Fiction in translation
Alma Books Ltd Dark Avenues
Considered one of the most influential authors of twentieth century Russian Literature, Ivan Bunin's "Dark Avenues" is the culmination of a life's work which unrelentingly questioned of the political doxa whilst taking his poetic mastery of language to dark new heights. Written between 1938 and 1944 and set in the context of a disintegrating Russian culture, this collection of short fiction centres around dark, erotic liaisons told with a rich, elegaic poetics which probes the artistic limits of depicting desire.A prolific writer and fierce political activist, Bunin became the first Russian to win the Nobel prize for Literature in 1933 and was highly influential on his contemporary Russian emigres, Checkov and Nabokov. The "Dark Avenues" is the zenith of his work and one of the most important Russian texts to come out of the twentieth century.
£9.49
Alma Books Ltd Smoke: New Translation
Book SynopsisOn his way back to Russia after some years spent in the West, Grigory Mikhailovich Litvinov, the son of a retired official of merchant stock, stops over in Baden-Baden to meet his fiancee Tatyana. However, a chance encounter with his old flame, the manipulative Irina - now married to a general and a prominent figure in aristocratic expatriate circles - unearths feelings buried deep inside the young man's heart, derailing his plans for the future and throwing his life into turmoil.Trade ReviewTurgenev to me is the greatest writer there ever was. -- Ernest Hemingway
£8.54
Oxford University Press The Man who Disappeared
Book SynopsisYoung immigrant Karl Rossmann has a series of adventures in a vision of an ultra-modern America that is both fantasy and social satire. Full of incident, and blackly humorous, Kafka's first novel is newly translated by Ritchie Robertson in an edition that includes a full introduction and notes.
£10.44
Oxford University Press The Wild Asss Skin
Book Synopsis''Who possesses me will possess all things,But his life will belong to me...''Raphael de Valentin, a young aristocrat, has lost all his money in the gaming parlours of the Palais Royal in Paris, and contemplates ending his life by throwing himself into the Seine. He is distracted by the bizarre array of objects in a chaotic antique shop, among them a strange animal skin, a piece of shagreen with magical properties. It will grant its possessor his every wish, but each time a wish is bestowed the skin shrinks, hastening its owner''s death. Around this fantastic premise Balzac weaves a compelling psychological portrait of his hero, a prisoner of his own Promethean imagination, and explores profound ideas about the human will, vice and virtue, love and death. Helen Constantine''s new translation captures the energy and exuberance of Balzac''s novel, one of the most engaging of his ''Études philosophiques'' from the Comédie humaine. The accompanying introduction and notes offer fresh insights into this remarkable work. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewThe novel has been elegantly translated by Helen Constantine, who is both faithful and creative * Nicholas White, Times Literary Supplement *A model of its kind * Nineteenth-Century French Studies *
£11.69
Cornerstone The New Watch
Book SynopsisWalking the streets of our cities are the Others. These men and women have access to the Twilight, a shadowy parallel world of magical power that exists alongside our own. Each has sworn allegiance to one side: the Light, or the Darkness.At Moscow airport, Higher Light Magician Anton Gorodetsky overhears a child screaming about a plane that is about to crash. He discovers that the child is a prophet: an Other with the gift of foretelling the future. When the catastrophe is averted, Gorodetsky senses a disruption in the natural order, one that is confirmed by the arrival of a dark and terrifying predator. Gorodetsky travels to London, to Taiwan and across Russia in search of clues, unearthing as he goes a series of increasingly cataclysmic prophecies. He soon realises that what is at stake is the existence of the Twilight itself and that only he will be able to save it.Trade ReviewThis is slick, clever, assured urban fantasy, told with style, and shot through with wry humour. * Crime Review *If you’ve been following Russkie Lukyanenko’s excellent parallel universe series you’ll have rushed out and bought this book already… the Watch books are deeper and meatier than most of their kind. * 4 star review, Weekend Sport *
£9.49
Oxford University Press La Bête Humaine
Book SynopsisTrade Review...brilliant... * Barry Forshaw, European Literature Network *
£8.54
Yale University Press The Golden Ass
Book SynopsisTells the story of Lucius, a curious and silly young man, who is turned into a donkey when he meddles with witchcraft. Doomed to wander from region to region and mistreated by a series of deplorable owners, Lucius at last is restored to human form with the help of the goddess Isis.Trade Review"Sarah Ruden’s superb translation of Alpuleis’s The Golden Ass illuminates this wonderful story with a brilliant modern wit."—Philip Pullman, The Observer"[B]rilliantly executed . . . Sarah Ruden’s new translation of Apuleius’ neo-platonist romp about a guy who magically turns into a donkey. . .conveys how truly bizarre the style of the original is."—Emily Wilson, Times Literary Supplement"This new translation of Apuleius’s novel stands alone for its accuracy and cleverly farcical rendering."—Bookseller’s Buyer’s Guide"This new translation of Apuleius’s novel stands alone for its accuracy and cleverly farcical rendering."—Bookseller’s Buyer’s Guide"A wonderful translation—highly inappropriate and great fun. In Sarah Ruden's hands, the verbal gymnastics are ridiculously enjoyable rather than merely ridiculous."—Amy Eisner, Maryland Institute College of Art
£12.34
Vintage Publishing Stalingrad
Book Synopsis'One of the great novels of the 20th century' ObserverIn April 1942, Hitler and Mussolini plan the huge offensive on the Eastern Front that will culminate in the greatest battle in human history.Hundreds of miles away, Pyotr Vavilov receives his call-up papers and spends a final night with his wife and children in the hut that is his home. As war approaches, the Shaposhnikov family gathers for a meal: despite her age, Alexandra will soon become a refugee; Tolya will enlist in the reserves; Vera, a nurse, will fall in love with a wounded pilot; and Viktor Shtrum will receive a letter from his doomed mother which will haunt him forever.The war will consume the lives of a huge cast of characters - lives which express Grossman's grand themes of the nation and the individual, nature's beauty and war's cruelty, love and separation.For months, Soviet forces are driven back inexorably by the German advance eastward and eventually Stalingrad is all that remains between the invaders and victory. The city stands on a cliff top by the Volga River. The battle for Stalingrad - a maelstrom of violence and firepower - will reduce it to ruins. But it will also be the cradle of a new sense of hope.Stalingrad is a magnificent novel not only of war but of all human life: its subjects are mothers and daughters, husbands and brothers, generals, nurses, political officers, steelworkers, tractor girls. It is tender, epic, and a testament to the power of the human spirit.'You will not only discover that you love his characters and want to stay with them - that you need them in your life as much as you need your own family and loved ones - but that at the end... you will want to read it again' Daily Telegraph THE PREQUEL TO LIFE AND FATE NOW AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME, STALINGRAD IS A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND NOW A MAJOR RADIO 4 DRAMAWINNER OF MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION "LOIS ROTH AWARD" FOR TRANSLATIONS FROM ANY LANGUAGETrade ReviewOne needs time and patience to read Stalingrad, but it is worth it. Moving majestically from Berlin to Moscow to the boundless Kazakh steppe… A multitude of lives and fates are played out against a vast panoramic history * Evening Standard, *Book of the Week* *If you have read Grossman before, you will already very likely know that you urgently want to read Stalingrad. If you haven’t, I can only tell you that when you do read this novel, you will not only discover that you love his characters and want to stay with them – that you need them in your life as much as you need your own family and loved ones – but that at the end, despite having finished an 892-page novel, you want to read it again * Daily Telegraph *This is a big event… [Stalingrad] gives voice to a dizzying array of experiences… [you] feel as though you are there, wandering through those devastated streets among the starving, dead, and mad * Daily Mail *A dazzling prequel… His descriptions of battle in an industrial age are some of the most vivid ever written… Stalingrad is Life and Fate’s equal. It is, arguable, the richer book – shot through with human stories and a sense of life’s beauty and fragility * Observer *Few works of literature since Homer can match the piercing, unshakably humane gaze that Grossman turns on the haggard face of war * The Economist *
£12.34
Amazon Publishing The Lioness of Morocco
Book SynopsisIndependent-minded Sibylla Spencer feels trapped in nineteenth-century London, where her strong will and progressive views have rendered her unmarriageable. Still single at twenty-three, she is treated like a child and feels stifled in her controlling father’s house. When Benjamin Hopkins, an ambitious employee of her father’s trading company, shows an interest in her, she realizes marriage is her only chance to escape. As Benjamin’s rising career whisks them both away to exotic Morocco, Sibylla is at last a citizen of the world, reveling in her newfound freedom by striking her first business deals, befriending locals…and falling in love for the first time with a charismatic and handsome Frenchman. But Benjamin’s lust for money and influence draws him into dark dealings, pulling him ever further from Sibylla and their two young sons. When he’s arrested on horrible charges, the fate of Sibylla’s family rests on her shoulders, as she must decide whether she’ll leave him to his fate or help him fight for his life.
