Penguin Black Classics

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley

Obsessed with the idea of creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material with which to fashion a new being, shocking his creation to life with electricity. But…

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Mrs Dalloway

Virginia Woolf

In Virgnia Woolf’s novel - which inspired the 2003 film The Hours - Mrs Dalloway is an assured socialite. Yet as she prepares for her party on a hot London…

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Germinal

Emile Zola

A depiction of the poverty and wretchedness of a mining community in northern France under the second empire.

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Therese Raquin

Emile Zola

In the claustrophobic atmosphere of a dingy haberdasher’s shop on the Passage du Pont-Neuf in Paris, Therese Raquin is trapped in a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille. Therese…

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Nana

Emile Zola

Born to drunken parents in the slums of Paris, Nana lives in squalor until she is discovered at the Theatre des Varietes. She soon rises from the streets to set…

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The Drinking Den

Emile Zola

Abandoned by her lover and left to bring up their two children alone, Gervaise Macquart has to fight to earn an honest living. When she accepts the marriage proposal of…

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The Debacle

Emile Zola

Conservative and working-class, Jean Macquart is an experienced, middle-aged soldier in the French army, who has endured deep personal loss. When he first meets the wealthy and mercurial Maurice Levasseur…

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The Beast Within

Emile Zola

Roubaud is consumed by a jealous rage when he discovers a sordid secret about his young wife’s past. The only way he can rest is by forcing her to help…

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Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies’ Delight)

Emile Zola

The Ladies’ Delight is the glittering Paris department store run by Octave Mouret. He has used charm and drive to become director of this mighty emporium, unscrupulously exploiting his young…

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The Book of Master Mo

Mo Zi

Contains sections explaining the ten key doctrines of Mohism; lively dialogues between Master Mo and his followers; discussion of ancient warfare; and an extraordinary series of chapters that include the…

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We

Yevgeny Zamyatin

In a glass-enclosed city of absolute straight lines, ruled over by the all-powerful ‘Benefactor’, the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState live out lives devoid of passion and creativity…

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The Story of the Stone

Cao Xueqin

Tells the story of the changing fortunes of the Jia dynasty, focussing on Bao-yu, now married to Bao-chai, after the tragic death of his beloved Dai-yu. Against such worldly elements…

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The Persian Expedition

Xenophon

Provides an eyewitness account of the attempt by a Greek mercenary army - the Ten Thousand - to help Prince Cyrus overthrow his brother and take the Persian throne.

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Conversations of Socrates

Xenophon

After the execution of Socrates in 399 BC, a number of his followers wrote dialogues featuring him as the protagonist and, in so doing, transformed the great philosopher into a…

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Selected Poems

William Wordsworth

One of the major poets of Romanticism, Wordsworth epitomized the spirit of his age with his celebration of the natural world and the spontanous expression of feeling.

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The Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry

Jonathan Wordsworth

The Romanticism that emerged after the American and French revolutions of 1776 and 1789 represented a new flowering of the imagination and the spirit, and a celebration of the soul…

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Night and Day

Virginia Woolf

Katharine Hilbery is beautiful and privileged, but uncertain of her future. She must choose between becoming engaged to the oddly prosaic poet William Rodney, and her dangerous attraction to the…

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A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Mary Wollstonecraft

First published in 1792, Wollstonecraft’s book attacked the prevailing view of docile, decorative femininity and laid out the principles of emancipation - an equal education for girls and boys, an…

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The Soul of Man Under Socialism and Selected Critical Prose

Oscar Wilde

Includes The Portrait of Mr W H , Wilde’s defence of Dorian Gray, reviews, and the writings from Intentions (1891): The Decay of Lying , Pen, Pencil, Poison , and…

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The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

Oscar Wilde

Includes plays such as Lady Windermere’s Fan , Salome , A Woman of No Importance , An Ideal Husband , A Florentine Tragedy and The Importance of Being Earnest .

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De Profundis and Other Prison Writings

Oscar Wilde

An account of Oscar Wilde’s spiritual journey while in prison, and describes his new, shocking conviction that ‘the supreme vice is shallowness’. It also includes further letters to his wife…

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The Complete Short Fiction

Oscar Wilde

Fairy tales, ghost stories, detective fiction and comedies of manners - the stories collected in this volume made Oscar Wilde’s name as a writer of fiction, showing skill in a…

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Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman

Features the poem of the author.

