ELT & Literary Studies Books

Book Synopsis*A TIME, New Yorker, Financial Times and History Today Book of the Year*''Hilarious'' Sam Leith''I loved this book'' Susie Dent''''Witty and affectionate'' Lynne TrussPerfect for book lovers, a delightful history of the wonders to be found in the humble book indexMost of us give little thought to the back of the book - it''s just where you go to look things up. But here, hiding in plain sight, is an unlikely realm of ambition and obsession, sparring and politicking, pleasure and play. Here we might find Butchers, to be avoided, or Cows that sh-te Fire, or even catch Calvin in his chamber with a Nonne. This is the secret world of the index: an unsung but extraordinary everyday tool, with an illustrious but little-known past. Here, for the first time, its story is told. Charting its curious path from the monasteries and universities of thirteenth-century Europe tTrade ReviewFascinating * Financial Times *Witty and wide-ranging...adventurous... as if academic research were as revved-up as a Formula One race -- Peter Conrad * Observer *Masterful * Prospect *Hilarious -- Sam Leith * UnHerd *Exceptionally good ... I learned a huge amount from this wry, clever, diverting book * Scotsman *Brilliant, fascinating...a binge-worthy book -- Greg JennerI loved this book - the story of the index turns out to be a true adventure -- Susie Dent (on Twitter)Charming ... Indexes are to books as menus are to meals: often the best bit * Economist *Illuminating ... A seemingly niche and esoteric subject, the index becomes, in Duncan's hands, a minor miracle. Index, A History of the is not only about books, printing, and the necessity of consistent page-numbering ... but about the nature of reading and about how we understand, categorise, and engage with the world -- Kate Wiles * History Today *What a surprise to discover that the plain and humble index has such an intricate and rollicking history! Dennis Duncan gives us a learned grand tour from ancient times to the almost present in the design and uses - and cunning abuses - of what is still the most sophisticated search tool ever devised. Instruction, passim! Entertainment, idem! -- David Bellos * author of Is That a Fish in Your Ear? *Dennis Duncan has done a great service to all bibliophiles by writing this scholarly, witty and affectionate history. By rights "Books, love of" ought to have a page-long entry in the index. -- Lynne Truss * author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves *Entrancing ... Seldom is a short book so wide-ranging or so original in its subject. Every page has things I didn't know, or hardly realised I knew from a lifetime of looking things up. I want to stop people at random and tell them new facts I've found out. Master the use of the index and you have access to all knowledge. -- Christopher de Hamel * author of Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts *Packed with easy wit and erudition ... Dennis Duncan gives us not only a history of the index, but an essay on human folly ... Some indexes, says Duncan, are miniature narratives, while others are literary performances, and he provides glorious examples of both. Indexes can also be a form of mockery or satire, and they make excellent objects of disdain ... A terrifically rewarding and timely book * The Oldie *Index, A History of the focuses on the ultimate paratext - the index, an ancient information organiser and search tool that is still invaluable in the age of social media ... Its possibilities fascinated writers including Lewis Carrol, JG Ballard and Vladamir Nabokov ... Duncan's brilliant work makes us realise that the back of the book can be as important as the front * The Lady *To me, a truly great history book is one that changes something in the way in which I see the world Dennis Duncan's Index, A History of the certainly achieved that. Who realised there was such a fascinating, funny and delightful history behind the humble index? -- Katja Hoyer * History Today – Books of the Year *Index, A History of the manages to be both a work of immense erudition and perfect Sunday afternoon reading -- Joseph Hone * History Today – Books of the Year *Smart, playful....Duncan has written such a generous book, attentive to the varieties of the reading experience -- Jennifer Szalai * New York Times *Gracefully learned, often witty and enlightening -- Ben Yagoda * Wall Street Journal *Dennis Duncan's history - from Socrates to software - along with Paula Clarke Bain's peerless index, is witty and personable throughout, and also serves as a sneak attack on the search engine. It's safe to say that you will never take an index for granted again -- Mary Norris, author of Between You & Me and Greek to MeSparkles with geeky wit and shines with an infectious enthusiasm...Always erudite, frequently funny, and often surprising - a treat for lovers of the book qua book * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *Backmatter has never enjoyed such a spotlight; sure to amuse bibliophiles and casual readers alike * Library Journal (starred review) *Duncan proves an amiable companion on what his subtitle aptly refers to as a 'bookish adventure'...[U]seful as an introduction to book history in general as well as indexes in particular -- James Waddell * Times Literary Supplement *An adventure, and 'bookish' in the most appealing sense.... From ancient Egypt to Silicon Valley, Duncan is an ideal tour guide: witty, engaging, knowledgeable and a fount of diverting anecdotes -- Steven Moore * Washington Post *A learned and playful study, by British academic Dennis Duncan, of a textual machinery so successful it's become almost invisible -- Brian Dillon * 4Columns *A decidedly fun history.... Dennis Duncan's enthusiasm for the subject matter shines through the many witticisms and illustrations as he shows how something so seemingly small has been so vital to western literature -- Erica Ezeifedi * BookRiot *After reading Dennis Duncan's delightful history of the tool, you'll never forget to check the index again ... indexes have shaped the way we communicate and engage with power. They might even have saved lives along the way * TIME Magazine *Book of the Year* *Clever, sprightly ... Duncan is a brilliantly illuminating and wide-ranging guide -- Fara Dabhoiwala * New York Review of Books *Brilliant, fascinating...a binge-worthy book -- Greg Jenner

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Book Synopsis''Superb, beautifully written, touching and occasionally very funny'' Andrew RobertsDavid Gilmour''s superb biography of Rudyard Kipling is the first to show how the life and work of the great writer mirrored the trajectory of the British Empire, from its zenith to its final decades. His famous poem ''Recessional'' celebrated Queen Victoria''s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, but his last poems warned of the dangers of Nazism, and in those intervening years Kipling, himself an icon of the Empire, was transformed from an apostle of success to a prophet of national decline. As Gilmour makes clear, Kipling''s mysterious stories and poetry deeply influenced the way his readers saw both themselves and the British Empire, and they continue to challenge us today.''A fine, fair and generous work ... Gilmour''s celebrated life of Curzon demonstrated his mastery of imperial nuance and esoteric character, and he brings to this book just the right combination of empathy,Trade ReviewAn enthralling biography of a mind ... essential reading for anyone who cares about how a writer finds, and passionately lives, his subject -- Ruth Padel * Daily Telegraph *The best Kipling biogaphy yet written ... Gilmour's account of this driven man shines with intelligence -- J. B. Pick * Scotsman *A fine, fair and generous work ... Gilmour's celebrated life of Curzon demonstrated his mastery of imperial nuance and esoteric character, and he brings to this book just the right combination of empathy, distaste and fastidious detachment -- Jan Morris * New Statesman *