£8.99
Pan Macmillan Homeland
Book SynopsisThe international bestseller, longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2021. Fernando Aramburu's Homeland is an epic and heartbreaking story of two best friends whose families are divided by the conflicting loyalties of terrorism.‘It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that was so persuasive and moving’ – Mario Vargas Llosa, author of Time of the Hero.The Basque Country, Spain, 2011.Miren and Bittori have lived side by side in a small Basque town all their lives. Their husbands play cards together, their children play and eventually go out drinking together. The terrorist threat posed by ETA seems to affect them little.When Bittori’s husband starts receiving threatening letters – demanding money, accusing him of being a police informant – she turns to her friend for help. But Miren’s loyalties are torn: her son has just been recruited as a terrorist and to denounce them would be to condemn her own flesh and blood. Tensions rise, relationships fracture, and events move towards a tragic conclusion . . . ‘Is Aramburu the Tolstoy of the Basque country, author of a Spanish language War and Peace?’ – GuardianTrade ReviewFew books make me cry these days but by the final page I found my eyes prickling with tears. By examining his society in such close detail, Aramburu encourages us to reflect on the bitter divisions in our own world and the opportunities we have for reconciliation. * Sunday Times *It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that was so persuasive and moving, so intelligently conceived. -- Mario Vargas LlosaIs Aramburu the Tolstoy of the Basque country, author of a Spanish language War and Peace that lays bare the pain of forty pointless years of separatist terrorism? * Guardian *A powerful novel which has a strong claim to be the definite fictional account of the Basque troubles . . . Aramburu skillfully spins their stories in short, punchy chapters that dart back and forth in time. Its message is ultimately redemptive. * Economist *A magnificent novel which is becoming a publishing, political and literary phenomenon. A story imbued with a spine-tingling sense of realism. * Vanguardia *Homeland is, above all, a great and considered novel . . . combing evocation and analysis . . . War and Peace by Tolstoy did it. The work of Fernando Aramburu achieves the same thing. * El País *Homeland is a sweeping novel that explores so many aspects of life . . . Aramburu brings [ethnic nationalism] under the microscope to show its effects on a few individuals. The results are brilliant and unnerving. * Herald *Phenomenal . . . [Aramaburu is as] magnanimous as he is passionate. * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *A work of tremendous power . . . [One is] reminded how overwhelming and powerful literature can be. * Die Zeit *An event: Aramburu masterfully manages to tell of great things in small ways. * Stern *Shedding the occasional tear doesn’t matter. It is in any case difficult to read Homeland and remain dry-eyed. * Corriere della Sera *Gripping . . . A palpable hit. * Spiegel *Worth every page. * Vogue (Germany) *As humorous as it is heartbreaking, Homeland explores how various factions of Basque and Spanish society were violently pitted against one another for fifty years. * Millions *Aramburu recounts the lives of ordinary people shattered by events that are ongoing in Spain today even years after ETA has suspended its armed campaign . . . A humane, memorable work of literature. * Kirkus (starred review) *A brilliant and important book. Our planet is covered with lines of various kind, and Aramburu masterfully examines the bodies and souls those lines cut through like razors. * Nadeem Aslam *
£10.44
Saqi Books About My Mother
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the EBRD Literature Prize Since she's been ill, Lalla Fatma has become a frail little thing with a faltering memory. Lalla Fatma thinks she's in Fez in 1944, where she grew up, not in Tangier in 2000, where this story begins. She calls out to family members who are long dead and loses herself in the streets of her childhood, yearning for her first love and the city she left behind. By her bedside, her son Tahar listens to long-hidden secrets and stories from her past: married while still playing with dolls and widowed for the first time at the age of sixteen. Guided by these fragments, Tahar vividly conjures his mother's life in post-war Morocco, unravelling the story of a woman for whom resignation was the only way out. Tender and compelling, About My Mother maps the beautiful, fragile and complex nature of human experience, while paying tribute to a remarkable woman and the bond between mother and son.Trade Review'Ben Jelloun is arguably Morocco's greatest living author, whose impressive body of work combines intellect and imagination in magical fusion' Guardian; 'In any language, in any culture, Tahar Ben Jelloun would be a remarkable novelist' Sunday Telegraph; 'One of Morocco's most celebrated and translated writers' Asymptote; 'A traditional storyteller whose tales have the status of myth ... An important writer.' Times Literary Supplement; 'About My Mother pulses with life, invigorating the reader with every sentence.' World Literature Today; `A beautifully crafted novel' The New Arab
£8.54
Alma Books Ltd The Adolescent: New Translation
Book SynopsisAmong Dostoevsky’s later novels, The Adolescent occupies a very special place: published three years after The Devils and five years before his final masterpiece, The Karamazov Brothers, the novel charts the story of nineteen-year-old Arkady – the illegitimate son of the landowner Versilov and the maid Sofia Andreyevna – as he struggles to find his place in society and “become a Rothschild” against the background of 1870s Russia, a nation still tethered to its old systems and values but shaken up by the new ideological currents of socialism and nihilism. Both a Bildungsroman and a novel of ideas, dealing with themes such as the relationship between fathers and sons and the role of money in modern society, The Adolescent – here presented in a brand-new translation by Dora O’Brien – shows Dostoevsky at his finest as a social commentator and observer of the workings of a young man’s mind.Trade ReviewThe Adolescent really is an unjustly neglected book. As a study of the coming of age of a confused young man, it couldn’t be bettered for capturing his mindset; and as the saga of a truly dysfunctional Russian family it can’t be faulted. * Shiny New Books *
£8.54
Interlink Publishing Group, Inc We Are All Equally Far From Love
Book Synopsis
£13.49
Penguin Books Ltd Territory of Light
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewTsushima evades any label, her fiction transcends gender to focus on the existential loneliness that is at the heart of humanity. -- Kris Kosaka * Japan Times *Wonderfully poetic ... extraordinary freshness ... a Virginia Woolf quality -- Margaret Drabble * BBC Radio 3 *Spiky, atmospheric and intimate, filled with moments of strangeness that linger in the mind * The Spectator *In this short, powerful novel lurk the joy and guilt of single parents everywhere * Guardian *This exquisite and poignant novel . . . will resonate with single mothers always and everywhere -- Shami ChakrabartiAn extraordinary book . . . cool analytic intelligence propelled by sudden eruptions of passion -- Lisa AppignanesiAn astonishing and exquisite masterpiece about love, motherhood, female independence, and the restoration of a damaged family. Yuko Tsushima is an unforgettable name alongside great masters like Virginia Woolf, Alice Munro and Elizabeth Strout -- J. M. Lee, author of The Investigation
£8.54
Archipelago Books Incest
Book SynopsisA daring novel that made Christine Angot one of the most controversial figures in contemporary France recounts the narrator's incestuous relationship with her father.
