Irodalom

Will Freeman may have discovered the key to dating success: If the simple fact that they were single mothers meant that gorgeous women - women who would not ordinarily look twice a Will - might not only be willing, but enthusiastic about dating him, thenhe was really onto something. Single mothers - bright, attractive, available women - thousands of them, were all over London. He just had to find them.

Virginia WoolfMrs. Dalloway a Bond Streeten és más elbeszélések - Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street & other storiesKétnyelvű klasszikusokHangoskönyvként letölthető- Virginia Woolf, a modern próza egyik úttörője első művei megjelenése után egyre merészebb elbeszéléstechnikai kísérletekbe kezdett. Egyik fő célja az volt, hogy az élmény folytonos áramát, a jellem és a külső körülmények meghatározhatatlan voltát adjavissza. Foglalkoztatta az idő érzékelésének kettőssége is: az ember számára az idő egyfelől különálló pillanatok egymásutánja, másfelől évek, évszázadok folyama. Az 1920-as évek elejétől kezdve az egyéni létezésben megtapasztalt jelen és múló idő éppúgyvisszatérő témája lett, mint a szereplők időtudata.- Woolf elbeszéléseinek nincs hagyományos meseszövése, csak egy sor látszólag jelentéktelen részlet egymásutánját látjuk, amelyek azonban váratlanul az igazság hordozói lesznek, egy titkos történet elemeit alkotják, amelyek jobban lekötik az olvasót,mint egy konvencionális történet. Virtuóz írástechnikáját számos költői eszköz gazdagítja, például a vissza-visszatérő képek használata, a cselekmény idejének sajátos összesűrítése. Az így létrehozott forma az irodalmi modernség egyik legnagyobbteljesítményének bizonyult, amit remekül példáz kötetünk három rövid elbeszélése is.

*Pericles survives only in a corrupt text, which cannot be performed exactly as it stands. This is the first single-volume, fully-annotated text to attempt to help performers and readers by offering a reconstruction of the original play. It alsoreproduces the text of 1609 exactly as first printed, enabling users of the edition to see how the reconstruction was made, and why it was necessary. It is therefore the most comprehensive edition currently available.*The text draws upon Jacobean dramatist George Wilkins's The Painful Adventures of Pericles to emend some of the Quarto's errors and to supply some missing material.*The introduction argues the case for authorial collaboration between Shakespeare and Wilkins and also draws upon Warren's extensive experience of the play in rehearsal and performance to suggest why it is regaining its original popularity in the moderntheatre.*Reprints the entire Quarto text in an appendix, together with passages from Wilkins's narrative, so readers can see how the reconstruction has been made.*The only edition to be based on the Oxford Complete Works (1986), modified in the light of subsequent productions.The Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor: Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the plays for modern readers*The only single-volume, modern-spelling edition both to offer a reconstruction of the original play and to reproduce the corrupt Quarto text of 1609 exactly as first printed*On-page commentary and notes explains meaning, staging, language, and allusions*Detailed introduction explains the complex textual situation and Shakespeare's probable collaboration with George Wilkins*Illustrated with production photographs and related art*Full index to introduction and commentary*Durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship'

*A unique collection of Chekhov's most lyrical stories in a new translation of great skill and originality, published to coincide with the centenary of Chekhov's death.*This translation captures Chekhov's musicality and modernism by paying special attention to his tone and prose rhythm - closer to the Russian while shaping the prose idiomatically.*The stories are arranged chronologically to show the evolution of Chekhov's art and include familiar as well as less well-known works.*Growing interest in Chekhov as a prose writer, evidenced by the attention given to recent publications of Chekhov's previously unpublished work, and the influence he had had on modern writers such as Katherine Mansfield, John Cheever, and RaymondCarver.'the greatest short story writer who has ever lived'Raymond Carver's unequivocal verdict on Chekhov's genius has been echoed many times by writers as diverse as Katherine Mansfield, Somerset Maugham, John Cheever and Tobias Wolf. While his popularity as a playwright has sometimes overshadowed hisachievements in prose, the importance of Chekhov's stories is now recognized by readers as well as by fellow authors. Their themes - alienation, the absurdity and tragedy of human existence - have as much relevance today as when they were written, andthese superb new translations capture their modernist spirit. Elusive and subtle, spare and unadorned, the stories in this selection are among Chekhov's most poignant and lyrical. They include well-known pieces such as 'The Lady with the Little Dog', aswell as less familiar work like 'Gusev', inspired by Chekhov's travels in the Far East, and 'Rothschild's Violin', a haunting and darkly humorous tale about death and loss.

Új borítóval!It's just after midnight and Winnie is sound asleep. Suddenly, Wilbur hears something squeezing through his cat flap. It's a baby dragon with smoke coming out of its nose. Puff! How will Winnie stopher house from burning down and find the baby dragon'smother? With a little magic, of course!