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Book Synopsis''A fascinating journey into our relationship with the physical book...I lost count of the times I exclaimed with delight when I read a nugget of information I hadn''t encountered before'' Val McDermid, The TimesMost of what we say about books is really about the words inside them: the rosy nostalgic glow for childhood reading, the lifetime companionship of a much-loved novel. But books are things as well as words, objects in our lives as well as worlds in our heads. And just as we crack their spines, loosen their leaves and write in their margins, so they disrupt and disorder us in turn. All books are, as Stephen King put it, ''a uniquely portable magic''. Here, Emma Smith shows us why.Portable Magic unfurls an exciting and iconoclastic new story of the book in human hands, exploring when, why and how it acquired its particular hold over us. Gathering together a millennium''s worth of pivotal encounters with volumes big and small, Smith reveals Trade ReviewIf you love books, you'll love Portable Magic -- Val McDermidFor many of us, books are the life we chose without thinking about it too much. Emma Smith's terrifically knowledgeable and thoughtful Portable Magic helps us understand every aspect of what our beloved books stand for. I for one am very grateful. What a delight this book is. -- Lynne TrussIrresistibly fascinating -- John CareyBrilliant... amusing, darkly sobering, and consistently fascinating ... a combination of deep scholarship and down-to-earth wit * Telegraph *Fun, playful, learned and accessible... Smith is herself a magical writer * BBC History Magazine *Smith's genius is to question as well as to value and register every contradiction - to make you, the reader, think without even suspecting that you are ... for communicating complex material in conversational, occasionally irreverent, prose -- Lucasta Miller * The Critic *Joyous ... thrilling ... A brilliantly written account of the book-as-material-object, and the slightly seedy pleasures of "bookhood" -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian (Book of the Week) *Wildly entertaining ... This fascinating, slyly amusing book carries an undertow of personal affection for the curious, rectangular, multileaved objects with which we're so familiar * Sunday Times *Smith's enchanting book sparkles with gems of trivia that often conceal deeper truths about the evolution of reading and publishing. Fascinating, enlightening, funny and touching, this is indeed portable magic * Sydney Morning Herald *Emma Smith's history of the physical book is a thing to cherish ... witty and ingenious ... Smith reads with all her senses alert ... A wise, funny, endearingly personal book -- Peter Conrad * Observer *Anyone who's ever enjoyed the feel or indeed smell of a book should read Emma Smith's delightful and informative Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers -- Lucasta Miller * Spectator Books of the Year *From bullet-stopping Bibles to tomes bound in human skin, Smith's history of books revels in their magic and malignity. It skewers our faith in the written word yet repays it handsomely * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisVirgil''s masterpiece and one of the greatest works in all of literature, now in a beautiful clothbound edition designed by Coralie Bickford-SmithVirgil''s Aeneid, inspired by Homer and the inspiration for Dante and Milton, is an immortal poem that sits at the heart of Western life and culture. Virgil took as his hero Aeneas, legendary survivor of the fall of Troy and father of the Roman race. In telling a story of dispossession and defeat, love and war, he portrayed human life in all its nobility and suffering, in its physicality and its mystery.Trade Review"A new and noble standard bearer . . . There's a capriciousness to Fagles's line well suited to this vast story's ebb and flow." -The New York Times Book Review (front page review) "Fagles's new version of Virgil's epic delicately melds the stately rhythms of the original to a contemporary cadence. . . . He illuminates the poem's Homeric echoes while remaining faithful to Virgil's distinctive voice." -The New Yorker "Robert Fagles gives the full range of Virgil's drama, grandeur, and pathos in vigorous, supple modern English. It is fitting that one of the great translators of The Iliad and The Odyssey in our times should also emerge as a surpassing translator of The Aeneid." -J. M. Coetzee

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Book SynopsisA thrilling study of the greatest of all epic poems, by one of the world''s leading classicistsHomer''s Iliad is the famous epic poem set among the tales of Troy. Its subject is the anger of the hero Achilles and its dreadful consequences for the warring Greeks and Trojans. It was composed more than 2,600 years ago, but still transfixes us with its tale of loss and battle, love and revenge, guided throughout by the active presence of the gods. Its beauty and profound bleakness are intensely moving but great questions remain: where, how and when it was composed and why it has such enduring power?In this compelling book Robin Lane Fox addresses these questions, drawing on a life-long love and engagement with the poem. He argues for a place, a date and a method for its composition, giving us a sense of alternative approaches and grounding his own in discoveries about long heroic poems composed elsewhere in the world, and the ever-growing evidence of archaeology.Unlike other books on the Iliad, this one combines the detailed expertise of a historian with the sensitivity of a teacher of it as poetry. Lane Fox goes on to consider hallmarks of the poem, its values, implicit and explicit, its characters, its women, its gods and even its horses. He argues repeatedly for its beautiful observation and addresses its parallel use of what is, to us, the natural world. Thousands of readers turn to the Iliad every year. In this superbly written and conceived tribute, Lane Fox expresses and amplifies what old and new readers can find in it. It is pervaded, he argues, by a poignant hardness which is not just a poetic trick. It is a deeply held view of the world.