£13.49
Pushkin Press Confusion
Book SynopsisRoland, a young student at a new university, meets an inspirational teacher who sweeps him into his world of literature and learning. When the boy moves into the same building as the teacher and his wife, he becomes ever closer to this remarkable man, though he also senses his mentor pulling away from him - sometimes even seeming to hate him. But the truth about these feelings is something that will shape both men for the rest of their lives.
£6.30
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group The Complete Stories
Book SynopsisBringing together all of Kafka''s stories including those released during his lifetime and others after his death, a complete anthology offers insight into his valuable literary contributions. Reprint.
£13.77
New Directions Publishing Corporation Near to the Wild Heart 2e
Book SynopsisThis new translation of Clarice Lispector's sensational first book tells the story of a middle class woman's life from childhood through an unhappy marriage and its dissolution to transcendence.Trade Review"Her images dazzle even when her meaning is most obscure, and when she is writing of what she despises she is lucidity itself." -- The Times Literary Supplement"Lispector is one of the hidden geniuses of twentieth century literature, in the same league as Flann O’Brien, Borges and Pessoa… utterly original and brilliant, haunting and disturbing." -- Colm Tóibín"A truly remarkable writer." -- Jonathan Franzen"We now finally have a translation worthy of Clarice Lispector's inimitable style. Go out and buy it." -- The Guardian"It is jarring and yet restorative to read a writer whose focus is so private, internal." -- Boston Globe"One of 20th-century Brazil’s most intriguing and mystifying writers." -- The L Magazine"There's a feeling of encountering something completely new and classic at the same time." -- Time Out Chicago"I had a sort of missionary urge with her...but I started thinking, even when I was 19: How can I help this person reach the prominence she deserves?" -- Benjamin Moser - San Francisco Chronicle"You could breeze through it, you could let it marinate, or you could reread it twice in one sitting." -- Vanity Fair
£11.99
New Directions Publishing Corporation The Passion According to G H New Directions Books
Book SynopsisLispector’s most shocking novel.Trade Review"She is quite a thing to discover indeed." -- The Los Angeles Times"[Lispector] left behind an astounding body of work that has no real corollary inside literature or outside it." -- Bookforum"Her images dazzle even when her meaning is most obscure, and when she is writing of what she despises she is lucidity itself." -- The Times Literary Supplement"Over time, I’ve come to admire and even love this novel. In fact, as soon as I slammed the book shut, my understanding of G.H.’s story began to take on an almost-corporeal reality. Trying to put this into words is a slippery thing. What I was beginning to appreciate was that I could not consider Lispector’s philosophical concerns for any length of time without losing my grasp on those concerns, yet I could somehow feel them, sense the substance of them in my own mind, in those deep pools of thought where language doesn’t quite reach, and which words can’t express." -- Emma Komlos-Hrobsky - Tin House"Lispector's prose is unforgettable... still startling by the end because of Lispector's unsettling forcefulness." -- Boston Globe"A lyrical, stream of consciousness meditation on the nature of time, the unreliability of language, the divinity of God, and the threat of hell." -- The Rumpus"One of 20th-century Brazil’s most intriguing and mystifying writers." -- The L Magazine"I had a sort of missionary urge with her... but I started thinking, even when I was 19: How can I help this person reach the prominence she deserves?" -- San Francisco Chronicle"A penetrating genius." -- Donna Seaman - Booklist"Reading G.H., you follow the narrator’s logic to its most physically and philosophically shocking conclusions. You, too, learn to “want the God in whatever comes out of the roach’s belly." -- Bennett Sims - Electric Literature
£12.34
Pushkin Press The Gourmet
Book SynopsisFrom the author of the international bestseller The Elegance of The Hedgehog comes a mouth-watering tale delving into the life of a monstrous food criticAfter a lifetime of presiding over cowering chefs and pursuing sensual delights, France's greatest food critic is dying. Given just forty-eight hours to live, Pierre Arthens has one last ambition - to recall the most delicious food to ever pass his lips, an elusive taste from his childhood. From his luxury penthouse at Number 7, Rue de Grenelle, Pierre casts his mind back over a lifetime of flavour: eating grilled sardines with his grandfather, the warm, crumbly pastry of an apple tart, his first taste of velvety sashimi. But orbiting around him are a cast of family and acquaintances, each with their own story to tell about the greed and ruthlessness that has paved the way to Pierre's search for the perfect meal.
£9.49
Columbia University Press Atlas
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDung Kai-cheung's Atlas: The Archeology of an Imaginary City is a most unusual work in the history of modern Chinese literature: part fiction, part history, part theory-all in the service of the author's unique method of fictional 'archaeology,' an endeavor that has unearthed a wealth of materials-streets, buildings, personalities, names and signs, and marvels and legends-about this 'vanished' city, the traces of which constitute the sum total of Hong Kong's cultural memory. A cross between fact and fiction, history and mystery, Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino, this work defies all generic categories and now stands as a contemporary classic. -- Leo Ou-fan Lee, author of City Between Worlds: My Hong Kong ...seamless, yet eccentric...a playful yet poignant invitation to begin layering new symbols and projections over the city's landscape. South China Morning Post Readers pleased by cliff-hanging, nail-biting, page-turning adventure will not be satisfied with "Atlas." Devotees of writers as curious as Borges, Calvino and Eco, will love this map of maps of an imaginary city.Japan Times -- David Cozy Japan Times Well worth the experiment. -- Peter Gordon Asian Review of BooksTable of ContentsPreface: An Archaeology for the Future, by Dung Kai-cheung Introduction, by Bonnie S. McDougall Part One: Theory 1. Counterplace 2. Commonplace 3. Misplace 4. Displace 5. Antiplace 6. Nonplace 7. Extraterritoriality 8. Boundary 9. Utopia 10. Supertopia 11. Subtopia 12. Transtopia 13. Multitopia 14. Unitopia 15. Omnitopia Part Two: The City 16. Mirage: City in the Sea 17. Mirage: Towers in the Air 18. Pottinger's Inverted Vision 19. Gordon's Jail 20. "Plan of the City of Victoria," 1889 21. The Four Wan and Nine Yeuk 22. The Centaur of the East 23. Scandal Point and the Military Cantonment 24. Mr. Smith's One-Day Trip 25. The View from Government House 26. The Toad of Belcher's Dream 27. The Return of Kwan Tai Loo 28. The Curse of Tai Ping Shan 29. War Game Part Three: Streets 30. Spring Garden Lane 31. Ice House Street 32. Sugar Street 33. Tsat Tsz Mui Road 34. Canal Road East and Canal Road West 35. Aldrich Street 36. Possession Street 37. Sycamore Street 38. Tung Choi Street and Sai Yeung Choi Street 39. Sai Yee Street 40. Public Square Street 41. Cedar Street Part Four: Signs 42. The Decline of the Legend 43. The Eye of the Typhoon 44. Chek Lap Kok Airport 45. The Metonymic Spectrum 46. The Elevation of Imagination 47. Geological Discrimination 48. North-Oriented Declination 49. The Travel of Numbers 50. The Tomb of Signs 51. The Orbit of Time Acknowledgments Author and Translators
£22.00
Columbia University Press Tales of Moonlight and Rain
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewChambers's edition of Tales of Moonlight and Rain is well worthwhile... Highly Recommended. The Complete Review A shining new version of a living Japanese classic. Japan Times Japan scholars and people who just like weird, spooky stuff should enjoy this new edition of Akinari's classic. -- Brad Quinn Daily Yomiuri Chambers's new translation is a lucid addition to the handful of previous versions. -- James Lasdun's The GuardianTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Tales of Moonlight and Rain Preface Book One Shiramine The Chrysanthemum Vow Book Two The Reed-Choked House The Carp of My Dreams Book Three The Owl of the Three Jewels The Kibitsu Caldron Book Four A Serpent's Lust Book Five The Blue Hood On Poverty and Wealth Bibliography
£19.80
Penguin Books Ltd The Story of the Stone Volume IV
