The Open Boat and Other Stories
by Stephen Crane
Four prized selections by one of America's greatest writers: "The Open Boat," based on a harrowing incident in the author's life: the 1897 sinking of a ship on which he was a passenger; "The Blue Hotel" and "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky," reflecting Crane's early travels in Mexico and the American Southwest; and the novella Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, a galvanizing portrait of life in the slums of New York City.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
Referring to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, H. L. Mencken noted that his discovery of this classic American novel was "the most stupendous event of my whole life"; Ernest Hemingway declared that "all modern American literature stems from this one book," while T. S. Eliot called Huck "one of the permanent symbolic figures of fiction, not unworthy to take a place with Ulysses, Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan, Hamlet."
The novel's preeminence derives from its wonderfully imaginative re-creation of boyhood adventures along the Mississippi River, its inspired characterization, the author's remarkable ear for dialogue, and the book's understated development of serious underlying themes: "natural" man versus "civilized" society, the evils of slavery, the innate value and dignity of human beings, and other topics. Most of all, Huckleberry Finn is a wonderful story, filled with high adventure and unforgettable characters.
Demons: A Novel in Three Parts
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Inspired by the true story of a political murder that horrified Russians in 1869, Fyodor Dostoevsky conceived of Demons as a "novel-pamphlet" in which he would say everything about the plague of materialist ideology that he saw infecting his native land. What emerged was a prophetic and ferociously funny masterpiece of ideology and murder in pre-revolutionary Russia.
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden sex worker, can offer the chance of redemption.
The Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons―the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy, red-cheeked young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the whole of Russian life, is social and spiritual striving, in what was both the golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture.
This award-winning translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky remains true to the verbal inventiveness of Dostoevsky’s prose, preserving the multiple voices, the humor, and the surprising modernity of the original. It is an achievement worthy of Dostoevsky’s last and greatest novel.
La Chartreuse de Parme
Les oeuvres classiques (15)
La Chartreuse de Parme - Stendhal
Cadet de grande famille fasciné par Napoléon qu'il rêve d'aller rejoindre, Fabrice del Dongo arrive à Waterloo quand commence la bataille. Mais il ne suivra pas la carrière des armes à quoi il aspirait, et consentira à devenir prélat. Ce qu’il fera toutefois avec assez de détachement, pour que l'essentiel reste bien pour lui la chasse au bonheur - c'est-à-dire l'amour.
Roman le plus célèbre de Stendhal, La Chartreuse de Parme mélange des événements historiques réels avec une Italie fantasmée. De Waterloo à Parme, Stendhal narre les aventures du jeune Fabrice del Dongo, héros romantique, prisonnier de son amour pour Clélia Conti.
Le Rouge et le Noir
by Stendhal
EDITION INTEGRALE EXCEPTIONNELLE
Avec Atlantic Editions, plongez dans la lecture d'un des plus grands chefs-d'oeuvre de la littérature Française dans une très belle édition brochée.
Séduisant, intelligent et ambitieux, Julien Sorel, fils de charpentier, est déterminé à dépasser ses origines provinciales modestes. Réalisant rapidement que le succès ne peut être atteint que par l'adoption du code subtil de l'hypocrisie par lequel la société opère, il accède au sommet de la hiérarchie sociale en agissant par intérêt personnel et tromperies. Mais il n’est pas satisfait de son sort - il rêve de devenir une sorte de nouveau Napoléon Bonaparte et méprise les gens de la haute société.
Son ambition démesurée le pousse à courtiser Mme de Rênal, épouse dévouée et naïve du maire de Verrières, et à conquérir Mathilde, fille altière et passionnée du marquis de la Mole. Mais le tempérament fier et ombrageux de Julien lui fera commettre l'irréparable et le mènera à sa perte.
Le Rouge et le Noir, d'abord paru en 1830, est un portrait satirique de la société Française sous la Restauration, rongée par la corruption et la cupidité. Ce chef-d'oeuvre, noir par son réalisme, et teinté du rouge de la passion et du crime, témoigne de l'immense talent littéraire de l'auteur.
Henri Beyle, connu sous le pseudonyme de Stendhal (1783-1842), est l'un des plus grands écrivains Français. Il a marqué la littérature par la profondeur de ses analyses psychologiques, son souci du réalisme et de la recherche de la Vérité, ses portraits de jeunes gens aux aspirations romantiques, et par la force de son style.
Ce chef-d'oeuvre, incontournable et intemporel, ravira les lecteurs de tous âges.
Dans la même collection brochée de l'éditeur Atlantic Editions, retrouvez un autre chef-d'oeuvre de Stendhal: La Chartreuse de Parme
Joseph Andrews and Shamela
Henry Fielding wrote both Joseph Andrews (1742) and Shamela (1741) in response to Samuel Richardson's book Pamela (1740), of which Shamela is a splendidly bawdy travesty. Joseph Andrews begins as a parody, too, but soon outgrows its origins, and its deepest roots lie in Cervantes and Marivaux. In both stories, Fielding demonstrates his concern for the corruption of contemporary society, politics, religion, morality, and taste.
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 the second edition of Richardson's Pamela and Conyers Middleton's Life of Cicero, which is also closely parodied in Shamela. This Oxford World's Classics edition also features a new introduction by Thomas Keymer which situates Fielding's works in their critical and historical contexts.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
by Henry Fielding
A foundling of mysterious parentage brought up by Mr. Allworthy on his country estate, Tom Jones is deeply in love with the seemingly unattainable Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighboring squire—though he sometimes succumbs to the charms of the local girls. When Tom is banished to make his own fortune and Sophia follows him to London to escape an arranged marriage, the adventure begins. A vivid Hogarthian panorama of eighteenth-century life, spiced with danger and intrigue, bawdy exuberance and good-natured authorial interjections, Tom Jones is one of the greatest and most ambitious comic novels in English literature.
Ulysses
by James Joyce
Loosely based on the Odyssey, this landmark of modern literature follows ordinary Dubliners in 1904. Capturing a single day in the life of Dubliner Leopold Bloom, his friends Buck Mulligan and Stephen Dedalus, his wife Molly, and a scintillating cast of supporting characters, Joyce pushes Celtic lyricism and vulgarity to splendid extremes. Captivating experimental techniques range from interior monologues to exuberant wordplay and earthy humor. A major achievement in 20th century literature.