This edition contains the original illustrations by Weedon Grossmith, further reading and an introduction by Ed Glinert discussing the novel’s initial serialization in Punch, reactions to Pooter, the growth of suburbs and the figure of Mrs Pooter.
‘The jewel at the heart of English comic literature’ William Trevor
‘The funniest book in the world’ Evelyn Waugh
Edited with an introduction and notes by Ed Glinert
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THOMAS HARDY
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PENGUIN CLASSICS
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD
‘I hate to be thought men’s property in that way’
Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community. The first of his works set in Wessex, Hardy’s novel of swift passion and slow courtship is imbued with his evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships.
This edition, based on Hardy’s original 1874 manuscript, is the complete novel he never saw published, and restores its full candour and innovation. Rosemarie Morgan’s introduction discusses the history of its publication, and the biblical and classical allusions that permeate the novel.
‘Wonderful … a landscape which satisfies every stir of the imagination and which ravishes the senses’ Ronald Blythe
Edited with an introduction and notes by Rosemarie Morgan and Shannon Russell
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E. M. FORSTER
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PENGUIN CLASSICS
MAURICE
‘People were all around them, but with eyes that were intensely blue he whispered, “I love you” ’
Maurice Hall is a young man who grows up confident in his privileged status and well aware of his role in society. Modest and generally conformist, he nevertheless finds himself increasingly attracted to his own sex. Through Clive, whom he encounters at Cambridge, and through Alec, the gamekeeper on Clive’s country estate, Maurice gradually experiences a profound emotional and sexual awakening. A tale of passion, bravery and defiance, this intensely personal novel was completed in 1914 but remained unpublished until after Forster’s death in 1970. Compellingly honest and beautifully written, it offers a powerful condemnation of the repressive attitudes of British society, and is at once a moving love story and an intimate tale of one man’s erotic and political self-discovery.
The introduction, by David Leavitt, explores the significance of the novel in relation to Forster’s own life and as a founding work of modern gay literature. This edition reproduces the Abinger text of the novel, and includes new notes, a chronology and further reading.
Edited with an introduction and notes by David Leavitt
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ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
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PENGUIN CLASSICS
TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY AND THE AMATEUR EMIGRANT
‘I was not only travelling out of my country in latitude and longitude, but out of myself in diet, associates, and consideration’
In 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson escaped from his numerous troubles – poor health, tormented love, inadequate funds – by embarking on a journey through the Cévennes in France, accompanied by Modestine, a rather single-minded donkey. The notebook Stevenson kept during this time became Travels with a Donkey, a highly entertaining account of the French people and their country. The Amateur Emigrant is a vivid journal of his travels to and in America – describing the crowded weeks in steerage with the poor and sick, as well as stowaways – and the train journey he took across the country. Filled with sharp-eyed observations, this work brilliantly conveys Stevenson’s perceptions of America and the Americans. Together, these two pieces are fascinating examples of nineteenth-century travel writing, revealing as much about the traveller as the places he travels to.
Christopher MacLachlan’s introduction places the works in their biographical and literary context. This edition also includes pieces from Stevenson’s original notebooks, a chronology, further reading, notes and maps of the journeys.
Edited with an introduction by Christopher MacLachlan
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THE BEGINNING
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PENGUIN CLASSICS
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Penguin Classics is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
This collection first published in Penguin Classics 2007
The story texts copyright © the Estate of Frieda Lawrence Ravagli, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1995, 2007
Introduction copyright © Louise Welsh, 2007
Notes copyright © Sue Wilson, 2007
Chronology, Further Reading and A Note on the Texts copyright © Paul Poplawski, 2006, 2007
All rights reserved
The moral right of the introducer and the editor has been asserted
Cover: Heidi by Aaron Robinson, oil on canvas, 2007
Commissioned by Penguin Books © Aaron Robinson
here constitute an extension of this copyright page
ISBN: 978-0-241-38800-6
Selected Stories Page 42