Oxford World Classic

'Another island in the Great Ocean has many sinful and malevolent women, who have precious gems in their eyes.'In his Book of Marvels and Travels, Sir John Mandeville describes a journey from Europe to Jerusalem and on into Asia, and the many wonderful and monstrous peoples and practices in the East. He tells us about the Sultan in Cairo, the Great Khan in China,and the mythical Christian prince Prester John. There are giants and pygmies, cannibals and Amazons, headless humans and people with a single foot so huge it can shield them from the sun . Forceful and opinionated, the narrator is by turns bossy,learned, playful, and moralizing, with an endless curiosity about different cultures.Written in the fourteenth century, the Book is a captivating blend of fact and fantasy, an extraordinary travel narrative that offers some revealing and unexpected attitudes towards other races and religions. It was immensely popular, and numbered amongits readers Chaucer, Columbus, and Thomas More. Anthony Bale's new translation emphasizes the book's readability, and his introduction and notes bring us closer to Mandeville's medieval worldview.

'The men of culture are the true apostles of equality.'Matthew Arnold's famous series of essays, which were first published in book form under the title Culture and Anarchy in 1869, debate important questions about the nature of culture and society that are as relevant now as they have ever been. Arnoldseeks to find out 'what culture really is, what good it can do, what is our own special need of it' in an age of rapid social change and increasing mechanization. He contrasts culture, 'the study of perfection', with anarchy, the mood of unrest anduncertainty that pervaded mid-Victorian England. How can individuals be educated, not indoctrinated, and what is the role of the state in disseminating 'sweetness and light'?This edition reproduces the original book version and enables readers to appreciate its immediate historical context as well as the reasons for its continued importance today, in the face of the challenges of multi-culturalism and post-modernism.

'A good essay must draw its curtain round us, but it must be a curtain that shuts us in, not out.'According to Virginia Woolf, the goal of the essay 'is simply that it should give pleasure...It should lay us under a spell with its first word, and we should only wake, refreshed, with its last.' One of the best practitioners of the art she analysed sorewardingly, Woolf displayed her essay-writing skills across a wide range of subjects, with all the craftsmanship, substance, and rich allure of her novels. This selection brings together thirty of her best essays, including the famous 'Mr Bennett andMrs Brown', a clarion call for modern fiction. She discusses the arts of writing and of reading, and the particular role and reputation of women writers. She writes movingly about her father and the art of biography, and of the London scene in the earlydecades of the twentieth century. Overall, these pieces are as indispensable to an understanding of this great writer as they are enchanting in their own right.

The AnalectsConfuciusTranslated with an introduction and notes by Raymond DawsonFew individuals have shaped their country's civilization more profoundly than the Master Kong (Confucius, 551-479 BC). Compulsory reading in the late Imperial period for all who wished to enter the Civil Service or Government, his sayings and those ofhis disciples form the foundation of a distinct social, ethical, and intellectual system. They have retained their freshness and vigour throughout the two and a half millennia of their currency, and are still admired even in today's China.

'it is only the cultivation of individuality which produces, or can produce, well developed human beings'Mill's four essays, 'On Liberty', 'Utilitarianism', 'Considerations on Representative Government', and 'The Subjection of Women' examine the most central issues that face liberal democratic regimes - whether in the nineteenth century or the twenty-first.They have formed the basis for many of the political institutions of the West since the late nineteenth century, tackling as they do the appropriate grounds for protecting individual liberty, the basic principles of ethics, the benefits and the costs ofrepresentative institutions, and the central importance of gender equality in society.These essays are central to the liberal tradition, but their interpretation and how we should understand their connection with each other are both contentious. In their introduction Mark Philp and Frederick Rosen set the essays in the context of Mill'sother works, and argue that his conviction in the importance of the development of human character in its full diversity provides the core to his liberalism and to any defensible account of the value of liberalism to the modern world.

H. Rider HaggardEdited by Roger Luckhurst- A new edition of Haggard's classic adventure story, an exciting tale of exploration in the mythical African interior, where Allan Quatermain leads his intrepid companions in search of the fabled King Solomon's Mines- The first English adventure novel set in Africa, King Solomon's Mines also made popular the Lost World literary genreNew to this Edition:- Introduction by Roger Luckhurst that takes account of the scholarship of the last 25 years, providing a more interesting edition for study. As well as being a popular adventure story, the novel is a fascinating window on to colonial attitudes andmyth-making, and Luckhurst explores fully its troubled and ambivalent representation of Empire.- New Appendix, 'The Real King Solomon's Mines', Haggard's later article about the book's reputation and the historical basis for his story.- Revised Explanatory Notes.- Updated Select Bibliography.

