Penguin Black Spine

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery Separated from her twin brother Sebastian after a shipwreck, Viola disguises herself as...

A new verse translation of one of the foundational ancient Greek works by the award-winning poet Alicia Stallings The ancient Greeks revered Hesiod, believing he had beaten Homer in a...

A new selection of foundational works from the influential philosopher who developed the theory of mimetic desire Rene Girard eludes easy categories, bridging the fields of literary criticism, anthropology, sociology,...

A new translation of Simone Weil's best-known work- a political, philosophical and spiritual treatise on what human life could be An icon of twentieth-century French philosophy, Simone Weil was described...

An exciting new selection of poems exploring faith, the divine and doubt, written by poets across the world from antiquity to the present Poets have always looked to the skies...

A richly varied anthology of Spanish short stories, curated by celebrated translator Margaret Jull Costa This exciting new collection celebrates the Spanish short story, from its modern origins in the...

Discover Dante's original Inferno - the inspiration for Dan Brown's new novel - in this modern and acclaimed Penguin translation Describing Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide,...

Joseph Heller said that if it weren't for his having read The Good Soldier Svejk he would never had written his American novel Catch 22 Hasek's most important work was...

The volume that completes our new 4-book collection of Euripides plays. Through their sheer range, daring innovation, flawed but eloquent characters and intriguing plots, the plays of Euripides have shocked...

Aristotle's influential treatise on the way to win arguments With the emergence of democracy in the city-state of Athens in the years around 460 BC, public speaking became an essential...

The poetry of ancient Greece Together the poetry of Hesiod and Theognis offers a superb introduction to the life and thought of ancient Greece. Hesiod's Theogoney (c. 725 BCE) is...

Penguin Classics relaunch After reading Christmas Carol, the notoriously reculsive Thomas Carlyle was \"seized with a perfect convulsion of hospitality\" and threw not one but two Christmas dinner parties. The...

Alan Ryan's anthology provides the perfect introduction to an enormously significant philosophical movement, aiming for "the greatest happiness for the greatest number" One of the most important nineteenth-century schools of...

A landmark in Boswell and Johnson studies In Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, one of the towering figures of English literature is revealed with unparalleled immediacy and originality, in a...

Plutarch traces the fortunes of Athens through nine lives - from Theseus, its founder, to Lysander, its Spartan conqueror - in this seminal work What makes a leader? How does...

One of the great masterpieces of 17th century English prose, with a major new introduction Thomas Hobbes lived through the Thirty Years War and Britain's civil wars, and the trauma...

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...

An expansive collection of George Orwell's writing on the down and out The vivid, impassioned writings collected together in this powerful volume chronicle Orwell's first-hand experiences of life among the...

"Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature."-Haruki Murakami The father of modern Japanese literature's best-loved novel, in its first new English translation in half...

Plato's example of utopia In the Laws, Plato describes in fascinating detail a comprehensive system of legislation in a small agricultural utopia he named Magnesia. His laws not only govern...

New translation, and new to Classics Emile Durkheim's On Suicide (1897) was a groundbreaking book in the field of sociology. Traditionally, suicide was thought to be a matter of purely...

After INFERNO and PURGATORIO, here is the last cantica (part) of the Divine Comedy, in a new translation by acclaimed translator Robin Kirkpatrick Having plunged to the uttermost depths of...

Translated by Sylvia Raphael, this edition fully captures the wit and elegance of the original stories One of the greatest French novelists, Balzac was also an accomplished writer of shorter...

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,...

First time in Black Classics 'Nonsense is the breath of my nostrils', wrote Edward Lear (1812-88), and this collection demonstrates the wonderfully varied ways in which he pursued his philosophy...

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...

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...

The perennially popular book of advice on how to achieve personal and professional success, new to Penguin Classics Written over 350 years ago, The Pocket Oracle and the Art of...

New to Penguin Classics In 1933 Robert Byron began a journey through the Middle East via Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad, and Teheran to Oxiana--the country of the Oxus, the ancient name...

Published alongisde other Conrad's works, on the 150th anniversary of his death Heart of Darkness has been considered for most of this century as a literary classic, and also as...

Rediscover H.G. Wells - what does he mean to you? When Dr Philip Raven, an intellectual working for the League of Nations, dies in 1930 he leaves behind a powerful...

Penguin Classics relaunch At twenty-seven, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break...

The next in our rejacketing of a crucial Classics author Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John...

Penguin Classics relaunch A terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful,...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery The bitter, deformed brother of the King is secretly plotting to seize the...

This sparkling collection of Austen's early writings - some penned when she was just eleven years old - is playful, subversive and shot through with wit. Jane Austen's brilliant, hilarious...

The Koran, in a masterful, fully revised translation The Koran is universally accepted by Muslims to be the infallible Word of God as first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by...

Mad, lascivious, sadistic and ridiculous, the provincial schoolteacher Peredonov torments his students and has hallucinatory fantasies about acts of savagery and degradation, yet to everyone else he is an upstanding...

Published in cooperation with the English Folk Dance and Song Society, this volume presents the songs with music, and annotations on their original sources and meaning. The definitive collection of...

A new collection of some of Cicero's greatest and most stirring speeches, translated by Siobhan McElduff Cicero (106-43BC) was the most brilliant orator in Classical history. Even one of the...

This edition contains a revision of the existing translation, revision of chronology and genealogy, and a new introduction of 4-6000 words, new notes and a new selection of further reading...

A vivid and richly anecdotal portrait of Spartan society. Plutarch's vivid and engaging portraits of the Spartans and their customs are a major source of our knowledge about the rise...

The best of Gogol in a single volume - his most famous drama and the most brilliant of his short stories. Author, dramatist and satirist, Nikolay Gogol (1809-1852) deeply influenced...

This edition includes a list of suggestions for further reading, a glossary of important philosophical words and phrases, notes Exploring the question of what exactly makes good people good, Protagoras...

New to Penguin Classics, this is Chekhov's only full-length novel When a young woman dies during a shooting party at the country estate of a dissolute count, a magistrate is...

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...

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...

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...