Серия книг «Penguin Modern Classics» — 406 книг

This edition has a NEW introduction by Paulo Coelho.

Siddhartha is perhaps the most important and compelling moral allegory our troubled century has produced. Integrating Eastern and Western spiritual traditions with psychoanalysis and philosophy, this strangely simple tale, written with a deep and moving empathy for humanity, has touched the lives of millions since its original publication in 1922. Set in India, Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin's search for ultimate reality after meeting with the Buddha. His quest takes him from a life of decadence to asceticism, from the illusory joys of sensual love with a beautiful courtesan, and of wealth and fame, to the painful struggles with his son and the ultimate wisdom of renunciation.

This edition has a NEW introduction by Paulo Coelho.

Siddhartha is perhaps the most important and compelling moral allegory our troubled century has produced. Integrating…

THE OLD PATAGONIAN EXPRESS tells of Paul Theroux's train journey down the length of North and South America. Beginning on Boston's subway, he depicts a voyage from ice-bound Massachusetts to the arid plateau of Argentina's most southerly tip, via pretty Central American towns and the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu. Sweating and shivering by turns as the temperature and altitude rise and plummet, he describes the people he encounters - thrown in with the tedious and unavoidable Mr Thornberry in Limon, or reading to the legendary blind writer Jorge Luis Borges in Buenos Aires. Witty, sharply observed and beautifully written, this is a richly evocative account of travelling to "the end of the line".

THE OLD PATAGONIAN EXPRESS tells of Paul Theroux's train journey down the length of North and South America. Beginning on Boston's subway, he depicts a voyage from ice-bound…

Full grown with a long, smoke-coloured beard, requiring the services of a cane and fonder of cigars than warm milk, Benjamin Button is a very curious baby indeed. And, as Benjamin becomes increasingly youthful with the passing years, his family wonders why he persists in the embarrassing folly of living in reverse. In this imaginative fable of ageing and the other tales collected here - including "The Cut-Glass Bowl", in which an ill-meant gift haunts a family's misfortunes, "The Four Fists", where a man's life is shaped by a series of punches to his face, and the revelry, mobs and anguish of "May Day" - F. Scott Fitzgerald displays his unmatched gift as a writer of short stories.

Full grown with a long, smoke-coloured beard, requiring the services of a cane and fonder of cigars than warm milk, Benjamin Button is a very curious baby indeed. And, as Benjamin…

Also known as Dulcimer Street, Norman Collins's London Belongs to Me is a Dickensian romp through working-class London on the eve of the Second World War. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Ed Glinert, author of The London Compendium.

It is 1938 and the prospect of war hangs over every London inhabitant. But the city simply doesn't stop. Everywhere people continue to work, drink, fall in love, fight and struggle to get on in life. At the lodging-house at No.10 Dulcimer Street, Kennington, the buttoned-up clerk Mr Josser returns home with the clock he has received as a retirement gift. The other residents include the faded actress Connie; tinned food-loving Mr Puddy; widowed landlady Mrs Vizzard (whose head is turned by her new lodger, a self-styled 'Professor of Spiritualism'); and flashy young mechanic Percy Boon, whose foray into stolen cars descends into something much, much worse...

Norman Collins (1907-1982) was a British writer, and later a radio and television executive, who was responsible for creating Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4, and became one of the major figures behind the establishment of the Independent Television (ITV) network in the UK. In all Norman Collins wrote 16 novels and two plays, including London Belongs to Me (1945), The Governor's Lady (1968) and The Husband's Story (1978).

If you enjoyed London Belongs to Me, you might like Sam Selvon's The Lonely Londoners, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Also known as Dulcimer Street, Norman Collins's London Belongs to Me is a Dickensian romp through working-class London on the eve of the Second World War. This Penguin Modern…

‘The only American novelist writing today who may conceivably possessed of genius’ Norman Mailer

A man, dispirited by ageing, endeavours to steal a younger man’s face; a doctor yearns for a virus that might eliminate his discomfort by turning everyone else into doubles of himself; a Colonel lays out the precepts of the life of DE (Do Easy); conspirators posthumously succeed in blowing up a train full of nerve gas; a mandrill known as the Purple Better One runs for the presidency with brutal results; and the world drifts towards apocalypses of violence, climate and plague. The hallucinatory landscape of William Burroughs’ compellingly bizarre, fragmented novel is constantly shifting, something sinister always just beneath the surface.

‘The only American novelist writing today who may conceivably possessed of genius’ Norman Mailer

A man, dispirited by ageing, endeavours to steal a younger man’s face; a doctor…

A brainwashed James Bond has tried - and failed - to assassinate M, his boss. Now Bond has to prove he can be trusted again. His task: to kill one of the most deadly freelance hit men in the world - one Paco "Pistols" Scaramanga, the Man with the Golden Gun. But 007 is no straightforward assassin, and, on finding Scaramanga in the sultry heat of Jamaica, he decides to infiltrate the killer's criminal cooperative to get his result. If he fails, he might just be the next on a long list of agents 'retired' by the Man with the Golden Gun...