Thomas More: Utopia/ Francis Bacon: New Atlantis/Henry Neville: The Isle of PinesWith the publication of Utopia (1516), Thomas More introduced into the English language not only a new word, but a new way of thinking about the gulf between what ought to be and what is. His Utopia is at once a scathing analysis of the shortcomings ofhis own society, a realistic suggestion for an alternative mode of social organization, and a satire on unrealistic idealism. Enormously influential, it remains a challenging as well as a playful text. This edition reprints Ralph Robinson's 1556translation from More's original Latin together with letters and illustrations that accompanied early editions of Utopia.Utopia was only one of many early modern treatments of other worlds. This edition also includes two other, hitherto less accessible, utopian narratives. New Atlantis (1627) offers a fictional illustration of Francis Bacon's visionary ideal of the rolethat science should play in the modern society. Henry Neville's The Isle of Pines (1668), a precursor of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, engages with some of the sexual, racial, and colonialist anxieties of the end of the early modern period. Together thesetexts illustrate the diversity of the early modern utopian imagination, as well as the different purposes to which it could be put.

A new translation of one of the most important of all French novels, admired for its artistry and its impact on the history of the genre Flaubert's portrait of an idealistic but indecisive protagonist suggests that in a disenchanted bourgeois world heroism can only be imagined in ironic terms. Fr'ed'eric Moreau's abortive search for fulfilment through love, art, and politics has newthings to say in today's postmodern, ostensibly post-ideological age Flaubert's experiments with form and narrative techniques inspired modernist writers in particular, and inspired the later experiments of Proust and Joyce Helen Constantine's translation is faithful and eminently readable Patrick Coleman's introduction incorporates recent research into the genesis of Flaubert's novel as well as current critical interest in the fictional representation of historical events and Flaubert's place in the history of literary modernism The edition includes extensive explanatory notes, an Historical Sketch clarifying the relation between the sequence of fictional and historical events, a Glossary of Historical Figures and an up-to-date bibliography

Sybil, or The Two Nations is one of the finest novels to depict the social problems of class-ridden Victorian England. The book's publication in 1845 created a sensation, for its immediacy and readability brought the plight of the working classes sharplyto the attention of the reading public. The 'two nations' of the alternative title are the rich and poor, so disparate in their opportunities and living conditions, and so hostile to each other. that they seem almost to belong to different countries. Thegulf between them is given a poignant focus by the central romantic plot concerning the love of Charles Egremont, a member of the landlord class, for Sybil, the poor daughter of a militant Chartist leader.

'Pain and pleasure are simple ideas, incapable of definition.'In 1757 the 27-year-old Edmund Burke argued that our aesthetic responses are experienced as pure emotional arousal, unencumbered by intellectual considerations. In so doing he overturned the Platonic tradition in aesthetics that had prevailed fromantiquity until the eighteenth century, and replaced metaphysics with psychology and even physiology as the basis for the subject. Burke's theory of beauty encompasses the female form, nature, art, and poetry, and he analyses our delight in sublimeeffects that thrill and excite us. His revolution in method continues to have repercussions in the aesthetic theories of today, and his revolution in sensibility has paved the way for literary and artistic movements from the Gothic novel throughRomanticism, twentieth-century painting, and beyond.In this new edition Paul Guyer conducts the reader through Burke's Enquiry, focusing on its place in the history of aesthetics and highlighting its innovations, as well as its influence on many subsequent authors from Kant and Schiller to Ruskin andNietzsche.

This is a unique collection of plays from the early modern or English Renaissance period, bringing together four key examples of 'domestic' drama, inaugurated in about 1590 by The Tragedy of Master Arden of Faversham. Each of the plays sheds fascinating light on contemporary English society in their handling of issues such as marriage, crime, and property, involving adultery, murder, witchcraft and the obligations of friendship. All the texts are edited to modern standards from the earliest surviving copies, with explanatory notes and a glossary. A critical introdution outlines the ways in which all four plays raise complex questions about the English society in which their tragic events unfold. A chronology details the history of the plays and their genre from sources to recent stage history. Two appendices supply new analysis of scholarly issues relating to two of the plays: who wrote Arden of Faversham and when did Heywood write The English Traveller.Arden of Faversham * A Woman Killed with Kindness * The Witch of Edmonton * The English TravellerIn about 1590, an unknown dramatist had the idea of writing a tragedy about the lives of ordinary people, instead of the genre's usual complement of kings and queens and politicians. His play, Arden of Faversham, inaugurated a new genre of 'domestic'drama, set in near-contemporary England and concerned with issues of marriage, crime, and property rather than war and power. Arden dramatizes a notorious murder case of forty years earlier, in which a wealthy husband was killed by his wife and herlover.In Thomas Heywood's A Woman Killed with Kindness, a wife is caught by her husband in bed with his best friend, only to find that he takes unusual reprisals. The Witch of Edmonton combines a true-life story of witchcraft with a fictitious tale of bigamyand wife-murder, and The English Traveller deals with the unexpected and unwelcome changes people find when they return home after a lengthy absence.Part of the Oxford English Drama series, this edition has modern-spelling texts

