterword"But nowhere, as often as he has dealt with it, has this walk to ‘that unknown country from which no wanderer returns’ been traced with such visual power, vividness and dream fantasy as in Baron Bagge, the most beautiful novel written by Alexander Lernet-Holenia." -- Hilde Spiel"Fog-of-war tales are always abundant, but this one conjures a unique spell. An unsettling tale of war trauma, cleanly and uniquely told." -- Kirkus Reviews"A pupil of Rilke, admired by Borges, Lernet-Holenia has a literary reputation as a sort of continental necromancer, a conductor of the underworldly and oneiric, uprooting tangled lineages and raising the closeted skeletons of guilty nations." -- Trevor Quirk - Bookforum

    10 in stock

    £10.44

  • The Wings of the Dove

    Random House USA Inc The Wings of the Dove

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisSelected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all timeSet amid the splendor of London drawing rooms and gilded Venetian palazzos, The Wings of the Dove is the story of Milly Theale, a naïve, doomed American heiress, and a pair of lovers, Kate Croy and Merton Densher, who conspire to obtain her fortune. In this witty tragedy of treachery, self-deception, and betrayal, Henry James weaves together three ill-fated and wholly human destinies unexpectedly linked by desire, greed, and salvation. As Amy Bloom writes in her Introduction, “The Wings of the Dove is a novel of intimacy. . . . [James] gives us passion, he gives us love in its terrible and enchanting forms.”

    10 in stock

    £11.35

  • Random House Publishing Group Life Death Of Harriett Frean 20th Century Rediscoveries

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis“In a few short pages,” writes Francine Prose in her Introduction, “May Sinclair succeeds in rendering the oppressive weight and strength of the chains of family love.” Young Harriett Frean is taught that “behaving beautifully” is paramount, and she becomes a self-sacrificing woman whose choices prove devastating to herself and to those who love her most. An early pioneer ofstream-of-consciousness writing, Sinclair employs the technique brilliantly in this finely crafted psychological novel. Evoking the style and depth of her contemporaries Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence, Sinclair’s haunting narrative also reflects her keen interest in the theories of Jung and Freud. The text of this Modern Library 20th Century Rediscovery was set from the first American edition of 1922.

    15 in stock

    £9.99

  • The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

    MP-FLO Uni Press of Florida The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisLaurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy is narrated by the title character in a series of digressions and interruptions that purportedly show the ""life and opinions"" – part of the novel's full title – of Tristram.

    1 in stock

    £56.70

  • Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy Gentleman

    MP-FLO Uni Press of Florida Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy Gentleman

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisFilled with thought-provoking ideas and marked by an open, conversational writing style, Tristram Shandy: A Book for Free Spirits is an adroit guide to understanding the aims and achievements of Sterne's masterpiece and to fully appreciating its lessons for contemporary times.

    1 in stock

    £48.60

  • The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy Gentle

    MP-FLO Uni Press of Florida The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy Gentle

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisAs its title suggests, this book is ostensibly Tristram's narration of his life story. But it is one of the central jokes of the novel that he cannot explain anything simply, that he must make explanatory diversions to add context and colour to his tale, to the extent that Tristram's own birth is not even reached until Volume III.

    1 in stock

    £43.22

  • LUP - University of Georgia Press The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis edition of Smollett's classic features a comprehensive introduction, exhaustive textual editing, and detailed notes that cite passages from Smollett's non-fictional works and the works of his contemporaries to analyse the mass of allusions and references in the novel.

    15 in stock

    £55.11

  • Josef Weinberger Plays The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £10.44

  • Youth and Other Stories SHAPS Library of

    University of Hawai'i Press Youth and Other Stories SHAPS Library of

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £32.76

  • Portavoz Progreso del Peregrino Ilustrado El

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    3 in stock

    £8.98

  • 15 in stock

    £24.27

  • Histoire de Calejava Exeter French Texts

    University of Exeter Press Histoire de Calejava Exeter French Texts

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisAn eighteenth-century work considered historically significant as it depicts 'for the first time, a religious system which is unequivocally deistic.'This is a volume in the Exeter French Texts series. The text, introduction and essential notes are all in French.Trade Review Table of Contents

