Classics World Literature

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908) was the greatest writer ever to come from Brazil and one of the masters of nineteenth-century fiction. Susan Sontag calls him "the greatest writer ever produced in Latin America", surpassing even Borges. Harold Bloom says that Machado is "the supreme black literary artist to date". And Allen Ginsburg calls him "another Kafka". And The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas is his masterpiece, a dazzling, tragic, and profound novel that belongs next to the greatest works of his contemporaries Melville and Dostoevsky.

The New Organon is the second part of Bacon's philosophical work, The Great Instauration on the renewal of the sciences, which was published in 1620. The title refers to Aristotle's work Organon - meaning “trumpeter” - a treatise on logic and syllogism. Bacon’s work offers a new method of investigating nature, named “the Interpretation of Nature”.

First published in 1910, this classic book is considered Ehret's health masterpiece. He explains how to successfully conduct and complete a fast in order to gain maximum strength and energy for joyful living. Also included are essays based on Ehret's teachings by Fred Hirsch and long-time devotee Teresa Mitchell.

Théophile Gautier est l'un des maîtres du fantastique et les aventures de ses personnages sont fascinantes, elles n'ont pas pris une ride depuis sa création : la puissance d'évocation et de mystère est intacte, et traverse le temps jusqu'à nous.

Written in 1900 by Nikola Tesla, this book gives great ideas on automation, agriculture, energy, and increasing human output to improve the human condition.

Les aventures inachevées de ces deux copistes sont composées de dix chapitres : Rencontre, Agriculture, Sciences, Histoire, Littérature, Politique, Amour, Philosophie, Religion, Éducation. Toutes leurs tentatives d'éruditions seront toutefois vouées à l'échec. Bouvard et Pécuchet, à travers ces insuccès permanents, témoigne de l'histoire de la faiblesse de l'intelligence humaine où tout savoir est systématiquement détruit par un autre savoir.

This is the first complete English-language translation of a classic of Yiddish literature, one of the great comic novels of the 20th century. The Zelmenyaners describes the travails of a Jewish family in Minsk that is torn asunder by the new Soviet reality. Four generations are depicted in riveting and often uproarious detail as they face the profound changes brought on by the demands of the Soviet regime and its collectivist, radical secularism.

Livy continues his magnificent epic, with Rome in complete ruin after the Gallic invasion and sack of the city in 310 B.C. Led by Camillus, one of Rome's great heroic patricians, the city regains her self-confidence and once more becomes the leader of the Latin people. Painstakingly rebuilding alliances, forging friendships, cementing relations among her own people, and fighting endless wars, Rome soon becomes the dominant power among the fractious Italic tribes on the Latin plain.

Exilé dans la tribu des Natchez, René raconte à la demande de Chactas et du père Souël, l'histoire de son passé et de son existence malheureuse. En proie à des tourments méconnus, il aspire au suicide. Pour l'en empêcher, sa sœur Amélie lui apporte le réconfort de sa présence ; mais elle dépérit aussi d'un mal inconnu et s'exile à son tour dans un couvent.

Lady Isabel Carlyle leaves her husband and children for the aristocratic Francis Levison, who, as it turns out, has no intention of marrying her. Having been disfigured in a train accident, the unrecognizable Isabel then takes up the position of governess to her own children in the Carlyle household, with tragic consequences.

Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880), known by her pen name George Eliot, was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Her novels are known for their realism and psychological insight. Four of them are included in this volume: Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda, The Mill on the Floss, and The Lifted Veil.

One of the greatest of all horror writers, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) also composed pioneering tales that seized upon the scientific developments of an era marked by staggering change. In this collection of 16 stories, he explores such wide-ranging contemporary themes as galvanism, time travel and resurrection of the dead.

Slowbridge's customs have been set in stone by Lady Theobald, who has decreed that young ladies should always wear white muslin to social events and that their only decoration should be fresh flowers - which invariably wilt by the end of the evening. Enter Octavia, bedecked in yards of lace and ribbons and with a profusion of diamond jewelry. She is soon informed that only married ladies wear diamonds in England. She makes other mistakes: Young ladies do not ask men to join them on terraces; they do not invite men to play croquet on their lawns.

"The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha", or more simply "Don Quixote", is one of the most influential works of literature from a Spanish author. It is one of the earliest canonical novels, and is regularly cited as the best work of fiction ever published. A nameless hidalgo read so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and decides to set out into the world as a knight, to bring justice under the name Don Quixote. The delusional hidalgo then recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, whose unique wit proves a marvelous addition to Don Quixote's idealistic bouts.

Par un rigoureux après-midi d'hiver, le riche marchand Brekhoußnov décide d'aller négocier l'achat d'une forêt chez un hobereau du voisinage. Nikita, son valet de ferme, et son cheval bai Belle-Face l'accompagnent. En cours de voyage, ils sont surpris par une violente tempête de neige. Ne pouvant laisser passer une bonne affaire, Brekhounov s'acharne à vouloir continuer sa route. Cette décision sera une grave erreur car le temps est désastreux, le cheval se fatigue et ils se perdent.

At the end of the 19th century, Jewish writers began writing in Yiddish and creating for the first time popular literature that brought alive the small dramas, struggles, and joys of ordinary life. Sholem Aleichem was one of the very few modern writers who spoke for an entire people. This collection of stories includes the title piece and seven other tales.

There’s only one way for Professor George Edward Challenger to prove that dinosaurs still roam the earth. He invites skeptical journalist Edward Malone to accompany him and a group of adventurers to see the creatures with his own eyes. But when they arrive at the fantastic volcanic plateau in the Amazon where time stands still, their expedition quickly becomes one of survival. With its cliff-hanging escapes, rousing humor, and nailbiting suspense, The Lost World is a pioneering work of fantasy-adventure that paved the way for every thrill ride to follow.

These masterly poems span the whole of Nabokov's career from "Music", written in 1914, to the short, playful "To Vera", composed in 1974. The works are newly translated by Dmitiri Nabokov, and include "The University Poem", an extraordinary autobiographical poem in which Nabokov recalls his life in Cambridge, with its crooked alleys and age-old gates, teas at the vicar's and British girls. Included to are such poems as "To Russia" ("Will you leave me alone! I implore you!), the enchanting "Eve", and verse about America, sport, love, and poetry itself.

The Art of War and The Book of Five Rings are two of the most iconic works of literature ever written, regardless of genre. The perceptiveness with which Sun Tzu and Miyamoto Musashi analyzed human behavior and tendencies apply to strategy in virtually any context, from warfare to business and beyond. In The Master of Strategy Collection, AOG brings you both of these timeless works in full and unabridged, along with extensive supplemental study and discussion materials.

In this important book, G.K. Chesterton offers a remarkably perceptive analysis of social and moral issues, even more relevant today than in his own time. With a light, humorous tone but a deadly serious philosophy, he comments on errors in education, on feminism vs. true womanhood, on the importance of the child, and other issues, using incisive arguments against the trendsetters’ assaults on the common man and the family.