*A new edition of a much-loved classic, Elizabeth Gaskell's comic portrayal of a Victorian small town dominated by women.*Dinah Birch's introduction reflects recent revaluations of Gaskell's work, focusing on Gaskell's response to social change as it transformed the lives of provincial women, and the growing recognition that Cranford is much more than the gently charmingcomedy that is was once taken to be.*Includes two related short stories, 'The Cage at Cranford' and 'The Last Generation in England'.*An appendix includes a selection of extracts from Dickens, Dinah Craik, Wilkie Collins, Ruskin and other contemporary novelists and social commentators on the coming of the railway, banking failures, household management, fashion, Oriental entertainersand the novel's first reviewers to ilustrate the diverse contexts in which Cranford took its place.*Up-to-date bibliography and expanded notes.New to this edition*Introduction by Dinah Birch.*Up-to-date bibliography.*Revised chronology.*Explanatory Notes by Dinah Birch.*Appendix of contemporary responses to the novel and contemporary comment on household management, costume, financial and commercial controversies relevant to the text.*Reset Gaskell text.'A man ... is so in the way in the house!'A vivid and affectionate portrait of a provincial town in early Victorian England, Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford describes a community dominated by its independent and refined women. Undaunted by poverty, but dismayed by changes brought by the railway andby new commercial practices, the ladies of Cranford respond to disruption with both suspicion and courage. Miss Matty and her sister Deborah uphold standards and survive personal tragedy and everyday dramas

The most up-to-date critical edition availableBleak House, Dickens's most daring experiment in the narration of a complex plot, challenges the reader to make connections - -between the fashionable and the outcast, the beautiful and the ugly, the powerful and the victims. Nowhere in Dickens's laternovels is his attack on an uncaring society more imaginatively embodied, but nowhere either is the mixture of comedy and angry satire more deftly managed.Bleak House defies a single description. It is a mystery story, in which Esther Summerson discovers the truth about her birth and her unknown mother's tragic life. It is a murder story, which comes to a climax in a thrilling chase, led by one of theearliest detectives in English fiction, Inspector Bucket. And it is a fable about redemption, in which a bleak house is transformed by the resilience of human love.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 ofother valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Readership: Students of English Literature from A-level through to postgraduate level.

Three extraordinary characters caught in a web of fatal obsession are at the centre of Hugo's novel. The grotesque hunchback Quasimodo, bell-ringer of Notre-Dame, owes his life to the austere archdeacon, Claude Frollo, who in turn is bound by a hopelesspassion to the gypsy dancer Esmeralda. She, meanwhile, is bewitched by a handsome, empty-headed officer, but by an unthinking act of kindness wins Quasimodo's selfless devotion. Behind the central figures moves a pageant of picturesque characters,ranging from the cruel, superstitious king, Louis XI, to the underworld of beggars and petty criminals. These disreputable truands' night-time assault on the cathedral is one of the most spectacular set-pieces of Romantic literature.Hugo vividly depicts medieval Paris, where all life is dominated by the massive cathedral. His passionate enthusiasm for Gothic architecture is set within the context of an epic view of mankind's history, to which he attaches even more importance than tothe novel's compelling story. Alban Krailsheimer's new translation is a fresh approach to this monumental classic by France's most celebrated Romantic.

The modern horror story grew and developed across the nineteenth century, embracing categories as diverse as ghost stories, the supernatural and psychological horror, medical and scientific horror, colonial horror, and tales of the uncanny andprecognition. This anthology brings together twenty-nine of the greatest horror stories of the period, from 1816 to 1912, from the British, Irish, American, and European traditions. It ranges widely across the sub-genres toencompass authors whose terror-inducing powers remain unsurpassed.The book includes stories by some of the best writers of the century - Hoffmann, Poe, Balzac, Dickens, Hawthorne, Melville, and Zola - as well as established genre classics from M. R. James, Arthur Machen, Bram Stoker, Algernon Blackwood, CharlottePerkins Gilman, and others. It includes rare and little-known pieces by writers such as William Maginn, Francis Marion Crawford, W. F. Harvey, and William Hope Hodgson, and shows the important role played by periodicals in popularizing the horrorstory. Wherever possible, stories are reprinted in their first published form, with background information about their authors and helpful, contextualizing annotation. Darryl Jones's lively introduction discusses horror's literary evolution and itsarticulation of cultural preoccupations andanxieties. These are stories guaranteed to freeze the blood, revolt the senses, and keep you awake at night: prepare to be terrified!