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Book SynopsisFINALIST: 2022 PULITZER PRIZE IN BIOGRAPHYA NEW STATESMAN AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021''A revelation. Such a revolutionary literary discovery seems unlikely to be on offer again. It''s that good'' Sunday Times ''A masterpiece of literary biography. Zenith has produced a work in some ways as astonishing as those of Pessoa himself'' John Gray, New StatesmanFor many thousands of readers Fernando Pessoa''s The Book of Disquiet is almost a way of life. Ironic, haunting and melancholy, this completely unclassifiable work is the masterpiece of one of the twentieth century''s most enigmatic writers. Richard Zenith''s Pessoa at last allows us to understand this extraordinary figure. Some eighty-five years after his premature death in Lisbon, where he left over 25,000 manuscript sheets in a wooden trunk, Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) can now be celebrated as one of the great modTrade ReviewA masterpiece of literary biography ... a tour de force of cultural history. Zenith's achievement is extraordinary. By illuminating this elusive figure Zenith has produced a work in some ways as astonishing as those of Pessoa himself. -- John Gray * New Statesman *Mammoth, definitive and sublime. Zenith has written the only kind of biography truly permissible, an account of a life that plucks at the very borders and burdens of the notion of a self. * New York Times *A completely superb and magisterial life of Fernando Pessoa. Finally, this extraordinary poet gets the great biography he deserves. Unsurpassable. -- William BoydEven now, Fernando Pessoa remains one of the lesser-known of the truly great writers of the 20th century. This immense, magnificent biography is going to change that... here is a revelation: a modern master to rank alongside Joyce, Kafka, Beckett, say. Such a revolutionary literary discovery seems unlikely to be on offer again. It's that good. -- David Sexton * Sunday Times *Monumental ... To do justice to the magnitude and complexities of Pessoa Zenith, a translator and literary critic, spent more than a decade collating material. The result is a tour de force. -- Cláudia Pazos Alonso * Times Literary Supplement *Erudite, sensitive and entertaining, this multi-faceted portrait pays its giant homage to a man who wasn't there. -- Boyd Tonkin * Financial Times *Monumental ... Zenith brought to the task a depth of scholarship gained through more than 30 years of publishing, translating and promoting his subject's work; Pessoa, who had few intimates in life, is lucky to have found this posthumous friend ... Pessoa really did build an entire city. It was a city that needed a guide. Thanks to Zenith, it has one at last. -- Benjamin Moser * New York Times *A portrait with bags of personality ... Richard Zenith's massive biography of the Portuguese writer who constructed numerous identities captures his tragicomic oddity. -- Peter Conrad * Observer *A truly comprehensive representation of any one person is almost impossible. That very impossibility is largely what makes Richard Zenith's biography of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa so remarkable. -- Alberto Manguel * Literary Review *Ingenious ... with flashes of charm and wit. -- Stuart Kelly * The Spectator *A gloriously labyrinthine biography ... Zenith's dynamic prose, deep erudition, and incisive readings of Pessoa's poetry make for a meticulous portrait of one artist's brilliant and bewildering inner world. * Publishers Weekly *Finally! A brilliant biography that places Pessoa where he should have always belonged, with Joyce, Proust, and Musil - true giants, none of whom were Nobel laureates. -- André Aciman, author of CALL ME BY YOUR NAMEPessoa is a triumph of scholarship and verve that one cannot easily put down. -- Antonio Damasio, author of DESCARTES' ERRORRichard Zenith is his genius biographer who has given [Pessoa] fresh life. No one on earth knows more about Pessoa. With its historical sweep and novelistic execution, this biography will never be bested. -- William Giraldi, author of AMERICAN AUDACITYWhen you consider the fantastically vivid details of Fernando Pessoa's curious life contained in this biography, and the energetic and elegant quality of the writing, you might wonder if this book is actually a just discovered autobiography, written by one of Pessoa's heteronyms, 'Richard Zenith.' No one, it seems, could know so much or relate it so marvelously unless they had lived inside Pessoa's head. Zenith's Pessoa is magnificent. -- Forrest Gander, author of BE WITH

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Book SynopsisUlysses is one of the foundational texts of modern literature, yet has a reputation for complexity and controversy. In Ulysses Unbound, Joyce expert Terence Killeen untangles this seemingly knotty classic to reveal the wonders beneath, in a clear and comprehensive guide which will provide new and vital insights for everyone from students to specialists.In this new edition, published to celebrate the centenary of Ulysses'' first publication in 1922, Killeen seamlessly combines close literary analysis with a broad account of the novel''s fascinating history, from its writing and publication to its long contemporary afterlife. We get under the skin of the text to discover the joys of Joyce''s remarkable range of themes, styles and voices, as Killeen reanimates the real people who inspired many of the characters. Ulysses Unbound is an indispensable, illuminating and entertaining companion to one of the twentieth century''s great works of art.With a foreword by Colm TóibínTrade ReviewKilleen's impulse is to create a commentary on Ulysses that opens the book for anyone to read. He writes clearly; his companion to Ulysses makes the book easier to follow without simplifying anything. His book is not his own insistent interpretation of Ulysses; rather, it is a guide for others that is systematic and supremely helpful. Each reader will have different moments when Ulysses Unbound becomes essential ... it comes to our aid most practically and succinctly. -- Colm TóibínStriking a balance between adequate explication and merciful concision, Killeen's considered, low-key style has already proven illuminating for both academic and general readers. -- Emer Nolan * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisIn 1952 and 1953 as he wandered around America, Jack Kerouac jotted down spontaneous prose poems, or sketches as he called them, on small notebooks that he kept in his shirt pockets. The poems recount his travels—New York, North Carolina, Lowell (Massachusetts, Kerouac’s birthplace), San Francisco, Denver, Kansas, Mexico—observations, and meditations on art and life. The poems are often strung together so that over the course of several of them, a little story—or travelogue—appears, complete in itself. Published for the first time, Book of Sketches offers a luminous, intimate, and transcendental glimpse of one of the most original voices of the twentieth century at a key time in his literary and spiritual development.

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Book SynopsisA beautiful keepsake volume to accompany the beloved New York Times bestselling seriesOver the course of the bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series, readers have expressed a longing to visit Elm Creek Manor, meet the quilters themselves, and admire their beautiful creations. Jennifer Chiaverini’s An Elm Creek Quilts Companion is the next best thing to a guided tour. Inside, readers will discover a treasure trove of delights, including the Bergstrom family tree, character biographies, quilt block illustrations, full-color photographs of quilts featured in the novels, and “Behind the Scenes at Elm Creek Quilt Camp,” an exclusive short story inspired by questions from real readers. No Elm Creek Quilts fan will want to be without this indispensable guide to the cherished series.Trade ReviewPraise for Jennifer Chiaverini and the Elm Creek Quilts series “Chiaverini’s themes of love, loss, and healing will resonate with many, and her characters’ stories are inspiring.” —Publishers Weekly“Chiaverini has an impressive ability to bring a time and place alive.” —Romantic Times Book Reviews“Emotionally compelling.” —Chicago Tribune on Sonoma Rose“Jennifer Chiaverini has made quite a name for herself with her bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series. From the Civil War to the Roaring Twenties to contemporary settings, these novels have offered suspense, romance, and, at times, in-depth looks into the social, political, and cultural differences that helped shape a nation.” —BookPage “Chiaverini excels at weaving stories and at character development. We can relate to the residents of Elm Creek Valley because they remind us of folks we know—a cousin, an aunt, or a grandmother.” —Standard-Examiner (Utah)

