Wordsworth

Joseph Conrad, 2005

Lord Jim, first published in 1900, confirmed Conrad's place in literature as one of the first 'modernists' of English letters. Set in the Malay Archipelago, not only does the novel provide a gripping account of maritime adventure and romance, but also an exotic tale of the East. Nostromo is the only man capable of the decisive action needed to save the silver of the San Tome mine and secure independence for Sulaco, Occidental Province of the Latin American state of Costaguana. Is his integrity as unassailable as everyone believes, or will his ideals, like those which have inspired the struggling state itself, buckle under economic and political pressure? The Secret Agent, Conrad's story of espionage and anarchists, tells of Winnie Verloc and her devotion to her peculiar and simple-minded brother, Stevie. Its savagely witty themes of human absurdity and misunderstanding are written in an ironic style that provokes both laughter and unease. This volume also includes a selection of Conrad's matchless short stories — Youth, Typhoon, Heart of Darkness, The End of the Tether and The Shadow-Line. Подробнее

The Selected Works of Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf, 2008

The delicate artistry and lyrical prose of Woolf's novels have established her as a writer of sensitivity and profound talent. Virginia Woolf displays genuine humanity and concern for the experiences that enrich and stultify existence. Society hostess, Clarissa Dalloway is giving a party and her thoughts on that one day, and the interior monologues of others with interwoven lives reveal the characters of the central protagonists. «To the Lighthouse» is the most autobiographical of Virginia Woolf's novels. Based on her early experiences, it touches on childhood and children's perceptions and desires. It is at its most trenchant when exploring adult relationships and the changing class-structure in the period spanning the Great War. «Orlando», 'the longest and most charming love letter in literature', playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf's close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. 'I am writing to a rhythm and not to a plot', said Woolf of The Waves. Regarded as one of her greatest and most original works, it conveys the rhythms of life in synchrony with the cycle of nature and the passage of time'. Подробнее

Selected Works of the Bronte Sisters

Bronte Sisters, 2005

»Jane Eyre» ranks as one of the greatest and most popular works of English fiction. Although Charlotte Brontë's heroine is outwardly plain, she possesses an indomitable spirit, and great courage. Forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order which circumscribes her life when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious, sardonic Mr Rochester. «Villette» is based on Charlotte Brontë's personal experience as a teacher in Brussels. It is a moving tale of repressed feelings and cruel circumstances borne with heroic fortitude. Rising above the confinement of a rigid social order, it is also a story of a woman's right to love and be loved. «Wuthering Heights» is Emily Brontë's wild, passionate tale of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and, wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, he leaves Wuthering heights. When he returns years later as a wealthy man, he proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries. «Agnes Grey», Ann Brontë's deeply personal novel, is a trenchant expose of the frequently isolated, intellectually stagnant and emotionally starved conditions under which many governesses worked in the mid-nineteenth century. «The Tenant of Wildfell Hall» shows Ann Brontë's bold, naturalistic and passionate style. It is a powerful and sometimes violent novel of expectation, love, oppression, sin and betrayal. It portrays the disintegration of the marriage of Helen Huntingdon, the mysterious 'tenant' of the title, and her dissolute, alcoholic husband. Подробнее

Sentimental Education

Gustave Flaubert, 2008

»Sentimental Education» has been described both as the first modern novel and as a novel to end all novels. Weaving a poignant love story into his account of the 1848 revolution, Flaubert shows a society in the grip of stereotypes, on every level. There is something farcical in his depiction of characters who aspire to act but are dogged by cliche at every turn. To a greater extent even than «Madame Bovary», «Sentimental Education» is an indictment of modern consumerism, contrasting the hollowness of material achievement with the lasting beauty of the ideal. Flaubert's study of success and failure offers us a terrible sadness in a terrible beauty, yet is one of the world's great comic masterpieces. Подробнее

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

T.E. Lawrence, 2008

As Angus Calder states in his introduction to this edition, «Seven Pillars of Wisdom» is one of the major statements about the fighting experience of the First World War'. Lawrence's younger brothers, Frank and Will, had been killed on the Western Front in 1915. «Seven Pillars of Wisdom», written between 1919 and 1926, tells of the vastly different campaign against the Turks in the Middle East — one which encompasses gross acts of cruelty and revenge and ends in a welter of stink and corpses in the disgusting 'hospital' in Damascus. «Seven Pillars of Wisdom» is no 'Boys Own Paper' tale of Imperial triumph, but a complex work of high literary aspiration which stands in the tradition of Melville and Dostoevsky, and alongside the writings of Yeats, Eliot and Joyce. Подробнее

