The young sailor Edmond Dantes is arrested on his wedding day and imprisoned in the island fortress of the Chateau d'If. His daring escape, recovery of Monte Cristo's fabulous treasure, and revenge on his enemies make this one of the great thrillers of all time. This is a newly revised, unabridged translation.
This revised edition of Sterne's great comic novel retains the first edition text incorporating Sterne's later changes, and adds two original Hogarth illustrations and a wealth of contextualizing information. Tristram's fictional autobiography features favourites including Uncle Toby, Corporal Trim, Dr Slop and Widow Wadman.
In this Very Short Introduction, Ritchie Robertson provides the newcomer with an up-to-date and accessible examination of this fascinating author. Beginning with an examination of Kafka's life, he then goes on to discuss some of the major themes that emerge in Kafka's work, using his short story Metamorphosis as a recurring example.
Edward Waverley, a young English soldier, is caught up in the Jacobite rising of 1745-6, the last civil war fought on British soil and the attempt to reinstate the Stuart monarchy. With Waverley Scott invented the modern historical novel and profoundly influenced the development of European and American fiction for a century at least.
Of all Jack London's fictions none have been so popular as his dog stories. In addition to The Call of the Wild, the epic tale of a Californian dog's adventures during the Klondike gold rush, this edition includes White Fang, and five famous short stories - 'Batard', 'Moon-Face', 'Brown Wolf', 'That Spot', and 'To Build a Fire'.
William Thackeray called it "the most laughable story that has ever been written since the goodly art of novel-writing began." As a group of travellers visit places in England and Scotland, they provide through satire and wit a vivid and detailed picture of the contemporary social and political scene.
The four tales in this volume share autobiographical origins in Conrad's experience at sea and his exile from Poland. They vividly present Conrad's preoccupation with the theme of solidarity, challenged from without by the elements and from within by human doubts and fears. This revised edition uses the English first edition texts and has a new chronology and bibliography.
Eugene Onegin is the master work of the poet whom Russians regard as the fountainhead of their literature. Set in 1820s Russia, Pushkin's novel in verse follows the fates of three men and three women. It was Pushkin's own favourite work, and this new translation conveys the literal sense and the poetic music of the original.
First published in 1894, the story of the diva Trilby O'Ferrall and her mesmeric mentor, Svengali, has entered the popular imagination. George Du Maurier's drawings for the novel form part of its appeal - this edition includes his most significant illustrations.
Edith Wharton's most famous novel, written immediately after the end of the First World War, is a brilliantly realized anatomy of New York society in the 1870s. The charming Newland Archer is content to live within its constraints until he meets Ellen Olenska, whose arrival threatens his impending marriage as well as his comfortable future.
This new translation successfully combines a feeling for the formal proprieties of Dumas's style with a supple and colloquial liveliness that once again proves this story irresistible.
Shirley is Charlotte Bronte's only historical novel and her most topical one. The introduction to this new edition considers its autobiographical overtones as well as its social context, and includes revised notes and bibliography.