    Out of stock

    £999.99

  • Contes Americains LAbenaki Zimeo Les Deux Amis

    University of Exeter Press Contes Americains LAbenaki Zimeo Les Deux Amis

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisThese three tales, unpublished for over a century (and in one case for nearly two centuries), are a fictional exploration of Otherness and the intercultural set in the New World, either among native Americans (Abenakis, Iroquois) or runaway slaves in Jamaica befriended by Quakers.Trade Review 'A worthwhile addition to this useful series.' (Modern Language Review, Issue 95 no. 2, 2000) Table of ContentsFrontispice: "Titre-planche" du Traite de la couleur de la peau humaine de Claude-Nicolas Le Cat, Amsterdam, 1765 Introduction Portrait (anonyme) de Saint-Lambert L'Abenaki Carte de l'Amerique septentrionale, 1743 Zimeo Les Deux Amis: conte iroquois Chutes du Niagara, Hennepin, 1698, Davies, 1768 Poemes en prose Un ecrivain genereux Note technique Bibliographie selective Dessin de Pessin Contes Americains; L'Abenkai Zimeo Les Deux Amis: Conte Iroquois Annexes A Commentaire sur le frontispice B Extraits des Incas de Marmontel C Note de Saint-Lambert a un vers des Saisons D Saint-Lambert, Reflexions sur... l'etat des Negres E Extraits des Lettres iroquoises de Maubert de Gouvest F Memoire (anonyme) sur les Iroquois suivi d'extraits du journal de Bougainville G Preceptes de Saint-Lambert sur l'amitie

    3 in stock

    £30.10

  • Little, Brown Book Group Pilgrimage Four Virago Modern Classics

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis''Pilgrimage'' was the first expression in English of what it is to be called ''stream of conciousness'' technique, predating the work of both Joyce and Woolf, echoing that of Proust with whom Dorothy Richardson stands as one of the great innovatory figures of our time. These four volumes record in detail the life of Miriram Henderson. Through her experience - personal, spiritual, intellectual - Dorothy Richardson explores intensely what it means to be a woman, presenting feminine conciousness with a new voice, a new identity.Trade ReviewThere is no one word, such as romance or realism, to cover, even roughly, the works of Miss Dorothy Richardson. The chief characteristic is one we for which we still seek a name. She has invented a sentence we might call the pyshcological sentece of the feminine gender... proving that the novel is not hung on a nail festooned with glory, but, on the contrary, walks the high road, alive and alert, and brushes shoulders with real men and women * Virgina Woolf *One of the real achievements of our time... Miss Richardson has achieved a miracle of performance * Rebecca West *

    15 in stock

    £25.50

  • Little, Brown Book Group The Crowded Street Virago Modern Classics

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis''They promise us all sorts of things,'' she said, ''happiness, success, adventure - don''t you know? Then suddenly we find ourselves left alone in a dull crowded street with no one caring and our lives unneeded, and all the fine things that we meant to do, like toys that a child has laid aside . . . ''This is the story of Muriel Hammond, at twenty living within the suffocating confines of Edwardian middle-class society in Marshington, a Yorkshire village. A career is forbidden to her. Pretty, but not pretty enough, she fails to achieve the one thing required of her - to find a suitable husband. Then comes the First World War, a watershed which tragically revolutionises the lives of her generation. But for Muriel it offers work, friendship, freedom, and one last chance to find a special kind of happiness . . .Winifred Holtby (1891-1935), novelist, journalist and critic, was born at Rudstone, Yorkshire. With the exception of South Riding, this is her mos

    Out of stock

    £999.99

  • Little, Brown Book Group Treasure Hunt Virago Modern Classics

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisBy the author of Loving and Giving. Sir Roderick's legacy to the younger generation is a host of debts. To the outrage of their elders, Philip and Veronica decide to do the unspeakable and take in paying guests.Trade ReviewShe was . . . marvellous * Guardian *Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection . . . its human relationships tortured like bonsai by good form, its open-hearted, sensual passion for horses, dogs and landscape * Evening Standard *I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved -- Diana AthillA writer of genius * Wall Street Journal *Take any book by Molly Keane and I guarantee you will be delighted, warmed and sustained with pleasure . . . she is a born writer -- Dirk Bogarde

