• Home
  • Books older 1977

That Mad Ache & Translator

That Mad Ache, set in high-society Paris in the mid-1960’s, recounts the emotional battle unleashed in the heart of Lucile, a sensitive but rootless young woman who finds herself caught between her carefree, tranquil love for 50-year-old Charles, a gentle, reflective, and well-off businessman, and her sudden wild passion for 30-year-old Antoine, a hot-blooded, impulsive, and struggling editor. As Lucile explores these two versions of love, she vacillates in confusion, but in the end she must choose, and her heart’s instinct is surprising and poignant. Originally published under the title La Chamade, this new translation by Douglas Hofstadter returns a forgotten classic to English. In Translator, Trader, Douglas Hofstadter reflects on his personal act of devotion in rewriting Françoise Sagan’s novel La Chamade in English, and on the paradoxes that constantly plague any literary translator on all scales, ranging from the humblest of commas to entire chapters. Flatly rejecting the common wisdom that translators are inevitably traitors, Hofstadter proposes instead that translators are traders, and that translation, like musical performance, deserves high respect as a creative act. In his view, literary translation is the art of making subtle trades in which one sometimes loses and sometimes gains, often both losing and gaining at the same time. This view implies that there is no reason a translation cannot be as good as the original work, and that the result inevitably bears the stamp of the translator, much as a musical performance inevitably bears the stamp of its artists. Both a companion to the beloved Sagan novel and a singular meditation on translation, Translator, Trader is a witty and intimate exploration of words, ideas, communication, creation, and faithfulness.
Views: 855

A Writer's Diary: Being Extracts From the Diary of Virginia Woolf

An invaluable guide to the art and mind of Virginia Woolf, drawn by her husband from the personal record she kept over a period of twenty-seven years. Included are entries that refer to her own writing, others that are clearly writing exercises; accounts of people and scenes relevant to the raw material of her work; and comments on books she was reading. Edited and with a Preface by Leonard Woolf; Indices.
Views: 854

The Shadow Out of Time

Voted one of the top ten Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2001 by *Cinescape Magazine.* "The Shadow out of Time" is H. P. Lovecraft's last major story. It was first published in Astounding Stories for June 1936. And yet, this text has never been published as Lovecraft wrote it--until now. The recent discovery of Lovecraft's handwritten manuscript allows readers to appreciate this magnificently cosmic story exactly as originally written. All previous editions of the story contain hundreds of serious errors, including errors in paragraphing, omissions and mistranscriptions of many words and passages, and erroneous punctuation. Leading Lovecraft scholars S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz have provided an exhaustive introduction and commentary on the story, elucidating names, places and other elements in this richly evocative story. A must for all devotees of Lovecraft and weird fiction!
Views: 854

Victim of the Aurora

The thrilling story of an ill-fated expedition to the South Pole by the bestselling and award-winning author of Schindler's List. In the waning years of the Edwardian era, a group of English gentleman- adventurers led by Sir Eugene Stewart launched an expedition to reach the South Pole. More than sixty years later, Anthony Piers, the official artist of the New British South Polar Expedition, finally unveils the sobering conditions of their perilous journey: raging wind, bitter cold, fierce hunger, absolute darkness-and murder. The first two decades of the twentieth century were known as the "heroic era" of Antarctic exploration. In 1911, Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Weeks later, doomed British explorer Robert Falcon Scott arrived-and then perished in a blizzard. And in 1914, Ernest Shackleton embarked on his infamous voyage to Antarctica. Set during this epic period of adventure and discovery, Victim of the Aurora re-creates a thrilling time in an unforgiving place and is a brilliantly plotted tale of psychological suspense.
Views: 854

The Naked Sun

A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history:  the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain.  On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants.  To this strange and provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations.  The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his associates only through holographic projection.  Yet someone had gotten close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on.  Now Baley and Olivaw are faced with two clear impossibilities:  Either the Solarian was killed by one of his robots--unthinkable under the laws of Robotics--or he was killed by the woman who loved him so much that she never came into his presence!
Views: 854

Jeremy Poldark

Book 3 of the beloved Poldark novels, now the subject of a forthcoming major new series on Masterpiece™ on PBS® Ross Poldark faces the darkest hour of his life in this third novel of the Poldark series. Reeling from the tragic death of a loved one, Captain Poldark vents his grief by inciting impoverished locals to salvage the contents of a ship run aground in a storm—an act for which British law proscribes death by hanging. Ross is brought to trial for his involvement, and despite their stormy marriage, Demelza tries to rally support for her husband, to save him and their family. But there are enemies in plenty who would be happy to see Ross convicted, not the least of which is George Warleggan, the powerful banker whose personal rivalry with Ross grows ever more intense and threatens to destroy the Poldarks. And into this setting, Jeremy Poldark, Ross and Demelza’s first son, is born... The Poldark series is the masterwork of Winston Graham’s life work, evoking the period and people like only he can and creating a work of rich and poor, loss and love, that you will not soon forget.
Views: 854

The Golden Ocean

In the year 1740, Commodore (later Admiral) George Anson embarked on a voyage that would become one of the most famous exploits in British naval history. Sailing through poorly charted waters, Anson and his men encountered disaster, disease, and astonishing success. They circumnavigated the globe and seized a nearly incalcuable sum of Spanish gold and silver, but only one of the five ships survived. This is the background to the first novel Patrick O'Brian ever wrote about the sea, a precursor to the acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series that shares the excitement and rich humor of those books. The protagonist is Peter Palafox, son of a poor Irish parson, who signs on as a midshipman, never before having seen a ship. Together with his lifelong friend Sean, Peter sets out to seek his fortune, embarking upon a journey of danger, disappointment, foreign lands, and excitement. Here is a tale certain to please not only admirers of O'Brian's work but also any reader with an adventurous soul.
Views: 853

