Penguin Black Classics

A new translation by Valerie Roebuck of this seminal work of Buddhist literature. One of the best-known and best-loved works of Buddhist literature, The Dhammapada forms part of the oldest surviving body of Buddhist writings and is traditionally regarded as the authentic teachings of the Buddha himself. These teachings were spoken by him during his lifetime and memorised and handed...

A new translation of Sade's most notorious, shocking and influential novel. This horrible but hugely important text has influenced countless individuals throughout history. Flaubert and Baudelaire both read Sade; the surrealists were obsessed with him; filmmakers like Pasolini saw parallels with twentieth-century history in his writings; and feminists such as Simone de Beauvoir and Angela Carter clashed over him. This...

This is the novel Dickens regarded as his favourite child and is considered his most autobiographical. As David recounts his experience from childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist, Dickens draws openly and revealingly on his own life. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters are Rosa Dartle, Dora, Steerforth, and the 'umble Uriah Heep, along...

The Trial is Kafka's gripping work of psychological horror, featuring a new introduction and notes by Carolin Duttlinger. This terrifying psychological journey follows Joseph K., an ordinary man who unexpectedly finds himself accused of a crime he did not commit. The nature of this crime is never revealed to him. After his arrest, he is released but must report to...

As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket;...

A new selection of seven of Dostoyevsky's best short stories, translated by Ronald Meyer. The Gambler and Other Stories is Fyodor Dostoyevsky's collection of one novella and six short stories reflecting his own life. Indeed, The Gambler, a story of a young tutor in the employment of a formerly wealthy Russian General, was written under a strict deadline so he...

The trial and condemnation of Socrates on charges of heresy and corrupting young minds is a defining moment in the history of Classical Athens. In tracing these events through four dialogues, Plato also developed his own philosophy, based on Socrates' manifesto for a life guided by self-responsibility. Euthyphro finds Socrates outside the court-house, debating the nature of piety, while The...

One of the great masterpieces of 17th-century English prose, Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes is a profound and influential work that delves into the nature of human society and the necessity of a strong central authority. Hobbes presents a compelling social contract theory, wherein individuals collectively agree to surrender some freedoms to a sovereign power in exchange for security and order....

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a seminal work that delves into the fundamental principles of political right and social organization. This thought-provoking book starts with the powerful declaration, "Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains," setting the stage for an exploration of the tension between individual liberty and societal obligations. In an era marked by...

The Politics by Aristotle delves into the core questions of political science, offering profound insights into the nature of human society and governance. Rather than presenting a linear plot, the book is a comprehensive analysis of political structures and their impact on society. Aristotle meticulously examines various city constitutions, including oligarchies, democracies, and tyrannies, evaluating each system's strengths and weaknesses...

The Consolation of Philosophy by Ancius Boethius is a profound philosophical work that intricately weaves together prose and verse to explore some of the most enduring questions of human existence. The narrative centres around Boethius himself, once a prominent public figure and a distinguished scholar, who finds solace in philosophy during a period of great personal adversity. Imprisoned on charges...

On the day of his wedding, Conrad, heir to the house of Otranto, is killed in mysterious circumstances. His calculating father, Manfred, fears that his dynasty will now come to an end and determines to marry his son's bride himself, despite the fact he is already married. But a series of terrifying supernatural omens soon threaten this unlawful union, as...

Set at the height of the tulipomania that gripped Holland in the 17th century, this is the story of Cornelius van Baerle, a humble grower whose sole desire is to grow the perfect specimen of the tulip negra. When his godfather is murdered, Cornelius finds himself caught up in the deadly politics of the time, imprisoned and facing a death...

The great underwater adventure story by the Father of Science Fiction. In this thrilling adventure tale, three men embark on an epic journey under the sea with the mysterious Captain Nemo aboard his submarine, the Nautilus. Over the course of their fantastical voyage, they encounter the lost city of Atlantis, the South Pole and the corals of the Red Sea,...