Book SynopsisThe Story of the Stone (c. 1760), also known by the title of The Dream of the Red Chamber, is the great novel of manners in Chinese literature.Divided into five volumes, of which The Debt of Tears is the fourth, it charts the glory and decline of the illustrious Jia family (a story which closely accords with the fortunes of the author''s own family). The two main characters, Bao-yu and Dai-yu, are set against a rich tapestry of humour, realistic detail and delicate poetry, which accurately reflects the ritualized hurly-burly of Chinese family life. But over and above the novel hangs the constant reminder that there is another plane of existence - a theme which affirms the Buddhist belief in a supernatural scheme of things.Trade Review“Filled with classical allusions, multilayered wordplay, and delightful poetry, Cao’s novel is a testament to what Chinese literature was capable of. Readers of English are fortunate to have David Hawkes and John Minford’s The Story of the Stone, which distills a lifetime of scholarship and reading into what is probably the finest work of Chinese-to-English literary translation yet produced. You will be rewarded every bit of attention you give it, many times over.” —SupChina, “The 100 China Books You Have to Read, Ranked” (#1)Table of ContentsThe Story of the Stone: Volume 4Note on SpellingPrefaceChapter 81:Four young ladies go fishing and divine the future; Bao-yu receives a homily and is re-enrolled in the Family SchoolChapter 82:An old pedant tries to instil some Moral Philosophy into his incorrigible pupil; And the ailing Naiad, in a nightmare, confronts the spectres of her fevered mind.Chapter 83:An Indisposition in the Imperial Bedchamber calls for a Family Visitation; While insubordination in the inner apartments reveals Bao-chai's long-suffering natureChapter 84:Bao-yu is given an impromptu examination, and his betrothal is discussed for the first time; Jia Huan visits a convulsive child, and old hostilites are resumedChapter 85:It is announced that Jia Zheng has been promoted to the rank of Permanent Secretary; And it is discovered that Xue Pan has once more brought upon himself the threat of exileChapter 86:Bribery induces an old mandarin to tamper with the course of justice; And a discourse on the Qin provides a young lady with a vehicle for romantic feelingsChapter 87:Autumnal sounds combine with sad remembrances to inspire a composition on the Qin; And a flood of passion allows evil spirits to disturb the serenity of ZenChapter 88:Bao-yu gratifies his grandmother by praising a fatherless child; Cousin Zhen rectifies family discipline by chastising two unruly servantsChapter 89:Our hero sees the handiwork of a departed love, and is moved to write and ode; Frowner falls prey to hysterical fear and resolves to starve to deathChapter 90:A poor girl loses a padded jacket and puts up with some obstreperous behaviour; A young man accepts a tray of sweetmeats and is put out by some devious goings-onChapter 91:In the pursuance of lust, Moonbeam evolves an artful strategem; In a flight of Zen, Bao-yu makes an enigmatic confessionChapter 92:Qiao-jie studies the Lives of Noble Women and shows a precocious enthusiasm for Virtue; Jia Zheng admires a Mother Pearl and reflect on the vicissitudes of LifeChapter 93:A Zhen retainer seeks shelter in the Jia household; And shady activities are revealed behind the Iron ThresholdChapter 94:Grandmother Jia gives a crab-blossom party - a celebration of the ominous; Bao-yu loses his Magic Jade - a strange disappearance of the numinousChapter 95:A rumour comes true and the Imperial Consort passes away; A counterfeit is deceptively like the real thing, and Bao-yu loses his witsChapter 96:Xi-feng conceives an ingenious plan of deception; And Frowner is deranged by an inadvertent disclosureChapter 97:Lin Dai-yu burns her poems to signal the end of her heart's folly; And Xue Bao-chai leaves home to take part in a solemn riteChapter 98:Crimson Pearl's suffering spirit returns to the Realm of Separation; And the convalescent Stone-in-waiting weeps at the scene of past affectionAppendix I:Prefaces to the first Cheng-Gao edition Joint Foreword to the subsequent Cheng-Gao editionAppendix II:The Octopartite Composition or 'bagu wenzhang'Appendix III:The Qin or Chinese Lute, and Knowing the SoundAppendix IV:Iron Threshold Temple and Water-moon PrioryCharacters in Volume 4Genealogical Tables
£13.49
Penguin Putnam Inc Siddhartha
Book SynopsisA bold translation of Nobel Prize-winner Herman Hesse's most inspirational and beloved work, which was nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American ReadA Penguin Classic Hesse's famous and influential novel, Siddartha, is perhaps the most important and compelling moral allegory our troubled century has produced. Integrating Eastern and Western spiritual traditions with psychoanalysis and philosophy, this strangely simple tale, written with a deep and moving empathy for humanity, has touched the lives of millions since its original publication in 1922. Set in India, Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin's search for ultimate reality after meeting with the Buddha. His quest takes him from a life of decadence to asceticism, through the illusory joys of sensual love with a beautiful courtesan, and of wealth and fame, to the painful struggles with his son and the ultimate wisdom of renunciatioTrade ReviewBy the Winner of the Nobel Prize in LiteratureTable of ContentsSiddhartha IntroductionSuggestions for Further ReadingA Note on the TranslationSIDDHARTHA
£11.05
Penguin Books Ltd The Encyclopedia of the Dead
Book SynopsisDanilo Kiš (Author) Danilo Kiš was born in the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1935. After an unsettled childhood during the Second World War, in which several of his family members were killed, Kiš studied literature at the University of Belgrade where he lived for most of his adult life. He wrote novels, short stories and poetry and went on to receive the prestigious NIN Award for his novel Pešcanik. He died in Paris in 1989.Trade ReviewI urge you to read this reissued collection from a writer who reinvented and invigorated the short story...[The title story] is one of the most moving I have ever read, a testament to both the power and the weakness of literature and human memory... He is one of those writers you feel is on your side. In short, I cannot recommend this book highly enough, or urge it on you more strongly -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *Kis is woefully undervalued. He belongs at the centre of European literature, not on its fringes. . .It is past time for Kis's rediscovery. * New Statesman *Compulsively readable * Daily Telegraph *Kiš is one of the great European writers of the post-war period * Guardian *Fantasy chases reality and reality chases fantasy. Pirandello and Borges are not far away. But these names are intended as approximate references. Kiš is a new, original writer -- Leonardo Sciascia * Times Literary Supplement *In The Encyclopedia of the Dead, Danilo Kiš offers a vision that expands the domain of life at the expense of that of death. These stories present that vision with a journalist's precision, with a taxidermist's tactile knowledge of era and realm, with the tenacity of a true son of the century -- Joseph BrodskyIntense and exotic, his mysteries hint at unspeakable secrets that remain forever beyond the story-teller's grasp -- Boyd TonkinThis translation, by Michael Henry Heim, is superb * Independent *The Encyclopedia of the Dead is a book of wonders, product of a vivid imagination that is yet a model of narrative restraint * RTE *
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers One Mans Bible
Book SynopsisThe new novel from the Nobel Prize-winning author of international bestseller ‘Soul Mountain’. ‘Unforgettable. “One Man’s Bible” burns with a powerfully individualistic fire of intelligence and depth of feeling.’ New York TimesTrade Review‘Brilliant and poetic, keen and original…Gao has written a book drenched in the political turmoil in China. But his ambition is to transcend the specifics of time and place, to write a meditation on literature itself and its ability to reveal the raging, brutal, brilliant beast that is mankind…“One Man’s Bible” burns with a powerfully individualistic fire of intelligence and depth of feeling…Unforgettable.’ New York Times ‘An absorbing historical primer on the decades of Maoist terror…Both more personal and more political than its predecessor, “Soul Mountain”, “One Man’s Bible” is a Chinese variation on an important global literary theme: the desperate quest by those living under dictatorships of all kinds to escape the crushing forces of totalitarian collectivism.’ TLS ‘Everything a novel should be…Like all good novelists Gao creates a world, not as a kind of wallpaper or filling but as a place in which the protagonist suffers and sometimes is happy.’ Literary Review ‘Dreamlike, elegant and haunting.’ Boston Globe
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd The Tunnel