The Heart of the Matter

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JAMES WOOD Scobie, a police officer serving in a wartime West African state, is distrusted, being scrupulously honest and immune to bribery. But then he falls in love, and in doing so he is forced to betray everything he believes in, with drastic and tragic consequences.
Views: 853

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin is an original classic by Beatrix Potter. Beatrix Potter's famous tale of a naughty squirrel who loses his tail is as popular today as it was when it was first published over 100 years ago. Join Nutkin, his brother Twinkleberry and all his cousins as they make their way over to Owl Island to gather nuts. See what happens when Old Brown, the terrifying owl guardian of the island decides he has had enough of silly Nutkin's cheekiness! Ouch!! Beatrix Potter is regarded as one of the world's best-loved children's authors of all time. From her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, published by Frederick Warne in 1902, she went on to create a series of stories based around animal characters including Mrs. Tiggy-winkle, Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle-duck, Mr. Jeremy Fisher and Tom Kitten. Her humorous, lively tales and beautiful illustrations have become a natural part of childhood. With revenue from the sales of her books, Beatrix Potter bought a farm - Hill Top - in the English Lake District, where she later became a farmer and prize-winning sheep breeder. She launched the now vast merchandise programme by patenting the very first Peter Rabbit doll in 1903. The product range continues to grow today with licences around the world including baby clothing and bedding, nursery decor products and collectables. Upon her death, Beatrix Potter left 14 farms and over 4000 acres of Lake District farmland to the National Trust so that the place that she loved would remain undeveloped and protected for future generations to enjoy. Today Beatrix Potter's original 23 tales are still published by Frederick Warne, alongside a wide range of other formats including baby books, activity books and gift and sound books. The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin is number two in Beatrix Potter's series of 23 little books. Look out for the rest! 1 The Tale of Peter Rabbit 2 The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin 3 The Tailor of Gloucester 4 The Tale of Benjamin Bunny 5 The Tale of Two Bad Mice 6 The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle 7 The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher 8 The Tale of Tom Kitten 9 The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck 10 The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies 11 The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse 12 The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes 13 The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse 14 The Tale of Mr. Tod 15 The Tale of Pigling Bland 16 The Tale of Samuel Whiskers 17 The Tale of The Pie and the Patty-Pan 18 The Tale of Ginger and Pickles 19 The Tale of Little Pig Robinson 20 The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit 21 The Story of Miss Moppet 22 Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes 23 Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes
Views: 851

The Final Hour

The Bouchards, by a stroke of the pen or a word in the right ear, could change the destiny of nations--and they did. But all was not well within the family fortress....There was Henri. He was consumed by his lust for power--and his illicit passion for another man's wife. ANd Celeste. She had devoted her life to her husband, Peter. But Peter had failed her as a man. She detested Henri but she could not resist his strength. And Peter. He was an invalid for his courage threatened to expose the treachery of the Bouchards....
Views: 851

Never Victorious, Never Defeated

Taylor Caldwell, whom millions know for her powerful novels about American industrial dynasties, writes here in the vein of her greatest successes. Her theme is one welling from the heart-springs of American life - the story of the Interstate, a railroad founded in the latter days of Jackson's presidency, which grew through one hundred stormy, changeful years of our history into a vast enterprise; and the story of the extraordinary family with whom its fortunes were intertwined, the deWitts. It is 1866. In the small Pennsylvania city of Portersville, headquarters of the Interstate, old Aaron deWitt watches enigmatically as his two sons struggle for control of the railroad he founded.
Views: 851

The Blind Owl

Considered the most important work of modern Iranian literature, The Blind Owl is a haunting tale of loss and spiritual degradation. Replete with potent symbolism and terrifying surrealistic imagery, Sadegh Hedayat's masterpice details a young man's despair after losing a mysterious lover. And as the author gradually drifts into frenzy and madness, the reader becomes caught in the sandstorm of Hedayat's bleak vision of the human condition. The Blind Owl, which has been translated into many foreign languages, has often been compared to the writing of Edgar Allan Poe.
Views: 850

In Dubious Battle

This 1936 novel—set in the California apple country—portrays a strike by migrant workers that metamorphoses from principled defiance into blind fanaticism. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Views: 850

Valdez Is Coming: A Novel

Touching on the themes of the popular FX series Justified featuring U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens, Valdez Is Coming is New York Times bestselling author Elmore Leonard's classic western tale of corruption, justice, and vengeance. Forced to gun down an innocent man, part-time sheriff Roberto Valdez is nearly killed and run out of town when he seeks justice for the dead man’s family. But the same townsfolk who laughed at Valdez’s dark skin, mocked his decency, and tied him to a cross will find themselves on the wrong side of a gun when the lawman comes back to deliver his own brand of justice.
Views: 850

Five Go to Smuggler's Top

The Five find adventure, when they spend Easter vacation at Mr. Lenoir's sinister house Smuggler's Top. Set high above an eerie marsh, the house is honeycombed with hidden staircases and tunnels that once served as a hideaway for smugglers. When strange lights begin to appear, the Five suspect that the tunnels are once more in use.
Views: 850