'I wonder what will become of her!'So speculate the friends and neighbours of Emma Woodhouse, the lovely, lively, wilful,and fallible heroine of Jane Austen's fourth published novel. Confident that she knows best, Emma schemes to find a suitable husband for her pliant friend Harriet, onlyto discover that she understands thefeelings of others as little as she does her own heart. As Emma puzzles and blunders her way through the mysteries of her social world, Austen evokes for her readers a cast of unforgettable characters and a detailed portrait of a small town undergoinghistorical transition.Written with matchless wit and irony, judged by many to be her finest novel, Emma has been adapted many times for film and television. This new edition emphasises the novel's extraordinary technical audacity. While apparently conservative in its choiceof setting and range of characters, it was -and is - a formally revolutionary work.

'art comes to you professing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those moments' sake'In Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873), a diffident Oxford don produced an audacious and incalculably influential defence of aestheticism. Through his highly idiosyncratic readings of some of the finest paintings, sculptures, and poems ofthe French and Italian Renaissance, Pater redefined the practice of criticism as an impressionistic, almost erotic exploration of the critic's aesthetic responses. At the same time, reclaiming the Hellenism that he saw as the most characteristic aspectof the Renaissance, he implicitly celebrated homoerotic friendship.Pater's infamous 'Conclusion', which forever linked him with the decadent movement, scandalized many with its insistence on making pleasure the sole motive of life, even as it charmed fellow aesthetes such as Oscar Wilde. This edition of Studiesreproduces the text of the first edition, recapturing its initial impact, and the Introduction celebrates its doomed attempt to stand out against the processes of industrialization.

Edmund Burke was the dominant political thinker of the last quarter of the eighteenth century in England. His reputation depends less on his role as a practising politician than on his ability to set contemporary problems within a wider context ofpolitical theory. Above all, he commented on change. He tried to teach lessons about how change should be managed, what limits should not be transgressed, and what should be reverently preserved. Burke's generation was much in need of advice on thesematters. The Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution, and catastrophically, the French Revolution presented challenges of terrible proportions. They could promise paradise or threaten anarchy. Burke was acutely aware of how high the stakes were.The Reflections on the Revolution in France was a dire warning of the consequences that would follow the mismanagement of change.

*An established classic, often compared to Voltaire's CAndide, Rasselas is perhaps its author's most creative work, here presented in a sparkling new edition.*Authoritative introduction by Thomas Keymer relating the story to Johnson's life, thought, and writings

Benjamin Franklin's writings represent a long career of literary, scientific, and political efforts over a lifetime which extended nearly the entire eighteenth century. Franklin's achievements range from inventing the lightning rod to publishing PoorRichard's Almanack to signing the Declaration of Independence. In his own lifetime he knew prominence not only in America but in Britain and France as well.This volume includes Franklin's reflections on such diverse questions as philosophy and religion, social status, electricity, American national characteristics, war, and the status of women. Nearly sixty years separate the earliest writings from thelatest, an interval during which Franklin was continually balancing between the puritan values of his upbringing and the modern American world to which his career served as prologue.This edition provides a new text of the Autobiography, established with close reference to Franklin's original manuscript. It also includes a new transcription of the 1726 journal, and several pieces which have recently been identified as Franklin's ownwork.

Includes a complete reprint of Shakespeare's source, Robert Greene's PandostoThe Winter's Tale is Shakespeare's most perfectly realized tragi- comedy, as notable for its tragic intensity as for its comic grace and, throughout, for the richness and complexity of its poetry. It concludes, moreover, with the most daring and movingreconciliation scene in all Shakespeare's plays.Though the title may suggest an escapist fantasy, recent criticism has seen in the play a profoundly realist psychology and a powerful commentary on the violence implicit in family relationships and deep, longlasting friendships. Stephen Orgel's editionconsiders the play in relation to Renaissance conceptions of both dramatic genre and the family, traces the changing critical and theatrical attitudes towards it, and places its psychological and dramatic conflicts within the Jacobean cultural andpolitical context. The commentary pays special attention to the play's linguistic complexity, and the edition also includes a complete reprint of Shakespeare's source, Pandosto, by Robert Greene.