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Selected Writings
By Gerard De Nerval. 2006
Poet, visionary, short-story writer and autobiographer, Gérard de Nerval (1808-1855) explored the uncertain borderlines between dream and reality, irony and…
madness, autobiography and fiction with his groundbreaking writings. This comprehensive selection of his works includes 'Aurélia', the memoir of his madness; the haunting novella of love and memory 'Sylvie' (considered to be a masterpiece by Proust); the hermetic sonnets of 'The Chimeras'; as well as Nerval's experimental fictions and selections from his correspondence, which demonstrate his lucid awareness of how nineteenth-century psychiatry consigned his fertile imagination to the status of mental illness. Together these pieces confirm Nerval's place as a pioneering modernist, a precursor of the French Symbolists and a vital model for such writers as Marcel Proust, André Breton, Antonin Artaud and Michel Leiris.Selected Tales
By Brothers Grimm. 1982
Selected Tales contains some of the most timeless and enchanting folk and fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, translated…
with an introduction by David Luke in Penguin Classics.These folktales collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are among the most memorable stories in European culture - conjuring up a world of spells and bewitchment, outwitted villains and cruel stepmothers, animal bridegrooms and enchanted princesses. Tales such as 'Hansel and Gretel', 'Little Red Cape' and 'The Robber Bridegroom' depict the dangers lurking in dark forests, and others, including 'Briar-Rose' and 'Snow White' show young beauties punished by unforgiving sorceresses. Other tales include 'Thickasathumb', which portrays a childless young couple whose wish for a baby is granted in an unexpected way, while 'The Frog King' tells of a rash promise made by a haughty princess to share her bed with a frog, and a fortune is won in 'The Blue Lamp', when a soldier gains a kingdom with the help of a magic lamp.David Luke's vibrant translation is accompanied by an introduction discussing the key themes of the tales and the literary background of the Brothers Grimm. This edition also includes new further reading and a chronology, with notes and a glossary.Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) are nowadays simply known as 'the brothers Grimm'. Both brothers were state-appointed librarians in Kassel, and later members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Berlin, where Frederick William IV of Prussia had invited them to settle. Two of Germany's greatest scholars, Jacob is regarded as the founder of the scientific study of the German language, and with his brother Wilhelm initiated the Deutsches Wörterbuch, a dictionary of all words in modern High German since 1450.If you enjoyed the Selected Tales of the Brothers Grimm, you might like Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, also available in Penguin Classics.Since their first publication in the 1830s and 1840s, Edgar Allan Poe's extraordinary Gothic tales have established themselves as classics…
of horror fiction and have also created many of the conventions which still dominate the genre of detective fiction. As well as being highly enjoyable, Poe's tales are works of very real intellectual exploration. Attentive to the historical and political dimensions of these very American tales, this new selection places the most popular -- `The Fall of the House of Usher', `The Masque of the Red Death', `The Murders in the Rue Morgue; and `The Purloined Letter' -- alongside less well-known travel narratives, metaphysical essays and political satires.Selected Tales
By James Henry. 2001
Throughout his life, Henry James was drawn to the short story form for the freedom and variety it offered. The…
nineteen stories in this selection span James's career, from brief tales to longer works, all exploring his concerns with the old world and the new, money, fame and art. 'Daisy Miller', the work that first brought him fame, depicts a bold, unsophisticated American girl abroad, and 'In the Cage' portrays a young telegraphist's romantic fantasies about customers who send telegrams from her post office. In 'The Birthplace' a Stratford tour guide embellishes the Shakespeare legend, while in the late masterpiece 'The Jolly Corner', an elderly American returns from Europe and encounters a strange apparition. Haunting, witty and beautifully drawn, James's tales are as complex and resonant as his novels.Selected Stories
By D. H. Lawrence. 2007
This collection of short stories traces D. H. Lawrence's development as a writer. His early tales often draw on personal…
experiences, as in 'Odour of Chrysanthemums', a work he described as 'full of my childhood's atmosphere', while the horror of the First World War haunts 'England, My England'. Later stories, such as 'Things', powerfully express his evolving ideas about the duality of our lives. With their complex characters, these stories illuminate emotional lives and, above all, illustrate Lawrence's passionate belief about the destructive forces in modern society and their effect on love.With an Introduction by Louise Welsh and Notes by Sue WilsonSelected Stories: Selected Stories Of Rudyard Kipling
By Rudyard Kipling. 1987
