Penguin Classics

A meticulously detailed and moving novel explores the lives of American fighter pilots in World War Two. Goodbye Mickey Mouse is a vivid evocation of wartime England, the story of a group of American fighter pilots flying escort missions over Germany in the winter of 1943-4. At the centre of the novel are two young men — the deeply reserved...

These essays, reviews and articles illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of this century - a man who created a unique literary manner from the process of thinking aloud and who elevated political writing to an art.

A selection of the most inspiring and influential writings from groundbreaking Norwegian environmentalist Arne Naess, in Penguin Modern Classics for the first time. Philosopher, mountaineer and visionary Arne Naess was a key inspiration for the environmental movement in his lifetime and remains vital today as the father of the Deep Ecology movement. Drawing on Naess's own time spent living in...

Step into the unsettling world of Shirley Jackson this autumn with a collection of her finest, darkest short stories. There's something nasty in suburbia. In these deliciously dark tales, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts, and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In the...

Written by a Communist insider, Conversations With Stalin is a candid portrait of one of the most dangerous men in history. This extraordinarily vivid and unnerving book details three meetings held with Stalin during and after the Second World War. Djilas brilliantly describes the dictator in his lair—cunning, cruel, and enormously talented. Few books give as clear a sense of...

Calvino's fascinating and cerebral collection of essays celebrating all aspects of the visual, translated for the first time and new to Penguin Modern Classics. Italo Calvino claimed that 'the brain begins in the eye'. The essays collected here display his fascination with the visual universe, in which the things we see tell a truth about the world. With encyclopedic knowledge...

A man at his desk is interrupted by the appearance of a woodland elf in his room; the piano maestro Bachmann ends his career; a barber shaves the face of a man who once tortured him; a shy dreamer makes a deal with the Devil. In these sixty-five stories of magic and melancholy, Nabokov displays an astonishing range of inventiveness,...

The first part in a trilogy of novels, Cities of the Red Night satirises modern society in a shocking story of sex, drugs, disease, and adventure. An opium addict is lost in the jungle; young men wage war against an empire of mutants; a handsome young pirate faces his execution; and the world's population is infected with a radioactive epidemic....

“We're not Christians, Christ stopped short of here, at Eboli.” Exiled to a remote and barren corner of Italy for his opposition to Mussolini, Carlo Levi entered a world cut off from history and the state. It was a land hedged in by custom and sorrow, devoid of comfort or solace, where the peasants lived with an eternal patience amidst...

The final novel featuring Bernard Samson, one of Deighton's most enduring characters, who must return to Berlin for one last case. Bernard Samson returns to Berlin in the final novel in the classic spy trilogy, Faith, Hope and Charity. Bernard continues to chip away at the mystery of his sister-in-law Tessa Kosinski's death in Berlin on the crucial night when...

The book that shocked a generation and introduced Kathy Acker as the enfant terrible of the 1980s literary underground. This is a book about feminism, capitalism, sex, punk, youth, the city, the literary giants, anger, infatuation, and the USA. A teenage coming-of-age story and a glorious, delirious patchwork of prose, poetry, drama, plagiarism, and illustration. Childlike sexual drawings pepper the...

The final spy novel featuring the unnamed hero of The IPCRESS File series finds him up against a Texan billionaire with an all-powerful computer. Texan billionaire General Midwinter will stop at nothing to bring down the USSR—even if it puts the whole world at risk. The fourth and final novel featuring the cynical, insolent narrator of The IPCRESS File sees...

Big Sur is Jack Kerouac's stunningly vivid and gritty second novel, newly added to the Penguin Modern Classics series. In 1960, Jack Kerouac was near breaking point. Driven mad by constant press attention in the wake of the publication of On the Road, he needed to 'get away to solitude again or die'. Seeking refuge, he withdrew to a cabin...

A bestselling collection of short stories from the American master storyteller Mary Gaitskill, author of Bad Behavior. First published in the late 1990s and a bestseller at the time, this incisive collection of short stories explores connection and disconnection in families, between ex-lovers and friends. From a father reflecting on the daughter whose lesbianism he cannot accept, to two people...

The heart-wrenching autobiographical novel that paved the way for feminist writers in Italy ‘To love, to sacrifice oneself, and to submit! Was this what all women were destined for?’ When her carefree, aspirational childhood in a seaside town is brought brutally to an end, the nameless narrator of Sibilla Aleramo's blazing autobiographical novel discovers the shocking reality of life for...

Steven Patrick Morrissey was born in Manchester on May 22nd 1959. Singer-songwriter and co-founder of The Smiths (1982-1987), Morrissey has been a solo artist for twenty-six years, during which time he has had three number 1 albums in England in three different decades. Achieving eleven Top 10 albums (plus nine with The Smiths), his songs have been recorded by David...

First published in two volumes in 1927 and 1929, with a second edition in 1940, this is Gandhi's account of his early spiritual progress towards truth and the circumstances of his life that led him to a practical application of the principles of conduct for which he was revered.

He's a writer who, once you read him, makes you want to read everything he's done - Martin Amis, Sunday Times Prosperous, good-looking, and empty inside, 28-year-old advertising executive David Bell appears on the surface to have everything. But he is a man on the brink of losing his sanity. Trapped in a Manhattan office with soulless sycophants as his...