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Book SynopsisBeginning in the late 1940's, American literature discovered a four-letter word, and the word was beat. This book collects the significant writings of the fellow members of the Beat Generation. In poetry, fiction, essays, and memoirs, it captures the triumphant rudeness, energy, and exhilaration of a movement that swept through American letters.Trade Review"A deft and definitive collection. It catches the flavor of playful, serious defiance of the whole generation." —Gary SnyderTable of ContentsThe Portable Beat ReaderIntroduction"Variations On A Generation"Part I"The Best Minds Of A Generation"East Coast BeatsEditor's Note1. Jack KerouacOn the Road (excerpt)The Subterraneans (excerpt)Mexico City Blues (excerpt)211th Chorus239th Chorus240th Chorus241st Chorus242nd Chorus"Essentials of Spontaneous Prose""Belief & Technique for Modern Prose2. Allen Ginsberg"Howl""Footnote to Howl""A Supermarket in California""Sunflower Sutra""America""Kaddish""Song""On Burroughs' Work"3. William BurroughsJunky (excerpt)The Yage Letters (excerpt)Naked Lunch (excerpt)"Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness"4. Herbert Huncke"Elsie John""Joey Martinez"5. John Clellon HolmesGo (excerpt)6. Carl SolomonMishaps, Perhaps (excerpt)7. Gregory Corso"I Am 25""The Mad Yak""Vision of Rotterdam""Bomb""Marriage""Variations on a Generation" (excerpt)Part 2"Heart Beat"Enter Neal CassadyEditor's Note1. Neal CassadyLetters to Jack Kerouac, 1947-19502. Jack KerouacLetter to Neal Cassady, early 19513. Neal CassadyThe First Third (excerpt)4. Jack KerouacVisions of Cody (excerpt)Part 3"Constantly Risking Absurdity"Some San Francisco Renaissance PoetsEditor's Note1. Kenneth Rexroth"Thou Shalt Not Kill""Poems from the Japanese""Rexroth: Shaker and Maker" by WilliamEverson2. Lawrence Ferlinghetti"Dog""Constantly Risking Absurdity""In Goya's greatest scenes . . .""One Thousand Fearful Words for Fidel Castro""Horn on Howl3. Michael McClure"Peyote Poem"Scratching the Beat Surface (excerpt)Includes Snyder's poem, "A Berry Feast," Whalen's poem, "Plus Ca Change..."McClure's poems, "Point Lobos: Animism" and "For the Death of 100 Whales"4. Gary Snyder"Mid-August at Sourdough Montain Lookout"Milton by Firelight""Riprap""Praise for Sick Women""Night Highway Ninety-nine""Toji""Higashi Hongwanji""Notes on the Religious Tendencies"5. Philip Whalen"Sourdough Mountain Lookout""A Dim View of Berkeley in the Spring""Prose Take-Out, Portland 13:ix:58"6. Philip Lamantia"High""The night is a space of white marble""I have given fair warning""There is this distance between me and what I see""Fud at Foster's"7. Lew Welch"Chicago Poem""The Basic Con""Taxi Suite—After Anacreon""Not Yet 40, My Beard Is Already White""The Image, as in a Hexagram""I Saw Myself"8. Bob Kaufman"Round About Midnight""Jazz Chick""On""O-Jazz-O"Part 4"A Few Blue Words To The Wise"Other Fellow TravelersEditor's Note1. Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)"In Memory of Radio""Way Out West""The Screamers"Letter About Kerouac's Prose2. Ray Bremser"Funny Lotus Blues..."3. Diane DiPrima"Three Laments""Song for Baby-O, Unborn""The Practice of Magical Evocation""Poetics""Brass Furnace Going Out"4. Bob Dylan"Blowin' in the Wind""The Times They Are A-Cahngin'""A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"Tarantula (excerpt)5. Brenda Frazer (Bonni Bremser)"Poem to Lee Forest"6. Tuli Kupferberg"Greenwich Village of My Dreams"1001 Ways to Beat the Draft (excerpt)7. Jack Micheline"Poet of the Streets"8. Frank O'Hara"Les Luths""Post the Lake Poets Ballad""Personal Poem""The Day Lady Died"9. Peter Orlovsky"Lepers Cry"10. Ed Sanders"Poem from Jail" (excerpt)"The Cutting Prow"11. Anne Waldman"Our Past"12. John Wieners"A poem for record players""A poem for tea heads""A poem for museum goers""A poem for the insane""Feminine Soliloquy""Children of the Working Class"Part 5"Tales of Beatnik Glory"Memoirs and Posthumous TributesEditor's Note1. Charles BukowskiNotes of a Dirty Old Man (excerpt)2. William Burroughs, Jr.Kentucky Ham (excerpt)3. Carolyn CassadyOff the Road (excerpt)4. Diane DiPrimaDinners and Nightmares (excerpt)5. Brenda Frazer (Bonnie Bremser)Troia: Mexican Memoirs (excerpt)6. Brion Gysin"The Beat Hotel, Paris" (excerpt)7. Joyce JohnsonMinor Characters (excerpt)8. Hettie JonesHow I Became Hettie Jones (excerpt)9. Jan KerouacBaby Driver (excerpt)10. Ken Kesey"The Day After Superman Died" (excerpt)11. Michael McClureThe Mad Cub (excerpt)12. Ed SandersTales of Beatnik Glory (excerpt)Part 6"The Unspeakable Visions Of The Individual"Later WorkEditor's Note1. William BurroughsNova Express (excerpt)2. Gregory Corso"Columbia U Poesy Reading—1975""The Whole Mess . . . Almost"3. Diane Di Prima"April Fool Birthday Poem for Grandpa"Loba: Parts I-VIII (excerpt)4. Lawrence Ferlinghetti"The Canticle of Jack Kerouac""Uses of Poetry""Short Story on a Painting of Gustav Klimt"5. Allen Ginsberg"First Party at Ken Kesey's""Wichita Vortex Sutra""Anti-Vietnam War Peace Mobilization""Mugging""Ode to Failure""White Shroud""Fourth Floor, Dawn, Up All Night"Writing Letters6. Michael McClure"Song (I Work with the Shape)""It's Nation Time""Watching the Stolen Rose""The Death of Kin Chuen Louie"7. Ed Saunders"Hymn to Archilochus""What Would Tom Paine Do?" (Song)8. Gary Snyder"Smokey the Bear Sutra""I Went into the Maverick Bar""Mother Earth: Her Whales""The Bath""Axe Handles""Pine Tree Tops"Appendix—Three Commentators1. Norman Mailer"The White Negro"2. Alan Watts"Beat Zen, Square Zen, and Zen"3. John Clellon Holmes"The Game of the Name" (excerpt)Books For Further ReadingIndex Of Authors And TitlesAcknowledgments