Shadows of Sherlock Holmes

David Stuart Davies, 1998

»The Shadows of Sherlock Holmes» is a fascinating collection of stories featuring detectives, criminal agents and debonair crooks from the golden age of crime fiction: a time when Sherlock Holmes was esconsced in his rooms at 221B Baker Street and London was permanently wreathed in a sinister fog. These gripping tales of mystery, suspense and clever puzzles are wonderfully entertaining and in them you will meet The Crime Doctor, Professor Augustus S.F.X.Van Dusen — The Thinking Machine, Max Carrados — the incredible blind detective, the repulsive but brilliant Skin o' My Teeth, and the natty, ingenious French sleuth Eugene Valmont. On the other side of the law, there are gentleman crooks Raffles and Simon Carn — the Prince of Swindlers. The stories include: «The Purloined Letter» by Edgar Allan Poe, «The Stolen Cigar Case» by Bret Harte, «The Swedish Match» by Anton Chekhov, «Nine Points of the Law» by E.W. Hornung, «The Ghost at Massingham Mansions» by Ernest Bramah and «The Great Pearl Mystery» by Baroness Orczy. Подробнее

Shakespeare and His Tragic Life

Frank Harris, 2008

First published in 1909, «The Man Shakespeare and his Tragic Life» is a lively biography of England and arguably the world’s greatest playwright and poet by an ardent admirer. Pursuing the thesis that a man so elusive in the few surviving documents is found full blown in very one of his works, Frank Harris, a successful journalist and editor, turns his hand to creating an impressionistic portrait that is a t once a highly idiosyncratic exploration of the plays and a telling of the life through them. A product of late-Victorian Bardolatry, Harris’s Shakespeare was both hailed and criticised in its day, the New York Times reviewer declaring that ‘This is the book for which we have waited a lifetime’, while academic critics attacked it as ‘nonsense’. Controversial and self-confident, this biographical study retains its interest as a work of period charm. Bristling with fresh, if not always convincing, arguments, combative in style, and with a full battery of belletristic effects, Harris, as ever, pulls off a tour de force. Подробнее

Sherlock Holmes and the Hentzau Affair

David Stuart Davies, 2007

This novel is an exciting fusion of a Sherlock Holmes mystery with the Ruritanian world of intrigue and skulduggery of Anthony Hope's novel «The Prisoner of Zenda». Colonel Sapt of the Ruritanian Court journeys to England on a secret mission to save the country from anarchy. His mission is to engage the services of Rudolf Rassendyll once more to impersonate the King while the monarch recovers from a serious illness. But Rassendyll has mysteriously disappeared. In desperation, Sapt consults Sherlock Holmes who, with his faithful companion Watson, travels to the Kingdom of Ruritania in an effort to thwart the plans of the scheming Rupert of Hentzau in his bid for the throne. «Sherlock Holmes and the Hentzau Affair» is a wonderful blend of detective story and rousing adventure yarn. Подробнее

Sherlock Holmes: The Game's Afoot

David Stuart Davies, 2008

Once more, the game's afoot as Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street returns in twenty new adventures specially commissioned for Wordsworth's Mystery & Supernatural series. The celebrated detective, along with his friend and biographer, Dr Watson, investigate a variety of baffling mysteries that will delight fans of the famous sleuth. Striding through the foggy gas lit streets of London, Holmes tackles such cases as the puzzle of the Green Skull, the secret of the Brown Box, the conundrum of the Dragon of Lea Lane, as well as coming face to face once again with the Sussex Vampire. We also learn what really happened at the Reichenbach Falls when Holmes had his fateful encounter with Professor Moriarty. David Stuart Davies, Denis O. Smith, Mark Valentine, Matthew Booth, M.J. Elliott and the other talented writers who have contributed to this collection have followed closely in the footsteps of Arthur Conan Doyle in creating a wonderful feast of Sherlockian entertainment. Подробнее

The Shorter Novels of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens, 2005

This collection brings together perhaps the finest of Dickens' shorter novels, filled with event, character, and the unsurpassed brilliance of his story-telling. «Oliver Twist» enhanced and strengthened Dickens' reputation and contains classic Dickensian themes — grinding poverty, desperation, fear, temptation and the eventual triumph of good in the face of great adversity. «Hard Times» was attacked by Macaulay for its 'sullen socialism', but 20th-century critics — George Bernard Shaw and F. R. Leavis praised it in the highest terms. «A Tale of Two Cities», Dickens' greatest historical novel, traces the lives of a group of people caught up in the cataclysm of the French Revolution and the Terror. A fascinating range of characters and Dickens' usual superb command of language combine to make this an exciting and tantalising story.»Great Expectations» traces the life of Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams to a man of character. From its dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story abounds with memorable characters — the blacksmith Joe Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and the beautiful Estella. Подробнее