In Twilight of Idols and Anti-Christ, Friedrich Nietzsche presents two of his most provocative and critical works. These texts offer a penetrating analysis of the philosophical and religious ideas that dominated his era. Twilight of Idols serves as an incisive critique of the cultural and intellectual norms of Nietzsche's time. Subtitled "How to Philosophize with a Hammer," the book delivers...

Delve into the profound and thought-provoking world of Essays and Aphorisms by Arthur Schopenhauer, one of the most pivotal figures in nineteenth-century philosophy. Schopenhauer explores a variety of themes in this collection, providing profound insights into religion, ethics, politics, the nature of women, and much more. Rather than being driven by reason, Schopenhauer posits that human actions are compelled by...

The Prose Edda is the most renowned of all works of Scandinavian literature and our most extensive source for Norse mythology. Written in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, it tells ancient stories of the Norse creation epic and recounts the battles that follow as gods, giants, dwarves, and elves struggle for survival. It also preserves...

In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer created one of the great touchstones of English literature, a masterly collection of chivalric romances, moral allegories, and low farce. A story-telling competition between a group of pilgrims from all walks of life is the occasion for a series of tales that range from the Knight's account of courtly love and the ebullient Wife of...

The Woman in White famously opens with Walter Hartright's eerie encounter on a moonlit London road. Engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie, Walter is drawn into the sinister intrigues of Sir Percival Glyde and his 'charming' friend Count Fosco, who has a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons and poison. Pursuing questions of identity and insanity...

With this landmark treatise on political economy, Adam Smith paved the way for modern capitalism, arguing that a truly free market was the engine of a fair and productive society. Books I-III of The Wealth of Nations examine the "division of labour" as the key to economic growth, by ensuring the interdependence of individuals within society. They also cover the...

The forgotten second volume of Capital, Marx's world-shaking analysis of economics, politics, and history, contains the vital discussion of commodity, the cornerstone to Marx's theories. The forgotten second volume of Capital, Marx's world-shaking analysis of economics, politics, and history, contains the vital discussion of commodity, the cornerstone to Marx's theories.

Rilke's powerfully touching letters to an aspiring young poet, now in Penguin Classics. At the start of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a young officer cadet, advising him on writing, love, sex, suffering, and the nature of advice itself. These profound and lyrical letters have since become hugely influential for writers and artists...

Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby, she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile, Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through...

The Twelve Caesars, written by Suetonius and masterfully translated by Robert Graves, offers an unparalleled glimpse into the lives of the Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Domitian. This revised edition (9780140449211) retains the classic translation that has long been celebrated for its vividness and precision, but comes with entirely new editorial material, providing fresh insights into these historical figures....

The Will to Power is a profound and influential collection of Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts, detailing some of his most crucial and radical reflections on philosophy. The text delves deep into the recesses of nihilism, metaphysics, the philosophy of morality, and the future of Europe, alongside Nietzsche’s enduring concept of the 'will to power'. The idea proposes that the main driving...

The writings in this volume cast a glimmer of light upon the emerging traditions and organisation of the infant church during an otherwise little-known period of its development. A selection of letters and small-scale theological treatises from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, several of whom were probably disciples of the Apostles, they provide a first-hand account of the...

Nobody in Western civilisation had ever tried to do what Montaigne set out to do. In a vivid, contemporary style, he moves swiftly from thought to thought, often digressing from an idea only to return, having caught up with it elsewhere. In these essays, Montaigne lays out for his contemporaries and for us his plan for how a man might...

For the first time in Penguin Classics, a new translation of Sappho's complete poetry. More or less 150 years after Homer's Iliad, Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos, west off the coast of what is present-day Turkey. Little remains today of her writings, which are said to have filled nine papyrus rolls in the great library at Alexandria some...

