LITMIR.BIZ

An important work of Spain’s Golden Age of literature as well as the first known picaresque novel, “Lazarillo de Tormes” portrays the clever ploys of a young Salamancan boy determined to outsmart his long string of masters. This Spanish novella was first published in 1554, during the Spanish Inquisition, by an author who wished to remain anonymous due to the work’s heretical content. Young Lazarillo is an improbable hero of his time, for he comes from a poor and multiracial family who desperately apprentice him to a blind beggar after committing a crime. Lazarillo soon proves himself to be resourceful and resistant to the corrupt clergymen he must serve. Banned for heresy due to its highly critical portrayal of both the aristocracy and Catholic Church of the 16th century, this work came to provide a model for Cervantes and many future authors, like Twain, who explored the picaresque genre. Though originally published at great risk to the author, “Lazarillo de Tormes” is today an entertaining story of a boy who ingenuously survives his own childhood and makes something of himself despite the corruption that he must continually overcome. This edition follows the translation of Clements Markham.

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In the year 778 A.D., Charles the Great, King of the Franks, returned from a military expedition into Spain, whither he had been led by opportunities offered through dissensions among the Saracens who then dominated that country. On the 15th of August, while his army was marching through the passes of the Pyrenees, his rear-guard was attacked and annihilated by the Basque inhabitants of the mountains, in the valley of Roncesvaux. About this disaster many popular songs, it is supposed, soon sprang up; and the chief hero whom they celebrated was Hrodland, or Roland, Count of the Marches of Brittany. By the latter part of the eleventh century, when the form of «The Song of Roland» which we now possess was probably composed, the historical germ of the story had almost disappeared under the mass of legendary accretion. Charlemagne, who was a man of thirty-six at the time of the actual Roncesvaux incident, has become in the poem an old man with a flowing white beard, credited with endless conquests; the Basques have disappeared, and the Saracens have taken their place; the defeat is accounted for by the invention of the treachery of Ganelon; the expedition of 777-778 has become a campaign of seven years; Roland is made the nephew of Charlemagne, leader of the twelve peers, and is provided with a faithful friend Oliver, and betrothed, Alda. Simple almost of bareness in style, without subtlety or high imagination, «The Song of Roland» is yet not without grandeur; and its patriotic ardor gives it a place as the earliest of the truly national poems of the modern world. This edition follows the translation of John O’Hagan.

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Written in Middle English during the Tudor period, “Everyman” is the most famous example of the medieval morality play. Popular in Europe during the 15th and 16th century, morality plays were allegorical dramas in which the protagonists are met with the personifications of personal attributes and tasked with choosing either a good and godly life or evil. “Everyman” is the archetypal morality play, as the main character, Everyman, represents all of mankind. God, frustrated with the wicked and greedy, sends Death to Everyman and summons him to account for his misdeeds and sins. It was believed that God tallied all of one’s good and evil deeds in life and then one must provide an accounting before God upon one’s death. During Everyman’s pilgrimage to God, he meets many characters, such as Fellowship, Good Deeds, and Knowledge. Everyman asks them all to join him in his journey so that he may improve his reckoning before God. In the end, it is only Good Deeds that stays with him before God and helps Everyman find salvation and eternal life. In addition to “Everyman,” this volume contains several other morality plays from medieval Europe.

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One of the most legendary of the Icelandic sagas, «The Saga of the Volsungs» is the 13th century work of unknown authorship which relates the origin and decline of the Volsung clan. The story unfolds over five parts as it passes in time through the various generations of the clan. In the first part, the preliminary generations are described, beginning with Sigi, a man banished from his homeland who through his adventuring arises to create a great kingdom. When the brothers of Sigi’s wife become jealous of his power they plot to overthrow him and a violent cycle of revenge ensues. In the second part of the story the fantastical tale of Sigurd and his conflict with the dragon Fafnir is told. In the remaining parts of the saga conflict between the relations of Sigurd are related in a tragic story which describes the downfall of a legendary clan. A combination of both myth and real human drama, «The Saga of the Volsungs» is a classic tale which continues to influence the fantasy genre to this day. This edition follows the translation of Eirikr Magnusson and William Morris and includes an introduction by H. Halliday Sparling.

