Category Archives: Travel Guides
A Dog`s Heart
This is Bulgakov`s surreal tale of a Moscow doctor who befriends a stray dog and performs on it a human transplant – with disastrous consequences.
The Twelve Caesars
As private secretary to the Emperor Hadrian, the scholar Suetonius had access to the imperial archives and used them (along with eyewitness accounts) to produce one of the most colourful biographical works in history. “The Twelve Caesars” chronicles the public careers and private lives of the men who wielded absolute power over Rome, from the
Thirty-Two Tales of the Throne of Vikramaditya
The fabled monarch Vikramaditya is considered to be a model of kingly virtues, and his reign a golden age of peace and prosperity. Narrated by the thirty-two statuettes of nymphs supporting his magic throne, the Tales describe his exploits and extol his extraordinary courage, compassion and kindness. Against an exotic setting of adventures and miracles,
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
One of the greatest works created by any culture and overwhelmingly the most influential of all Tibetan Buddhist texts in the West, The Tibetan Book of the Dead has had a number of distinguished translations, but strangely all of these have always been partial abridgements. Now the entire text has not only been made available
Comic Sagas and Tales from Iceland
Icelandic literary culture was one of the richest and most important in the medieval world. Texts that were written in Iceland during this period include “Njal`s Saga”, “Egil`s Saga”, “The Vinland Sagas”, as well as the “Comic Sagas and Tales” collected in this volume. “Comic Sagas and Tales” brings together the finest comic stories from
The Saga of the People of Laxardal and Bolli Bollason`s Tale
The action of the saga takes place at the end of the tenth century, at about the time Scandinavia was converting from worship of Norse gods to Christianity. A masterpiece of medieval literature, the story focuses on two families that of Hoskuld, a prominent farmer with several sons, and that of Gudrun, the most beautiful
The Ladies` Delight
Now the basis for the major BBC tv adaptation. “The Paradise”, this is a lavish drama and a timeless commentary on consumer capitalism. “The Penguin Classics” edition of Emile Zola`s “The Ladies` Delight” is based on an acclaimed, vivid and modern translation by Robin Buss, who has also introduced the novel. The Ladies` Delight is
A Parisian Affair and Other Stories
Set in the Paris of society women, prostitutes and small-minded bourgeousie, and the isolated villages of rural Normandy that de Maupassant knew as a child, the thirty-three tales in this volume are among the most darkly humorous and brilliant short stories in nineteenth-century literature. They focus on the relationships between men and women, as in
History of the Peloponnesian War
A first-hand account of the war between Sparta and Athens from a man dubbed the `father of scientific history`, Thucydides History of The Peloponnesian War is translated from the Greek by Rex Warner with an introduction and notes by M.I. Finley in Penguin Classics.`My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the
The Conquest of New Spain
Vivid, powerful and absorbing, this is a first-person account of one of the most startling military episodes in history: the overthrow of Montezuma`s doomed Aztec Empire by the ruthless Hernan Cortes and his band of adventurers. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, himself a soldier under Cortes, presents a fascinatingly detailed description of the Spanish landing in
Guide to Greece 1: Central Greece
Pausanias`s classic account of every Greek city and sanctuary includes historical introductions and a record of local customs and beliefs; this first volume covers Central Greece, including Athens, Delphi, and Mycenae.
Italian Journey
“Italian Journey” Goethe’s account of his passage through Italy from 1786 to 1788 is a great travel chronicle as well as a candid self-portrait of a genius in the grip of spiritual crisis.A journal full of fascinating observations on art and history, and the plants, landscape and the character of the local people he encountered,
Bel-ami
Guy de Maupassant`s scandalous tale of an opportunistic young man corrupted by the allure of power, “Bel-Ami” is translated with an introduction by Douglas Parmee in “Penguin Classics”. Young, attractive and very ambitious, George Duroy, known to his admirers as Bel-Ami, is offered a job as a journalist on La Vie francaise and soon makes
The Princesse De Cleves
Set towards the end of the reign of Henry II of France, The Princesse de Cleves (1678) tells of the unspoken, unrequited love between the fair, noble Mme de Cleves, who is married to a loyal and faithful man, and the Duc de Nemours, a handsome man most female courtiers find irresistible. Warned by her
The Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, yet its author remains unknown; this edition has been translated and abridged by John D. Smith. Of immense importance to the culture of the Indian subcontinent, and is a major text of Hinduism, its discussion of human goals (artha or `purpose`, kama
Cavalleria Rusticana and Other Stories
The stories of Giovanni Verga (1840-1922) are wonderful evocations of ordinary Italian life, focusing in particular on his native, Sicily. In an original and dynamic prose style, he portrays such eternal human themes as love, honour and adultery with rich and colourful language. The inspiration for Mascagni`s opera, “Cavalleria Rusticana” depicts a young man`s triumphal
Germinal
Considered by Andre Gide to be one of the ten greatest novels in the French language, “Germinal” is a brutal depiction of the poverty and wretchedness of a mining community in northern France under the second empire. At the centre of the novel is Etienne Lantier, a handsome 21 year-old mechanic, intelligent but with little
The Red and the Black
Charting the rise and fall of an ambitious young social climber in a cruel, monarchical society, Stendhal`s “The Red and the Black” is translated with an introduction and notes by Roger Gard in “Penguin Classics”. Handsome, ambitious Julien Sorel is determined to rise above his humble provincial origins. Soon realizing that success can only be
London Journal 1762-1763
At 22 Edinburgh-born James Boswell kept a daily diary of his eventful second stay in London from 1762 to 1763. This journal, not discovered for more than 150 years, is a frank and artful record of adventures ranging from his vividly recounted love affair with a Covent Garden actress to his first amusingly bruising meeting
The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave
The History of Mary Prince (1831) was the first narrative of a black woman to be published in Britain. It describes Prince`s sufferings as a slave in Bermuda, Turks Island, Antigua and her eventual arrival in London with her brutal owner Mr Wood in 1828. Prince escaped from him and sought assistance from the Anti-Slavery