"The perfect balance of tightness and colloquialism... likely to be the best modern version of Dante." - Bernard O'Donoghue Describing Dante's descent into Hell midway through his life with Virgil as a guide, Inferno: The Divine Comedy I depicts a cruel underworld in which desperate figures are condemned to eternal damnation for committing one or more of seven deadly sins....

Penguin Classics relaunch. Visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive young man, falls in love with sweet-natured Lotte. Though he realises that Lotte is to marry Albert, he is unable to subdue his passion and his infatuation torments him to the point of despair. The first great 'confessional' novel, it draws both on Goethe's own unrequited love for Charlotte...

Reflecting the voices of poets, soldiers, the families they left behind, and their comrades who would never return, The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, previously published as In Flanders Fields, is edited with an introduction by George Walter in Penguin Classics. Unrivalled for its range and intensity, the poetry of the First World War continues to have a...

Writing at the time of Napoleon's greatest campaigns, Prussian soldier and writer Carl von Clausewitz created this treatise on the art of warfare, which presented war as part of a coherent system of political thought. He is best remembered for his pronouncement that war is a continuation of politics by other means and for his observations on total war. Clausewitz...

This selection of Poe's critical writings, short fiction, and poetry demonstrates an intense interest in aesthetic issues and the astonishing power and imagination with which he probed the darkest corners of the human mind. The Fall of the House of Usher describes the final hours of a family tormented by tragedy and the legacy of the past. In The Tell...

In the course of a lively drinking party, a group of prominent Athenian intellectuals, including philosophers, playwrights, and aristocrats, come together to exchange views on the nature of eros, or desire. The setting of this engaging dialogue is the home of the tragedian Agathon, where the guests take turns delivering speeches that delve into various aspects of love, culminating in...

Selected Writings brings together the major writings of the great Italian philosopher. In his reflections on Christianity, Saint Thomas Aquinas forged a unique synthesis of ancient philosophy and medieval theology. Preoccupied with the relationship between faith and reason, he was influenced both by Aristotle's rational worldview and by the powerful belief that wisdom and truth can ultimately only be reached...

A collection of some of Dostoyevsky's finest short stories. With their penetrating psychological insight and their emphasis on human dignity, respect, and forgiveness, Dostoyevsky's early short stories contain the seeds of the themes that came to his major novels. Poor Folk, the author's first great literary triumph, is the story of a tragic relationship between an impoverished copy clerk and...

Descartes was prepared to go to any lengths in his search for certainty—even to deny those things that seemed most self-evident. In his Meditations of 1641, and in the Objections and Replies that were included with the original publication, he set out to dismantle and then reconstruct the idea of the individual self and its existence. In doing so, Descartes...

First written down in the eighth century AD, these early Irish stories depict a far older world, part myth, part legend, and part history. Rich with magic and achingly beautiful, they speak of a land of heroic battles, intense love, and warrior ideals, in which the otherworld is explored and men mingle freely with the gods. From the vivid adventures...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery. Separated from her twin brother Sebastian after a shipwreck, Viola disguises herself as a boy to serve the Duke of Illyria. Wooing a countess on his behalf, she is stunned to find herself the object of his beloved's affections. With the arrival of...

The adventures of the well-loved clerical sleuth, collected in a single volume and introduced by Michael D. Hurley. Shabby and lumbering, with a face like a Norfolk dumpling, Father Brown makes for an improbable super-sleuth. But his innocence is the secret of his success—refusing the scientific method of detection, he adopts instead an approach of simple sympathy, interpreting each crime...

Penguin Classics relaunch Gilbert Markham is deeply intrigued by Helen Graham, a beautiful and secretive young woman who has moved into nearby Wildfell Hall with her young son. He is quick to offer Helen his friendship, but when her reclusive behaviour becomes the subject of local gossip and speculation, Gilbert begins to wonder whether his trust in her has been...

