Classics

In this classic of American literature, Thoreau gives an account of his two years' experience of the 'simple life' in the woods, telling how he sought and found material and spiritual sustenance in the solitude of the cabin which he built for himself on...

'One of the few great and perfect works of poetic imagination written during this century' -- Elias Canetti.WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ADAM THIRWELL.One morning, Gregor Samsa wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant insect. His family is...

Though best known in the English speaking world for his short fictions and poems, Borges is revered in Latin America equally as an immensely prolific and beguiling writer of non-fiction prose. In THE TOTAL LIBRARY, more than 150 of Borges' most brilliant...

Borges' stories have a deceptively simple, almost laconic style. In maddeningly ingenious stories that play with the very form of the short story, Borges returns again and again to his themes: dreams, labyrinths, mirrors, infinite libraries, the...

The largest and richest English-language volume of poetry from “the greatest twentieth-century writer you have never heard of” (Los Angeles Times). Edited, Translated, and with an Introduction by Richard Zenith, the author of the...

Primo Levi's The Periodic Table is a collection of short stories that elegantly interlace the author's experiences in Fascist Italy, and later in Auschwitz, with his passion for scientific knowledge and discovery. This Penguin Modern Classics edition of...

The bestselling classic about three generations of a deaf family in modern America, by the author of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. ‘A miracle of empathy, a tour de force’ -- The New York Times. Two young deaf people, Abel and Janice,...

Based on his experiences as a policeman in Burma, George Orwell's first novel presents a devastating picture of British colonial rule. Burmese Days describes corruption and imperial bigotry in a society where, 'after all, natives were natives'. When...

In the 1920s and '30s, H.P. Lovecraft pioneered a new type of weird fiction that fused elements of supernatural horror with the concepts of visionary science fiction. Lovecraft's tales of cosmic horror revolutionized modern horror fiction and earned him...

A writer is seized by apocalyptic visions; a voyeuristic marquis commits a brutal act; and a trio of beatniks dance to modern jazz in the ruins of an abandoned church. Here, stark autobiography contrasts with pure horror, and the tenderness of first love...

'No one characteristic clasps us purely and universally in its embrace.' A selection of charming essays from a master of the genre exploring the contradictions inherent to human thought, words and actions. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for...

'Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!-and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing by the watermelons?' Profane and prophetic verses about sex, death, revolution and America by the great icon of Beat poetry. Penguin Modern: fifty new books...

'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' This landmark missive from one of the greatest activists in history calls for direct, non-violent resistance in the fight against racism, and reflects on the healing power of love. Penguin Modern:...

A Penguin Classic.Joe Keller and Steve Deever, partners in a machine shop during World War II, turned out defective airplane parts, causing the deaths of many men. Deever was sent to prison while Keller escaped punishment and went back to business,...

A series of provocative discussions on everything from individual authors to contemporary religious thinking, Against Interpretation and Other Essays is the definitive collection of Susan Sontag's best known and important works published in Penguin...

A vivid picaresque comedy with serious, melancholy undertones, The Lonely Londoners documents the 1950s immigrant experience through the affectionate relationship of a new arrival and a rueful old timer.  Featured on Between the Covers Big...

Enjoy Agatha Christie’s beloved classic, Hallowe’en Party—the inspiration for the major motion picture A Haunting in Venice, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh—with a new introduction by Michael Green, screenwriter of...

When Heidi, a five-year-old orphan, is dumped on her reclusive grandfather who lives on a remote mountainside above a Swiss village, he is none too pleased by her arrival. But Heidi quickly wins him over with her cheerful disposition and kindness, and...

Written during World War II, The Little Prince tells of the friendship between the narrator, an aviator stranded in the Sahara desert, and a mysterious boy whom he encounters there. Ruler of a tiny asteroid of which he is the only inhabitant, the Little...

First published in 1814, this is a study of three families - the Bertrams, the Crawfords and the Prices - in which Jane Austen uses the unlikely heroine, Fanny Price, to explore the social and moral values by which these families' lives are ordered...