Penguin Black Classics

"Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign." To this "one very simple principle" the whole of Mill's essay On Liberty is dedicated. While many of his immediate predecessors and contemporaries, from Adam Smith to Godwin and Thoreau, had celebrated liberty, it was Mill who organised the idea into a philosophy, and put it into the...

Penguin Classics relaunch. That proud, impassioned soul, so ungovernable now that she has felt the sting of injustice. Medea, in which a spurned woman takes revenge upon her lover by killing her children, is one of the most shocking and horrific of all the Greek tragedies. Dominating the play is Medea herself, a towering and powerful figure who demonstrates Euripides'...

New to Black Classics with a New Introduction by Giles Foden Three men trek to the remote African interior in search of a lost friend—and reach, at the end of a perilous journey, an unknown land cut off from the world, where terrible dangers threaten anyone who ventures near the spectacular diamond mines of King Solomon's Mines...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery. An ageing king makes a capricious decision to divide his realm among his three daughters according to the love they express for him. When the youngest daughter refuses to take part in this charade, she is banished, leaving the king dependent on her...

In 1831, Tocqueville set out from post-revolutionary France on a journey across America that would take him nine months and cover 7,000 miles. The result was Democracy in America, a subtle and prescient analysis of the life and institutions of 19th-century America. Tocqueville's study of the strengths and weaknesses of an evolving democratic society remains a key point of reference...

New edition When attractive, impulsive English widow Lidia takes a holiday in Italy, she causes a scandal by marrying Gino, a dashing and highly unsuitable Italian twelve years her junior. Her prim, snobbish in-laws make no attempts to hide their disapproval, and when Lidia's decision eventually brings disaster, her English relatives embark on an expedition to face the uncouth foreigner....

A classics tale of romance in urban nineteenth-century America When timid and plain Catherine Sloper acquires a dashing and determined suitor, her father, convinced that the young man is nothing more than a fortune-hunter, decides to put a stop to their romance. Torn between her desire to win her father's love and approval and her passion for the first man...

These stories from the middle period of Chekhov's career show him exploring complex, ambiguous, and often extreme emotions. Influenced by his own experiences as a doctor, Ward No. 6, set in a mental hospital, is a savage indictment of the medical profession. The Black Monk, portraying an academic who has strange hallucinations, explores ideas of genius and insanity. In Murder,...

Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a T. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather forecasts and tins of pineapple chunks—not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.'s...

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope is a compelling tale centred around Augustus Melmotte, a fraudulent foreign financier who preys on dissolute nobility. His charm tempts the weak into making foolish investments in his dubious schemes. One such victim is the capricious gambler Felix Carbury, who is persuaded to put money into a notional plot to run a...

Penguin Classics relaunch. The Return of the Native was written towards the beginning of Hardy's career as a novelist and can be considered one of his most representative works. In this novel, Hardy's tragic vision is powerfully and narrowly focused on Egdon Heath and the men and women who live on it. Set against the backdrop of the Heath and...

Handsome, ambitious Julien Sorel is determined to rise above his humble provincial origins. Soon realizing that success can only be achieved by adopting the subtle code of hypocrisy by which society operates, he begins to achieve advancement through deceit and self-interest. His triumphant career takes him into the heart of glamorous Parisian society, along the way conquering the gentle, married...

A new edition of Henry James's great masterpiece about a spirited young American in Europe, edited by Philip Horne. When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy her freedom, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. Then...

The tale of Little Nell gripped the nation when it first appeared in 1841. Described as a "tragedy of sorrows", the story tells of Nell uprooted from a secure and innocent childhood and cast into a world where evil takes many shapes, the most fascinating of which is the stunted, lecherous Quilp. Blending realism with non-realistic genres such as fairy-tale,...

Pavese's seductive masterpiece of memory and betrayal set in the Italian countryside, The Moon and the Bonfires comes to life in a vivid new translation by Tim Parks. Having made his fortune in America, Eel is magnetically drawn back to the Piedmontese countryside where he grew up poor and illegitimate. Spending the summer wandering its valleys and vineyards with his...