    15 in stock

    £20.54

  • Poison for Breakfast

    Oneworld Publications Poison for Breakfast

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA brand-new book from the bestselling author of A Series of Unfortunate Events – a cautionary tale about his own demise. For curious children and adults alike.Trade Review‘Reading this little book feels like opening a window to let in air and light. It’s filled with curious information and powerful feelings, and is humorous, sad, meditative and rapturous by turns – with ambiguous questions to be mulled and savoured.’ -- Guardian‘A wittily macabre treatise about philosophy, creativity, connectivity, gratitude and bravely facing one’s demise while living as well as possible in the meantime.’ -- Financial Times‘a genial, discursive ramble of a book… The tone throughout is Vonnegutian – bewildered, amused, quizzical – and if the book fails to deliver any startling philosophical breakthrough, that’s rather the point, since it’s more about the journey than the destination. A bit like life, then.’ -- James Lovegrove * FT *‘Poison for Breakfast is a strange, beguiling, beautiful book. No one else could have written it, or anything even a little like it. If Lemony Snicket didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him.’ -- Anthony McGowan, author of Lark‘Poison for Breakfast is a book to savour. Every sentence is perfectly balanced to surprise, delight, intrigue and, yes, bewilder the reader. A book about impending death which captures the simple, but profound, joys of being alive. I am a long-time Lemony Snicket fan and this is his best yet.’ -- Sarah Hagger-Holt, author of Nothing Ever Happens Here‘Witty, clever and unsettling – it’s Lemony Snicket at his finest, and bright minds that love dark delights will gobble it right up.’ -- Rachel Delahaye, author of Mort the Meek‘Poison for Breakfast is a murder mystery like no other, which will bewilder and beguile both children and adults alike. It’ll have you questioning everything – from whether or not you can outrun death, to even bigger questions such as whether or not you are choosing the most respectable method to cook your eggs each morning.’ -- Hana Tooke, author of The Unadoptables‘Full of Snickety goodness, philosophical acrobatics and wry wit. A veritable treasure trove for fans of A Series of Unfortunate Events.’ -- Gareth Osborne, Bath Children's Novel Award Winner‘Poison for Breakfast is a delicious read with sentences to savour and philosophical questions to keep you awake long past midnight snack-time... It’s diabolically good.’ -- Jack Meggitt-Phillips, author of The Beast and the Bethany‘Fans who have grown up with his novels may appreciate the opportunity to explore [Lemony Snicket’s] mind.’ -- Books for Keeps

    1 in stock

    £10.44

  • Ane Satyre of The Thrie Estaitis

    Canongate Books Ane Satyre of The Thrie Estaitis

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisEdited and introduced by Roderick Lyall

    1 in stock

    £13.60

  • John Wiley & Sons Bacchae

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £25.21

  • The Golden Ass

    Hackett Publishing Co, Inc The Golden Ass

    7 in stock

    Book Synopsis Relihan uses alliteration and assonance, rhythm and rhyme, the occasional archaism, the rare neologism, and devices of punctuation and typography, to create a sparkling, luxurious, and readable translation that reproduces something of the linguistic and comic effects of the original Latin. The general Introduction is a masterpiece of clarity, orienting the reader in matters of authorship, narration, genre, religion, structure and style. A generous and browsable index, select bibliography, and maps are included. Trade ReviewRelihan is an American Euphues. I like everything about this edition from the title page to the index. The translation is magnificent. --Stanley Lombardo, Department of Classics, University of KansasThis is easily the best English translation of The Golden Ass. I find that undergraduates with little or no knowledge of classical literature or the Greco-Roman world can readily read and enjoy it--as accessible as Graves or Ruden, but much more true to Apuleius's text and sensibility. Relihan's introduction is a great distillation of scholarly commentary--superb in all aspects. --Robin Walz, University of Alaska SoutheastI've been teaching Apuleius' The Golden Ass off and on for thirty years, first at Dartmouth College and now at Carleton College. Our problem--that shared by all of us who treasure this great romance or novel from late antiquity--has always been translations of The Golden Ass. There's nothing terribly wrong with previous translations; but none captures the wit and candor of Apuleius until now. This term, I used the new translation by Joel Relihan in a Carleton course and the results were beyond my very lofty expectations: students, for the first time, had something close to direct access to Apuleius' prose and they responded with an enthusiasm I've never encountered before. Relihan has given Apuleius a voice in English as never before, and my students and I laughed out loud, often, in reading passages aloud, and we felt the power of Apuleius' wit and open vulgarity. Relihan's translation will be one that many of us will use again and again in the years and decades ahead. -—Robert A. Oden, Jr., Professor of Religion, President of Carleton CollegeTable of ContentsIntroduction; A Traveller's Tale; Hospitality in Hypata; The Festival of Laughter; A Den of Thieves; Psyche Lost; Psyche Regained; Charite Regained; Charite Lost; Miller's' Tales; Wicked, Wicked Women; Queen Isis; Index.

    7 in stock

    £14.24

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