Highly regarded today as one of the greatest novels in English literature, Little Dorrit presents both a scathing indictment of mid-Victorian England and a devastating insight into the human condition.Examining the many social and mental prisons which incarcerate men and women, the novel also considers the nature of true spiritual freedom. Against a background of administrative and financial scandal, Dickens tells the moving story of the oldMarshalsea prisoner who inherits a fortune and his devoted daughter's love for a man who believes he has done with love. He draws widely on the events of his own life and times, yet focuses a powerful imaginative vision which is as universal as it isspecific, immediate, and intense. In Little Dorrit Dickens displays his characteristic mastery of irony and pathos, of satire and comedy, and the novel exemplifies his most mature, ambitious, and effective writing.This edition, which has the definitive Clarendon text, also includes Dickens's working notes and eight of the original illustrations from the first edition by 'Phiz'.

`she tried to settle that most difficult problem for women, how much was to be utterly merged in obedience to authority, and how much might be set apart for freedom in working.'North and South is a novel about rebellion. Moving from the industrial riots of discontented millworkers through to the unsought passions of a middle-class woman, and from religious crises of conscience to the ethics of naval mutiny, it poses fundamentalquestions about the nature of social authority and obedience.Through the story of Margaret Hale, the middle-class southerner who moves to the northern industrial town of Milton, Gaskell skilfully explores issues of class and gender in the conflict between Margaret's ready sympathy with the workers and her growingattraction to the charismatic mill ownder, John Thornton. This new revised and expanded edition sets the novel in the context of Victorian social and medical debate.

Beowulf is the longest and finest literary work to have come down to us from Anglo-Saxon times, and one of the world's greatest epic poems. Set in the half-legendary, half historical Scandinavian past, it tells the story of the hero Beowulf, who comes tothe aid of the Danish king Hrothgar by killing first the terrifying, demonic monster Grendel, and then Grendel's infuriated and vengeful mother. A lifetime later, Beowulf's own kingdom, Geatland, is threatened by a fiery dragon

Louise de la Vallicre is the middle section of The Vicomte de Bragelonne, or, Ten Years After. Against a tender love story, Dumas continues the suspense which began with The Vicomte de Bragelonne and will end with The Man in the Iron Mask. Set during thereign of Louis XIV and filled with behind-the-scenes intrigue, the novel brings the aging Musketeers and d'Artagnan out of retirement to face an impending crisis within the royal court of France. This new edition of the classic English translation isrichly annotated and places Dumas's invigorating tale in its historical and cultural context.

The plot of this novel revolves around the feminist movement in Boston in the 1870s. F.R. Leavis called it one of the two most brilliant novels in the language. The novel's many allusions to the historical and social background of Boston society areexplained in the editorial material.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.

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . The perfect gift for every day of Christmas, Brian Wildsmith takes you on an enchanting journey through The Twelve Days of Christmas. This illustrated version of a Christmas classic from one ofour most internationally acclaimed picture-book writers and artists deserves a spot under every Christmas tree. Beautifully presented in a cloth-bound special edition, this is perfect for sharing during the festive season. Creates a lovely set with AChristmas Story.

Set in the second half of the eighteenth century, Barry Lyndon is the fictional autobiography of an adventurer and rogue whom the reader is led to distrust from the very beginning. Born into the petty Irish gentry, and outmanoeuvred in his firstlove-affair, a ruined Barry joins the British army. After service in Germany he deserts and, after a brief spell as a spy, pursues the career of a gambler in the dissolute clubs and courts of Europe. In a determined effort to enter fashionable society hemarries a titled heiress but finds he has met his match.First published in 1844, Barry Lyndon is Thackeray's earliest substantial novel and in some ways his most original, reflecting his views of the true art of fiction: to represent a subject, however unpleasant, with accuracy and wit, and not to moralize.The text is that of George Sainsbury's 1908 Oxford edition which restores passages cut when the novel was revised in 1856.

*Phineas Finn's perilous political career takes a sensational turn when he is accused of murder, in the fourth of Trollope's Palliser series

The classic American text - with informative appendices and generous annotation`So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!'These words, said to have been uttered by Abraham Lincoln, signal the celebrity of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The first American novel to become an international best-seller, Stowe's novel charts the progress from slavery to freedom of fugitives who escape thechains of American chattel slavery, and of a martyr who transcends all earthly ties. At the middle of the nineteenth-century, the names of its characters - Little Eva, Topsy, Uncle Tom - were renowned. A hundred years later, `Uncle Tom' still hadmeaning, but, to Blacks everywhere it had become a curse.This edition firmly locates Uncle Tom's Cabin within the context of African-American writing, the issues of race and the role of women. Its appendices include the most important contemporary African-American literary responses to the glorification ofUncle Tom's Christian resignation as well as excerpts from popular slave narratives, quoted by Stowe in her justification of the dramatization of slavery, Key to Uncles Tom's Cabin.

