Wordsworth

Robert Louis Stevenson, 1993

In seeking to discover his inner self, the brilliant Dr Jekyll discovers a monster. First published to critical acclaim in 1886, this mesmerising thriller is a terrifying study of the duality of man's nature. This volume also includes Stevenson's 1887 collection of short stories, «The Merry Men» and Other Tales and Fables. «The Merry Men» is a gripping Highland tale of shipwrecks and madness; «Markheim», the sinister study of the mind of a murderer; «Thrawn Janet», a spine-chilling tale of demonic possession; «Olalla», a study of degeneration and incipient vampirism in the Spanish mountains; «Will O'the Mill», a thought-provoking fable about a mountain inn-keeper; and «The Treasure of Franchard», a study of French bourgeois life. Подробнее

Dracula

Bram Stoker, 1993

'There he lay looking as if youth had been half-renewed, for the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey, the cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, burning eyes seemed set amongst the swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were simply gorged with blood; he lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion.' Подробнее

Dracula's Guest and Other Stories

Bram Stoker, 2006

'On top of the tomb, seemingly driven through the solid marble — for the structure was composed of a few vast blocks of stone — was a great iron spike or stake. On going to the back I saw, graven in great Russian letters: «The Dead Travel Fast'». In this rich collection of thirteen macabre tales, Bram Stoker, creator of the Gothic masterpiece, «Dracula», and one of the greatest exponents of the supernatural narrative, presents us with a weird and chilling variety of unsettling stories. Stoker's dramatic scenarios, from the opening tale of vampires, «Dracula's Guest», which was omitted from the final version of «Dracula», will thrill and engage the modern reader. In these pages, you will encounter the devilishly dangerous haunted room in «The Judge's House», the fatalistic tragedy in «The Burial of the Rats», the terror of revenge from beyond the grave in «The Secret of Growing Gold» and the surprising twist in the tail in «The Gypsy's Prophecy», amongst other strange and frightening episodes. This unique collection of Stoker's short fiction provides a feast for those who like to be unnerved as well as entertained. Подробнее

The Drama of the Scharnhorst

Fritz-Otto Busch, 2000

While the epic of the final battle forms the core of his narrative, Fritz-Otto Busch also depicts life aboard the 32,000-ton warship and records her short, eventful history from her launching in 1939 to her fateful demise. He relates how Scharnhorst sank the British aircraft carrier Glorious in 1940, menaced Allied shipping in the Atlantic throughout 1941, and made her impudent, flaunting dash up the channel to the safety of the Norwegian fjords in 1942. Considered by her crew to be a ‘lucky ship’ her luck ran out in 1943 when she found herself outnumbered in Arctic waters by superior Allied naval forces. The British ships were equipped with Radar, the Scharnhorst was not — a fateful disadvantage that was to prove decisive. Подробнее

The Eighth Passenger

Miles Tripp, 2002

When «The Eighth Passenger» was first published it was acclaimed as one of the most remarkable first-hand accounts of combat flying in the Second World War. Over the years the author has learned much, which for security reasons, he could not have known at the time of the book's first publication. This edition, while retaining the integrity of the original, uses this added knowledge to reappraise the events of those fearful years. Seven young men, brought together by chance, and almost literally from the four corners of the earth, wake up day after day fully aware that the odds on their seeing another sunrise are relentlessly shortening. This story of a bomber crew flying through darkness and flak over Hamburg, Essen, Cologne, Dresden and Berlin, and always accompanied by an eighth passenger — fear — makes compulsive reading. Of nearly 7,500 Lancaster bombers built, no fewer than 3,349 were lost in action — killing nearly half of the young men who flew with Bomber Command. Подробнее

The Enchanted Castle

E. Nesbit, 1994

When Jerry, Jimmy and Cathy discover a tunnel that leads to a castle, they pretend that it is enchanted. But when they discover a Sleeping Princess at the centre of a maze, astonishing things begin to happen. Amongst a horde of jewels they discover a ring that grants wishes. But wishes granted are not always wishes wanted, so the children find themselves grappling with invisibility, dinosaurs, a ghost and the fearsome Ugli-Wuglies before it is all resolved. This edition of The Enchanted Castle has forty-seven evocative illustrations by H.R. Millar Подробнее

