Literary Theory

The Sunday Times no. 1 memoir now in paperback The Pigeon Tunnel, John le Carre's memoir and his first work of non-fiction, is a thrilling journey into the worlds of...

A beautiful new jacket treatment, part of Penguin's reissue programme of Dahl's adult titles 'An autobiography is a book a person writes about his own life and it is usually...

A singular journey through the visionary world of Kafka and its captivating mysteries, now in Penguin Modern Classics What are Kafka's stories about? Are they dreams? Allegories? Symbols? Things that...

A celebration of one of the most curious and playful literary groups of the twentieth century Brought together for the first time, here are 100 pieces of 'Oulipo' writing, celebrating...

Part biography, part detective story- the extraordinary life of the eccentric writer Frederick Baron Corvo One summer afternoon A.J.A. Symons is handed a peculiar novel called Hadrian the Seventh and,...

A lively cultural history of the book from a charmingly idiosyncratic bookseller 'The right book has a neverendingness, and so does the right bookshop.' This is the story of our...

The acclaimed historical portrait of the love triangle between an opera star, a writer and an impresario - and their role in Europe's 19th-century cultural Renaissance The Europeans is a...

This revised edition has been completely re-set with an updated index and a new preface Isaiah Berlin witnessed the excesses of the Russian Revolution as a child, and in becoming...

First time in Black Classics for this classic critque of the art of the novel, but one of its greatest practitioners. Collection of literary lectures by E.M. Forster, published in...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery An embittered Roman General returns from war, having captured the Queen of the...

An extraordinary collection of essays arguing for literature's complicity with evil, new to Penguin Modern Classics 'Literature is not innocent,' stated Georges Bataille in this extraordinary 1957 collection of essays,...

A drama of decay in Southern America, this depiction of patriarchy, power and repression is one of Williams' landmark works 'Big Daddy' Pollitt, the richest cotton planter in the Mississippi...

One of Williams' best-loved plays, this emotional rollercoaster tells the tale of the iconic Blanche DuBois and her demise by Stanley Kowalski Fading southern belle Blanche Dubois depends on the...

Penguin Modern Classics presents Tennessee Williams' first successful play which has continued to win audiences over ever since Abandoned by her husband, Amanda Wingfield comforts herself with recollections of her...

All My Sons brought Miller his first major success, and continues to be a bestseller today In Joe and Kate Keller's family garden, an apple tree - a memorial to...

New to Penguin Modern Classics Why Read the Classics? is an elegant defence of the value of great literature by one of the finest authors of the last century. Beginning...

Contains new introduction to second edition by volume editor. Boethius was an eminent public figure under the Gothic emperor Theodoric, and an exceptional Greek scholar. When he became involved in...

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 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...

Penguin Classics relaunch When country-girl Grace Melbury returns home from her middle-class school she feels she has risen above her suitor, the simple woodsman Giles Winterborne. Though marriage had been...

Penguin Classics relaunch. THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE was written towards the beginning of Hardy's career as a novelist and can be considered one of his most representative works. In...

A compelling argument for the necessity of art in life. A compelling argument for the necessity for art in life, Nietzsche's first book is fuelled by his enthusiasms for Greek...

One of the most significant examples of English writing on Utopia Poet, pattern-designer, environmentalist and maker of fine books, William Morris (1834-96) was also a committed socialist and visionary writer,...

Colin Burrow's engaging (even amusing) introduction asks what the term metaphysical means and includes A Very Short History of Metaphysical Poetry from Donne to Rochester. Spanning the Elizabethan age to...

The first, fascinating insight into the life of this internationally bestselling writer 'Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional' A compelling mediation on the power of running and a fascinating insight...

Now included in UQP's First Nations Classics series with an introduction by Fiona Foley, Finding Eliza is a vital Indigenous perspective on colonial storytelling. Aboriginal lawyer, writer and filmmaker Larissa...

The best poetic version of The Odyssey to have appeared this century - Hugh Lloyd-Jones Penelope has been waiting for her husband Odysseus to return from Troy for many years....

A boy and his beloved budgie are thrust into an epic adventure that could change everything. Absolutely everything. Birds. Lots of birds. The people of the world are puzzled. Their...

With fascism on the march once more, this is an urgent dispatch from one of the great writers and intellectuals of our time 'Azadi!' - Urdu for 'freedom' - is...

When Kino, an Indian pearl-diver, finds 'the Pearl of the world' he believes that his life will be magically transformed. When Kino, an Indian pearl-diver, finds 'the Pearl of the...

She was 'amused, cynical, ironic, loving, gay, ferocious, cold, ardent but never gentle'. She was a whirlwind. She created around her the atmosphere of a Court at which her friends...

The Call of the Wild and White Fang , two American classics by Jack London, are presented together in this elegantly designed jacketed hardcover edition featuring an introduction by Jack...

Follow in the footsteps of some of the world's most famous authors on the journeys which inspired their greatest works in this beautiful illustrated atlas. Some truly remarkable works of...

'To read [ Birthday Letters ] is to experience the psychic equivalent of the bends'. It takes you down to levels of pressure where the undertruths of sadness and endurance...

When Sylvia Plath's Ariel was published posthumously, A. Alvarez in the Observer wrote: 'If the poems are despairing, vengeful and destructive, they are at the same time tender, open to...

This volume contains all Sylvia Plath's mature poetry written from 1956 up to her death in 1963.The text is preceded by an introduction by Ted Hughes and followed by notes...

NB: This is a secondhand book in very good condition. See our FAQs for more information. Please note that the jacket image is indicative only. A description of our secondhand...

NB: This is a secondhand book in very good condition. See our FAQs for more information. Please note that the jacket image is indicative only. A description of our secondhand...

NB: This is a secondhand book in very good condition. See our FAQs for more information. Please note that the jacket image is indicative only. A description of our secondhand...

NB: This is a secondhand book in very good condition. See our FAQs for more information. Please note that the jacket image is indicative only. A description of our secondhand...

NB: This is a secondhand book in very good condition. See our FAQs for more information. Please note that the jacket image is indicative only. A description of our secondhand...

NB: This is a secondhand book in very good condition. See our FAQs for more information. Please note that the jacket image is indicative only. A description of our secondhand...

NB: This is a secondhand book in very good condition. See our FAQs for more information. Please note that the jacket image is indicative only. A description of our secondhand...

'I am beginning to realize that taking the self out of our essays is a form of repression. Taking the self out feels like obeying a gag order - pretending...

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, January 2022A TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEARA BBC HISTORY MAG BOOK OF THE YEARA DAILY EXPRESS BOOK...

Discover one of the best cities in the world through the lens of some of the most iconic writers who have ever lived. London has long inspired and celebrated books...

'America's Literary Legends' is a concise, yet truly distinctive and comprehensive review of 50 authors and poets who shaped American literature from the 1600s through the mid-twentieth century. Fully grounded...