Essays, Anthologies, Letters & Prose

In these groundbreaking studies, Sontag strips away the myths that surround the two most stigmatized diseases of our time Sontag wrote Illness as Metaphor in 1978, while suffering from breast...

A curated collection of essays that shaped Australia's culture and society Since the 1940s, Meanjin essays have set the national cultural agenda. Arthur Phillips' idea of 'cultural cringe' has become...

Susan Sontag's second collection of groundbreaking essays, new to Penguin Modern Classics This collection of essays contains some of the most important pieces of criticism of the twentieth century, including...

Truman Capote began writing when he was eight and became one of America's most versatile and gifted authors.A Capote Readercontains much of his published work- his dazzling fiction, includingBreakfast at...

These essays, reviews and articles illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of this century - a man who created a unique literary manner from...

One of the greatest theological works, and is one of the most influential Christian documents. St Augustine, bishop of Hippo, was one of the central figures in the history of...

Still used as a guide to classical Greece even today this remains one of the most influential travel books ever written. Written in the second century AD by a Greek...

Reissue First and foremost an outcry against injustice and inhumanity, Unto this Last is also a closely argued assault on the science of political economy, which dominated the Victorian period....

A collection of the finest essays by the 'Best of the Booker' winner, following on from his much-acclaimed STEP ACROSS THIS LINE From 'Best of the Booker' winner Salman Rushdie,...

New to Penguin Modern Classics for Sontag's exploration of the most important artists of our time Susan Sontag's third essay collection brings together her most important critical writing from 1972...

An insight into the splendour, squalor and energy of everday Roman life Perhaps more than any other writer, Juvenal (c. AD 55-138) captures the splendour, the squalor and the sheer...

A fascinating view of how the world was perceived in the first century Pliny's Natural History is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography...

Goethe's famous account of his time and travels in Italy In 1786, when he was already the acknowledged leader of the Sturm und Drang literary movement, Goethe set out on...

The dazzling essays of the beloved, subversive Chinese writer Wang Xiaobo, a continual bestseller in China, now in English for the first time Wang Xiaobo made his name as a...

A series of provocative discussions on everything from individual authors to contemporary religious thinking Against Interpretation was Susan Sontag's first collection of essays and is a modern classic. Originally published...

Dorothy Parker, more than any of her contemporaries, captured the spirit of her age in her writing. The decadent 1920S and 1930s in New York were a time of great...

The great German poem on the completion of the story of the Holy Grail Composed in the early thirteenth century, Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival is the re-creation and completion of...

The fourth volume of Livy's history of the Roman Empire In The War with Hannibal, Livy (59 BC-AD 17) chronicles the events of the Second Punic War between Rome and...

A thrilling travelogue of the year Dickens spent in Italy in the mid 1840s, published at a time when interest in his more marginal work is constantly increasing. In 1844,...

An intimate conversation about music and creativity, between the internationally bestselling writer Haruki Murakami and world-class conductor, Seiji Ozawa. An intimate conversation about music and creativity, between the internationally bestselling...

Dazzling collection of personal essays from internationally acclaimed First Nations Canadian writer Billy-Ray Belcourt, who mines his own personal history to reconcile the world he was born into with the...

Dazzling, essential, unlike anything else published today - a memoir on modern womanhood, smashing through social expectations and making the case for thrilling, transformative freedom What does it mean to...

A collection of Orwell's major essays, in a stunning new cover look for his great works These essays, reviews and articles illuminate the life and work of one of the...

The Sunday Times bestselling tour-de-force from the author of The Lost Words and The Old Ways - an unmissable journey into the hidden worlds beneath our feet 'Into the underland...

Stendhal's intensely personal and yet universal work on Love In 1818, when he was in his mid-thirties, Stendhal met and fell passionately in love with the beautiful Mathilde Dembowski. She,...

A collection of political speeches from the greatest orator of Rome Amid the corruption and power struggles of the collapse of the Roman Republic, Cicero (106-43BC) produced some of the...

The Italian Renaissance man's handbook, defining the virtues essential for a man of the Court In The Book of the Courtier (1528), Baldesar Castiglione, a diplomat and Papal Nuncio to...

Caesar's own account of his struggle with Pompey over leadership of Republican Rome A military leader of legendary genius, Caesar was also a great writer, recording the events of his...

A fascinating historical account of Greece at a point of crisis Xenophon's History recounts nearly fifty turbulent years of warfare in Greece between 411 and 362 BC. Continuing the story...

New selection with introduction, suggestions for further reading, and full explanatory notes Selection includes The Portrait of Mr W.H., Wilde's defence of Dorian Gray, reviews, and the writings from 'Intentions'...

A passionately argued work on the philosophy of aesthetics No philosopher has held a higher opinion of art than Hegel, yet nor was any so profoundly pessimistic about its prospects...

A collection of Bacon's vibrant, intelligent essays covering subjects ranging from ambition to the vicissitude of things One of the major political figures of his time, Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)...

Helen Garner is one of Australia's greatest writers. Her short non-fiction has enormous range. Spanning fifteen years of work, Everywhere I Look is a book full of unexpected moments, sudden...

A short, powerful memoir from one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century In this deeply personal book, Baldwin reflects on the experiences that shaped him as a...

Fearless and essential - the highly anticipated final instalment in Deborah Levy's critically acclaimed 'Living Autobiography' Following the international critical and commercial success of The Cost of Living, this final...

First instalment of Levy's essential 'living autobiography' trilogy - reissued to match the beautiful COST OF LIVING hardback Taking George Orwell's famous essay, 'Why I Write', as a jumping-off point,...

An exhilarating, far-ranging collection of non-fiction writing from the internationally acclaimed author of A Heart So White and The Infatuations Internationally renowned writer Javier Marias is a tireless examiner of...

A brave, beautiful book that could double as a handbook to accompany anyone on their journey through cancer Jackie Kay, New Statesman I would never have chosen this path, but...

The top 10 Sunday Times bestseller - a celebration of love in all its forms After years of feeling that love was always out of reach, journalist Natasha Lunn set...

The essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde The woman's place of power within each of us is neither white nor surface; it is dark, it...

A collection that includes some of Camus' most brilliant political writing This volume contains some of Camus' most powerful political writing as he reflects on moral responsibility and the role...

A collection that includes three of Camus's most personal and lyrical books- The Right Side and the Wrong Side, Nuptials and Summer This volume contains some of Camus' most intimate...

Two of Virginia's Woolf most striking essays published together in a new Black Classics edition A Room of One's Own, based on a lecture given at Girton College Cambridge, is...

A selection of D. H. Lawrence's writings on art, morality and obscenity, edited & selected by Geoff Dyer For D. H. Lawrence the novel was the pinnacle, 'the one bright...

A breakthrough work of social and cultural criticism from one of the foremost intellectuals of his era Written during the 1940s and early 1950s, when Baldwin was only in his...

A new translation of Calvino's influential last work Italo Calvino was due to deliver the Charles Eliot Norton lectures at Harvard in 1985-86, but they were left unfinished at his...

Intriguing and uplifting stories of the world's oldest plants, from the revered botanist and indigenous teacher Robin Wall Kimmerer Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a...

The critically acclaimed exploration of mounting racial aggressions in 21st century daily life and in the media In this moving, critical and fiercely intelligent collection of prose poems, Claudia Rankine...