This collection opens with The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows, the first story Kipling published as a young journalist in…
india, and ends with an acknowledged masterpiece, The Gardener, written 50 years later in the aftermath of the great war.Selected Short Stories
By Honoré De Balzac. 1977
One of the greatest French novelists, Balzac was also an accomplished writer of shorter fiction. This volume includes twelve of…
his finest short stories - many of which feature characters from his epic series of novels the Comédie Humaine. Compelling tales of acute social and psychological insight, they fully demonstrate the mastery of suspense and revelation that were the hallmarks of Balzac's genius. In The Atheist's Mass, we learn the true reason for a distinguished atheist surgeon's attendance at religious services; La Grande Breteche describes the horrific truth behind the locked doors of a decaying country mansion, while The Red Inn relates a brutal tale of murder and betrayal. A fascinating counterpoint to the renowned novels, all the stories collected here stand by themselves as mesmerizing works by one of the finest writers of nineteenth-century France.No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories (Canons Ser. #33)
By Miranda July. 2007
Named a Top Ten Book of the Year by Time, the bestselling debut story collection by the extraordinarily talented Miranda…
July, award-winning filmmaker, artist, and writer.In No One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July gives the most seemingly insignificant moments a sly potency. A benign encounter, a misunderstanding, a shy revelation can reconfigure the world. Her characters engage awkwardly—they are sometimes too remote, sometimes too intimate. With great compassion and generosity, July reveals her characters&’ idiosyncrasies and the odd logic and longing that govern their lives. No One Belongs Here More Than You is a stunning debut, the work of a writer with a spectacularly original and compelling voice.The Runner
By Keith Gray. 2005
Jason has had enough of his parents' arguments. He's running away to stay with his brother in Liverpool. On the…
train journey he meets a 'runner' called Jam, who lives on the monster Intercity trains and stations. His carefree and adventurous life sounds so exciting that Jason begins to think he might join Jam. Then Jason discovers Jam's secret.Red Cavalry and Other Stories
By Isaac Babel. 1994
Throughout his life Isaac Babel was torn by opposing forces, by the desire both to remain faithful to his Jewish…
roots and yet to be free of them. This duality of vision infuses his work with a powerful energy from the earliest tales including 'Old Shloyme' and 'Childhood', which affirm his Russian-Jewish childhood, to the relatively non-Jewish world of his collection of stories entitled 'Red Cavalry'. Babel's masterpiece, 'Red Cavalry' is the most dramatic expression of his dualism and in his simultaneous acceptance and rejection of his heritage heralds the great American-Jewish writers from Henry Roth to Saul Bellow and Philip Roth.Curl up with this delicious collection of bite-sized treats from the queen of feel-good fiction! A Recipe for Happiness takes…
you through a year with No.1 bestselling author Jo Thomas and includes seven heartwarming short stories, tons of mouth-watering new recipes and some personal family memories for an insight into Jo's life and loves, along with an extract of her most recent novel. It's perfect for fans old and new!**Jo Thomas' new novel COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS is out now in ebook and paperback!**Your favourite authors love Jo Thomas:'Bursting with flavour, adventure and romance' Ruth Jones'Delicious and delightful - Jo sweeps you away to a better place with every book, which are always filled with warmth, love and a big spoonful of happiness' Veronica Henry'Heart-warming, moving and romantic, with beautiful settings - what could be better?' Katie FfordeLu Xun (Lu Hsun) is arguably the greatest writer of modern China, and is considered by many to be the…
founder of modern Chinese literature. Lu Xun's stories both indict outdated Chinese traditions and embrace China's cultural richness and individuality. This volume presents brand-new translations by Julia Lovell of all of Lu Xun's stories, including 'The Real Story of Ah-Q', 'Diary of a Madman', 'A Comedy of Ducks', 'The Divorce' and 'A Public Example', among others. With an afterword by Yiyun Li.Raven Feeder (Storycuts)
By M C Scott. 2011
Set during the turmoil of the brutal Christian conversion of the Norse, this short story is the coming of age…
tale of Arne Thoreson. Thoreson, whose condemnation of Christianity is born out of respect for his lineage, is the son of Thore, feeder of ravens, and Ranveig, a Singer witch. When adversity befalls Orkney, Arne must not only assert his defiant rejection of Christianity, but take decisive action to thwart the Christ-Wolf, Olaf Trygvason.Part of the Storycuts series.Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories
By Ryunosuke Akutagawa. 2006
Ryünosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is one of Japan’s foremost stylists - a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly…