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Book SynopsisBrilliant English translation of beloved poems by Pablo Neruda, who is the subject of the film Neruda starring Gael García Bernal and directed by Pablo Larraín A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, with French flapsFirst published in 1924, Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada remains among Pablo Neruda’s most popular work. Daringly metaphorical and sensuous, this collection juxtaposes youthful passion with the desolation of grief. Drawn from the poet’s most intimate and personal associations, the poems combine eroticism and the natural world with the influence of expressionism and the genius of a master poet. This edition features the newly corrected original Spanish text, with masterly English translations by award-winning poet W. S. Merwin on facing pages.   •  Includes twelve sketches by Pablo Picasso    •  New introduction by Cristina García For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Book SynopsisInspired by the examples of his heroes Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Joshua Slocum, Jack London determined to sail around the world. In April 1907 he sailed from San Francisco in the forty-five-foot ketch Snark, with his wife, Charmian, a skeleton crew, and his writing to keep him company. Beset by seasickness and tropical disease, London wrote incessantly—not only his major autobiographical novel Martin Eden and numerous short stories, but also a series of sketches recording the voyage itself. These entertaining pieces, collected together into the book he called The Cruise of the Snark, reveal London’s indefatigable spirit and love of adventure at sea and among the Pacific islands. This edition also includes London's delightful sea pieces That Dead Men Rise Up Never and The Joy of Small-Boat Sailing.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more tha

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Book SynopsisA selection of The Bard's greatest writings edited by the great Shakespearean Stephen OrgelWilliam Shakespeare's plays revolutionized the English language and created some of the most important scenes in Western literature: Hamlet contemplating his mortality, Romeo romancing Juliet, Lear railing against his insanity into the storm, and King Henry V wandering among his soldiers on the eve of battle. With introductions and context from leading Shakespearean scholar Stephen Orgel, the essential works of the most important figure in English literature are collected here: nine complete plays, the most popular scenes and poems, as well as a glossary of 1,000 key words. With clear and authoritative texts from the Pelican Shakespeare series, this user-friendly edition will inspire students, thespians, poets, and general readers alike.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,7

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Book SynopsisAftab's life falls apart as he turns forty, his wife leaves him with their child. He escapes to his childhood town, hoping for a fresh start and a chance to reclaim lost love. Navtej Sarna's book explores missed opportunities and imperfect relationships with deep emotional insight.

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Book SynopsisA beautiful collector's edition of J. M. Coetzee's Nobel Prize lectureIn his acceptance speech for the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature, J. M. Coetzee delivered an intriguing and enigmatic short story, He and His Man. The story features Robinson Crusoe, long after his return from the island, reflecting on death and spectacle, writing and allegory, solitude and sociability, as he searches his mind for some true understanding of the man who writes of and for him. In the spare and powerful prose for which Coetzee is renowned, The Nobel Lecture in Literature, 2003 is a provocative testament to the uncompromising vision of one of the world's most profound writers.

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Book SynopsisArthur Miller’s penultimate play, Resurrection Blues, is a darkly comic satirical allegory that poses the question: What would happen if Christ were to appear in the world today? In an unidentified Latin American country, General Felix Barriaux has captured an elusive revolutionary leader. The rebel, known by various names, is rumored to have performed miracles throughout the countryside. The General plans to crucify the mysterious man, and the exclusive television rights to the twenty-four-hour reality-TV eventhave been sold to an American network for $25 million. An allegory that asserts the interconnectedness of our actions and each person’s culpability in world events, Resurrection Blues is a comedic and tragic satire of precarious morals in our media-saturated age.

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Book SynopsisContains twelve free-flowing, untitled poems which embrace almost every realm of experience.Trade Review"Whitman's best poems have that permanent quality of being freshly painted, of not being dulled by the varnish of the years."--Malcolm Cowley

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Book SynopsisThe Portable Edgar Allan Poe compiles Poe''s greatest writings: tales of fantasy, terror, death, revenge, murder, and mystery, including The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Amontillado, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue, the world''s first detective story. In addition, this volume offers letters, articles, criticism, visionary poetry, and a selection of random opinions on fancy and the imagination, music and poetry, intuition and sundry other topics.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning traTable of ContentsThe Portable Edgar Allan PoeIntroduction by J. Gerald KennedyChronologyA Note on TextsTalesPredicamentsMS. Found in a Bottle (1832)A Descent into the Maelstrom (1841)The Masque of the Red Death (1842)The Pit and the Pendulum (1842)The Premature Burial (1844)The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar (1845)BereavementsThe Assignation (1834)Berenice (1835)Morella (1835)Ligeia (1838)The Fall of the House of Usher (1839)Eleonora (1841)The Oval Portrait (1842)AntagonismsMetzengerstein (1832)William Wilson (1839)The Tell-Tale Heart (1843)The Black Cat (1843)The Imp of the Perverse (1845)The Cask of Amontillado (1846)Hop-Frog (1849)MysteriesThe Man of the Crowd (1840)The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841)The Gold-Bug (1843)The Oblong Box (1844)A Tale of the Ragged Mountains (1844)The Purloined Letter (1844)GrotesqueriesThe Man That Was Used Up (1839)The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether (1845)Some Words with a Mummy (1845)PoemsThe Lake—To—(1827)Sonnet—To Science (1829)Fairy-Land (1829)Introduction (1831)"Alone" (1875)To Helen (1831)The Sleeper (1831)Israfel (1831)The Valley of Unrest (1831)The City in the Sea (1831)Lenore (1843)Sonnet—Silence (1840)Dream-Land (1844)The Raven (1845)Ulalume—A Ballad (1847)The Bells (1849)A Dream within a Dream (1849)For Annie (1849)Eldorado (1849)To My Mother (1849)Annabel Lee (1849)LettersTo John Allan, March 19, 1827To John Allan, December 22, 1828To John Allan, January 3, 1831To John Allan, April 12, 1833To Thomas W. White, April 30, 1835To Maria and Virginia Clemm, August 29, 1835To Philip P. Cooke, September 21, 1839To William E. Burton, June 1, 1840To Joseph Evans Snodgrass, April 1, 1841To Frederick W. Thomas, June 26, 1841To Frederick W. Thomas, February 3, 1842To T. H. Chivers, September 27, 1842To Frederick W. Thomas and Jesse E. Dow, March 16, 1843To James Russell Lowell, March 30, 1844To Maria Clemm, April 7, 1844To James Russell Lowell, July 2, 1844To Evert A. Duyckinck, November 13, 1845To Virginia Poe, June 12, 1846To Philip P. Cooke, August 9, 1846To N. P. Willis, December 30, 1846To Marie L. Shew, January 29, 1847To George W. Eveleth, January 4, 1848To George W. Eveleth, February 29, 1848To Sarah Helen Whitman, October 1, 1848To Annie L. Richmond, November 16, 1848To Frederick W. Thomas, February 14, 1849To Maria Clemm, July 7, 1849To Maria Clemm, September 18, 1849Critical PrinciplesOn Unity of EffectOn Plot in NarrativeOn the Prose TaleOn the Design of FictionThe Object of Poetry (from "Letter to B—")"The Philosophy of Composition"The Effect of Rhyme"The Poetic Principle" (excerpts)American CriticismObservationsLiterary Nationalism"Some Secrets of the Magazine Prison-House"American Literary IndependenceThe Soul and the SelfImagination and InsightPoetical IrritabilityGenius and Proportionate IntellectReason and GovernmentAdaptation and the Plots of GodWorks of GeniusNational Literature and ImitationLanguage and ThoughtMagazine Literature in AmericaThe Name of the NationThe Unwritable BookImaginationArt and the SoulSuperiority and SufferingMatter, Spirit, and Divine WillNotesSelected Bibliography

