LITMIR.BIZ

Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) spent much of his life at sea, and his experiences as a mariner deeply influenced his fiction. He set many of his finest stories aboard ship, where his characters — closely confined, enduring the rigors of the sea — might struggle more intensely with the psychological and moral issues that engaged him. This volume contains three of Conrad's most powerful stories in this genre: «Youth: A Narrative» (1898), «Typhoon» (1902) and «The Secret Sharer» (1910).In each of these exciting tales, Conrad's celebrated prose style, rich in the cadences of the sea, draws readers into a story that probes deeply, often suspensefully, into the mysteries of human character. Here are adventures of the sea and of the soul, related by a novelist considered one of the greatest writers in the language, reprinted from authoritative editions.

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Plato's brilliant dialogues, written in the fourth century B.C., rank among Western civilization's most important philosophical works. Presented as a series of probing conversations between Socrates and his students and fellow citizens, they form a magnificent dialectical quest that examines enduring political, ethical, metaphysical, and epistemological issues. Here, in one inexpensive edition, are six of Plato's remarkable and revelatory dialogues, each translated by distinguished classical scholar Benjamin Jowett. Apology defends the integrity of Socrates' teachings. Crito discusses respect for the law. Phaedo considers death and the immortality of the soul. Phaedrus explores the psychology of love. Symposium reflects on the ultimate manifestation of the love that controls the world, and The Republic ponders society and the philosopher's role within it. Stimulating, dramatic, and always relevant, these dialogues have profoundly influenced the history of intellectual thought, and offer crucial insight into mystical, aesthetic, and other aspects of Platonic doctrine.

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One of the most important and controversial figures in the history of race relations in America and the world at large, Marcus Garvey was the first great black orator of the twentieth century. The Jamaican-born African-American rights advocated dismayed his enemies as much as he dazzled his admirers. Of him, Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “He was the first man, on a mass scale and level, to give millions of Negroes a sense of dignity and destiny, and make the Negro feel that he was somebody.”A printer and newspaper editor in his youth, Garvey furthered his education in England and eventually traveled to the United States, where he impressed thousands with his speeches and millions more through his newspaper articles. His message of black pride resonated in all his efforts. This anthology contains some of his most noted writings, among them “The Negro’s Greatest Enemy,” «Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World,» and «Africa for the Africans,» as well as powerful speeches on unemployment, leadership, and emancipation.Essential reading for students of African-American history, this volume will also serve as a useful reference for anyone interested in the history of the civil rights movement.

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Undoubtedly the best-known detective in literature, Sherlock Holmes was the creation of British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), who endowed his super sleuth with an extraordinary facility for solving crimes. Drawing on his remarkable powers of observation and deduction, coupled with an encyclopedic knowledge of crimes and criminals, Holmes seeks out his prey in the London underworld, where no evildoer is safe from his keen wits and tenacious pursuit.Reprinted from a standard text, this inexpensive volume offers mystery lovers a choice selection of six of the finest Sherlock Holmes stories: «A Scandal in Bohemia,» «The Red-headed League,» «The Adventure of the Speckled Band,» «The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb,» «The Final Problem,» and «The Adventure of the Empty House.» In these richly atmospheric stories, Victorian London comes vividly to life as hansom cabs clatter over the cobblestoned streets, gas lamps flare in the thick fog, and an almost palpable sense of excitement seizes the reader as Holmes and Dr. Watson set off on another adventure.

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This bewitching play, Shakespeare's final work, articulates a wealth of the playwright's mature reflections on life and contains some of his most familiar and oft-quoted lines. The story concerns Miranda, a lovely young maiden, and Prospero, her philosophical old magician father, who dwell on an enchanted island, alone except for their servants – Ariel, an invisible sprite, and Caliban, a monstrous witch's son.Into their idyllic but isolated lives comes a shipwrecked party that includes the enemies who usurped Prospero's dukedom years before, and set him and his daughter adrift on the ocean. Also among the castaways is a handsome prince, the first young man Miranda has ever seen. Comedy, romance, and reconciliation ensue, in a masterly drama that begins with a storm at sea and concludes in joyous harmony. Students, poetry lovers, and drama enthusiasts will treasure this convenient, modestly priced edition of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays and one of literature's finest comedies.