A brainwashed James Bond has tried - and failed - to assassinate M, his boss. Now Bond has to prove he can be trusted again. His task: to kill one of the most deadly freelance hit…

Francois Besson listens to a tape-recording of a girl contemplating suicide. Drifting through the days in a provincial city, he thoughtlessly starts a fire in his apartment, attends confession, and examines, with great intentness but without affection, a naked woman he wakes beside. And, as Besson moves through an ugly and threatening rain, his thoughts eventually lead to violence, first turned outward and then directed languidly against himself.

Francois Besson listens to a tape-recording of a girl contemplating suicide. Drifting through the days in a provincial city, he thoughtlessly starts a fire in his apartment,…

Five people’s dreams, obsessions and failures weave and interweave in Carson McCullers’s atmospheric novel of life in a peace-time army camp.
In the American Deep South is a fort that contains a group of men and women trapped in a stifling and repetitive existence. The Major and his fragile wife dine and play cards with Captain Penderton and the flamboyant Mrs Penderton watched, at a distance, by Private Williams. Quiet and unfathomable, he is fascinated by the Captain’s wife – his unsettling presence creating fear and despair within the isolated community.

Five people’s dreams, obsessions and failures weave and interweave in Carson McCullers’s atmospheric novel of life in a peace-time army camp.
In the American Deep South is a…

In a small town in the American South, four men, young and old, consider their pasts and their futures. J.T.Malone, a lonely middle-aged drugstore owner, discovers he is dying and tries to atone for his misspent life. The aged Judge Clane resists integration and longs for the old ways of the South, while his idealistic grandson, Jester, is drawn to Sherman, a volatile, blue-eyed, black orphan in search of his own identity. Gradually they will discover that their lives are inextricably bound together. Through their interlocking stories Carson McCullers explores prejudice, secrets and redemption with both humour and poignancy.

In a small town in the American South, four men, young and old, consider their pasts and their futures. J.T.Malone, a lonely middle-aged drugstore owner, discovers he is dying and…

In this funny, nightmarish masterpiece of imaginative excess, grotesque characters engage in acts of violent one-upmanship, boundless riches mangle a corner of Africa into a Bacchanalian Utopia, and technology, flesh and violence fuse with and undo each other. A fragmentary, freewheeling novel, it sees wild boys engage in vigorous, ritualistic sex and drug taking, as well as pranksterish guerrilla warfare with a confused and outmatched army. The Wild Boys shows why Burroughs is a writer unlike any other, able to make captivating the explicit and horrific.

In this funny, nightmarish masterpiece of imaginative excess, grotesque characters engage in acts of violent one-upmanship, boundless riches mangle a corner of Africa into a…

In these nine unforgettable, impressionistic "tales of little madness", the Nobel Prize-winning author Le Clezio explores how the physical sensations we experience every day can be as strong as feelings of love or hate, with their power to bring chaos to our lives. In "The Day that Beaumont Became Acquainted with his Pain", a man with toothache spends the night seeking ways to disown his throbbing jaw; in "Fever", Roch finds his mind transported by sunstroke; while in "A Day of Old Age" little Joseph tries to comprehend the physical suffering of a dying old woman. Set in a timeless, spaceless universe, these experimental and haunting works portray the landscape of human consciousness with dazzling verbal dexterity and power.

In these nine unforgettable, impressionistic "tales of little madness", the Nobel Prize-winning author Le Clezio explores how the physical sensations we experience every day can…

Burroughs' first novel, a largely autobiographical account of the constant cycle of drug dependency, cures and relapses, remains the most unflinching, unsentimental account of addiction ever written. Through junk neighbourhoods in New York, New Orleans and Mexico City, through time spent kicking, time spent dealing and time rolling drunks for money, through junk sickness and a sanatorium, "Junky" is a field report (by a writer trained in anthropology at Harvard) from the American post-war drug underground. A cult classic, it has influenced generations of writers with its raw, sparse and unapologetic tone. This definitive edition painstakingly recreates the author's original text word for word.

Burroughs' first novel, a largely autobiographical account of the constant cycle of drug dependency, cures and relapses, remains the most unflinching, unsentimental account of…

Never published in Kerouac's lifetime, this 1955 biography of the founder of Buddhism is a clear and powerful study of Siddhartha Gautama's life and works. "Wake Up" recounts the story of Prince Siddhartha's royal upbringing and his father's wish to protect him from all human suffering, despite a prediction that he would become a great holy man in later life. Leaving his father's palace, Siddhartha adopts a homeless life, struggles with his meditations, and eventually finds Enlightenment.
Written at a time when Kerouac had become increasingly interested in Buddhist teachings, this fresh and accessible biography is both an important addition to Kerouac's work and a valuable introduction to the world of Buddhism.