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Book SynopsisRekha Shetty's book "Innovate! 90 Days to Transform Your Business" stresses consistent innovation for profitability. It offers a 90-day plan to foster an innovation culture using Indian concepts like Nava rasa, encouraging creative thinking and driving organizational change.

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Book SynopsisFrom the award-winning translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey comes a brilliant new translation of Virgil's great epicFleeing the ashes of Troy, Aeneas, Achilles’ mighty foe in the Iliad, begins an incredible journey to fulfill his destiny as the founder of Rome. His voyage will take him through stormy seas, entangle him in a tragic love affair, and lure him into the world of the dead itself--all the way tormented by the vengeful Juno, Queen of the Gods. Ultimately, he reaches the promised land of Italy where, after bloody battles and with high hopes, he founds what will become the Roman empire. An unsparing portrait of a man caught between love, duty, and fate, the Aeneid redefines passion, nobility, and courage for our times. Robert Fagles, whose acclaimed translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were welcomed as major publishing events, brings the AenTrade Review"A new and noble standard bearer . . . There's a capriciousness to Fagles's line well suited to this vast story's ebb and flow." -The New York Times Book Review (front page review) "Fagles's new version of Virgil's epic delicately melds the stately rhythms of the original to a contemporary cadence. . . . He illuminates the poem's Homeric echoes while remaining faithful to Virgil's distinctive voice." -The New Yorker "Robert Fagles gives the full range of Virgil's drama, grandeur, and pathos in vigorous, supple modern English. It is fitting that one of the great translators of The Iliad and The Odyssey in our times should also emerge as a surpassing translator of The Aeneid." -J. M. Coetzee

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Book SynopsisIntroduced by Maya Angelou, the inspiring sermon-poems of James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson was a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance, and one of the most revered African Americans of all time, whose life demonstrated the full spectrum of struggle and success. In God''s Trombones, one of his most celebrated works, inspirational sermons of African American preachers are reimagined as poetry, reverberating with the musicality and splendid eloquence of the spirituals. This classic collection includes Listen Lord (A Prayer), The Creation, The Prodigal Son, Go Down Death (A Funeral Sermon), Noah Built the Ark, The Crucifixion, Let My People Go, and The Judgment Day.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age StoriesIntroduction by Patrick O'DonnellSuggestions for Further ReadingA Note on the TextAcknowledgmentsThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age StoriesFlappers and PhilosophersThe Offshore PirateThe Ice PalaceHead and ShouldersThe Cut-Glass BowlBernice Bobs Her HairBenedictionDalyrimple Goes WrongThe Four FistsTales of the Jazz AgeMy Last FlappersThe Jelly-BeanThe Camel's BackMay DayPorcelain and PinkFantasiesThe Diamond as Big as the RitzThe Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonTarquin of Cheapside"O Russet Witch!"Unclassified MasterpiecesThe Lees of HappinessMr. IckyJeminaAppendixExplanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisA landmark collection documenting the social, political, and artistic lives of African American women throughout the tumultuous nineteenth century. Named one of NPR's Best Books of 2017.   The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers is the most comprehensive anthology of its kind: an extraordinary range of voices offering the expressions of African American women in print before, during, and after the Civil War. Edited by Hollis Robbins and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this collection comprises work from forty-nine writers arranged into sections of memoir, poetry, and essays on feminism, education, and the legacy of African American women writers. Many of these pieces engage with social movements like abolition, women’s suffrage, temperance, and civil rights, but the thematic center is the intellect and personal ambition of African American women. The diverse selection includes well-known writers like Sojourner Truth, Hannah Crafts,Trade Review“An extraordinary historical record.”—The New York Times Book Review“A rewarding history, and a reminder that the past is never a single narrative. It's a conversation with itself and with the present, well worth having.”—NPR

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Book SynopsisA magnificent new translation of the enduring epic about the sundering of the Roman Republic.Lucan lived from 39-65 AD at a time of great turbulence in Rome. His Civil War portrays two of the most colorful and powerful figures of the age-Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great, enemies in a vicious struggle for power that severed bloodlines and began the transformation of Roman civilization. With Right locked in combat with Might, law and order broke down and the anarchic violence that resulted left its mark on the Roman people forever, paving the way for the imperial monarchy. Accessible and modern yet loyal to the rhetorical brilliance of the original, this will be the definitive Civil War of our times.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history Trade Review“Matthew Fox’s new translation of Lucan’s poem, together with the introduction, notes, and glossary he co-authored with Ethan Adams, is most welcome. His translation gives us a new look at the poem, and the ancillary materials provide a general audience with necessary social, historical, and literary information…readers will find Fox’s spirited, fastpaced rendering a pleasure.” — Jane Wilson Joyce, The New Republic"I was deeply impressed. It is not just another translation: it has a special intensity and vibe, and I am recommending it to whoever teaches Lucan and also to people interested in contemporary translations of poetry. The quality of the footnotes and summaries is also noteworthy." — Professor Alessandro Barchiesi, Stanford Universityof Si"I teach this poem as part of an MA seminar course on the epic tradition, and I was most impressed at its suitability for students. The translation is fluent and readable, yet still manages to convey something of the violent and jagged nature of Lucan's epic style. The excerpt from Petronius included as an appendix will be especially valuable in situating the poet in his literary context. I look forward to assigning this translation as a core text for many years to come." — Dr. Martin Brady at University College Dublin, School of Classics"I think it is a fantastic translation---really a scholarly commentary and literary interpretation as much as a translation. I shall be very lucky to consult it in future classes and for my research! Thanks again for sending it. The authors have definitely done a remarkable job and it will surely become the standard translation of this difficult poem." — Leah Kronenberg, Rutgers University