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Written in 1861 and published eight years later, this influential essay by the great English philosopher and economist is still relevant and its arguments significant. Believing that the subjugation of women was primarily political and psychological in origin, Mill urged the establishment of «complete equality in all legal, political, social, and domestic relations between men and women.»Arguing for both legal reforms and a social revolution, he focuses on women's exclusion from the political process, their lack of any rights in marriage, and the benefits to be obtained by their liberation. Moreover, if they are to share the freedoms enjoyed by men, equal opportunities for employment and education for women are also necessary.For its time, the work was radical and far-reaching in its demands; but despite its repeated emphasis on forms of oppression and recognition of the difficulties endured by women, it is essentially an optimistic work maintaining a firm belief that increased equality and liberty for women were inevitable.Carefully researched and clearly expressed with great logic and consistency, the book remains a landmark in the struggle for human rights. In this inexpensive edition, it will certainly be welcomed by feminists but will also appeal to anyone interested in the philosophical, human, and social issues underlying the idea of freedom and equality for all people, regardless of gender.

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Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) holds a unique place in American literature. Famous as a poet, he also penned short stories that are masterpieces of terror and suspense, infused with the horror and dread he knew from his feverish dreams and persistent fears of death. Fortunately for lovers of mystery, Poe was attracted by logic and analysis as well as fantasy. Fascinated by the narrative possibilities of tracking the perpetrator of a crime, he invented the modern detective story.This superb collection of five stories reveals Poe's virtuoso gifts for both crime fiction and the macabre. Two of his most famous tales, «The Mystery of Marie Roget» and «The Purloined Letter,» recount the exploits of C. Auguste Dupin, the first important fictional detective. «William Wilson» is a chilling tale of crime and evil. The two remaining stories, «MS. Found in a Bottle» and «The Oblong Box,» subtly but relentlessly convey a sense of unease, then dread, then outright terror.

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In writing the first great South African novel, Olive Schreiner drew on childhood memories of life on the isolated African veld to fashion a powerful indictment of the rigid Boer and English social conventions of her day. This 1883 bestseller, published under the pseudonym Ralph Iron, was greeted by both praise and condemnation for its feminist views on women's status and on marriage, and for its unorthodox critique of dishonesty and hypocrisy in the doctrines and practices of «respectable» Christian church people.The tale begins with three childhood playmates growing up on a sheep farm: Waldo, son of the farm's kindly and pious German overseer; Em, the stolid but kind English stepdaughter of Tant' Sannie, the farm's Boer owner; and Lyndall, Em's spirited orphan cousin. As the story follows the friends to adulthood, basic conflicts are enacted both internally and externally. Em's ardent fiancé falls in love with the beautiful but troubled Lyndall, who flouts social pressure to marry. Waldo struggles with his boundless yearning for spiritual fulfillment and for the stimulation that knowledge brings, as well as his need for warm human companionship.Lyndall's fierce efforts to wrest from the world a life for herself, and the affects her insight and courage have on others, make a gripping tale. This eloquent portrayal of loves damaged by societal repression retains its power more than a century after its first publication. Today's readers will welcome this inexpensive edition of a literary landmark.

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Completed in the early 11th century, The Tale of Genji is considered the supreme masterpiece of Japanese prose literature, and one of the world's earliest novels. A work of great length, it comprises six parts, the first part of which (also called The Tale of Genji) is reprinted here. The exact origins of this remarkable saga of the nobility of Heian Japan remain somewhat obscured by time, although its author, Lady Shikibu Murasaki, presumably derived many of her insights into court life from her years of service with the royal family.The novel centers on the life and loves of the prince known as «the shining Genji.» Far more than an exotic romance, however, the tale presents finely drawn characters in realistic situations, set against a richly embroidered tapestry of court life. Moreover, a wistful sense of nostalgia pervades the accounts of courtly intrigues and rivalries, resulting in an exquisitely detailed portrayal of a decaying aristocracy.Vibrant in its poetry and wordplay, subtle in its social and psychological observations, this work ranks in stature and significance with such Western classics as Cervantes' Don Quixote and Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. This inexpensive edition, featuring Arthur Waley's splendid translation of the first of the six-part series, offers readers a memorable taste of one of the world's first and greatest novels.

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A highly influential figure in the Age of Enlightenment in England and France, whose works helped inspire the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, John Locke was one of the most important political theorists in Western history. In The Second Treatise of Government, a major contribution to the principles underlying modern democracies, he achieved two objectives: refuting the concept of the divine right of monarchy, and establishing a theory of government based on the ultimate sovereignty of the people.In A Letter Concerning Toleration, composed as early as 1667 but not published for political reasons until 1689 — after the «Glorious Revolution» — Locke pleaded for religious tolerance on grounds similar to his argument for political freedom, i.e., that all men are by nature «free, equal, and independent,» and are entitled to freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of worship. To help guarantee the latter freedom, Locke called for separation of church and state.The basis of social and political philosophy for generations, these works laid the foundation of the modern democratic state in England and abroad. Their enduring importance makes them essential reading for students of philosophy, history, and political science.

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