Penguin Classics: General Fiction

A revelatory and richly varied collection of Poland's greatest short stories. Witty, surprising, and sparkling, this anthology is an essential exploration of Polish literature. Its thirty-nine superb stories run the length of the literal and imaginative creation of Poland, from 1918 (when Poland regained its independence after 123 years of colonisation by the neighbouring empires) to the present. The stories...

Crews's novel about a boxer with the gift of knocking himself unconscious, with a new foreword by New York Times-bestselling author S. A. Cosby. A Penguin Classic A favourite of longtime Harry Crews fans, The Knockout Artist (1988) portrays Eugene Talmadge Biggs, a young boxer from rural Georgia whose champion rise is diverted by a vulnerability, or gift, for knocking...

The definitive English translation of Mann's first masterpiece—a grand epic of family life. 'I bear within me the seed, the rudiments, the possibility of life's capacities and endeavours. Where might I be, if I were not here?' Buddenbrooks is one of the original, and greatest, of family chronicles—the story of four generations of a wealthy and bourgeois German family as...

'Arguably the great German novel' — New York Times 'This man is mad. Of that there can no longer be any doubt, and it is pitiable that no one representing psychiatric science is part of our circle.' In Germany, May 1943, a middle-aged scholar retires to his study to reflect on the life and untimely death of his friend, a...

The definitive translation of Mann's magnum opus Thomas Mann described Joseph and His Brothers as his 'pyramid'—his greatest literary achievement, although the Nazi regime in his homeland did their best to tear it down on its first publication. A vivid and dazzlingly ambitious epic, it retells the biblical story of Joseph, whose dreams and visions set him apart from his...

Layli and Majnun is the Persian epic that inspired Eric Clapton's unforgettable love song "Layla" and that Lord Byron called "the Romeo and Juliet of the East," presented here in a masterly new translation. A Penguin Classic This iconic love story of the Middle East, written by a twelfth-century Persian poet who has been compared to Shakespeare for his subtlety,...

The blistering 1928 Bolshevik satire, unpublishable in Russia until 1988, now available in a brand-new translation. 'A love that cannot be throttled by the rubber tube of an enema bulb is immortal.' Bookish and idealistic Vladimir is tormented with love for Olga; he brings her flowers when other men bring her flour and millet. Olga eventually agrees to marry him,...

Set in the rich farmland of the Salinas Valley, California, this powerful, often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations hopelessly re-enact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Here, Steinbeck created some of his most memorable characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery...

For the first time in English, a glittering novella about stardom and disillusionment. All eyes are upon Rikio. And he likes it, mostly. His fans cheer from a roped-off section, screaming and yelling to attract his attention. They would kill for a moment alone with him. Finally the director sets up the shot, the camera begins to roll, someone yells...

The exhilarating dystopian novel that inspired George Orwell's 1984 and foreshadowed the worst excesses of Soviet Russia, featuring a foreword by the National Book Award-winning New Yorker journalist Masha Gessen. Yevgeny Zamyatin's We is a powerfully inventive vision that has influenced writers from George Orwell to Ayn Rand. In a glass-enclosed city of absolute straight lines, ruled over by the...

An iconic novel dressed in a fierce design by acclaimed fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo. This couture-inspired collection also features The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, The Scarlet Letter, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice. Orphaned Jane Eyre endures an unhappy childhood, hated by her aunt and cousins and then sent to comfortless Lowood School. But life there improves and Jane...

An iconic novel dressed in a fierce design by acclaimed fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo. This couture-inspired collection also features Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, The Scarlet Letter and Wuthering Heights. Ruben Toledo's breathtaking drawings have appeared in such high-fashion magazines as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Visionaire. Now he's turning his talented hand to illustrating the gorgeous deluxe...

Charming boyhood adventure tale and perennial seller, this novel is updated with a new introduction by Mark Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen. The classic boyhood adventure tale, updated with a new introduction by noted Mark Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. A consummate prankster with a quick wit,...

One of the central novels in the American canon with a new foreword by Tom Perrotta and an introduction by Hawthorne scholar Robert Milder. The canonical American masterpiece of sin, guilt, and revenge, in an authoritative new edition from Penguin Classics with a foreword by Tom Perrotta. At once retrospective and radically new, The Scarlet Letter portrays seventeenth-century Puritan New...

An acerbic tale of marital warfare and emotional estrangement, in a brilliant new translation. In the oppressive silence of the sitting room, the woman finally smoothed out the paper and, without putting on her glasses, read the two words her husband had written—The cat. Amidst the din of their Parisian neighbourhood, Émile and Marguerite live in total silence. After a...

Fitzgerald's classic novel of the jazz era, in a stunning new hardback edition. These sumptuous new hardback editions mark the 70th anniversary of Fitzgerald's death. Between the First World War and the Wall Street Crash, the French Riviera was the stylish place for wealthy Americans to visit. Among the most fashionable are the Divers, Dick and Nicole, who hold court...

One of Western literature's most glorious and incisive satires—now in a brilliant new translation with phenomenal cover art by legendary comic artist Chris Ware! With its vibrant new translation, perceptive introduction, and witty packaging, this new edition of Voltaire's masterpiece belongs in the hands of every reader pondering our assumptions about human behaviour and our place in the world. Candide...