First new English translation since 1959 by acclaimed translator Robin Buss. When Meaulnes first arrives at the local school in Sologne, everyone is captivated by his good looks, daring and charisma. But when Meaulnes disappears for several days, and returns with tales of a strange party at a mysterious house and a beautiful girl hidden within it, he has been...

In the vaulted Gothic towers of Notre-Dame lives Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bellringer. Mocked and shunned for his appearance, he is pitied only by Esmerelda, a beautiful gypsy dancer to whom he becomes completely devoted. Esmerelda, however, has also attracted the attention of the sinister archdeacon Claude Frollo, and when she rejects his lecherous approaches, Frollo hatches a plot to destroy...

Written in 1908, A Room with a View is one of E.M. Forster's earliest and most celebrated works. Forster's social comedy is a witty observation of the English middle classes as they holiday abroad in Florence. One of these tourists is Lucy Honeychurch, a young girl whose heart is awakened by her experiences in Italy.

During an eventful season at Bath, young, naive Catherine Morland experiences the joys of fashionable society for the first time. She is delighted with her new acquaintances: flirtatious Isabella, who shares Catherine's love of Gothic romance and horror, and sophisticated Henry and Eleanor Tilney, who invite her to their father's mysterious house, Northanger Abbey. There, her imagination influenced by novels...

Published alongside other works on the 150th anniversary of Joseph Conrad's death, Heart of Darkness has long been regarded as a literary classic and a powerful indictment of the evils of imperialism. The novella reflects the savage repressions carried out in the Congo by the Belgians, representing one of the largest acts of genocide committed up to that time. Conrad's...

Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne is a pioneering science fiction classic that tells the story of the distinguished but eccentric Professor Lidenbrock. He discovers a scrap of parchment in an old manuscript, revealing a cipher written in runes. This cipher tells of an entrance to another world—a world hidden beneath our own. In Jules Verne's...

The anniversary paperback edition of On the Origin of Species, edited by Professor William Bynum, presents Charles Darwin's groundbreaking work on evolutionary biology with a fresh introduction and scholarly references by Bynum. Designed with a striking cover by Damien Hirst, this edition replaces the earlier 1968 version and brings Darwin's seminal text into closer dialogue with contemporary readers. Originally published...

Influential writings on the possibility of synthesising Greek thought and Christian faith. Composed during a critical time in the evolution of European intellectual life, the works of Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1327) are some of the most powerful medieval attempts to achieve a synthesis between ancient Greek thought and the Christian faith. Writing with great rhetorical brilliance, Eckhart combines the neoplatonic...

A witty introduction to the mind of Goethe, a classic in a new translation for the first time in 150 years. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was the world's most celebrated poet, novelist, critic, and thinker, and this is the best way of knowing him. Today, his name is echoed as that of a 'great man' alongside Plato, Montaigne, and Shakespeare....

Either/Or is a brilliant exploration of the conflicts inherent in life between living aesthetically and living morally. In Either/Or, using the voices of two characters—the aesthetic young man of part one, called simply 'A', and the ethical Judge Vilhelm of the second section—Kierkegaard reflects upon the search for a meaningful existence. He contemplates subjects as diverse as Mozart, drama, boredom,...

Xenophon's fascinating defence of Socratic thought. 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 legendary figure. Xenophon's portrait is the only one other than Plato's to survive, and while it offers a very personal interpretation of Socratic thought,...

A major new translation by Dominic Baker-Smith of More's perennially popular Latin text. Utopia is Thomas More's work of philosophical fiction, imagining the island of the title, on which thousands live in peace and harmony. Through dialogue and correspondence between Raphael Hythloday and his friends and contemporaries, More explores the theories behind war, political disagreements, social quarrels, and wealth distribution,...

The sacred texts of the Hindu faith The Upanishads, the earliest of which were composed in Sanskrit between 800 and 400 BCE by sages and poets, form part of the Vedas—the sacred and ancient scriptures that are the basis of the Hindu religion. Each Upanishad, or lesson, takes up a theme ranging from the attainment of spiritual bliss to karma...

