Essays, Anthologies, Letters & Prose

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...

June 28, 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which is considered the most significant event in the gay liberation movement, and the catalyst for the modern fight...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Available for the first time in Black Classics Georges Perec produced some of the most entertaining and spirited essays of his age. His literary output was amazingly varied in form...

An extraordinary collection of Nabokov's little-known published material from across his life - from student essays to his last interviews The last major collection of Nabokov's published material, Think, Write,...

A collection of controversial and galvanizing essays on literature, culture and politics from Matthew Arnold, one of the greatest Victorian thinkers 'One has often wondered whether upon the whole earth...

Calvino's fascinating and cerebral collection of essays celebrating all aspects of the visual, translated for the first time and new to Penguin Modern Classics Italo Calvino claimed that 'the brain...

New to Penguin Classics, these two Japanese texts are timeless reflections on Buddhism, nature and the value of being idle These two works on life's fleeting pleasures are by Buddhist...

A landmark collection of Orwell's writings, with a new Introduction by Jeremy Paxman 'Shooting an Elephant' is Orwell's searing and painfully honest account of his experience as a police officer...

A searing account of George Orwell's observations of working-class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s, The Road to Wigan Pier is a brilliant...