The Man Who Was Thursday is G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece, edited and with an introduction by Matthew Beaumont. Can you trust yourself when you don't know who you are? In a park in London, secret policeman Gabriel Syme strikes up a conversation with an anarchist. Sworn to do his duty, Syme uses his new acquaintance to go undercover in...

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 neighbouring squire, though he sometimes succumbs to the charms of the local girls. But when his amorous escapades earn the disapproval of his benefactor, Tom is banished to make...

The Garden Party and Other Stories comes with an introduction by Lorna Sage. Innovative, startlingly perceptive, and aglow with colour, these fifteen stories were written towards the end of Katherine Mansfield's tragically short life. Many are set in the author's native New Zealand, others in England and the French Riviera. All stories are revelations of the unspoken, half-understood emotions that...

A new translation of Stendhal's masterpiece chronicling the fortunes of Febrice del Dongo at an Italian court in post-Napoleonic France. Headstrong and naive, the young Italian aristocrat Fabrizio del Dongo is determined to defy the wrath of his right-wing father and go to war to fight for Napoleon. He stumbles on the Battle of Waterloo, ill-prepared, yet filled with enthusiasm...

New translation by Roger Whitehouse for this tale of murder, passion, and possession. La Bête humaine (1890), the seventeenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, is one of Zola's most violent and explicit works. On one level, a tale of murder, passion, and possession, it is also a compassionate study of individuals derailed by atavistic forces beyond their control. Zola considered...

Wrongly accused of theft and exiled from a religious community many years before, the embittered weaver Silas Marner lives alone in Raveloe, living only for work and his precious hoard of money. But when his money is stolen and an orphaned child finds her way into his house, Silas is given the chance to transform his life. His fate, and...

Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle's absence in Antigua, the Crawfords arrive in the neighbourhood, bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless...

Madame Bovary tells the story of Emma Bovary, a beautiful and bored woman trapped in her marriage to a mediocre doctor and stifled by the banality of provincial life. An ardent reader of sentimental novels, she longs for passion and seeks escape in fantasies of high romance, voracious spending, and eventually, in adultery. However, even her affairs bring her disappointment,...

Part of a series of new editions of Conrad's most famous novels in Black Classics. This compact novel, completed in 1900, as with so many of the great novels of the time, is at its baseline a book of the sea. An English boy in a simple town has dreams bigger than the outdoors and embarks at an early age...

A sparkling new translation of Pushkin's masterpiece. Eugene Onegin is the master work of the poet whom Russians regard as the fountainhead of their literature. Set in 1820s Russia, Pushkin's verse novel follows the fates of three men and three women. Engaging, full of suspense, and varied in tone, it contains a large cast of characters and offers the reader...

Part of a series of new editions of Henry James's most famous novels and short stories. Travelling in Europe with her family, Daisy Miller, an exquisitely beautiful young American woman, presents her fellow countryman Winterbourne with a dilemma he cannot resolve. Is she deliberately flouting social convention in the outspoken way she talks and acts, or is she simply ignorant...

A new translation of this ever-popular adventure story, featuring an introduction by Brian Aldiss. One night in the Reform Club, Phileas Fogg bets his companions that he can travel across the globe in just eighty days. Breaking the well-established routine of his daily life, he immediately sets off for Dover with his astonished valet Passepartout. Passing through exotic lands and...

First time in Black Classics for Forster's story of Anglo-Indian society under the Raj. Featuring a new introduction by novelist Pankaj Mishra. When Adela and her elderly companion Mrs Moore arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore, they quickly feel trapped by its insular and prejudiced British community. Determined to explore the 'real India', they seek the guidance of the...

The ten stories collected in this volume demonstrate Tolstoy's artistic prowess displayed over five decades, experimenting with prose styles and drawing on his own experiences with humour, realism, and compassion. Inspired by his experiences in the army, The Two Hussars contrasts a dashing father and his mean-spirited son. Illustrating Tolstoy's belief that art must serve a moral purpose, What Men...