Book SynopsisFramed as the confession of a tormented outcast who has murdered the only woman capable of understanding him, Ernesto Sabato''s The Tunnel has been acclaimed as a masterpiece by writers such as Albert Camus and Graham Greene. This Penguin Classics edition is translated by Margaret Sayers Peden with an introduction by Colm Tóibín.Infamous for the murder of Maria Iribarne, the artist Juan Pablo Castel is now writing a detailed account of his relationship with the victim from his prison cell: obsessed from the first moment he saw her examining one of his paintings, Castel had become fixated on her over the next months and fantasized over how they might meet again. When he happened upon her one day, a relationship was formed which swiftly convinced him of their mutual love. But Castel''s growing paranoia would lead him to destroy the one thing he truly cared about...Ernesto Sabato (1911-2011) was born in Rojas, a small town in Buenos Aires Province. He read physicTrade Review'An existentialist classic ... Retains a chilling, memorable power' * The New York Times Book Review *'Sabato captures the intensity of passions run into uncharted passages where love promises not tranquillity, but danger' * Los Angeles Times *Heralded by Albert Camus and Thomas Mann and widely translated, ''The Tunnel'' is the brief, obsessive, sometimes delirious confession of a convicted murderer. -- Robert Coover * New York Times Book Review *
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Penguin Books Ltd Crime and Punishment
Book Synopsis''A truly great translation . . . This English version really is better'' - A. N. Wilson, The SpectatorTIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2014This acclaimed new translation of Dostoyevsky''s ''psychological record of a crime'' gives his dark masterpiece of murder and pursuit a renewed vitality, expressing its jagged, staccato urgency and fevered atmosphere as never before. Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders alone through the slums of St. Petersburg, deliriously imagining himself above society''s laws. But when he commits a random murder, only suffering ensues. Embarking on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden prostitute, can offer the chance of redemption.Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was born in Moscow and made his name in 1846 with the novella Poor Folk. He spent several years in prison in Siberia as a result of his political activities, an experience which formed the basis of The House of the Dead. In later life, he fell in love with a much younger woman and developed a ruinous passion for roulette. His subsequent great novels include Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons and The Brothers Karamazov.Oliver Ready is Research Fellow in Russian Society and Culture at St Antony''s College, Oxford. He is general editor of the anthology, The Ties of Blood: Russian Literature from the 21st Century (2008), and Consultant Editor for Russia, Central and Eastern Europe at the Times Literary Supplement.Trade ReviewA superb translation -- Jennifer Szalai * The New York Times *A truly great translation ... Sometimes new translations of old favourites are surplus to our requirements. Sometimes, though, a new translation really makes us see a favourite masterpiece afresh. And this English version of Crime and Punishment really is better ... Crime and Punishment, as well as being an horrific story and a compelling drama, is also extremely funny. Ready brings out this quality well ... That knife-edge between sentimentality and farce has been so skilfully and delicately captured here ... Ready's version is colloquial, compellingly modern and - in so far as my amateurish knowledge of the language goes - much closer to the Russian. ... The central scene in the book is a masterpiece of translation -- A. N. Wilson * Spectator *I was delighted to discover Oliver Ready's new translation of Crime and Punishment ... It is brimful of a young man's rage and energy and bullshit. I adored it -- Peter CareyThis vivid, stylish and rich rendition by Oliver Ready compels the attention of the reader in a way that none of the others I've read comes close to matching. Using a clear and forceful mid-20th-century idiom, Ready gives us an entirely new kind of access to Dostoyevsky's singular, self-reflexive and at times unnervingly comic text. This is the Russian writer's story of moral revolt, guilt and possible regeneration turned into a new work of art ... [It] will give a jolt to the nervous system to anyone interested in the enigmatic Russian author -- John Gray * New Statesman, 'Books of the Year' *Oliver Ready's translation of Crime and Punishment . . . is a five-star hit, which will make you see the original with new eyes -- A. N. Wilson * Times Literary Supplement, 'Books of the Year' *At last we have a translation that brings out the wild humour and vitality of the original -- Robert ChandlerI was bowled over, by the novel itself and the utterly brilliant translation, which grabs you by the lapels and doesn't let go. In the course of my work, I go through mountains of nonfiction to try to understand the world. This summer, I was reminded of the power of a novel to uncover something much deeper about the human spirit -- Fareed Zakaria * The New York Times Book Review *A tour de force built from prose that is not only impeccable in its own right but also perfectly suited to the story, its characters, its epoch and themes. We should treasure this new translation and, indeed, this new book * New York Journal of Books *A dazzlingly agile and robust new translation . . . Ready, who has a practiced ear for Russian dialect and a natural grace with English, is exceptionally deft at navigating [the novel's] challenges ... His ability to reproduce the whole heady brew of Dostoyevsky's novel in a consistent but nimble modern English ought to be applauded * Los Angeles Review of Books *What a great book this is and nothing like the dated, heavy Russian literature I thought I might have to wade through. It's a page turner - a dark, comic thriller with an anti-hero akin to Macbeth and characters so perfectly rendered as to leap from the page. The style is really modern and constantly delves into the mad thoughts of the protagonist - if you can call him that - Raskolnikov. Try it, especially Oliver Ready's high-tempo version -- Gary KempOliver Ready's version is outstanding in finding le mot juste for all of Dostoevsky's graphic verbs and odd objects (few Russian writers have a lexical range to equal Dostoevsky's) * The Times Literary Supplement *Ready's translation is nothing less than a wonder. He mirrors the tonal shifts in Dostoyevsky's original more nimbly than any English-language translator has before, and he catches the dark humour that runs through the book mostly below its surface, and best of all, he captures the essential, unchanging absurdity of Raskolnikov perfectly ... Ready's version crackles with grubby, demented vitality -- Steve Donoghue * Open Letters Monthly *Ready's lively translation succeeds in admirably capturing the psychological intensity of Dostoyevsky's style. . . . [It] replicates natural speech patterns in a way that Pevear and Volokhonsky's rather stilted translation does not. . . . [Ready's] English prose is rhythmic and, at times, poetic. . . . It is [the novel's] sense of frenzy that Ready so brilliantly captures in his new translation, which will ensure that another generation of readers remains enraptured by Crime and Punishment -- Slavic and East European JournalReady's vivid, new version ... is more than a Titanic idea of a great translation. It is the real thing ... Crisp and compelling, building on staccato rhythmic structures to heighten the novel's dramatic tension, then elegantly sidling into Dostoyevsky's abrupt denouement, his translation brings new life to a 150-year-old classic, rendering the familiar in fresh light * The Wichita Eagle *A gorgeous translation ... Inside one finds an excellent apparatus: a chronology, a terrific contextualizing introduction, a handy compendium of suggestions for further reading, and cogent notes on the translation. . . . But the best part is Ready's supple translation of the novel itself. Ready manages to cleave as closely as any prior translator to both spirit and letter, while rendering them into an English that is a relief to read * The East-West Review *What a pleasure it is to see Oliver Ready's new translation bring renewed power to one of the world's greatest works of fiction ... Ready's work is of substantial and superb quality ... [His] version portrays more viscerally and vividly the contradictory nature of Raskolnikov's consciousness. ... Ready evokes the crux of Crime and Punishment with more power than the previous translators have ... with an enviably raw economy of prose * The Curator *[An] excellent new translation * Critical Mass *Ready's new translation of Crime and Punishment is thoughtful and elegant [and] shows us once again why this novel is one of the most intriguing psychological studies ever written. His translation also manages to revive the disturbing humour of the original ... In some places, Ready's version echoes Pevear and Volokhonsky's prize-winning Nineties version, but he often renders Dostoyevsky's text more lucidly while retaining its deliberately uncomfortable feel. . . . Ready's colloquial, economical use of language gives the text a new power * Russia Beyond the Headlines *A clever modern translation of this classic of Russian horror that gave me nightmares as a student. We journey through suffering, repentance and expiation of sin -- Neil Mendoza * The Week *
