Fiction

'Gogol was a strange creature, but then genius is always strange' Vladimir Nabokov Chichikov, a mysterious stranger, arrives in the provincial town of 'N', visiting a succession of landowners and...

New translation of a book that has sold over 100,000 in its previous version A new translation of the idiosyncratic diary of a C10 court lady in Heian Japan. Along...

An updated translation of this risque and comic account of three travellers The Satyricon is one of the most outrageous and strikingly modern works to have survived from the ancient...

Three stories that form Flaubert's last complete work and reveal him as a master of the short story form. First published in 1877, these three stories are dominated by questions...

The story of a life-long infatuation, which is seen by many as Flaubert's masterpiece Sentimental Education begins with the hero - Frederic Moreau - leaving Paris and returning to the...

New translation by Alicia Stallings, with an introduction by Richard Jenkyns Lucretius' poem On the Nature of Things combines a scientific and philosophical treatise with some of the greatest poetry...

A collection of Chekhov's latest and haunting short stories In the final years of his life, Chekhov had reached the height of his powers as a dramatist, and also produced...

A collection of nine of Chekhov's short stories from the middle period of his life These stories from the middle period of Chekhov's career show him exploring complex, ambiguous and...

The original handbook of decadence - has enjoyed a cult readership since its publication, with fans including Oscar Wilde and Marianne Faithfull The hero of this curious novel is des...

Contains The Cloud of Unknowing, The Mystical Theology of Saint Denis, The Book of Privy Counselling, and An Epistle on Prayer. Against a tradition of devotional writings which focussed on...

First time in Penguin Classics for Scandinavia's best known work of literature and the principal source for knowledge about Norse mythology The Prose Edda is the most renowned of all...

First complete translation into English of 'Maximem und Reflexionen' Throughout his long, hectic and astonishingly varied life, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) would jot down his passing thoughts on theatre...

Penguin Classics relaunch Of all the works of the man claimed by many as the father of modern philosophy, the MEDITATIONS, first published in 1641, must surely be Rene Descartes'...

A selection of dialogues and letters of one of the most eloquent - and influential - masters of Latin prose. A major writer and a leading figure in the public...

Recently updated and expanded volume of the landmarks of ancient literary criticism The works collected in this volume have profoundly shaped the history of criticism in the Western world- they...

Penguin Classics relaunch Aesop was probably a prisoner of war, sold into slavery in the early sixth century BC, who represented his masters in court and negotiations, and relied on...

Penguin Classics relaunch Blaise Pascal, the precociously brilliant contemporary of Descartes, was a gifted mathematician and physicist, but it is his unfinished apologia for the Christian religion upon which his...

Tolstoy's controversial treatise on the purpose of Art During his decades of world fame as a novelist, Tolstoy also wrote prolifically in a series of essays and polemics on issues...

Penguin Classics relaunch A penetrating account of Greek tragedy, it demonstrates how the elements of plot, character and spectacle combine to produce 'pity and fear' - and why we derive...

Aristotle's probing look at the fundamental questions of philosophy The Metaphysics presents Aristotle's mature rejection of both the Platonic theory that what we perceive is just a pale reflection of...

A satirical, witty text from the greatest humanist of the Renaissance Erasmus of Rotterdam (c. 1466-1536) is one of the greatest figures of the Renaissance humanist movement, which abandoned medieval...

A selection of Montaigne's highly original essays on a variety of subjects - from coaches to cannibals To overcome a crisis of melancholy after the death of his father, Montaigne...

One of the key works of existentialist thought One of the most remarkable philosophical works of the nineteenth century, The Sickness Unto Death is also famed for the depth and...

Turgenev's collection of insights into Russia and the lives of those who live there Turgenev's first major prose work is a series of twenty-five Sketches- the observations and anecdotes of...

Xenophon's fascinating defence of Socratic thought After the execution of Socrates in 399 BC, a number of his followers wrote dialogues featuring him as the protagonist and, in so doing,...

Nietzsche's final testament of his beliefs In late 1888, only weeks before his final collapse into madness, Nietzsche (1844-1900) set out to compose his autobiography, and Ecce Homo remains one...

Two of Nietzsche's final and most devastating works 'Twilight of the Idols', an attack on all the prevalent ideas of his time, offers a lightning tour of his whole philosophy....

A collection of some of Dostoyevsky's finest short stories With their penetrating psychological insight and their emphasis on human dignity, respect and forgiveness, Dostoyevsky's early short stories contain the seeds...

Penguin Classics relaunch. Visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive young man, falls in love with sweet-natured Lotte. Though he realizes that Lotte is to marry Albert, he is...

The searingly honest, spiritual autobiography of Rossia's greatest novelist, written during a period of emotional crisis Describing Tolstoy's crisis of depression and estrangement from the world, A Confession (1879) is...

Aristotle's profoundly influential examination of the concept of the soul For the Pre-Socratic philosophers the soul was the source of movement and sensation, while for Plato it was the seat...

A fictionalised account of the time Dostoyevsky spent in a Siberian prison camp for his part in a political conspiracy In January 1850 Dostoyevsky was sent to a remote Siberian...

Translated with an introduction by Alstair Hannay Writing under the pseudonym of Johannes de silentio, Kierkegaard uses the form of a dialectical lyric to present his conception of faith. Abraham...

Penguin Classics relaunch. In A Discourse on Inequality Rousseau sets out to demonstrate how the growth of civilization corrupts man's natural happiness and freedom by creating artificial inequalities of wealth,...

Deeply sensitive and faithful to the original work, Guy Lee's verse translation is here paralleled by the original Latin text. Haunting and enigmatic, Virgil's Eclogues combined a Greek literary form...

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,...

Asser's revealing account of one of the great medieval kings Asser's Life of King Alfred, written in 893, is a revealing account of one of the greatest of medieval kings....

Only widely-available edition of Khayyam's lyrical poetry Revered in eleventh-century Persia as an astronomer, mathematician and philosopher, Omar Khayyam is now known first and foremost for his Ruba'iyat. The short...

A fascinating account of the time of the Vikings and the feuds of the Orkney Isles Written around AD 1200 by an unnamed Icelandic author, the Orkneyinga Saga is an...

Rousseau's final work and meditation After a period of forced exile and solitary wandering brought about by his radical views on religion and politics, Jean-Jacques Rousseau returned to Paris in...

A collection of von Kleist's haunting, unsettling stories In The Marquise of O-, a virtuous widow finds herself unaccountably pregnant. And although the baffled Marquise has no idea when this...

Hugo's Gothic tale of Quasimodo In the vaulted Gothic towers of Notre-Dame lives Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bellringer. Mocked and shunned for his appearance, he is pitied only by Esmerelda, a...

R. J. Hollingdale's selection structures Nietzsche's writings according to theme to give the fullest possible sense of the depth and scope of this extraordinary writer. The literary career of Friedrich...

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...

Maupassant's story of a man whose ideals are corrupted by the world Young, attractive and very ambitious, George Duroy, known to his friends as Bel-Ami, is offered a job as...

One of the greatest of the Rougon-Macquart series, Zola's prostitute represents the destructiveness of a corrupt and decaying society Born to drunken parents in the slums of Paris, Nana lives...

Penguin Classics relaunch. Although written over four hundred years after Alexander's death, Arrian's account of the man and his achievements is the most reliable we have. Arrian's own experience as...

A collection of Schopenhauer's powerful and inventive philosophy One of the greatest philosophers of the nineteenth century, Schopenhauer (1788-1860) believed that human action is determined not by reason but by...