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“A Dante/Beckett reduction of human struggle to its lowest common denominator.”—Michael Mirolla, author of The Formal Logic of Emotion and Berlin “One of the most original and thought-provoking stories I have ever read…true literary art…Not a word is wasted in this masterpiece. Yes, I call it that. I have read many classics, and I can tell you that The Divine Farce should be counted among them; the finest in American literature.”—Geekscribe Three strangers are condemned to live together in darkness, crushed together in a concrete stall so small that they can never sit down. Liquid food drips down from above. Waste drains through a grid on the floor. So begins one of the strangest, most surreal comments on the human experience, on love and hatred and the human ability to find good in any situation, no matter how difficult. Michael S. A. Graziano delights in the macabre and surreal, yet it is his optimism that lifts this little novel. Like The Love Song of Monkey, this book is deeply thought provoking, horrifying, and funny. Praise for The Love Song of Monkey: “Imaginative, intelligent narrative. Twin ideas of forgiveness and mercy twist through this strange, moving, patiently wrought novel.”—Publishers Weekly “Fabulously imagined, seriously considered, and very funny. A kind of fairytale antithesis on the meaning of existence. . . . Fantastic.”—Spirituality and Health Books “Strange but wonderful . . . like nothing I’ve read before. A very short book, but the scope is epic in detail. . . . I enjoyed the heck out of this book.”—Geekscribe “Should be required reading in the writing grad schools. . . . There’s nary a word wasted. What’s left is comedy, retrospection, betrayal, tenderness, meditations on loneliness, a love story that survives all attempts to suppress it . . . not bad within 149 pages.”—Barnstable Patriot Michael S. A. Graziano, Princeton University neuroscientist, is the author of the novella Hiding Places (New England Review, 1997), the novel The Love Song of Monkey (Leapfrog Press, 2008), and The Intelligent Movement Machine (Oxford University Press, 2008).

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Rich in the imagery of nineteenth-century England, this literary classic celebrates a return to old-fashioned Christmas festivities while examining the crisis in one man's personal life. One of the most famous characters in literary history, Ebenezer Scrooge is the «grasping old sinner» who finds redemption after witnessing scenes from his life in which his greed, self-interest, and lack of compassion are revealed.Complementing the master storyteller's wise and witty prose are the timeless illustrations of Arthur Rackham, whose evocative artwork finds humor in Scrooge's miserly ways, depicting him as a cranky humbug who eventually relents and joins the merrymaking. Continuously in print since it was first published in 1843, Dickens's immortal tale is still relevant today, sending a message that cuts through the materialistic trappings of the holiday season and gets to its heart and soul. This illustrated edition stands as one of the most beautiful available.

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One of the English language's most popular and frequently quoted books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was the creation of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898), a distinguished scholar and mathematician who wrote under the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll. Intended for young readers but enjoyed equally by adults, the fantastic tale transformed children's literature, liberating it from didactic constraints.The story is deeply but gently satiric, enlivened with an imaginative plot and brilliant use of nonsense. As Alice explores a bizarre underground world, she encounters a cast of strange characters and fanciful beasts: the White Rabbit, March Hare, and Mad Hatter; the sleepy Dormouse and grinning Cheshire Cat; the Mock Turtle, the dreadful Queen of Hearts, and a host of other extraordinary personalities. This edition features Sir John Tenniel's complete original illustrations, bringing to life a beloved classic that has delighted readers and listeners since its first publication in 1865.

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According to legend, a resourceful bride won a stay of execution by captivating a sultan with a series of fantastic tales—and after 1,001 nights, the sultan could not bear to part with his storyteller. More than a thousand years later, readers continue to fall under the spell of the romantic adventures known as the Arabian Nights. This original collection features rare and unusual illustrations inspired by the traditional tales of Sinbad, Aladdin, Ali Baba, and a host of other exotic characters.Spanning the decades between the 1890s and the 1920s, this volume draws upon images from the Golden Age of Illustration, when technological advances in printing led to a boom in the publication of artwork. Drawings and paintings by Maxfield Parrish, Edmund Dulac, Charles Folkard, and other acclaimed artists of the era appear here, in more than 185 color and black-and-white illustrations with captions. Abounding in mystery and excitement, these scenes from the timeless tales of heroism will captivate all lovers of fantasy and fairy tales, as well as collectors of rare books and art and illustration enthusiasts.

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"A strange, tragic, inspired novel . . . as poignant as anything in modern fiction." — E. M. ForsterThis acclaimed novel marked the debut of one of the twentieth century's most brilliant and important writers. In Virginia Woolf's captivating exploration of a young woman's growing self-awareness, the events of a shipboard journey to South America parallel the naive heroine's inner quest. Her experiences, from a first kiss to a surprising flowering of real love, may inspire the reader to reflect on gender roles in society, love among intellectuals, and the strivings and sorrows of life.The Voyage Out offers an excellent introduction to Woolf's writing. Not only is it the first of her novels, it is also one of the most accessible. Less formally experimental than Woolf's later books, but highly representative of her poetic style and innovative techniques, it offers a moving depiction of the thrills and confusion of youth.