The legends surrounding the royal house of Thebes inspired Sophocles (496-406 BC) to create a powerful trilogy about mankind's struggle against fate. King Oedipus tells of a man who brings pestilence to Thebes for crimes he does not realise he has committed and who then inflicts a brutal punishment upon himself. With profound insights into the human condition, it is...

Guided by the poet Virgil, Dante plunges to the very depths of Hell and embarks on his arduous journey towards God. Together they descend through the twenty-four circles of the underworld and encounter the tormented souls of the damned—from heretics and pagans to gluttons, criminals, and seducers—who tell of their sad fates and predict events still to come in Dante's...

Convalescing in London after a disastrous experience of war in Afghanistan, Dr John Watson finds himself sharing rooms with his enigmatic new acquaintance, Sherlock Holmes. But their quiet bachelor life at 221B Baker Street is soon interrupted by the grisly discovery of a dead man in a grimy, ill-omened house in south-east London, his face contorted by an expression of...

Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centres on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new stepsister, Cynthia, enters Molly's quiet life. Loveable but worldly and troubling, Cynthia's arrival alters Molly's daily life. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood...

A major new translation of Voltaire's fast-paced, globe-trotting satire - an irresistible holiday read. Brought up in the household of a powerful Baron, Candide is an open-minded young man, whose tutor, Pangloss, has instilled in him the belief that all is for the best. But when his love for the Baron's rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to...

The hero of this curious novel is des Esseintes, a neurasthenic aristocrat who has turned his back on the vulgarity of modern life and retreated to an isolated country villa. Here, accompanied only by a couple of silent servants, he pursues his obsessions with exotic flowers, rare gems, and complex perfumes and embarks on a series of increasingly strange aesthetic...

A new translation by Tony Briggs of Tolstoy's last major novel. Resurrection (1899) tells the story of a nobleman's attempt to redeem the suffering his youthful philandering inflicted on a peasant girl who ends up a prisoner in Siberia. Tolstoy's vision of redemption achieved through loving forgiveness, and his condemnation of violence, dominate the novel. An intimate, psychological tale of...

It is in this third volume that Marx sets out his central thesis that "the basic laws of motion of the capitalist mode of production lead to explosive crises and its ultimate collapse". Here we find not only a sustained economic and social description of capitalism as a system and the bourgeoisie as a class but also a full statement...

Annals is presented in a compelling new translation by Cynthia Damon. Tacitus' Annals recounts the major historical events from the years shortly before the death of Augustus to the death of Nero in AD 68. With clarity and vivid intensity, Tacitus describes the reign of terror under the corrupt Tiberius, the great fire of Rome during the time of Nero,...

The most celebrated historical work in the English language Spanning thirteen centuries from the age of Trajan to the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is one of the greatest narratives in European Literature. David Womersley's masterly selection and bridging commentary enables the reader to acquire a general sense...

Part of the authoritative and acclaimed Penguin Shakespeare series, now rejacketed in the celebrated Penguin Classics livery. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. When young prince Hamlet is confronted by his father's ghost on the battlements of Castle Elsinore, he is burdened with a terrible task—slay King Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, who the ghost alleges murdered him. Wrestling with...

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. Tended to recovery by their keeper, Montgomery, who gives him dark medicine that tastes of blood, Prendick soon finds himself stranded upon an uncharted island in the Pacific with his rescuer...

The beloved multidisciplinary classic on the spaces we inhabit and the dreams and memories that fill them. A beloved multidisciplinary treatise comes to Penguin Classics. Since its initial publication in 1958, The Poetics of Space has been a muse to philosophers, architects, writers, psychologists, critics, and readers alike. This rare work of irresistibly inviting philosophy brims with quiet revelations and...