£9.49
Oxford University Press A Hunger Artist and Other Stories
Book SynopsisThis new translation includes Kafka's two published collections, A Country Doctor and A Hunger Artist with other, uncollected stories, aphorisms, and parables that have become part of the Kafka canon. Enigmatic, satirical, often bleakly humorous, the stories meditate on art and artists and the human experience. Includes an introduction and notes.Table of ContentsTHE AEROPLANES AT BRESCIA; A COUNTRY DOCTOR: LITTLE TALES; THE RIDER ON THE COAL-SCUTTLE; A HUNGER ARTIST: FOUR STORIES; BLUMFELD, AN ELDERLY BACHELOR; AT THE BUILDING OF THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA; THE HUNTSMAN GRACCHUS; INVESTIGATIONS OF A DOG; THE BURROW; SELECTED SHORTER PIECES; APHORISMS
£9.49
Oxford University Press The Masterpiece
Book SynopsisThe Masterpiece is the tragic story of Claude Lantier, an ambitious and talented young artist from the provinces who has come to conquer Paris and is conquered by the flaws in his own genius. While his boyhood friend Pierre Sandoz becomes a successful novelist, Claude's originality is mocked at the Salon and turns gradually into a doomed obsession with one great canvas. Life - in the form of his model and wife Christine and their deformed child Jacques - issacrificed on the altar of Art.The Masterpiece is the most autobiographical of the twenty novels in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. Set in the 1860s and 1870s, it provides a unique insight into his career as a writer and his relationship with Cézanne, a friend since their schooldays in Aix-en-Provence. It also presents a well-documented account of the turbulent Bohemian world in which the Impressionists came to prominence despite the conservatism of the Academy and the ridicule of the general public.Table of ContentsNo Penguin competition.
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Yale University Press Winter Mythologies and Abbots The Margellos World
Book SynopsisMichon's exquisite short narratives transport us to the heart of the Middle Ages as witnesses to the double-edged power of beliefTrade Review“Michon demonstrates the independence of voice that marks a true writer. . . . His supple prose, dappled with chiaroscuro effects, is used in straightforward chronicles. But his writing can at any time lift or lower into semi-hallucinatory effects that recall Arthur Rimbaud’s assaults on conventional perception.”—Roger Shattuck, New York Review of Books“Excellent news on the Michon translation front: an exceptional translator has, at last, appeared. . . . There is the velocity, the precision, the music, the compression, the singularity, the power. . . . [Michon’s] vision . . . appears with all its French force in Ann Jefferson’s exceptional transplantation.”—Wyatt Mason, New York Review of BooksLonglisted for the 2015 Best Translated Book Award, fiction category, organized by Three Percent, a resource for international literature based at the University of RochesterSelected as a finalist of the French-American Foundation Translation Prize“[Michon] has become a member of that family known as the authors I admire, I trust, I want to read.”—Richard Howard“An astonishingly rich, mythic new direction in modern French narrative.”—Guy Davenport
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Vintage Publishing General Of The Dead Army
Book SynopsisTwenty years after the end of the Second World War, an Italian general is despatched to Albania to recover his country's dead. Once there he meets a German general who is engaged upon an identical mission, and their conversations brings out into the open the extent of their horror and guilt, newly exacerbated by their present task.Trade ReviewHe has been compared to Gogol, Kafka and Orwell. But Kadare's is an original voice, universal yet deeply rooted in his own soil * Independent on Sunday *A novelist of dazzling mastery -- Paul Binding * Independent *Astonishing...his finest work -- Azar Nafisi, Man Booker judge and author of 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' * Guardian *With its metonymic realism and fidelity to its characters, The General of the Dead Army reminds us why his work is so valued * New Statesman *Literary gold dust - haunting, bleakly comedic and ultimately horrific * The Times *
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Vintage Publishing The Troubled Man
Book SynopsisEvery morning Håkan von Enke takes a walk in the forest near his apartment in Stockholm. Then, one day he fails to come home.Detective Kurt Wallander is not officially involved but Håkan''s son is engaged to his daughter Linda. A few months earlier Håkan was eager to talk to Kurt about a controversial incident from his past. Could this be connected to his disappearance? When Håkan''s wife also goes missing, Wallander is determined to uncover the truth but the investigation will force him to look back over his own past, as he comes to the unsettling realisation that even those we love the most can remain strangers to us...Trade ReviewA heartbreaking tale of descent into despair and darkness that serves as a totem for what great crime writing can achieve -- Declan Burke * Irish Times *Magnificent * Financial Times *By the time you get to the end, you'll be wanting another. But it would be hard to beat this tale of murder and loss which leads back to the heart of the cold war * Daily Mirror *A plot as twisted and exciting as any Le Carre thriller * Daily Mail *It's a fine finale for the fretful policeman and it's hard not to feel you'll miss the old bugger -- Siobhan Murphy * Metro *
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Vintage Publishing We The Drowned
Book SynopsisCarsten Jensen was born in 1952. He first made his name as a columnist and literary critic. As a journalist he has reported from many regions of conflict, including the Balkans and most recently, Afghanistan. His essays, novels and travel books have won numerous literary awards, including the coveted Golden Laurels and the Danish Bank Literary Prize. In 2010 he received the prestigious Olof Palme Prize, awarded for his contribution to the defence of human rights. We, the Drowned has sold more than 300,000 copies in Scandinavia alone and was voted best Danish novel of the past 25 years.Trade ReviewA magnificent addition to the canon of seafaring writing, a brilliant new reworking of the ancient theme...the pages glow with wonderfully imagined pictures... The language is all you could hope for in a sea novel: sinewy and simple, often surprisingly beautiful -- Vanora Bennett * The Times *Carsten Jensen is unquestionably one of the most exciting authors writing in Scandinavia today. I always look forward hugely to his books. He is, in my opinion, an utterly unique story-teller -- Henning MankellAn epic tale * Independent *A novel of immense authority and ambition and beauty, by a master storyteller at the height of his powers. This is a book to sail into, to explore, to get lost in, but it is also a book that brings the reader, dazzled by wonders, home to the heart from which great stories come. Meet Carsten Jensen halfway and you're spellbound -- Joseph O'ConnorImpressive... one of the more engrossing literary voyages of recent years... rich, powerful and rewarding * Financial Times *
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Penguin Books Ltd Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk And Other Stories
Book SynopsisNikolai Semyonovich Leskov was born in 1831 in Gorokhovo, Oryol Province and was orphaned early. In 1860 he became a journalist and moved to Petersburg where he published his first story. He subsequently wrote a number of folk legends and Christmas tales, along with a few anti-nihilistic novels which resulted in isolation from the literary circles of his day. He died in 1895.David McDuff is a translator of Russian and Nordic literature. His translations of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian prose classics (including works by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Bely and Babel) are published by Penguin.