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Having failed in a number of occupations as a young man, Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950) found his niche as a writer with Tarzan of the Apes, first published in 1914. Highly imaginative, exotic and suspenseful, the story tells of an infant — the son of an aristocratic English couple — abandoned when his parents die in the jungles of Africa. Rescued and reared by apes, he learns to speak their language and imitate their ability to travel swiftly through the treetops.Eventually, his courage, immense strength and exceptional intelligence earn him the respect and admiration not only of the apes, but of all the creatures of the jungle. The ape-man's story is told here in this classic, fast-paced novel, packed with riveting adventures as Tarzan avenges the killing of Kala, his ape-mother, subdues man-eating beasts of the jungle, meets and falls in love with the beautiful Jane Porter, vanquishes greedy pirate-adventurers, and deals with assorted other threats.Although Burroughs followed this story with many Tarzan sequels, it is doubtful if any ever equaled this novel for its originality, readability and sheer storytelling power. In this inexpensive edition, complete and unabridged, it will thrill a new generation with the legendary exploits of the «Lord of the Apes.»

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Like his novel A Room with a View, E. M. Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread focuses on a group of English men and women living and traveling in Italy. A young Englishman journeys to Tuscany to rescue his late brother's wife from what appears to be an unsuitable romance with an Italian of little fortune. In the events surrounding that match and its fateful consequences, Forster weaves an exciting and eventful tale that intriguingly contrasts English and Italian lives and sensibilities. As in Forster novels, among them Howards End and A Passage to India, Where Angels Fear to Tread reveals the author's deep fascination with all of human experience—sexual, moral, spiritual, imaginative, material. Acutely observant of the ways of the English middle class, he is as critical here of its snobbishness, greed, and cultural insensitivity as he is respectful of its decency and kindness, common sense, and goodwill. This splendid novel reveals the great breadth of his gifts as both storyteller and humanist—attributes that continue to make him one of the twentieth century's most admired novelists.

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"O delivery my heart from this fearful gloom and loneliness," prays the passionate Eustacia Vye, who detests her life amid the dreary environs of Egdon Heath. With the return of Clym Yeobright from Paris, her escape for the heath and its brooding isolation appears to be at hand. Clym finds in Eustacia the same dark mystery of his native heath, and his irresistible attraction to them both leads to a clash of idealism and realism.Thomas Hardy's timeless tale of a romantic misalliance embodies his view of character as fate and underscores the tragic nature of ordinary human lives. Despite his grim outlook Hardy charms readers with the warmth and vitality of his characters, his loving portraits of the English countryside, and his realistic re-creations of local dialect. Shakespearean in its intricate plotting and deft irony, The Return of the Native ranks among the author's greatest works.

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A social satire of the British literati in the years following World War I, Crome Yellow focuses on a comical cast of outlandish characters who have gathered in the small town of Crome on the country estate of Henry Wimbush. In addition to the party's host and his attractive niece, Anne, there's Mr. Scogan, who's planning a «Rational State,» much like the one Huxley describes in his 1932 classic, Brave New World; Denis Stone, a sensitive poet haplessly in love with Anne; and Mr. Barbecu-Smith, who writes 1,500 publishable words an hour — an admirable feat under most circumstances.Berating post-Victorian standards of morality, Huxley's first novel is «intrinsically amusing and ingenious … a completely accurate piece of observation.» — The Spectator"The merit of Huxley's comedy is that it becomes always more amusing as it grows." — The London Times Literary Supplement"Fine satirical writing … unflaggingly delightful." — Bookman

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One of the world's first bestsellers, this tragic masterpiece attained an instant and lasting success upon its 1774 publication, catapulting the author to the forefront of the German literary movement known as Sturm und Drang. A burst of parodies, operas, poems, and plays based on The Sorrows of Young Werther rapidly ensued, along with the cultlike following of young romantics across Europe who affected the manner of the novel's passionate and self-destructive hero.Young Werther bares his soul to readers in the form of alternately joyful and despairing letters about his unrequited love. His story marks the initial great achievement of what has since been termed «confessional» literature; Goethe, who based the story in part on his own unhappy love affair, acknowledged a sense of freedom upon completing the work. A sensitive exploration of the mind of a young artist, the tale addresses age-old questions — the meaning of love, of death, and the possibility of redemption — in the exuberant language of youth. «Werther appeared to seize the hearts of men in all quarters of the world, and to utter for them the word which they had long been waiting to hear,» observed the Victorian sage Thomas Carlyle. Indeed, Goethe's portrayal of Zerrissenheit, "the state of being torn apart, in which a character struggles to reconcile his artistic sensibilities with the demands of the objective world, proved tremendously influential to subsequent writers, and The Sorrows of Young Werther continues to speak to modern readers.

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