A new edition of the book that has been more widely read than any book in English except the Bible. Bunyan wrote the first part of The Pilgrim's Progress when he was in prison for conducting unauthorised Baptist religious services outside of the Church of England. It was published in 1678; the second part was published in 1684. In Bunyan's...

The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche delves into the heart of ancient Greek culture, shedding light on its glorious artistic achievements, particularly in the realm of tragedy. In this profound exploration, Nietzsche grapples with the sombre beauty that lies within Greek tragedies, examining the interplay between two opposing artistic forces: the Apollonian, representing order and rationality, and the Dionysian,...

Essays in Idleness by Kamo no Chomei and Yoshida Kenko offers timeless reflections on Buddhism, nature, and the value of leisure. These two classical Japanese texts, penned by Buddhist monks from medieval Japan, provide a profound glimpse into two contrasting yet deeply philosophical views of life. In the short memoir Hōjōki, Chomei eloquently describes his retreat from the chaos of...

This second of two parts concentrates on Descartes' work on the nature and limits of human knowledge and the methods by which we can hope to acquire knowledge. It also includes the first seven chapters of The World and a selection of Descartes' correspondence and replies to his critics. The first volume (0-14-04470-1) focuses on Descartes' Meditations.

New to Classics, The Rule of St Benedict is one of the most important written works in the shaping of Western society. Founder of a monastery at Monte Cassino, between Rome and Naples, in the sixth century, St Benedict intended his Rule to be a practical guide to Christian monastic life. Based on the key precepts of humility, obedience, and...

Together, the poetry of Hesiod and Theognis offers a superb introduction to the life and thought of ancient Greece. Hesiod's Theogony (c. 725 BCE) is a powerful creation myth: an epic, bloody tale of dark forces, sex, and violence, tracing the history of the world from primeval Chaos to the establishment of Zeus as supreme king of the gods. In...

Parade's End, Ford's great masterpiece set in the First World War, is now available in Penguin Black Classics with an introduction by Julian Barnes. Consisting of four novels - Some Do Not..., No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up, and The Last Post - Parade's End is the story of Christopher Tietjens and his progress from the secure world...

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 of astonishing originality and intensity, it spoke of politics, sexual emancipation and what it meant to be an American. From the joyful Song of Myself and I Sing the Body...

One of the great English Romantic poets, William Blake (1757-1827) was an artist, poet, mystic, and visionary. His work ranges from the deceptively simple and lyrical Songs of Innocence and their counterpoint Experience—which juxtapose poems such as 'The Lamb' and 'The Tyger', and 'The Blossom' and 'The Sick Rose'—to highly elaborate, apocalyptic works, such as The Four Zoas, Milton, and...

The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield comes with a new introduction by Ali Smith. Katherine Mansfield's clear, sparkling, and perceptive short stories revolutionised the genre, and this collection represents the whole range of her writing. Moving and resonant, full of light and colour, they span from short, sharp studies to longer, richer tales. This volume encompasses her three major works:...

Lawyer, philosopher, statesman, and defender of Rome's Republic, Cicero was a master of eloquence. His pure literary and oratorical style, coupled with a strict sense of morality, have exerted a powerful influence on European literature and thought for over two thousand years, particularly in matters of politics, philosophy, and faith. Selected Works showcases the diversity of Cicero's writings. It includes...

With an introduction that discusses Blake's life and career, his reputation, and the major themes of his work, and explores the relationship between the poetry and the illustrations. Writer and religious rebel, William Blake (1757-1827) sowed the seeds for Romanticism in his innovative poems concerning faith and the visions that inspired him throughout his life. Whether describing his own spirituality,...

Between 58 and 50 BC, Caesar conquered most of the area now covered by France, Belgium, and Switzerland, and twice invaded Britain. This is the record of his campaigns. Caesar's narrative offers insights into his military strength and paints a picture of his encounters with the inhabitants of Gaul and Britain. It also offers lively portraits of key characters, such...