English Fairy Tales

Arthur Rackham, 1994

This book contains over forty of the best-loved fairy stories, beautifully illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Favourites such as Jack the Giant-killer, Jack and the Beanstalk, Dick Whittington, The Three Little Pigs and The Babes in the Wood are all here among many others, but stories from different traditions also make their appearance, including The Three Bears and Little Red Hiding Hood. Подробнее

The English Poems of John Milton

John Milton, 1994

John Milton (1608-74) has a strong claim to be considered the greatest English poet after Skakespeare. His early poems, collected and published in 1645, include the much loved pair L'Allegro and Il Penseroso ('the cheerful man and the thoughtful man'), Lycidas (his great elegy on a fellow poet) and Comus (the one masque which is still read today). When the Civil War began Milton abandoned poetry for politics and wrote a series of pamphlets in defence of the Parliamentary party, then in defence of the execution of Charles I: these include his great defence of the freedom of the press, Areopagitica. In the course of this work he lost his sight, and was blind for the last twenty years of his life. During this time he wrote his two great epics, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, and his retelling of the story of Samson as a Greek tragedy. This edition contains all his poems in English, with introduction and notes by Laurence Lerner (formerly Professor of English, University of Sussex) Подробнее

Ethan Frome

Edith Wharton, 2000

On a poor farm near Starkfield in western Massachusetts, Ethan Frome struggles to wrest a living from the land, unassisted by his whining and hypochondriacal wife Zeena. When Zeena's young cousin Mattie Silver is left destitute, the only place she can go is Ethan's farm. An embittered man and an enchanting young woman meeting in such circumstances unleash predictable consequences as passions are aroused between the three protagonists, Edith Wharton's characterisation and deft handling of reversals of fortune are so accomplished that Ethan Frome has remained enduringly popular since its first publication in 1911 and is considered her greatest tragic story. Подробнее

Eugene Onegin

Alexander Pushkin, 2005

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) is, for Russians, their greatest writer; «Eugene Onegin» is his greatest work. Yet it remains little known outside Russia. Attempts to render Pushkin's Russian stanzas into verse have tried in vain to imitate the most inimitable feature of the original, while masking many of its glories. This prose version, for the first time, gives us a «Eugene Onegin» that is easy and enjoyable to read. Подробнее

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds

Charles Mackay, 1995

Whenever struck by campaigns, fads, cults and fashions, the reader may take some comfort that Charles Mackay can demonstrate historical parallels for almost every neurosis of our times. The South Sea Bubble, Witch Mania, Alchemy, the Crusades, Fortune-telling, Haunted Houses, and even 'Tulipomania' are only some of the subjects covered in this book, which is given a contemporary perspective through Professor Norman Stone's lively new Introduction. Подробнее

Fanny Hill — Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

John Cleland, 2000

»Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure», better known as «Fanny Hill», is one of the most notorious texts in English literature. As recently as 1963 an unexpurgated edition was the subject of a trial, yet in the eighteenth century John Cleland's open celebration of sexual enjoyment was a best selling novel. Fanny's story, as she falls into prostitution and then rises to respectability, takes the form of a confession that is vividly coloured by copious and explicit physiological details of her carnal adventures. The moral outrage that this has always provoked has only recently been countered by serious critical appraisal. Подробнее

Far from the Madding Crowd

Thomas Hardy, 1993

»Far from the Madding Crowd» is perhaps the most pastoral of Hardy's Wessex novels. It tells the story of the young farmer Gabriel Oak and his love for and pursuit of the elusive Bathsheba Everdene, whose wayward nature leads her to both tragedy and true love. It tells of the dashing Sergeant Troy whose rakish philosophy of life was '...the past was yesterday; never, the day after'. And lastly, of the introverted and reclusive gentleman farmer, Mr Boldwood, whose love fills him with '...a fearful sense of exposure', when he first sets eyes on Bathsheba. The background of this tale is the Wessex countryside in all its moods. Подробнее