The first collected and annotated edition of Carroll's brilliant, witty poems, edited by Gillian Beer. 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe...' wrote Lewis Carroll in his wonderfully playful poem of nonsense verse, Jabberwocky and Other Nonsense. This new edition collects together the marvellous range of Carroll's poetry, including nonsense verse, parodies, burlesques,...

One of the most beloved translations of all time returns to Penguin Classics — Scott Moncrieff's masterful version of Proust. Remembrance of Things Past: Volume 2 is one of the seminal works of the twentieth century, recording its narrator's experiences as he grows up, falls in love, and lives through the First World War. A profound reflection on art, time,...

Over the course of his short life, John Keats (1795-1821) honed a raw talent into a brilliant poetic maturity. By the end of his brief career, he had written poems of such beauty, imagination and generosity of spirit, that he had—unwittingly—fulfilled his wish that he should 'be among the English poets after my death'. This wide-ranging selection of Keats's poetry...

Part of the Penguin Classics' fresh new editions of Tolstoy's major works - including Antony Briggs' stunning new translation of War and Peace. In 1851, at the age of twenty-two, Tolstoy joined the Russian army and travelled to the Caucasus as a soldier. The four years that followed were among the most significant in his life, and deeply influenced the...

An intriguing document giving insight into the founders of the Roman Republic. These nine biographies illuminate the careers, personalities, and military campaigns of some of Rome's greatest statesmen, whose lives span the earliest days of the Republic to the establishment of the Empire. Selected from Plutarch's Roman Lives, they include prominent figures who achieved fame for their pivotal roles in...

The story of Heloise and Abelard remains one of the world's most celebrated and tragic love affairs. Peter Abelard was a 12th-century French philosopher and celebrated logician. He taught in Paris, where Heloise was his pupil. Through their letters, we follow the path of their romance, from its reckless and ecstatic beginnings, through the suffering, the public scandal and enforced...

This is a substantial selection from the Journals of Captain Cook's voyages, drawn from the four-volume Beaglehole edition. It represents not only Cook's own accounts of his various voyages, but those of his companions, notably the naturalist, Joseph Banks.

A compelling narrative of the life of the greatest conqueror of all time—Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), who led the Macedonian army to victory in Egypt, Syria, Persia, and India, was perhaps the most successful conqueror the world has ever seen. Yet although no other individual has attracted so much speculation across the centuries, Alexander himself remains...

The Diary recorded by Lady Murasaki (c. 973 – c. 1020), author of The Tale of Genji, is an intimate picture of her life as tutor and companion to the young Empress Shoshi. Told in a series of vignettes, it offers revealing glimpses of the Japanese imperial palace: the auspicious birth of a prince, rivalries between the Emperor's consorts, with...

The volume that completes our new four-book collection of Euripides plays. Through their sheer range, daring innovation, flawed but eloquent characters, and intriguing plots, the plays of Euripides have shocked and stimulated audiences since the fifth century BC. Phoenician Women portrays the rival sons of King Oedipus and their mother's doomed attempts at reconciliation, while Orestes shows a son ravaged...

This edition includes a list of suggestions for further reading, a glossary of important philosophical words and phrases, and notes. Exploring the question of what exactly makes good people good, Protagoras and Meno are two of the most enjoyable and accessible of all of Plato's dialogues. Widely regarded as his finest dramatic work, the Protagoras, set during the golden age...

A new translation of one of Plato's major dialogues, popular because of its subject matter: love. Phaedrus is widely recognised as one of Plato's most profound and beautiful works. It takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Phaedrus, and its ostensible subject is love, especially homoerotic love. This new translation is accompanied by an introduction, further reading, and...

Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov is a unique and enchanting collection of Russian folk tales collected over the last two centuries. In these tales, young women embark on long and difficult quests, wicked stepmothers transform children into geese, and tsars pose dangerous riddles. Characters receive help or face obstacles from magical beings such as dolls, cannibal witches, talking...