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Book SynopsisThe Story of Hong Gildong is arguably the single most important work of classic Korean fiction. Like its English counterpart, Robin Hood, it has been adapted into countless movies, television shows, novels and comics. Its memorable lines are known to virtually every Korean by heart. Until now, this incredible 19th century fable has been all but inaccessible to English readers.Hong Gildong, the brilliant but illegitimate son of a government minister, cannot advance in society due to his secondary status, so he leaves home to become the leader of a band of outlaws who rob the rich to give to the poor. On the way to building his own empire and gaining acceptance from his family, Hong Gildong vanquishes assassins, battles monsters, and conquers kingdoms. Minsoo Kang''s expressive and animated new translation finally makes the original text of this classic available in English, re-introducing a noble and righteous outlaw and sharing a beloved hallmark of Korean culture.Trade ReviewHalf fairy tale, half social protest novel, The Story of Hong Gildong is nothing less than the story of modern Korea itself * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisLook out for a new book from Garry Wills, What the Qur'an Meant, coming fall 2017.Riveting . . . a double-barreled salvo that hits two bull's-eyes. —The New York Times Book ReviewThis dazzling study of the three operas that Giuseppe Verdi adapted from Shakespeare's plays takes readers on a wonderfully engaging journey through opera, music, literature, history, and the nature of genius. Verdi's Shakespeare explores the writing and staging of Macbetto (Macbeth), Otello (Othello), and Falstaff, operas by Verdi, an Italian composer who could not read a word of English but who adored Shakespeare. Delving into the fast-paced worlds of these men and the hands-on life of the stage that at once challenged them and gave flight to their brilliance, Wills, in his inimitable way, illuminates the birth of artistic creation.Trade ReviewA Booklist Editors Choice Pick for 2011 “Wonderfully illuminating. This book is the product of a lifetime of listening and watching….No lover of Verdi—or Shakespeare, for that matter—will want to miss it.” —Opera News “Riveting…a double-barreled salvo that hits two bull’s-eyes. Shakespeare scholarship is one of the world’s thriving industries, with no factories but worldwide workshops. While you are reading this, there must be hundreds (thousands?) of worthies turning out articles and books from pole to pole. But ­Garry Wills has upped the ante. There is a fair, but not daunting, amount of musical analysis, as well as much acknowledged borrowing and quoting from other relevant writers. This only makes the book more useful, what with burrowings (rather than borrowings) a worm would be proud of, and a panorama worthy of a fly’s multifaceted eye. “Nomen est omen” goes a Latin adage: the name is a signifier. So the noun “Wills” suggests manifold motivation, multiple resolve. Whatever Garry undertakes, trust Wills to get done.” —John Simon, The New York Times “Wills’s joyously engaged, scholarly yet personable essay is not just a treat but also a banquet succulent enough to make Shakespeareans and Verdians of all who partake of it.” —Booklist, starred review “Opera aficionados will delight in Wills’s thoughtful, deeply rehearsed essays. . . . [His] detailed depictions of the operas’ subtleties, sublimely rendered for opera fans, endlessly elucidate the work of these ‘creative volcanoes.’” —Publishers Weekly “Wills brilliantly explores the evolution, development, and performance histories of the three plays (actually, four, counting both Henry IV and Merry Wives of Windsor as inspirations for Falstaff), the three operas, and the connections among them. As essential purchase. ” —Library Journal, starred review “Wills’s insights into both Verdi’s acute understanding of Shakespeare and his ingenious methods of conveying it are thrilling—particularly his account of how, when composing “Otello,” Verdi encapsulated the six hundred and eighty-six lines of the play’s first act within a few minutes of music.” —The New Yorker “Fascinating.” —Commonweal Magazine “One genius interprets another: English to Italian, words to lyrics, immortal drama to overpowering opera. . . . While the book has an enormous amount to teach devotees of either Shakespeare or Verdi, opera fans in particular will enjoy the author’s close and illuminating attention to backstage history, as well as words, music and phrasing.” —Kirkus“Despite the novelty of the subject in VERDI'S SHAKESPEARE, Wills’s writing is characteristically clear and marked with literate ping. . . . Throughout, he demonstrates an innate understanding of drama and music and how they can work together. His analysis of melody, harmony and orchestration are as solid as his examination of theatrical practice and technique. And his research is thorough. He draws on the considerable store of data unearthed by others, citing in his more than one hundred footnotes a veritable Who’s Who of opera and theater scholars.” —The Washington Independent Review of Books

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Book SynopsisA book for book lovers by a true lover of books!At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning, and at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader. Noted essayist and editor Alberto Manguel moves from this essential moment to explore the six-thousand-year-old conversation between words and that hero without whom the book would be a lifeless object: the reader. Manguel brilliantly covers reading as seduction, as rebellion, and as obsession and goes on to trace the quirky and fascinating history of the reader’s progress from clay tablet to scroll, codex to digital.

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Book SynopsisA NETFLIX BOOK CLUB PICKThe powerful, thrilling, and tragic tale about the fluidity of racial identity that continues to resonate today, with an introduction by Emily Bernard. Now a major motion picture starring Tessa Thompson and Alexander SkarsgårdA Penguin Vitae EditionClare Kendry is living on the edge. Light-skinned, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a racist white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past after deciding to pass as a white woman. Clare''s childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, and is simultaneously allured and repelled by Clare''s risky decision to engage in racial masquerade for personal and societal gain. After frequenting African American-centric gatherings together in Harlem, Clare''s interest in Irene turns into a homoerotic longing for Irene''s black identity that she abandoned and can never embrace again, and she is forced to grapple with her decision to pass for white in a way that is both tragic and telling.Penguin Classics launches a new hardcover series with five American classics that are relevant and timeless in their power, and part of a dynamic and diverse landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction from almost seventy-five years of classics publishing. Penguin Vitae provides readers with beautifully designed classics that have shaped the course of their lives, and welcomes new readers to discover these literary gifts of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Gorgeous new Shakespeare paperbacks.” —Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings“I have been using the Pelican Shakespeare for years in my lecture course--it's invaluable, the best individual-volume series available for students.”—Marjorie Garber, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Gorgeous new Shakespeare paperbacks.” —Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings“I have been using the Pelican Shakespeare for years in my lecture course--it's invaluable, the best individual-volume series available for students.”—Marjorie Garber, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Gorgeous new Shakespeare paperbacks.” —Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings“I have been using the Pelican Shakespeare for years in my lecture course--it's invaluable, the best individual-volume series available for students.”—Marjorie Garber, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University