The Social Contract

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1998

In The Social Contract Rousseau (1712-1778) argues for the preservation of individual freedom in political society. An individual can only be free under the law, he says, by voluntarily embracing that law as his own. Hence, being free in society requires each of us to subjugate our desires to the interests of all, the general will. Some have seen in this the promise of a free and equal relationship between society and the individual, while others have seen it as nothing less than a blueprint for totalitarianism. The Social Contract is not only one of the great defences of civil society, it is also unflinching in its study of the darker side of political systems. Подробнее

Spanish-English/English-Spanish Dictionary A general purpose dictionary suitable for a great variety of both English and Spanish speakers at all levels of proficiency, this volume contains over 100,000 entries — common and technical words and phrases, slang and idioms — with examples of usage that include many especially chosen to help users express themselves in a natural and fluent style. All headwords — both English and Spanish — have phonetic transcriptions based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to assist with pronunciation. Подробнее

A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 2001

'Doctor Watson, Mr Sherlock Holmes' — The most famous introduction in the history of crime fiction takes place in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's «A Study in Scarlet», bringing together Sherlock Holmes, the master of science detection, and John H. Watson, the great detective's faithful chronicler. This novel not only establishes the magic of the Holmes myth but also provides the reader with a dramatic adventure yarn which ranges from the foggy, gas-lit streets of London to the burning plains of Utah. «The Sign of the Four», the second Holmes novel, presents the detective with one of his greatest challenges. The theft of the Agna treasure in India forms a catalyst for treachery, deceit and murder. Подробнее

Strange Tales

Rudyard Kipling, 2006

»Some six or seven feet above the port bulwarks, framed in fog, and as utterly unsupported as the full moon, hung a Face. It was not human, and it certainly was not animal, for it did not belong to this earth as known to man». Rudyard Kipling, celebrated author of «The Jungle Book», the «Just So Stories» and other entertaining fictions, was also a master of the short story in which he was able to combine the strange and unnerving in order to draw the reader into the world of his own dark imaginings. This collection presents the best of these strange tales in which ghosts, monsters and inexplicable happenings abound. From the exotic and magical locale of India, to the leafy suburbs of England and then to the blood-soaked trenches of the First World War, Kipling provides us with a chilling array of experiences and images which will linger long in the memory. Подробнее

Sweeney Todd or The String of Pearls

Anon, 2007

The String of Pearls — the original tale of Sweeney Todd, a classic of British horror — was first published as a weekly serial in 1846-7 by Edward Lloyd, the King of the Penny Dreadfuls. One of the earliest detective stories, it became an important source for Bram Stoker's Dracula. After 157 years of obscurity, it appears here for the first time in book form. Подробнее

The Swiss Family Robinson

Johann Rudolf Wyss, 1993

This story tells of the happy discovery of the wonders of natural history by a family shipwrecked on a desert island, who remain united through all the adversities they encounter. Inspired by «Robinson Crusoe», this joyful narrative by a Swiss pastor remains a classic tale to be enjoyed by all. Подробнее

Tales from Shakespeare

Charles Lamb, 1994

The Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb were written to be an 'introduction to the study of Shakespeare', but are much more entertaining than that. All of Shakespeare's best-loved plays, comic and tragic, are retold in a clear and robust style, and their literary quality has made them popular and sought-after ever since their first publication in 1807. This edition contains the delightful pen-and-ink drawings of Arthur Rackham. Подробнее

Tales of Troy and Greece

Andrew Lang, 1995

Andrew Lang draws on his classical learning to recount the Homeric legend of the wars between the Greeks and the Trojans. Paris, Helen of Troy, Achilles, Hector, Ulysses, the Amazons and the Wooden Horse all figure in this magical introduction to one of the greatest legends ever told. Also included in this book are the adventures of Theseus and his dramatic battle with the Minotaur with the help of Ariadne, and the quest of Jason for the Golden Fleece with the help of the Princess Medea. Подробнее

Tales of Unease

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 2008

Selected and with an introduction by David Stuart Davies, this gripping set of tales by the master storyteller Arthur Conan Doyle is bound to thrill and unnerve you. In these twilight excursions, Doyle's vivid imagination for the strange, the grotesque and the frightening is given full rein. We move from the mysteries of Egypt and the strange powers granted by «The Ring of Thoth» to the isolated ghostlands of the Arctic in «The Captain of the Polestar», we encounter a monstrous creature in «The Terror of Blue John Cap» and the beings that live above our heads in «The Brazilian Cat» and «The Leather Funnel»; and we shudder at the thing in the next room in «Lot 249». Sit down in your uneasy chair and enjoy this unique collection of chillers. Подробнее

The Taming of the Shrew

William Shakespeare, 1993

The Taming of the Shrew is one of the most famous and controversial of Shakespeare's comedies. The central relationship, in which Petruchio boisterously 'tames' a rebellious Kate, has often appeared problematic. In the theatre, it has been treated in a diversity of ways, so that Kate's apparent capitulation varies between the ironic and the sincere. Feminists have been divided in their responses. Подробнее

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