Edited and translated by David GallopThese new translations present Plato's remarkable dramatization of the momentous events surrounding the trial of Socrates in 399 BC, on charges of irreligion and corrupting the young. The Euthyphro, Defence of Socrates, and Crito form a dramatic andthematic sequence, raising fundamental questions about the basis of moral, religious, legal, and political obligation. Plato explores these issues with a freshness and directness that have never been surpassed.In the Defence of Socrates, Plato seeks not only to clear his master's name, but also to defend the whole Socratic way of life, and therefore philosophy itself. The result is an oratorical masterpiece. The Euthyphro, an inquiry into the nature of piety,probes the relationship between religion and morality. The Crito discusses the citizen's obligation to the state, in the context of a life-or-death issue confronting Socrates himself - whether or not to escape from prison.David Gallop's Introduction provides a stimulating philosophical and historical analysis of these texts, complemented by useful explanatory notes and an index of names, to make this edition invaluable to readers new to these timeless classics.

* A superb new translation of one of the greatest comic works of Russian literature'Rus! Russ!...Everything within you is open, desolate, and flat

*The only critically established text of the novel, based on a comprehensive study of the manuscript and Hardy's extensive revisions.*Pamela Dalziel's new introduction incorporates the latest critical thinking on the novel and offers an original analysis of Hardy's representation of the modern and his characterization of Elizabeth-Jane in the*Updated bibliography.*New chronology.*Map.*Glossary of dialect words.New to this edition*New introduction by Pamela Dalziel, in addition to providing a basic introduction to the novel, analyses Hardy's representation of the modern and makes an original contribution to discusion of the character of Elizabeth-Jane as proto-feminist.*Updated bibliography.*New chronology.'The woman is no good to me. Who'll have her?'Michael Henchard is an out-of-work hay-trusser who gets drunk at a local fair and impulsively sells his wife Susan and baby daughter. Eighteen years later Susan and her daughter seek him out, only to discover that he has become the most prominent man inCasterbridge. Henchard attempts to make amends for his youthful misdeeds but his unchanged impulsiveness clouds his relationships in love as well as his fortunes in business. Although Henchard is fated to be a modern-day tragic hero, unable to survive inthe new commercial world, his story is also a journey towards love.This edition is the only critically established text of the novel, based on a comprehensive study of the manuscript and Hardy's extensive revisions.

- This splendid edition of FitzGerald's famous version of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám celebrates the poem as a work of Victorian literary art, which rose from obscurity to become the poem that contains some of the most quoted lines in English poetry.- Reproduces the first 1859 edition of this much-revised poem and documents the changes made in subsequent editions as well as providing a table of corresponding stanzas.- Daniel Karlin's wide-ranging introduction discusses FitzGerald's treatment of his Persian sources and theory of translation, his life and the circumstances of the poem's composition and revisions, its relation to the Orientalist tradition, Victorianliterature and the Victorian context.- Explanatory notes include selective details of the relation between the English version and its Persian original, as well as information about literary and historical sources and allusions, and relevant biographical episodes.- A selection of contemporary reviews offers an insight into the poem's early reception, including the first attack on its status as a 'translation'

`the fates ordained the founding of this great city and the beginning of the world's mightiest empire, second only to the power of the gods'Romulus and Remus, the rape of Lucretia, Horatius at the bridge, the saga of Coriolanus, Cincinnatus called from his farm to save the state - these and many more are stories which, immortalised by Livy in his history of early Rome, have become part ofour cultural heritage.The historian's huge work, written between 20 BC and AD 17, ran to 12 books, beginning with Rome's founding in 753 BC and coming down to Livy's own lifetime (9 BC). Books 1-5 cover the period from Rome's beginnings to her first great foreign conquest,the capture of the Etruscan city of Veii and, a few years later, to her first major defeat, the sack of the city by the Gauls in 390 BC.The complete Livy in English, available in five volumes from Oxford World's Classics.