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Book SynopsisFrom the Bible through Dante and up to Treblinka and Guantánamo Bay, here is a rich source for nightmares. --The New York Times Book ReviewThree thousand years of visions of Hell, from the ancient Near East to modern AmericaA Penguin ClassicFrom the Hebrew Bible's shadowy realm of Sheol to twenty-first-century visions of Hell on earth, The Penguin Book of Hell takes us through three thousand years of eternal damnation. Along the way, you'll take a ferry ride with Aeneas to Hades, across the river Acheron; meet the Devil as imagined by a twelfth-century Irish monk--a monster with a thousand giant hands; wander the nine circles of Hell in Dante's Inferno, in which gluttons, liars, heretics, murderers, and hypocrites are made to endure crime-appropriate torture; and witness the debates that raged in Victorian England when new scientific advances cast doubt on the idea of an eternal hereafter. Drawing upon religious poetry, epics, Trade Review“Now that I know what Hell is like, I shall take more pains to avoid it. This is an amazing collection.” —Philip Pullman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Golden Compass“Quite terrifying.” —The New Yorker“You will be [frightened] by The Penguin Book of Hell, in which writers from antiquity to the 20th century describe the eternal, infernal hereafter. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” —The Washington Post“This fascinating collection kept me reading long after midnight, and the images it put in my head kept me up even longer. A deeply engaging read.” —Amy Brady, Chicago Review of Books, “The Best Horror Nonfiction Books of 2018”“One of the prime motives of these texts is rage, rage against people occupying positions of exceptional trust and power who lie and cheat and trample on the most basic values and yet who escape the punishment they so manifestly deserve. History is an unending chronicle of such knaves, and it is a chronicle too of frustration and impotence, certainly among the mass of ordinary people but even among those who feel that they are stakeholders in the system. Hell is the last recourse of political impotence. You console yourself . . . by imagining that the loathsome characters you detest will meet their comeuppance in the afterlife.” —Stephen Greenblatt, The New York Review of Books“Disturbing . . . Full of classic representations of eternal punishment.” —America: The Jesuit Review“Harrowing . . . To recognize hell in the realm of reality is to understand its true role in our lives right now—and to begin to articulate the good life we hope someday to earn. Be not distracted: the glimpses of hell do us good.” —Lapham’s Quarterly“Includes a hefty (and fascinating) selection of readings from medieval manuals . . . Bruce’s most fascinating section is his final, which examines how the rhetoric of hell has utility in the contemporary era, including . . . an astounding essay by an American prisoner in solitary confinement with the unlikely name of William Blake, and the track list for torturers at the Guantánamo Bay detention center whose ‘enhanced interrogation’ techniques included repeatedly blasting at ear-splitting decibels songs like Marilyn Manson’s ‘The Beautiful People,’ Britney Spears’s ‘…Baby One More Time,’ and the ‘Meow Mix’ commercial jingle.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “Like so many of the Penguin Classics collections, it is thoughtful, expansive, accessible to the intelligent reader and the inquiring mind. . . . It’s quite a read, and it’s certainly not something you probably want to read right before bedtime, not right before going to sleep, but certainly a book that will make you think about life, about being human, and about what might await us in the future.” —WBAA

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Book SynopsisThe acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, now repackaged in award-winning modern covers to inspire Shakespearians of all ages.

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Book SynopsisThe acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, now repackaged in award-winning modern covers to inspire Shakespearians of all ages.

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Book SynopsisThe acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, now repackaged in award-winning modern covers to inspire Shakespearians of all ages.

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Book SynopsisFinalist for the National Jewish Book Award A deeply felt, beautifully crafted meditation on friendship and loss in the vein of A Year of Magical Thinking, and a touching portrait of Philip Roth from his closest friend.I had a baseball question on the tip of my tongue: What was the name of the natural, the player shot by a stalker in a Chicago hotel room? He gave me an amused look that darkened in-to puzzlement, then fear. Then he pitched forward into the soup, unconscious. When I entered the examining room twenty minutes after our arrival at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, Philip said, No more books. Thus he announced his retirement.So begins Benjamin Taylor''s Here We Are, the unvarnished portrait of his best friend and one of America''s greatest writers. Needless to say, Philip Roth''s place in the canon is secure, but what is less clear is what the man himself was like. In Here We Are, Benjamin Taylor''s b

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Book SynopsisPublished in English for the first time, and the only Arabic epic named for a woman, The Tale of Princess Fatima recounts the thrilling adventures of a legendary medieval warrior universally known throughout the Middle East and long overdue to join world literature's pantheon of female heroes.A Penguin ClassicA fearsome, sword-slinging heroine who defeated countless men in stealth attacks on horseback, Dhat al-Himma, or Princess Fatima, was secretly given away at birth because she wasn't male, only to triumph as the most formidable warrior of her time. Known alternately as she-wolf, woman of high resolve, and calamity of the soul, she lives on in this rousing narrative of female empowerment, in which she leads armies of more than seventy thousand men in clashes between rival tribes and between Muslims and Christians; reconciles with her father after taking him prisoner; and fends off her infatuated cousin, who challenges her to a battle for the right to maTrade ReviewA gift and a wonder, deftly capturing the nuance and flavour of these tales for a new generation. As someone who's waited untold years to read these stories: thank you, thank you, thank you -- Jason Porath, author of Rejected PrincessesThis powerful epic with its all-conquering heroine brings the world of Arab chivalry to blazing life, in a wonderful translation with a very informative introduction. -- Humphrey Davies, award-winning translator of Naguib Mahfouz, Elias Khoury, and Alaa Al-AswanyAn emotive, dynamic rendering that exquisitely captures the spirit of the original text, the variety of its characters, and the versatility of its messages. The Tale of Princess Fatima has much to tell us about what it has meant -- in different times and places -- to be a hero -- Rachel Schine, University of Colorado BoulderThis engaging and reader-friendly translation brings to life a very important moment in world history, capturing through epic proportions the timeless social issues of race, gender, and class -- Heidi Morrison, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

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Book SynopsisShakespeare for Every Day of the Year is not just for Christmas, but for all time. —Helena Bonham CarterA magnificent collection of 365 passages from Shakespeare's works, for the Shakespeare scholar and neophyte alike.Make Shakespeare a part of your daily routine with Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year, a yearlong collection of passages from Shakespeare's greatest works. Drawing from the full spectrum of plays and sonnets to mark each day of the year, whether it's a scene from Hamlet to celebrate Christmas or a Sonnet in June to help you enjoy a summer's day. There are also passages to mark important days in the Shakespeare calendar, both from his own life and from his plays: You'll read a pivotal speech from Julius Caesar on the Ides of March and celebrate Valentine's day with a sonnet. Every passage is accompanied by an enlightening note to teach you its significance and help you better appreciate the timelessness and p

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