original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. ‘Rashömon’ and ‘In a Bamboo Grove’ inspired Kurosawa’s magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as ‘The Nose’, ‘O-Gin’ and ‘Loyalty’ paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. And in later works such as ‘Death Register’, ‘The Life of a Stupid Man’ and ‘Spinning Gears’, Akutagawa drew from his own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories.The Queen of Spades, one of his most popular and chilling short stories, tells of an inveterate card player who…
develops a dangerous obsession with the secret of an old lady's luck, which he believes will bring him the wealth he craves. The Negro of Peter the Great, a story based on the life Pushkin's own great-grandfather, is a vivid depiction - and criticism - of both French and Russian society, while Dubrovsky is the Byronic tale of a dispossessed young officer. The Captain's Daughter tells of a young man sent to military service - based on the actual events of the rebellion against Catherine II, it demonstrates Pushkin's unparalleled skill at blending fiction and history. Together these four stories display the versatility and innovation that earned Pushkin his reputation as a master of prose and established him as the towering figure in Russian literature.The Pursuit of the Well-beloved and the Well-beloved
By Thomas Hardy. 1997
Hardy's two versions of a strange story set in the weird landscape of Portland. The central figure is a man…
obsessed both with the search for his ideal woman and with sculpting the perfect figure of Aphrodite.Prosperity Drive
By Mary Morrissy. 2016
‘A wonderful writer’ Hilary MantelAll of life is laid bare in Prosperity Drive. A woman falls and remembers a moment…
decades earlier that changed the course of her life. A failed priest teaches children to swim at the YMCA. A teenage girl takes a spanner to the car of the young man who has driven her home. A honeymoon in Venice goes disastrously wrong. A man is reunited with his first love in an airport departure lounge. All of the characters begin their journeys on Prosperity Drive, appear and disappear, bump into each other in chance encounters, and join up again through love, marriage or memory in this mesmerising book.Poor Folk and Other Stories
By Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 1988
With their penetrating psychological insight and their emphasis on human dignity, respect and forgiveness, Dostoyevsky's early short stories contain the…
seeds of the themes that came to his major novels. Poor Folk, the author's first great literary triumph, is the story of a tragic relationship between an impoverished copy clerk and a young seamstress, told through their passionate letters to each other. In The Landlady Dostoyevsky portrays a dreamer hero who is captivated by a curious couple and becomes their lodger. Mr Prokharchin, inspired by a true story, is a sly comedy centring on an eccentric miser, and Polzunkov is a powerful character sketch which, in common with the other tales in this volume, questions the very nature of existence.Pigface
By Catherine Robinson. 2015
Noah is pretty happy at school - he's in a friendly class, he's got a best mate, Jack, and he's…
one of the youngest to be picked for the school football team. Then a broken leg keeps him off school for several weeks and on his return there's been a mysterious change of atmosphere. A new boy, Basil, has joined the class and everyone is fascinated by him. The only person who seems to be immune to Basil's charms is class-joke, Bertie, known as Pigface. Try as he might, Noah just can't slip back into his normal place - it seems to have been usurped by Basil. His only choice of partner in class, at lunch, in Games and at break is Pigface. Forced to sample life as an outsider, Noah has a choice - make a desperate effort to get back into the 'inner circle' or get to see life from Pigface's alternative viewpoint.Pentatonic: A Story of Music (Penguin Specials)
By Jonathan Coe. 2012
Jonathan Coe's Pentatonic is a daring and original story about family and memory inspired by music.When a family celebrates the…
prize-giving day at their daughter's secondary school, thoughts turn to their own childhoods. The father remembers his living room piano recital, recorded on a well-worn cassette tape. The mother remembers her own father's war tragedy. As the father searches for the physical reminder of his past and the mother longs to forget her own, they confront the breakdown of their marriage in the present.In Pentatonic, Jonathan Coe movingly explores the memories that unite us and the experiences that drive us apart. The story is simultaneously available as a digital download with the piece of music which originally inspired the story.Praise for Jonathan Coe:'Probably the best English novelist of his generation' Nick Hornby'Coe has huge powers of observation and enormous literary panache' Sunday Times 'Jonathan Coe's a fine writer who seems to try something new with every book' David Nicholls Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham in 1961. He is the author of eight bestselling novels including What a Carve Up! and The Rotters' Club, and a biography of the novelist B. S. Johnson, Like a Fiery Elephant, which won the 2005 Samuel Johnson Prize for best non-fiction book of the year.