Howards End by David (INT) E. M.; Lodge Forster

$10.00 NZD

Category: Classic fiction | Series: Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics, | Reading Level: very good

In "Howard's End", E.M. Forster unveils the English character as never before, exploring the underlying class warfare involving three distinct groups - a wealthy family bound by the rules of tradition and property, two independent, cultured sisters, and a young man living on the edge of poverty. The sou rce of their conflict - Howards End, a house in the countryside which ultimately becomes a symbol of conflict within British society. ...Show more

Plays and Petersburg Tales - Petersburg Tales; Marriage; the Government Inspector by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol; Christopher English (Editor, Translator); Richard Peace (Introduction by)

$10.00 NZD

Category: Drama | Series: Oxford World's Classics Ser. | Reading Level: good

This volume brings together Gogol's Petersburg Tales with his two most famous plays, all of which guide us through the streets of St. Petersburg, the city erected by force and ingenuity on the marshes of the Neva estuary. Something of the deception and violence of the city's creation seems to lurk benea th its harmonious facade, however, and it confounds its inhabitants with false dreams and absurd visions. This new translation by Christopher English brings out the unique vitality and humor of Russia's finest comic writer. ...Show more

Great Russian Novels - Doctor Zhivago; Crime and Punihment; War and Peace by Boris Pasternak; Fyodor Dostoevsky; Leo Tolstory

$120.00 NZD

Category: Hardback fiction

Joseph Andrews and Shamela by Henry Fielding; Douglas Brooks-Davies (Editor); Martin C. Ballestin (Editor)

$6.00 NZD

Category: Classic fiction | Series: The\World's Classics Ser. | Reading Level: good

'I beg as soon as you get Fielding's Joseph Andrews, I fear in Ridicule of your Pamela and of Virtue in the Notion of Don Quixote's Manner, you would send it to me by the very first Coach.'(George Cheyne in a letter to Samuel Richardson, February 1742)Both Joseph Andrews (1742) and Shamela (1741) were p rompted by the success of Richardson's Pamela (1740), of which Shamela is a splendidly bawdy parody. But in Shamela Fielding also demonstrates his concern for the corruption of contemporary society, politics, religion, morality, and taste. Thesame themes - together with a presentation of love as charity, as friendship, and in its sexual taste - are present in Joseph Andrews, Fielding's first novel. It is a work of considerable literary sophistication and satirical verve, but its appeal lies also in its spirit of comic affirmation,epitomized in the celebrated character of Parson Adams.This revised and expanded edition follows the text of Joseph Andrews established by Martin C. Battestin for the definitive Wesleyan Edition of Fielding's works. The text of Shamela is based on the first edition, and two substantial appendices reprint the preliminary matter from Conyers Middleton'sLife of Cicero and the second edition of Richardson's Pamela (both closely parodied in Shamela). A new introduction by Thomas Keymer situates Fielding's works in their critical and historical contexts. ...Show more

The Warden by Anthony Trollope

$6.00 NZD

Category: Classic fiction | Series: English Library | Reading Level: good

Anthony Trollope's "The Warden" is the first of his well-loved "Chronicles of Barsetshire", edited with an introduction and notes by Robin Gilmour in "Penguin Classics". The tranquil atmosphere of the cathedral town of Barchester is shattered when a scandal breaks concerning the financial affairs of a C hurch-run almshouse for elderly men. In the ensuing furore, Septimus Harding, the almshouse's well-meaning warden, finds himself pitted against his daughter's suitor Dr John Bold, a zealous local reformer. Matters are not improved when Harding's abrasive son-in law, Archdeacon Grantly, leaps into the fray to defend him against a campaign Bold begins in the national press. An affectionate and wittily satirical view of the workings of the Church of England, "The Warden" is also a subtle exploration of the rights and wrongs of moral crusades and, in its account of Harding's intensely felt personal drama, a moving depiction of the private impact of public affairs. In his introduction, Robin Gilmour examines Trollope's background and his influences, especially his use of contemporary newspaper scandals. This edition also includes suggestions for further reading and notes. Anthony Trollope (1815-82) had an unhappy childhood characterised by a stark contrast between his family's high social standing and their comparative poverty. He wrote his earliest novels while working as a Post Office inspector, but did not meet with success until the publication of the first of his 'Barsetshire novels', "The Warden" (1855). As well as writing over forty novels, including such popular works as "Can You Forgive Her?" (1865), "Phineas Finn" (1869), "He Knew He Was Right" (1869) and "The Way We Live Now" (1875) Trollope is credited with introducing the postbox to England. If you enjoyed "The Warden", you might like Trollope's "The Way We Live Now", also available in "Penguin Classics". ...Show more

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne; Christopher Ricks (Editor); Graham Petrie (Introduction by)

$7.00 NZD

Category: Classic fiction | Series: English Library | Reading Level: good

"Packed with carefully curated supplementary goodies, Hawley's edition will allow students and scholars alike to appreciate the breadth and depth of Sterne's wit, creativity, and pathos." --Evan Gottlieb, Oregon State University "This new edition of Tristram expands commentary by the great early novelis ts and by today's most influential critics." --Paula Backscheider, Auburn University ...Show more