When Claudio breaks the new laws against vice in Vienna by getting his financee, Julietta, pregnant, a series of ethical issues is brought under scrutiny. His sister's virtue is held to ransom by the deputy rule of the city until justice is done, mercyshown, and order restored.This is among Shakespeare's most vivid dramatic projections of moral duplicity. The introduction discusses the origins of his treatment of the well-known story and examines his sources. The editor also sets the play in its historical context and offersthe most comprehensive available account of the text's theatrical life from Restoration adaptations to present-day productions.

he Voyage Out (1915) is the story of a rite of passage. When Rachel Vinrace embarks for South America on her father's ship she is launched on a course of self-discovery in a modern version of the mythic voyage.Virginia Woolf knew all too well the forms that she was supposed to follow when writing of a young lady's entrance into the world, and she struggled to subvert the conventions, wittily and assiduously, rewriting and revising the novel many times. Thefinished work is not, on the face of it, a `portrait of the artist'. However, through The Voyage Out readers will discover Woolf as an emerging and original artist: not identified with the heroine, but present everywhere in the social satire and thelyricism and patterning of consciousness.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.

'It was early in a fine summer's day, near the end of the eighteenth century, when a young man, of genteel appearance, having occasion to go towards the north-east of Scotland, provided himself with a ticket in one of those public carriages which travelbetween Edinburgh and the Queensferry...'So begins Scott's personal favourite among his novels, in characteristically wry and urbane style, as a mysterious young man calling himself 'Lovel' travels idly but fatefully toward the Scottish seaside town of Fairport. Here he is befriended by theantiquary Jonathan Oldbuck, who has taken refuge from his own personal disappointments in the obsessive study of miscellaneous history. Their slow unravelling of Lovel's true identity will unearth and redeem the secrets and lies which have devastated theguilt-haunted Earl of Glenallan, and will reinstate the tottering fortunes of Sir Arthur Wardour and his daughter Isabella.First published in 1816 in the aftermath of Waterloo, The Antiquary deals with the problem of how to understand the past so as to enable the future. Set in the tense times of the wars with revolutionary France, it displays Scott's matchless skill atpainting the social panorama and in creating vivid characters, from the earthy beggar Edie Ochiltree to the loqacious and shrewdly humorous Antiquary himself.The text is based on Scott's own final, authorized version, the 'Magnum Opus' edition of 1829.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: readers and students of classic fiction, the nineteenth-century novel, the historical novel, Scottish literature, courses on Romanticism

Who could tell the true stories of the gods and goddesses of Olympus better than modern-day demigod Percy Jackson?In this action-packed tour of Greek mythology, Percy gives his hilarious personal views on the feuds, fights and love affairs of the Olympians.Want to know how Zeus came to be top god? How many times Kronos ate one of his own kids? How Athena literally burst out of another god's head?

- A unique critical text, taken from the authoritative Clarendon edition, based on the manuscript collated with Hardy's later revisions- New introduction by Penny Boumelha describes the novel's controversial publication, the figure of Tess,class, and nature, and the female body, in an original and compelling reading.- New, up-to-date bibliography- New chronology- Two mapsNew to this edition- New introduction by Penny Boumelha describes the novel's controversial publication, the figure of Tess,class, and nature, and the female body, in an original and compelling reading.- New, up-to-date bibliography- New chronology- New setting in a larger typeface'She looked absolutely pure. Nature, in her fantastic trickery, had set such a seal of maidenhood upon Tess's countenance that he gazed at her with a stupefied air: Tess- say it is not true! No, it is not true!'Young Tess Durbeyfield attempts to restore her family's fortunes by claiming their connection with the aristocratic d'Urbervilles. But Alec d'Urberville is a rich wastrel who seduces her and makes her life miserable. When Tess meets Angel Clare, she isoffered true love and happiness, but her past catches up with her and she faces an agonizing moral choice.Hardy's indictment of society's double standards, and his depiction of Tess as 'a pure woman', caused controversy in his day and has held the imagination of readers ever since. Hardy thought it his finest novel, and Tess the most deeply felt character heever created. This unique critical text is taken from the authoritative Clarendon edition, which is based on the manuscript collated with all Hardy's subsequent revisions.

'In ancient tales many marvels are told us ... now you may hear such marvels told!' The greatest of the heroic epics to emerge from medieval Germany, the Nibelungenlied is a revenge saga of sweeping dimensions. It tells of the dragon-slayer Sivrit, andthe mysterious kingdom of the

Me! cried Fanny...Indeed you must excuse me. I could not act any thing if you were to give me the world. No, indeed, I cannot act.At the age of ten, Fanny Price leaves the poverty of her Portsmouth home to be brought up among the family of her wealthy uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, in the chilly grandeur of Mansfield Park. There she accepts her lowly status, and gradually falls in lovewith her cousin Edmund. When the dazzling and sophisticated Henry and Mary Crawford arrive, Fanny watches as her cousins become embroiled in rivalry and sexual jealousy. As the company starts to rehearse a play by way of entertainment, Fanny struggles toretain her independence in the face of the Crawfords' dangerous attractions

- This is the only general anthology of Ruskin's writing currently available.- Growing status of Ruskin as a major Victorian writer

The Braggart Soldier