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Vintage Publishing Atomised
Book SynopsisMichel Houellebecq is a poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of several novels including The Map and the Territory (winner of the Prix Goncourt), Atomised, Platform, Whatever and Submission. He was awarded the Legion d'Honneur in 2019.Trade ReviewVery moving, gloriously, extravagantly filthy and very funny * Independent *Compelling...wrenchingly terrible... Unhealthy and haunting, rich and provocative, Atomised astonishes both as a novel of ideas and as a portrait of a society * Independent *A brave and rather magnificent book * Daily Telegraph *Sheer brilliance...totally mesmerising, energising, infuriating and moving... Compulsory reading * Time Out *A novel which hunts big game while others settle for shooting rabbits -- Julian Barnes * Times Literary Supplement *Destined to become a cult book...a genuine page-turner * Observer *Bullying and brilliant... Atomised is nothing less than a road-rage map of our times * Evening Standard *An extraordinary voice * Observer *Makes you re-examine your beliefs... This is a brave and rather magnificent book * Daily Telegraph *
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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group The Death of Ivan Ilyich Vintage Classics
Book SynopsisTolstoy’s most famous novella is an intense and moving examination of death and the possibilities of redemption, here in a powerful translation by the award-winning Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.Ivan Ilyich is a middle-aged man who has spent his life focused on his career as a bureaucrat and emotionally detached from his wife and children. After an accident he finds himself on the brink of an untimely death, which he sees as a terrible injustice. Face to face with his mortality, Ivan begins to question everything he has believed about the meaning of life. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a masterpiece of psychological realism and philosophical profundity that has inspired generations of readers.
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Profile Name
Book Synopsis'Brilliantly spiky ... As well as boasting compelling, sharp prose, Name forces readers to question what one's name means - and to who' AnOther Magazine, Best Books of 2025'Debré's voice is Camusian, comic, stark, relentless and totally hypnotic' Rachel Kushner'Written with edge and urgency in a voice that is both vulnerable and in full command' Colm Tóibín'Annie Ernaux, just edgier. Her prose is gorgeously spare and practical' Irish IndependentName is Debré's most intense novel yet, a fresh feat of sharp, spare, yet explosive prose. Set partly in the narrator's childhood, it explores ideas about origins and reshapes relationships to our various inheritances: name, family, class, habits. As the novel unravels, freedom is revealed as a redefining of these relationships on one's own terms. Brilliant and unflinching, Name affirms and extends Debré's radical project.
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Vintage Publishing The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Book SynopsisYukio Mishima was born into a samurai family and imbued with the code of complete control over mind and body, and loyalty to the Emperor - the same code that produced the austerity and self-sacrifice of Zen. He wrote countless stories and thirty-three plays, in some of which he performed. Several films have been made from his novels, including The Sound of Waves, Enjo which was based on The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Among his other works are the novels Confessions of a Mask and Thirst for Love and the short story collections Death in Midsummer and Acts of Worship. The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, however, is his masterpiece. After Mishima conceived the idea of The Sea of Fertility in 1964, he frequently said he would die when it was completed. On 25 November 1970, the day he completed The Decay of the Angel, the last novel of the cycle, Mishima committed seppTrade ReviewA dark vision...a beautiful, disturbing novel * Los Angeles Times *Mishima writes with a fury that seldom flags * Glasgow Herald *Glitters with images of beauty and destruction, cruelty and sacrifice, dedication and betrayal * The Times *An amazing literary feat * Chicago Tribune *I adore Mishima's prose and vivid descriptions. They pull me out of my daily reality -- Amanda Harlech * Harpers Bazaar *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Temple of Dawn
Book SynopsisYukio Mishima was born into a samurai family and imbued with the code of complete control over mind and body, and loyalty to the Emperor - the same code that produced the austerity and self-sacrifice of Zen. He wrote countless stories and thirty-three plays, in some of which he performed. Several films have been made from his novels, including The Sound of Waves, Enjo which was based on The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea. Among his other works are the novels Confessions of a Mask and Thirst for Love and the short story collections Death in Midsummer and Acts of Worship. The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, however, is his masterpiece. After Mishima conceived the idea of The Sea of Fertility in 1964, he frequently said he would die when it was completed. On 25 November 1970, the day he completed The Decay of the Angel, the last novel of the cycle, Mishima committed seppuku Trade ReviewThe four novels remain one of the outstanding works of 20th-Century literature and a summary of the author's life and work... Like the Divine Comedy and Remembrance of Things Past, "The Sea of Fertility" gives the reader the sensation of being carried to a great height...but Mishima abandons the reader at the edge of the precipice, revealing the abyss beneath the degraded life of the post-war world * Los Angeles Times *Surpassingly chilling, subtle, and original * New York Times *Japan's foremost man of letters * Spectator *Tremendous...evocative and poetic * Los Angeles Times *
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton The Earth and Sky of Jacques Dorme
Book SynopsisAn astounding novel that penetrates the 20th-century experience, from one of Europe's most feted authorsTrade ReviewThe year's finest novel . . . a truly remarkable achievement. Makine will surely one day win the Nobel Prize. * Francis King, Books of the Year, Spectator *Undisputedly a novelist of genius . . . a remarkable work * Spectator *One of the most extraordinary novels I've read for a long time . . . endlessly fascinating and beautifully written * Sunday Herald *Hold[s] the reader in an emotional captivity from which there is no escape till long after the book has been put down * Andrey Kurkov, Guardian *This is a novel to read, and read again, with ever-deepening admiration. * Allan Massie, Literary Review *One of the greatest European novelists of our time . . . When you leave a Makine novel, you are simultaneously bereft and enriched. * Herald *With remarkable concision, he takes what could be vast and weighty topics - nationality, identity, memory and truth - and creates a series of unforgettable images and incidents. * Daily Mail *'I was mightily impressed by The Earth and Sky of Jacques Dorme . . . it's beautifully crafted and still resonates. A modern masterpiece." * George Rosie, Books of the Year, Sunday Herald *'Makine packs great steppes-full of history into compact, bejewelled boxes of prose... An epic novel in - perfect - miniature.' * Boyd Tonkin, Independent *
£9.49
Cornerstone The Night Watch