Never published in Kerouac's lifetime, this 1955 biography of the founder of Buddhism is a clear and powerful study of Siddhartha Gautama's life and works. "Wake Up" recounts the…

Published when she was only nineteen, Francoise Sagan's astonishing first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, became an instant bestseller. It tells the story of Cecile, who leads a carefree life with her widowed father and his young mistresses until, one hot summer on the Riviera, he decides to remarry - with devastating conseguences. In A Certain Smile Dominigue, a young woman bored with her lover, begins an affair with an older man that unfolds in unexpected and troubling ways. These two acerbically witty and delightfully amoral tales about the nature of love are shimmering masterpieces of cool-headed, brilliant observation.

Published when she was only nineteen, Francoise Sagan's astonishing first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, became an instant bestseller. It tells the story of Cecile, who leads a…

The definitive edition of Calvino’s cosmicomics, bringing together all of these enchanting stories—including some never before translated—in one volume for the first time

In Italo Calvino’s cosmicomics, primordial beings cavort on the nearby surface of the moon, play marbles with atoms, and bear ecstatic witness to Earth’s first dawn. Exploring natural phenomena and the origins of the universe, these beloved tales relate complex scientific concepts to our common sensory, emotional, human world.

Now, The Complete Cosmicomics brings together all of the cosmicomic stories for the first time. Containing works previously published in Cosmicomics, t zero, and Numbers in the Dark, this single volume also includes seven previously uncollected stories, four of which have never been published in translation in the United States. This “complete and definitive collection” (Evening Standard) reconfirms the cosmicomics as a crowning literary achievement and makes them available to new generations of readers.

“It’s a joy to have all the cosmicomics within one cover . . . A landmark in fiction, the work of a master.”—Ursula K. Le Guin, Guardian

The definitive edition of Calvino’s cosmicomics, bringing together all of these enchanting stories—including some never before translated—in one volume for the first time

In…

In the little hamlet of Lark Rise times are changing and Laura is growing up. Although she must attend the nearby village school, she would far rather read and make up stories in her head. Real-life excitement comes, however, when she and her beloved younger brother Edmund are allowed to walk on their own to the grand market town of Candleford to stay with their relatives one summer. There, Laura discovers the joys of the shops, the ways of boy-talk with her cousins and the secret world of 'Bookworms Ltd' with her Uncle Tom, before an offer arrives that will determine her future.

A story of friendships, rivalries and a young girl finding her place in the world, this is the second part of Flora Thompson's endearing Lark Rise to Candleford trilogy on country life, which evokes the passage from childhood to adolescence and a society on the cusp of transformation.

In the little hamlet of Lark Rise times are changing and Laura is growing up. Although she must attend the nearby village school, she would far rather read and make up stories in…

A gangster is murdered during a blistering Manhattan heat wave. City cop Andy Rusch is under pressure solve the crime and captivated by the victim’s beautiful girlfriend. But it is difficult to catch a killer, let alone get the girl, in crazy streets crammed full of people. The planet’s population has exploded. The 35 million inhabitants of New York City run their TVs off pedal power, riot for water, loot and trample for lentil ‘steaks’ and are controlled by sinister barbed wire dropped from the sky. Written in 1966 and set in 1999, Make Room! Make Room! is a witty and unnerving story about stretching the earth’s resources, and the human spirit, to breaking point.

A gangster is murdered during a blistering Manhattan heat wave. City cop Andy Rusch is under pressure solve the crime and captivated by the victim’s beautiful girlfriend. But it…

"The Sheltering Sky" is a book about people on the edge of an alien space; somewhere where, curiously, they are never alone' - Michael Hoffman. Port and Kit Moresbury, a sophisticated American couple, are finding it more than a little difficult to live with each other. Endeavoring to escape this predicament, they set off for North Africa intending to travel through Algeria - uncertain of exactly where they are heading, but determined to leave the modern world behind. The results of this casually taken decision are both tragic and compelling.

"The Sheltering Sky" is a book about people on the edge of an alien space; somewhere where, curiously, they are never alone' - Michael Hoffman. Port and Kit Moresbury, a…

A historical romance, Sontag's book is based on the lives of Sir William Hamilton, his wife, Emma, and Lord Nelson in the final decades of the eighteenth century. Passionately examining the shape of Western civilization since the Age of Enlightenment, Sontag's novel is an exquisitely detailed picture of revolution, the fate of nature, art and love.

A historical romance, Sontag's book is based on the lives of Sir William Hamilton, his wife, Emma, and Lord Nelson in the final decades of the eighteenth century. Passionately…

Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn't leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family. This Penguin edition includes an afterword by the acclaimed novelist Joyce Carol Oates. All Shirley Jackson's other novels, plus The Lottery and Other Stories, are available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since…