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This original and distinctive verse translation of four of Sophocles' plays conveys the vitality of his poetry and the vigour of the plays as performed showpieces, encouraging the reader to relish the sound of the spoken verse and the potential for song within the lyrics.

With his first glimpse of Madame Arnoux, Frederic Moreau is convinced he has found his romantic destiny, but he is caught up in the revolution of 1848 and the attractions of three other women. Flaubert's portrait of an idealist in a disenchanted world influenced later modernists, and is here newly translated.

Frank Gresham needs to marry for money if he is to save his impoverished family estate. But he loves the doctor's penniless niece, and faces a terrible dilemma. Doctor Thorne, now adapted for ITV by Julian Fellowes.

Artemidorus' The Interpretation of Dreams(Oneirocritica) is the richest and most vivid pre-Freudian account of dream interpretation. The work is fascinating for what it reveals about ancient life, culture, and beliefs, and attitudes to the dominant power of Imperial Rome.

In AD 70 the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman forces after a 6 month siege, the world-famous temple burnt to the ground. This was the disastrous outcome of a Jewish revolt against Roman domination beginning in AD 66 with high hopes and early success, but soon became mired in factional conflict, at its most extreme within Jerusalem itself.

The Island of Doctor Moreau is the account of Edward Prendick, an English gentleman who finds himself shipwrecked and an unwelcomed guest on the Pacific island of one Doctor Moreau. There, Prendick discovers Moreau is performing horrific experiments, using vivisection to craft animals into human beings.

The young Jane Austen was a precocious reader, devouring pulp fiction and classic literature, both of which she soon began to imitate and parody. Three volumes of her vivacious teenage writing survive. Devices and themes which appear subtly in her later fiction run riot here: drunkenness, brawling, sexual misdemeanour, theft, and even murder.

The Sin of Abbe Mouret is the fifth novel in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. It follows Serge Mouret, a young priest, aspiring to perfect purity and sanctity. An illness leaves him with amnesia, and no longer knowing he is a priest, he falls in love with his nurse. Together they roam an Eden-like garden called the 'Paradou'.

La Debacle is the penultimate novel in Zola's great Rougon-Macquart cycle. A stirring account of profound friendship between two soldiers from opposite ends of the class divide during the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune of 1870-1.

The Interesting Narrative is a first-hand account of the horrors of slavery, published on the eve of the British abolition debate in 1789. The most important African autobiography of the 18th century, it recounts Equiano's adventures on land and sea. This edition's introduction surveys recent debates about Equiano's birthplace and identity.

His Excellency Eugene Rougon is the sixth in Zola's famous Rougon-Macquart series of novels. Here, the novel presents a detailed picture of court and political circles during the Second Empire, satirizing the corruption and cronyism at its heart.

Aristotle's Art of Rhetoric is a treatise concerning the theory and practice of the most dynamic form of discourse in Classical Greece. The Rhetoric was a touchstone for all later ancient writers on the subject, from the Stoics to Cicero.

This collection brings together 33 of Conan Doyle's best Gothic Tales. Jones's introduction discusses the contradictions in Conan Doyle's public life - as a doctor who became obsessed with the spirit world, or a British imperialist drawn to support Irish Home Rule, showing the ways in which these found articulation in the Gothic.

J. S. Mill was the greatest British philosopher of the nineteenth century. Mill's purpose in writing his Autobiography was to set down his own struggle for individuality, and vindicate his life to himself and others.

Catherine the Great ruled Russian from 1762 until her death in 1796. Her letters provide an intimate history of the Russian state as well as a portrait of her character and qualities.

An anthology of Italian tales covering the period roughly from 1370 to 1630, during which the novella was the dominant form of prose fiction.

Peer Gynt was Ibsen's last work to use poetry as a medium of dramatic expression, and the poetry is brilliantly appropriate to the imaginative swings between Scandinavian oral folk traditions, the Morrocan coast, the Sahara Desert, and the absurdist images of the Cairo madhouse. This translation is taken from the acclaimed Oxford Ibsen.John McFarlane is Emeritus Professor of European Literature at the University of East Anglia, and General Editor of the Oxford Ibsen.