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The Complete Poems

Walt Whitman

In 1855 Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass, the work which defined him as one of America’s most influential voices, and which he added to throughout his life. A collection…

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Ethan Frome

Edith Wharton

Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious, and hypochondriac wife, Zeenie. But when Zeenie’s vivacious cousin enters their household as…

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The Custom of the Country

Edith Wharton

Presents a tale about a beautiful social climber, Undine Sprague, who is a monster of selfishness and honestly doesn’t know it. She marries well above herself twice and both times…

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The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton

The return of the beautiful Countess Olenska into the conventional society of New York sends reverberations throughout the upper reaches of society. Newland Archer, an eligible young man of the…

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The War of the Worlds

H. G. Wells

The night after a shooting star is seen streaking through the sky from Mars, a cylinder is discovered on Horsell Common in London. At first, naive locals approach the cylinder…

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The Time Machine

H. G. Wells

When a Victorian scientist propels himself into the year 802,701 AD, he is initially delighted to find that suffering has been replaced by beauty, contentment and peace.

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The Sleeper Awakes

H. G. Wells

A troubled insomniac in 1890s England falls suddenly into a sleep- like trance, from which he does not awake for over two hundred years. During his centuries of slumber, however…

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A Short History of the World

H. G. Wells

From the origins of the Earth to the outcome of the First World War, this work presents an account of the evolution of life and the development of the human…

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The Island of Doctor Moreau

H. G. Wells

Adrift in a dinghy, Edward Prendick, the single survivor from the good ship Lady Vain, is rescued by a vessel carrying a profoundly unusual cargo a menagerie of savage animals.

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The Invisible Man

H. G. Wells

With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin the new guest at The Coach and Horses is at first…

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Poems

Wang Wei

Features poetry that affirms author’s belief in a whole natural order. This book deals with his delicately observed descriptions of landscapes that are infused throughout with a sense of unity…

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The Castle of Otranto

Horace Walpole

With this title, Walpole established the Gothic as a literary form in England. It was first published as a scholarly translation from an ancient Italian text, a supernatural tale of…

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The Sorrows of Young Werther

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive young man, meets and falls in love with sweet-natured Charlotte. Although he realises that she is to marry Albert, he is unable…

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Maxims and Reflections

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Reveals some of the author’s deepest thought on art, ethics, literature and natural science, and his reactions to books, chance encounters or his administrative work.

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Elective Affinities

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Eduard and Charlotte are an aristocratic couple who live a harmonious but idle life in their estate. But the peace of their existence is thrown into chaos when two visitors…

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Treatise on Toleration

Voltaire

First published in French as Traitae sur la Tolaerance, A l'occasion de la mort de Jean Calas, 1763 –Title page verso.

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On Architecture

Vitruvius

In De architectura (c.40 BC), Vitruvius discusses in ten encyclopedic chapters aspects of Roman architecture, engineering and city planning. Vitruvius also included a section on human proportions. Because it is…

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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Jules Verne

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea tells the story of a kidnapped professor and harpoonist who embarks on an exhilarating undersea journey aboard the submarine of the eccentric Captain Nemo.

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Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Jules Verne

Tells the story of distinguished but eccentric Professor Lidenbrock, who finds a scrap of parchment in an old manuscript. A cipher written in runes, it tells of an entrance to…

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Around the World in Eighty Days

Jules Verne

One night in the reform club, Phileas Fogg bets his companions that he can travel across the globe in just eighty days. Breaking the well-established routine of his daily life…

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The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (7th Edition)

Discovered on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in the decade after the Second World War, the Dead Sea Scrolls are a historical and religious record of immense significance…

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Lives of the Artists

Giorgio Vasari

Through character sketches and anecdotes the author depicts Piero di Cosimo shut away in his derelict house, living only to paint, and Giulio Romano’s startling painting of Jove striking down…

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The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh

A selection of Vincent Van Gough’s letters, based on an entirely fresh translation, revealing his religious struggles, his fascination with the French Revolution, his search for love and his involvement…

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Tao Te Ching

Lao Tzu

Free when packaged with any Damrosch World Literature title.

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The Book of Chuang Tzu

Chuang Tzu

The Book of Chuang Tzu draws together the stories, tales, jokes and anecdotes that have gathered around the figure of Chuang Tzu. One of the great founders of Taoism, Chaung…

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Penguin Black Classics

Frankenstein

Mrs Dalloway

Germinal

Therese Raquin

Nana

The Drinking Den

The Debacle

The Beast Within

Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies’ Delight)

The Book of Master Mo

We

The Story of the Stone

The Persian Expedition

Conversations of Socrates

Selected Poems

The Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry

Night and Day

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

The Soul of Man Under Socialism and Selected Critical Prose

The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

De Profundis and Other Prison Writings

The Complete Short Fiction

Leaves of Grass

The Complete Poems

Ethan Frome

The Custom of the Country

The Age of Innocence

The War of the Worlds

The Time Machine

The Sleeper Awakes

A Short History of the World

The Island of Doctor Moreau

The Invisible Man

Poems

The Castle of Otranto

The Sorrows of Young Werther

Maxims and Reflections

Elective Affinities

Treatise on Toleration

On Architecture

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Around the World in Eighty Days

The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (7th Edition)

Lives of the Artists

The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh

Tao Te Ching

The Book of Chuang Tzu