This extraordinary work is at one and the same time an account of a personal spiritual crisis and a hilarious spoof on academic learning, early Victorian values and materialism. In Sartor Resartus (‘the tailor retailored’) a fictitious editor retells the theories of an equally fictitious German professor who has come to the conclusion that human institutions and morals are only clothes to shield us from nothingness, clothes that can be changed as the whims of the age or fashion dictate.
This radically deconstructive vision reveals the very highest symbols of belief for what they are – merely symbols. How to believe in anything after such an insight is a question even more acute today than it was in Carlyle’s time, when he first asked it in this masterpiece of invention, parody and profound laughter.
This Canongate Classics edition incorporates illustrations by Edmund Sullivan, reproduced as they appeared in the 1898 edition of the text. Also included is the notable Emerson preface to the original American edition and an incisive, specially commissioned introduction from Alasdair Gray.
‘The character of his influences is best seen in the fact that many of the men who have least agreement with his opinions are those to whom the reading of Sartor Resartus was an epoch in the history of their minds.’ George Eliot
Joanna Bannerman, capricious, selfish and warm-hearted, passionately seeks life and ‘loveliness’. Certainly the bustling streets of Glasgow at the turn of the century promise much greater excitement than the solid evangelical background she has known hitherto. Her studies in the School of Art open up new horizons – of independence and love – and Joanna reaches for them all.
First published in 1920, this novel powerfully evokes the image of a young woman ensnared yet ultimately released by her capacity for emotion. It contains a strong autobiographical element and is also a powerful evocation of the life and industry of the Second City of the Empire.
This antiquarian book contains Mary Shelley’s 1818 gothic masterpiece, «Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus». Frankenstein is a novel about a young scientist called Victor Frankenstein who creates a monstrous but conscious creature in a secret scientific experiment. The result of a competition to see who out of Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron could write the best horror story, Shelley’s famous tale is a must have for fans of horror fiction. It would make for a great addition to any bookshelf. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851) was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and biographer. This book comes complete with a specially commissioned biography of the author.
One of the most universally loved and admired English novels, Pride and Prejudice was penned as a popular entertainment. But the consummate artistry of Jane Austen (1775–1817) transformed this effervescent tale of rural romance into a witty, shrewdly observed satire of English country life that is now regarded as one of the principal treasures of English language.In a remote Hertfordshire village, far off the good coach roads of George III's England, a country squire of no great means must marry off his five vivacious daughters. At the heart of this all-consuming enterprise are his headstrong second daughter Elizabeth Bennet and her aristocratic suitor Fitzwilliam Darcy — two lovers whose pride must be humbled and prejudices dissolved before the novel can come to its splendid conclusion.
This classic novel of self-discovery has inspired generations of seekers. With parallels to the enlightenment of the Buddha, Hesse's Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin's quest for the ultimate reality. His quest takes him from the extremes of indulgent sensuality to the rigors of ascetism and self-denial. At last he learns that wisdom cannot be taught — it must come from one's own experience and inner struggle. Steeped in the tenets of both psychoanalysis and Eastern mysticism, Siddhartha presents a strikingly original view of man and culture, and the arduous process of self-discovery that leads to reconciliation, harmony, and peace.
In this classic satiric novel, published in 1889, Hank Morgan, a supervisor in a Connecticut gun factory, falls unconscious after being whacked on the head. When he wakes up he finds himself in Britain in 528 — where he is immediately captured, hauled back to Camelot to be exhibited before the knights of King Arthur's Round Table, and sentenced to death. Things are not looking good. But Hank is a quick-witted and enterprising fellow, and in the process of saving his life he turns himself into a celebrity of the highest magnitude. His Yankee ingenuity and knowledge of the world beyond the Dark Ages are regarded as the most powerful sorcery — winning him a position of prime minister as well as the eternal enmity of a jealous Merlin. In an effort to bring democratic principles and mechanical knowledge to the kingdom, Hank introduces newspapers, telephones, bicycles, and other modern conveniences to the Britain of the Dark Ages. But when he tries to improve the lot of the common people, chaos and war result, giving a bittersweet tone to this comic masterpiece by one of America's greatest storytellers.
10,000-copy first printing Revoyr has a very large profile in Southern California and around the country. Push for library sales. Submit for major literary awards. Revoyr is a house favorite at Akashic Books.
Sugar, Smoke, Song is a collection of ten linked stories set in the Bronx, California, India, and Brazil. Following the secrets and passions of young women, these stories and their narrators cross genres and rules to arrive at unforeseen lives. A subway rider remembers enacting the gods with her estranged twin, a concert usher discovers her tango-dancing boyfriend’s lover, and a literacy worker confesses the gambles she and others have lost through the bluesy singers she admires. Told through semi-experimental play with nonlinear plots, plural narrators, and hybrid prose, these stories embody the experiences of Asian American women carrying histories both unseen and cyclically lived.
Aluna can’t face the forces of evil alone. Boyez, Warakusi, Qiang, Antonio, and even the jungle itself rise to help her in a harrowing confrontation to finally defeat Nagaric. But are Aluna’s untamed abilities enough to win in a final showdown against Nagaric’s dark power?