One of Shakespeare's most rollicking and beloved comedies, The Taming of the Shrew was also one of his earliest, probably written about 1592. The introduction to this edition offers a full and original consideration of the play's textual problems, a study of sources, a survey of scholarship and criticism, with the editor's own critical appreciation, and a study of the comedy's fortunes in the theatre.

The Bible is the most important book in the history of Western civilization, and also the most difficult to interpret. It has been the vehicle of continual conflict, with every interpretation reflecting passionately-held views that have affected not merely religion, but politics, art, and even science. This unique edition offers an exciting new approach to the most influential of all English biblical texts - the Authorized King James Version, complete with the Apocrypha. Its wide-ranging Introduction and the substantial notes to each book of the Bible guide the reader through the labyrinth of literary, textual, and theological issues, using the most up-to-date scholarship to demonstrate how and why the Bible has affected the literature, art and general culture of the English-speakingworld.

In South Sea Tales Stevenson shows himself to be a virtuoso of narrative styles. But beyond their generic diversity the stories are linked by their concern with representing the multiracial society of which their author had become a member. In this collection--the first to bring together all his shorter Pacific fiction in one volume--Stevenson emerges as a witness both to the cross-cultural encounters of nineteenth-century imperialism and to the creation of the global culture which characterizes the post-colonial world.

Loosely connected with Part One and the German legend of Faust, Part Two is a dramatic epic rather than a strictly constructed drama. It is conceived as an act of homage to classical Greek culture and inspired above all by the world of story-telling and myth at the heart of the Greek tradition, as well as owing some of its material to the Arabian Nights tales. The restless and ruthless hero, advised by his cynical demon-companion Mephistopheles, visits classical Greece i search of the beautiful Helen of Troy. Returning to modern times, he seeks to crown his career by gaining control of the elements, and at his death is carried up into the unkown regions, still in pursuit of the `Eternal Feminine'. David Luke's translation of Part One won the European Poetry Translation Prize. Here he again imitates the varied verse-forms of the original, and provides a highly readable - and actable - translation, supported by an introduction, full notes, and an index of classical mythology.

The legend of Faust grew up in the sixteenth century, a time of transition between medieval and modern culture in Germany. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) adopted the story of the wandering conjuror who accepts Mephistopheles's offer of a pact, selling his soul for the devil's greater knowledge; over a period of 60 years he produced one of the greatest dramatic and poetic masterpieces of European literature. David Luke's recent translation, specially commissioned for The World's Classics series, has all the virtues of previous classic translations of Faust, and none of their shortcomings. Cast in rhymed verse, following the original, it preserves the essence of Goethe's meaning without sacrifice to archaism or over-modern idiom. It is as near an `equivalent' rendering of the German as has been achieved. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Stevenson's short novel, published in 1886, became an instant classic. It was a Gothic horror originating in a feverish nightmare, that has thrilled readers ever since. Also included in this edition are a number of short stories and essays of the 1880s and extracts from writings on personality disorder that set the works in their historical context.

The Upanisads are the central scriptures of Hinduism, representing some of the most important literary products in the history of Indian culture and religion. This major new translation incorporates the most recent historical and philological scholarship. An introduction and detailed notes make it the ideal edition for both specialists as well as students of Indian religions.

Lucan's epic poem on the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, unfinished at the time of his death, stands beside the poems of Virgil and Ovid in the first rank of Latin epic. This newly annotated, free verse translation conveys the full force of Lucan's writing and his grimly realistic view of the subject. The work is a powerful condemnation of civil war, emphasizing the stark, dark horror of the catastrophies which the Roman state inflicted upon itself. Both the introduction and glossary set the scene for readers unfamiliar with Lucan and explore his relationship with earlier writers of Latin epic, and his interest in the sensational.

This new translation is the first to represent all the main fable collections in ancient Latin and Greek derived from the legendary Aesop, arranged according to the fables' contents and themes. It includes 600 fables, many of which come from sources never before translated into English.