The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth is a narrative that blurs the lines between history and legend, chronicling the earliest kings of Britain. Completed in 1136, The History of the Kings of Britain traces the story of the realm from its supposed foundation by Brutus to the coming of the Saxons some two thousand years...

Livy (c. 59 BC – AD 17) dedicated most of his life to writing some 142 volumes of history, the first five of which comprise The Early History of Rome. With stylistic brilliance, he chronicles nearly 400 years of history, from the founding of Rome (traditionally dated to 757 BC) to the Gallic invasion in 386 BC—an era which witnessed...

Xenophon's account of the Greek war with Persia through the eyes of a young Athenian searching for his destiny abroad. In The Persian Expedition, Xenophon, a young Athenian noble who sought his destiny abroad, provides an enthralling eyewitness account of the attempt by a Greek mercenary army—the Ten Thousand—to help Prince Cyrus overthrow his brother and take the Persian throne....

The defeat of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes and his small band of adventurers is one of the most startling military feats in history. Fifty years after the event, Bernal Diaz (c. 1498-1580), who served under Cortes, wrote this account of the march from the coast, Montezuma's death, the massacre of the Spaniards, and the eventual capture of the capital...

When a Victorian scientist propels himself into the year 802,701 AD, he is initially delighted to find that suffering has been replaced by beauty, contentment, and peace. Entranced at first by the Eloi, an elfin species descended from man, he soon realises that this beautiful people are simply remnants of a once-great culture now weak and childishly afraid of the...

New to Penguin Classics, the astonishing story of the Copernican Revolution, told through the words of the ground-breaking scientists who brought it about. 'How great, then, must be the incomprehensible space all the way to the furthest fixed stars? How wide and immense must be the depth of that fantastical sphere?' In the late fifteenth century, it was believed that...

Real-life accounts of the world's most notorious pirates—both men and women, from the Golden Age of Piracy and beyond—compiled by the New York Times bestselling author of A True Account: Hannah Masury's Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself. A Penguin Classic Spanning three centuries and eight thousand nautical miles, and compiled by a direct descendant of a sailor who...

After reading A Christmas Carol, the notoriously reclusive Thomas Carlyle was "seized with a perfect convulsion of hospitality" and threw not one but two Christmas dinner parties. The impact of the story may not always have been so dramatic but, along with Dickens' other Christmas writings, it has had a lasting and significant influence upon our ideas about the Christmas...

With Robinson Crusoe, Defoe wrote what is regarded as the first English novel, and created one of the most popular and enduring myths in literature. Written in an age of exploration and enterprise, it has been variously interpreted as an embodiment of British imperialist values, as a portrayal of 'natural man', or as a moral fable. But above all, it...

Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry Thoreau are two seminal works that reflect on personal freedom, individuality, and the inherent connection between humanity and nature. Walden is the fruit of Thoreau's two-year experiment in simple living on Walden Pond in Massachusetts. It meticulously follows the natural cycle of the seasons, weaving a thoughtful narrative that extends beyond a mere account...

Aristotle's Poetics stands as a seminal work in the history of literary criticism and is a cornerstone of Western philosophy. In this profound analysis of Greek tragedy, Aristotle meticulously dissects the elements that converge to create the quintessential dramatic experience. Delving into the intricacies of plot, character, and spectacle, Aristotle elucidates how these components intertwine to evoke feelings of pity...

Immerse yourself in the quintessential text on architecture that has influenced generations of builders and designers. On Architecture, written by the Roman architect Vitruvius around 40 BC, delves into the principles and practicalities of architecture, engineering, and urban planning through ten exhaustive chapters. This new illustrated edition from Penguin Classics not only presents Vitruvius' vision with renewed clarity but also...

De Profundis and Other Prison Writings by Oscar Wilde offers a profound glimpse into the soul of one of literature's most enigmatic figures during his darkest hours. This collection, edited with an insightful introduction by Colm Tóibín, compiles Wilde's poignant letters and poems penned during his incarceration. It reveals the extraordinary depths of Wilde's emotional and intellectual resilience amidst adversity,...