Fathers and Sons

Ivan Turgenev, 1996

Fathers and Sons is one of the greatest nineteenth century Russian novels, and has long been acclaimed as Turgenev's finest work. It is a political novel set in a domestic context, with a universal theme, the generational divide between fathers and sons. Set in 1859 at the moment when the Russian autocratic state began to move hesitantly towards social and political reform, the novel explores the conflict between the liberal-minded fathers of Russian reformist sympathies and their free-thinking intellectual sons whose revolutionary ideology threatened the stability of the state. At its centre is Evgeny Bazorov, a strong-willed antagonist of all forms of social orthodoxy who proclaims himself a nihilist and believes in the need to overthrow all the institutions of the state. As the novel develops Bazarov's political ambitions become fatally meshed with emotional and private concerns, and his end is a tragic failure. The novel caused a bitter furore on its publication in 1862, and this, a year later, drove Turgenev from Russia. Подробнее

Faust — A Tragedy in Two Parts and the Urfaust

Goethe, 1999

Goethe's Faust is a classic of European literature. Based on the fable of the man who traded his soul for superhuman powers and knowledge, it became the life's work of Germany's greatest poet. Beginning with an intriguing wager between God and Satan, it charts the life of a deeply flawed individual, his struggle against the nihilism of his diabolical companion Mephistopheles. Part One presents Faust's pact with the Devil and the harrowing tragedy of his love affair with the young Gretchen. Part Two shows Faust's experience in the world of public affairs, including his encounter with Helen of Troy, the emblem of classical beauty and culture. The whole is a symbolic and panoramic commentary on the human condition and on modern European history and civilisation. This new translation of both parts of Faust preserves the poetic character of the original, its tragic pathos and hilarious comedy. In addition, John Williams has translated the Urfaust, a fascinating glimpse into the young Goethe's imagination, and a selection from the draft scenarios for the Walpurgis Night witches' sabbath — material so ribald and blasphemous that Goethe did not dare publish it. Подробнее

Felix Holt, the Radical

George Eliot, 1997

»Felix Holt» is set, like «Middlemarch» in the Midlands at the time of the Great Reform Bill of 1832. This novel brings social and political history vividly to life with its magnificent rendering of provincial England in the ferment of electioneering. Against this background Eliot tells a love story and weaves a plot which has many elements of the sensation novel, such as illegitimacy, blackmail, and the discovery of an heiress, where suspense is maintained until the end. Подробнее

Five Children and It

E. Nesbit, 1993

'It' was the Psammead, the grumpy sand-fairy that could, if in the mood, grant a wish a day. When the five children befriend him they find that each wish granted often has a sting in its tail. Golden guineas are too difficult to spend, wings let them down in a most inconvenient way, and when they wish for Red Indians, the children forget that they can sometimes be a little warlike. Подробнее

The Forsyte Saga

John Galsworthy, 2002

When The Forsyte Saga was shown on television in 1967 it was hugely successful. The nation was gripped by the masterful visual telling of the Forsyte family's troubled story and adapted its activities to suit the next transmission. The Forsyte Saga comprising The Man of Property, In Chancery and To Let, is here produced by Wordsworth for the first time in a single volume. Initially, the narrative centres on Soames Forsyte — a successful solicitor living in London with his beautiful wife Irene. A pillar of the late Victorian upper middle class, materially wealthy, his appears to be a golden existence endowed with all the necessary possessions for a 'Man of Property', but beneath this very proper exterior lies a core of unhappiness and brutal relationships. The marriage of Soames and Irene disintegrates in bitter recrimination, creating a feud within the family that will have far-reaching consequences. Подробнее

Four Late Plays

William Shakespeare, 2000

The Shakespeare comedies collected in this text are frequently known as «the romances». It is argued that they conclude in a spirit of hope as the main characters are reunited in an aura of reconciliation, wrongs are righted, and exiles returned to their homes. Подробнее

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley, 1992

Begun when the author was only eighteen and conceived from a nightmare, «Frankenstein», is the deeply disturbing story of a monstrous creation which has terrified and chilled readers since its first publication in 1818. The novel has thus seared its way into the popular imagination while establishing itself as one of the pioneering works of modern science fiction. Подробнее

Wordsworth

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