Book SynopsisSERGEI LUKYANENKO is the author of over 25 books. The Night Watch series has sold over two million hardbacks. The Night Watch and The Day Watch were both made into internationally successful films. Sergei Lukyanenko lives in Moscow.Trade ReviewThis modern day mythical fantasy is Anne Rice on an epic scale, a hugely imagined world ... a chiller thriller from cold of Russia, this one's been selling like hot cakes around the world * Sunday Sport *So good that the film feels like a trailer for it * Time Out *JK Rowling, Russian style ... arguably Russia's richest and most famous literary talent of the moment ... [a] cracking read, owing more to Rowling or Philip Pullman than it does to the horror genre ... surprisingly readable and addictive...it relies on suspense and psychological drama and a good dose of humour - rather than blood and guts * Daily Telegraph *When a particular kind of story, heavily based in one culture, gets transferred into a culture distinctly different, something magical happens ... Something modern, new and distinctly creepy ... continues to work because the magic is rooted in the realities of modern Russia ... Inventive, sardonic, and imbued with a surprising the sense that, for this author and his audience, much of this stuff is new-minted * Independent *Night Watch is an epic of extraordinary power -- Quentin Tarantino
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Orient BlackSwan Translating Kerala
Book SynopsisTranslating Kerala is an interdisciplinary study that is situated at the interstices of translation studies and cultural studies. It looks at translation as a social and cultural act that transcribes, articulates and interprets structures of power unfolding within asymmetrical fields of cultural politics. The book tries to go beyond traditional approaches that consider translation as a literary and linguistic endeavour, attempting to look at it as a process that transcribes and articulates the region of Kerala, while teasing out the paradoxes, ambiguities and politics that mediate such translational acts. The chapters in this book delve into seminal issues, ranging from the politics that constitutes various linguistic variables of Malayalam to the interpretative paradigms that bring out experiences of the gendered and subaltern subject in Kerala. In the process, it focuses on texts as varied as the Malayalam translation of Les Misérables, the autobiographies of C. K. Janu and Nalini Jameela, and Ramu Kariat''s cinematic adaptation of Chemmeen. From detailed discussions on canonical literary texts to non-canonical/popular cultural texts.
£19.35
Penguin Books Ltd Russian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to
Book SynopsisA landmark anthology that will introduce many extraordinary, unknown Russian writers to an English-language readership for the first time Fleeing Russia amid the chaos of the Russian Revolution and subsequent Civil War, many writers went on to settle in Paris, Berlin and elsewhere and forged new lives in exile. Much of their subsequent work, published in Russian language magazines and books, is entirely unknown in the West and has only been recently discovered in Russia itself. As well as including stories by the most famous émigré writers, Vladimir Nabokov and Ivan Bunin, this collection introduces many lesser known voices: Yuri Felzen, known as the Russian Proust, Nadezhda Teffi, the hugely popular and funny story writer, and Georgy Ivanov, whose work of poetic prose The Atom Explodes is a brilliant, haunting response to the upheaval and trauma of emigration. Exploring themes of displacement, nostalgia, loss and new beginninTrade ReviewA brilliant, poignant anthology -- Alexis Levitin * Los Angeles Review of Books *A rich anthology ... Editor and lead translator Bryan Karetnyk has done a marvellous job ... The translations maintain a high standard of literary quality and precision. Admirably equipped with biographical and explanatory notes, this anthology presents to the Anglophone reader, for the first time, a unified representation of the authors and disparate, yet interlinked cultural contexts of first-wave Russian emigration -- Judges, Read Russia Prize 2018Compelling ... Karetnyk's anthology transports the reader into the motley lives and imaginations of Russian émigrés in Paris, Berlin and beyond. Highly recommended reading for anyone fascinated by prerevolutionary Russian culture as preserved among the ranks of the two million-odd Whites that formed the first wave of emigration from Bolshevik Russia. -- Anna Gunin * The Riveter *Ably translated ... Bryan Karetnyk has produced that most welcome artefact in this age of the floating text: an 'enhanced' paperback whose fictive stories are fully equipped with their histories. Writers' biographies, historical chronology, a list of Russian émigré venues, and well-researched footnotes serve to anchor each narrative in its own peripatetic time and space -- Caryl Emerson * Times Literary Supplement *A powerful reminder of the trauma of civil war and hardships of displacement ... The stories evoke a lost world with attendant nostalgia, sorrow, fear and anger ... Rarely has the term 'unjustly neglected' rung more true * Country Life *Brilliantly translated by Bryan Karetnyk ... A truly wonderful selection * Los Angeles Review of Books Radio Hour *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Perfume
Book SynopsisPatrick Süskind''s Perfume is a classic novel of death and sensuality in Paris, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. ''In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. His name was Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, and if his name has been forgotten today, it is certainly not because Grenouille fell short of those more famous blackguards when it came to arrogance, misanthropy, immorality, or, more succinctly, wickedness, but because his gifts and his sole ambition were restricted to a domain that leaves no traces in history: to the fleeting realm of scent . . .''''An astonishing tour de force both in concept and execution'' Guardian''A fantastic tale of murder and twisted eroticism controlled by a disgusted loathing of humanity ... Clever, stylish, absorbing and well worth reading'' Literary Review''A meditation on the nature of death, desire and decay ... a remarkable début'' Peter Ackroyd, The New York Times Book Review''Unlike anything else one has read. A phenomenon ... Everyone seems to want to get a whiff of this strange perfume, which will remain unique in contemporary literature'' Figaro''An ingenious and totally absorbing fantasy'' Daily Telegraph''Witty, stylish and ferociously absorbing'' Observer
£9.49
Vintage Publishing A Country Doctors Notebook
Book SynopsisMikhail Bulgakov (1891 - 1940) was born and educated in Kiev where he graduated as a doctor in 1916. He rapidly abandoned medicine to write some of the greatest Russian literature of this century. After a lifetime at odds with the stultifying Soviet regime, he died impoverished and blind in 1940, shortly after completing his masterpiece, The Master and Margarita. None of his major fiction was published during his lifetime.Trade ReviewStories as keen and bright as a scalpel... Courage shines from every angle of this profoundly human collection by the greatest of modern Russian writers * Sunday Times *A marvellous writer -- Michael FraynThe oil lamps of his little provincial hospital seemed to him a lonely beacon which symbolised the battle between light and darkness... These straighforward yet extraordinary sketches gain their strength from also being the account of a young man's growth. One begins to see that he became a novelist not because he had material but because he was storing up passion and temperament -- V.S. Pritchett * New Statesman *Wryly funny and fascinating * Sunday Times *Blizzards blow, wolves run loose in the forests, the doctor duels with Death, who is never satisfied * Harpers & Queen *
£8.54
Oxford University Press The Trial
Book SynopsisThe Trial is one of the central works of modern literature. This meticulous new translation includes the chapters Kafka left incomplete and is accompanied by a biographical preface, detailed introduction, chronology, bibliography and notes.
£8.99
Hodder & Stoughton The Sisters
Book Synopsis
£18.00