The charming, slyly comic novel of romantic longing and transformation set on the Italian seaside, and the inspiration for the beloved 1992 film of the same name, for publication alongside Enchanted August, a contemporary reimagining from Pamela Dorman Books / Viking. A Penguin Classic The charming, slyly comic novel of romantic longing and transformation that inspired the Oscar-nominated film. Four...

The definitive collection of tales of the supernatural, edited by Michael Newton. 'The ghost is the most enduring figure in supernatural fiction. He is absolutely indestructible... He changes with the styles in fiction but he never goes out of fashion. He is the really permanent citizen of the earth, for mortals, at best, are but transients' - Dorothy Scarborough This...

Colin Burrow's engaging (even amusing) introduction asks what the term metaphysical means and includes A Very Short History of Metaphysical Poetry from Donne to Rochester. Spanning the Elizabethan age to the Restoration and beyond, Metaphysical Poetry sought to describe a time of startling progress, scientific discovery, unrivalled exploration and deep religious uncertainty. This compelling collection of the best and most...

A new departure in Penguin Classics – a book containing one of the greatest of all Renaissance woodcut sequences – Holbein's bravura danse macabre. One of Holbein's first great triumphs, The Dance of Death is an incomparable sequence of tiny woodcuts showing the folly of human greed and pride, with each image packed with drama, wit and horror as a...

Masterful versions of Ibsen's two great verse plays by one of our greatest living poets, Geoffrey Hill. These two masterly and contrasting verse dramas by Ibsen made his reputation as a playwright. The fantastical adventures of the irrepressible Peer Gynt—poet, idler, procrastinator, seducer—draw on Norwegian folklore to conjure up mountains, kidnappings, shipwrecks, and trolls in an exuberant celebration of life;...

An exciting new selection of poems exploring faith, the divine and doubt, written by poets across the world from antiquity to the present Poets have always looked to the skies for inspiration and have written as a way of getting closer to the power and beauty they sense in nature, in each other and in the cosmos. This anthology is...

A light revision of our definitive collection, translated with an introduction by Geoffrey Bownas and Anthony Thwaite. Poetry remains a living part of the culture of Japan today. The clichés of everyday speech are often to be traced to famous ancient poems, and the traditional forms of poetry are widely known and loved. This congenial attitude comes from a poetical...

Sophocles' innovative plays transformed Greek myths into dramas featuring complex human characters, through which he explored profound moral issues. Electra portrays the grief of a young woman for her father Agamemnon, who has been killed by her mother's lover. Aeschylus and Euripides also dramatized this story, but the objectivity and humanity of Sophocles' version provides a new perspective. Depicting the...

From: An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (Jeremy Bentham) From: A System of Logic (J.S. Mill) Bentham (J.S. Mill) Coleridge (J.S. Mill) Whewell on Moral Philosophy (J.S. Mill) Utilitarianism (J.S. Mill)

A revelatory and richly varied collection of Korea's greatest short stories. This eclectic, moving and wonderfully enjoyable collection is the essential introduction to Korean literature. Journeying through Korea's dramatic twentieth century, from the Japanese occupation and colonial era to the devastating war between North and South and the rapid, disorienting urbanisation of later decades, The Penguin Book of Korean Short...

A bold mix of realism, allegory, adventure, and progressive politics, this collection features Jack London's most profound and moving literary works. The Call of the Wild, London's elemental masterpiece about a dog learning to survive in the wilderness, sees pampered pet Buck snatched from his home and set to work as a sled-dog during the Klondike Gold Rush. White Fang,...

A new and original anthology that introduces the use of rhetoric in the classical world, from Aristotle to Cicero and beyond Classical rhetoric is one of the earliest versions of what is today known as media studies. It was absolutely crucial to life in the ancient world, whether in the courtroom, the legislature or on ceremonial occasions, and was described...