The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

$2.00 NZD

Category: Classic fiction | Series: Little Black Classics 42 | Reading Level: very good

'The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing.' Written with barely controlled fury after she was confined to her room for 'nerves' and forbidden to write, Gilman's pioneering feminist horror story scandalized nineteenth-century readers with it s portrayal of a woman who loses her mind because she has literally nothing to do. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935). Gilman's work is available in Penguin Classics in The Yellow Wall-Paper, Herland and Selected Writings. ...Show more

The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad

$5.00 NZD

Category: Classic fiction | Series: Wordsworth Classics | Reading Level: good

With an Introduction and Notes by Hugh Epstein, Secretary of the Joseph Conrad Society of Great Britain. 'Then the vision of an enormous town presented itself, of a monstrous town...a cruel devourer of the world's light. There was room enough there to place any story, depth enough for any passion, varie ty enough there for any setting, darkness enough to bury five millions of lives.' Conrad’s ‘monstrous town’ is London, and his story of espionage and counter-espionage, anarchists and embassies, is a detective story that becomes the story of Winnie Verloc’s tenacity in maintaining her devotion to her peculiar and simple-minded brother, Stevie, as they pursue their very ordinary lives above a rather dubious shop in the back streets of Soho. However, far from offering any sentimental picture, The Secret Agent is Conrad’s funniest novel. Its savagely witty picture of human absurdity and misunderstanding is written in an ironic style that provokes laughter and unease at the same time, and that continues to provide one of the most disturbing visions of aspiration and futility in twentieth century literature. ...Show more

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

$6.00 NZD

Category: Classic fiction | Series: Wordsworth Classics | Reading Level: good

Young women who have no economic or political power must attend to the serious business of contriving material security'. Jane Austen's sardonic humour lays bare the stratagems, the hypocrisy and the poignancy inherent in the struggle of two very different sisters to achieve respectability. Sense and Se nsibility is a delightful comedy of manners in which the sisters Elinor and Marianne represent these two qualities. Elinor's character is one of Augustan detachment, while Marianne, a fervent disciple of the Romantic Age, learns to curb her passionate nature in the interests of survival. ...Show more

Animal Farm by George Orwell

$7.00 NZD

Category: Classic fiction | Series: Penguin Modern Classics | Reading Level: near fine

'All animals are equal - but some are more equal than others' When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless élite among them, masterminde d by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, starts to take control. Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought, and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another. 'It is the history of a revolution that went wrong - and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine,' wrote Orwell for the first edition of Animal Farm in 1945. Orwell wrote the novel at the end of 1943, but it almost remained unpublished; its savage attack on Stalin, at that time Britain's ally, led to the book being refused by publisher after publisher. Orwell's simple, tragic fable has since become a world-famous classic. ...Show more

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

$6.00 NZD

Category: Classic fiction | Reading Level: good

When "Lord of the Flies" appeared in 1954 it received unprecedented reviews for a first novel. Critics used such phrases as "beautifully writeen, tragic and provocative... vivid and enthralling... this beautiful and desperate book... completely convincing and often very frightening... its progress is ma gnificient... like a fragment of nightmare... a dizzy climax of terror... the terrible spell of this book..." E.M. Forster chose it as the Outstanding Novel of the Year. "Time and Tide" touched upon perhaps the most important facet of this book when it said, "It is not only a first-rate adventure but a parable of our times, " and articles on this and subsequent Golding novels have stressed these twin aspects of Golding: a consummate control of the novel form, and a superb all-encompassing vision of reality which communicates itself with a power reminiscent of Conrad. ...Show more

The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner

$6.00 NZD

Category: Classic fiction | Series: Classics Ser. | Reading Level: good

The Story of an African Farm (1883) is a novel by South African political activist and writer Olive Schreiner. Her first published novel, The Story of an African Farm was a bestseller upon its release despite being criticized for its portrayal of controversial social, religious, and political themes. Pa rt Bildungsroman, part philosophical fiction, the novel is recognized as a groundbreaking work for its exploration of feminism, atheism, and the influence of British imperialism on the peoples of South Africa. Split into three sections, the novel begins with the childhood of its three main characters. Waldo, the son of the German farm-keeper Otto, is an intelligent and introspective boy who struggles with his religious faith and attempts to understand himself in relation to the order of the universe. Lyndall is a deeply philosophical thinker who strives toward independence and resists the gender norms imposed upon her by adults and others who would try to control her. Em, Lyndall's cousin, is a friendly girl who tends to believe others without questioning authority or intention. When an English businessman named Bonaparte Blenkins arrives at the farm looking for work, the children begin to suffer under his cruelly selective verbal and psychological abuse. As Blenkins attempts to position himself for control of Tant Sannie's farm, the children gain an informal education in treachery and the dynamics of power, disrupting their seemingly idyllic life in rural South Africa. The novel follows Waldo, Lyndall, and Em into adulthood, tracing their lives through their changing opinions towards romance, faith, and gender while illuminating the love that binds them despite their differences. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm is a classic of South African literature reimagined for modern readers. ...Show more