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First passed down orally through innumerable generations of minstrels before the presence of Christianity in Scandinavia, and written down eventually by unknown poets, “The Poetic Edda” is a collection of mythological and heroic Old Norse poems. The bulk of the text was preserved for hundreds of years in the Codex Regius of Iceland, a 13th century manuscript which was largely unknown until its rediscovery in the 17th century. Upon this rediscovery it was immediately celebrated for its broad portrait of northern pagan beliefs and one of the most important sources of Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends. Split into two parts, the work relates the stories of Norse gods in its first part and mortal heroes in its second. A fascinating collection of poems that has stirred the imagination of artists and writers for centuries, from the musical works of Richard Wagner to the fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien, “The Poetic Edda” will surely continue to inspire readers for generations to come. Presented here is the complete translation of Henry Adams Bellows.

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A part of the “Vedas”, a collection of ancient manuscripts which form the basis for the Hindu religion, the “Upanishads” are ancient Sanskrit texts which contain arguably the most important spiritual aspects of the Hindu faith. Of the more than two hundred «Upanishads», the ones of principal importance, Chandogya, Kena, Aitareya, Kaushitaki, Isa, Katha, Mundaka, Taittiriyaka, Brhadaranyaka, Svetasvatara, Prasna, and Maitriyana, are presented here in the translation of famed Indologist and Sanskritologist F. Max Muller, which first appeared in the “Sacred Books of the East” volumes I and XV. The central theme of the “Upanishads” is not that of a ritualistic systematic philosophy but as Muller describes to “know thy true self, that which underlines thine Ego, and find it and know it in the highest, the eternal Self, the One without a second, which underlies the whole world.” Noted for its thorough annotations and scholarly detail this edition of the “Upanishads” will bring great insight to students of the Hindu faith. Muller’s complete two volume translation is presented here in a single volume.

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Dating to the late ninth century B.C., the “I Ching, or, Book of Changes” is one of the oldest of the Chinese classics. What began as a manual for divination, the “I Ching” has been transformed through thousands of years of commentary and interpretation into one of the principal works of eastern cosmology. The central part of the work is the divination text, an explanation of hexagrams which may be produced through a process of cleromancy, a method of determining divine intent by the production of seemingly random numbers. Historically a casting of a bundle of stalks from the yarrow plant may have been used to produce the numbers which would build up the hexagram. Also part of the “I Ching” canon is a set of commentaries referred to as the “ten wings”, contained in the appendices of this volume. These commentaries are offered as a guide to moral decision making in interpreting the results of divination. The “I Ching”, having informed the philosophies of Taoism and Confucianism, remains to this day as one of the most influential of all ancient Chinese texts. This edition is translated with annotations by James Legge.

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Literary scholar, professor, and poet J. Lesslie Hall is best known for his 1897 translation of the Old English epic poem “Beowulf.” The story focuses on the titular character of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who comes to the aid of the Danes to save their land from a human-demon monster named Grendel. After defeating Grendel, Beowulf must then kill Grendel’s mother. He returns to Scandinavia with more fame and accord and eventually becomes king. Then fifty years later, a dragon attacks his kingdom, and the hero must fight once again to defend his title and his honor. What makes “Beowulf” a lasting classic is its depiction of Norse traditions and culture. The people have strong connections inherent within a kinship society; if someone was killed it was the family’s duty to exact justice or receive payment for the death. “Beowulf” also shows an interesting dichotomy between the Norse pagan religion of when the story is set versus the monotheistic Christian storytellers who likely first related the tale during the Middle Ages. Many scholars debate the epic poem’s true stance on religion, but the tale gives an accurate depiction of how paganism deteriorated as monotheism flourished. A classic of Anglo-Saxon literature, “Beowulf” remains one of the greatest epic poems ever written. This edition includes an introduction by Kemp Malone and a preface and annotations by the translator, J. Lesslie Hall.

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Arthurian legends have long been the source of countless popular tales. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” is one of the best known and most widely read. During King Arthur’s New Year’s celebration, a mysterious knight, with green clothes and horse, arrives with a challenge to the knights of the round table—any one of them may swing at the Green Knight with an axe if he too is willing to take a blow one year and one day after. Gawain, one of Arthur’s most noble knights, steps up and easily beheads the Green Knight. Yet the knight magically picks up his head and tells Gawain he will see him in one year and one day. Gawain must go through many tribulations during this year as he upholds the values of the chivalric code, approaching reunion with the enigmatic character. Jessie L. Weston, a noted medieval scholar and folklorist, provides a skilled prose rendition staying true to the original while maintaining readability. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” continues to resonate and captivate readers today.

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Originally published February 20, 1909, «The Black Cat» is a classic Sexton Blake adventure. Blake, an early British series detective, was modeled closely on Sherlock Holmes and surpassed him in terms of longevity and number of cases.

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