A guidebook to melancholia or depression, and a masterly, all-encompassing examination of the human condition. The Anatomy of Melancholy is the vast and only work by Robert Burton, the seventeenth-century English priest and scholar. It 'opens and cuts up' the condition of melancholy, or depression, as we know it today, and in doing so explores a dizzying range of additional...

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a tale of a boy's picaresque journey down the Mississippi on a raft, capturing the voice and experience of the American frontier as no other work had done before. When Huck escapes from his drunken father and the 'sivilizing' Widow Douglas with the runaway slave Jim, he embarks on a series...

First paperback publication of the essential tales drawn from the acclaimed new translation. This is the essential one-volume edition of Tales from 1,001 Nights, drawn from the acclaimed landmark translation published in three volumes by Penguin Classics in 2008. It contains 'Aladdin', 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves', 'Sindbad the Sailor', and many others of the most enjoyable and beloved...

Browning was one of the greatest of English poets, whose intense and original imagination enabled him to transform any subject he chose—whether everyday or sublime—into startling, memorable verse. In his work, he brought to life the personalities of a diverse range of characters and introduced a new immediacy, colloquial energy, and psychological complexity to the poetry of his day. Selected...

This revised edition has been completely re-set with an updated index and a new preface. Isaiah Berlin witnessed the excesses of the Russian Revolution as a child, and in becoming one of the key liberal intellects of the last century, some of his most important contributions were on the subject of Russia and the concept of freedom. In the ten...

Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida is a unique collection that brings together acknowledged masterpieces from classic authors such as Chekhov and Gogol, alongside a rich selection from less familiar writers. From the reign of the Tsars in the early 19th century to the collapse of the Soviet Union and beyond, the short story has long held a central...

A selection of Lafcadio Hearn's brilliantly entertaining and eerie ghost stories, regarded as major classics in Japan. In this collection of classic ghost stories from Japan, beautiful princesses turn out to be frogs, paintings come alive, deadly spectral brides haunt the living, and a samurai delivers the baby of a Shinto goddess with mystical help. Here are all the phantoms...

Italian Journey 1786-1788 is Goethe's famous account of his time and travels in Italy. In 1786, already recognised as the leader of the Sturm und Drang literary movement, Goethe embarked on a journey to Italy. This journey was both a personal and artistic quest, aiming to provide relief from his responsibilities and the pains of unrequited love. As he visited...

A gripping novel that ultimately questions our capacity for moral strength and the depths of human integrity. It was I who removed de P- this morning. With these chilling words, Victor Haldin shatters the solitary, industrious existence of Razumov, his fellow student at St Petersburg University. Razumov aims to overcome the denial of his noble birth by a brilliant career...

When a young woman dies during a shooting party at the country estate of a dissolute count, a magistrate is called upon to investigate. The mystery deepens and suspicion falls more widely as it emerges that the dead woman was at the centre of a tangled web of relationships: with her elderly husband, with the lecherous count, and with the...

A tale of princely jealousy and vengeance, The Saga of the Volsungs has been an inspiration for Wagner and J.R.R. Tolkien. Based on Viking Age poems, The Saga of the Volsungs combines mythology, legend, and sheer human drama. At its heart are the heroic deeds of Sigurd the dragon slayer, who acquires magical knowledge from one of Odin's Valkyries. Yet...

Michael Hulse's new translation perfectly conveys the unsettling beauty of the original and is accompanied by an introduction on Rilke's life and the biographical and literary influences on the Notebooks. This edition also includes suggested further reading, a chronology, and notes. While his old furniture rots in storage, Malte Laurids Brigge lives in a cheap room in Paris, with little...

Dreamlike Welsh tales from the thirteenth century Drawing on myth, folklore and history, the stories of The Mabinogion passed from generations of storytellers before they were written down in the thirteenth century in the form we know today. Set in dual realms of the forests and valleys of Wales and the shadowy otherworld, the tales are permeated by a dreamlike...