New to Modern Classics Amadeus by Peter Shaffer presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a genius, the most brilliant musician the world will ever see. However, the court of eighteenth-century Vienna fails to recognise his talents—only Antonio Salieri, the Court Composer, does, and he is tortured by what he hears. Seething with rage at the genius of this flippant buffoon and...

A breathtaking international bestselling novel about family secrets, and Javier Marías's masterpiece. In the middle of a family lunch, Teresa, just married, goes to the bathroom, unbuttons her blouse and shoots herself in the heart. What made her kill herself immediately after her honeymoon? Years later, this mystery fascinates the young newlywed Juan, whose father was married to Teresa before...

A powerful collection of sermons by Martin Luther King, Jr., published in Penguin Modern Classics for the first time. As Martin Luther King, Jr. prepared for the Birmingham campaign in early 1963, he drafted the final sermons for Strength to Love, a volume of his best-known lectures. King had begun working on the sermons during a fortnight in jail in...

Depicting a young woman's life in Nazi Germany, this is the masterpiece from the author of Child of All Nations. Nineteen-year-old Sanna just wants to drink her beer in peace, but that's difficult when Hitler has come to town and his motorcade is blocking the streets of Frankfurt. What's more, her best friend Gerti is in love with a Jewish...

A sensational and mystical novel from one of the 20th century's greatest modernist writers. A Breath of Life is Clarice Lispector's final novel, "written in agony," which she did not live to see published. Sensual and mysterious, it is a mystical dialogue between a god-like author and the creation he breathes life into—the speaking, shifting, indefinable Angela Pralini. As he...

The Little Black Classics series introduces 46 new books to celebrate the first-ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Love That Moves the Sun and Other Stars by Dante Alighieri evokes happiness beyond all words, portraying a life filled with peace and love, entire and whole.

46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946 He is fond of enigmas, of conundrums, hieroglyphics; exhibiting in his solutions of each a degree of acumen which appears to the ordinary apprehension praeternatural.

With prose that is every bit as raw, intense and bitingly honest as the world it depicts, Barry Hines's A Kestrel for a Knave contains a new afterword by the author in Penguin Modern Classics. Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a disillusioned teenager growing up in a small Yorkshire mining town. Violence is commonplace and he is...

A definitive edition of the iconic American author's most enduring novel, with an introduction and study notes. Drifters in search of work, George and his childlike friend Lennie have nothing in the world except the clothes on their back—and a dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually, they find work on a ranch in...

"You have talked so often of going to the dogs - and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them." George Orwell's vivid memoir of his time among the desperately poor and destitute in London and Paris is a moving tour of the underworld of society. Here he painstakingly documents a world of unrelenting drudgery and squalor. Sleeping...

Beautifully designed, clothbound edition Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. The story of the orphan Oliver Twist, who runs away from the workhouse only to be taken in by a den of thieves, shocked...

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is Shirley Jackson's masterpiece— a deliciously dark and funny story of Merricat, a tomboy teenager, beloved sister, and possible mass murderer. Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was...

Brideshead Revisited, the masterpiece by Evelyn Waugh, is an extraordinary meditation on a lost world. The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by...

Beautifully designed, clothbound edition Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. Charlotte Brontë's first published novel, Jane Eyre, was immediately recognised as a work of genius when it appeared in 1847. Orphaned into the household...

An Inspector Calls, first produced in 1946 when society was undergoing sweeping transformations, has recently enjoyed an enormously successful revival. While holding its audience with the gripping tension of a detective thriller, it is also a philosophical play about social conscience and the crumbling of middle-class values. Time and the Conways and I Have Been Here Before belong to Priestley's...

Beautifully designed, clothbound edition Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole without the least idea what was to happen afterwards, wrote Dodgson, describing how Alice was...

A perfectly plotted, cosy detective story from Seicho Matsumoto, Japan's master of mystery. In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple are discovered. Standing in the coast's wind and cold, the police see nothing to investigate—the flush of the couple's cheeks speaks clearly of cyanide, of a lovers' suicide. But in...

Angle of Repose is an iconic novel of the American West - a deeply moving narrative of one family and the traditions of the past. In 1960s America, Lyman Ward, a retired history professor and author of books about the Western frontier, returns to his ancestral home in the Sierra Nevada. Abandoned by his wife and wheelchair-bound with a debilitating...

Rabbit, Run marks its first time in Modern Classics. It's 1959 and Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom, once a high school sports superstar, finds himself going nowhere. At twenty-six, he is trapped in a second-rate existence—stuck with a fragile, alcoholic wife, a house full of overflowing ashtrays and discarded glasses, a young son, and a futile job. With no way to fix...

The collectible, limited edition box set of all 50 brilliant books in the Penguin Modern series. This box set of the 50 books in the new Penguin Modern series celebrates the pioneering spirit of the Penguin Modern Classics list and its iconic authors. Including avant-garde essays, radical polemics, newly translated poetry, and great fiction, here are brilliant and diverse voices...

The brilliant writings of a highly influential Greek philosopher, with a foreword by Daniel Klein, author of Travels with Epicurus. The teachings of Epicurus—about life and death, religion and science, physical sensation, happiness, morality, and friendship—attracted legions of adherents throughout the ancient Mediterranean world and deeply influenced later European thought. Though Epicurus faced hostile opposition for centuries after his death,...

The History of Sexuality: 1 is the first volume in Michel Foucault's groundbreaking three-part series that delves into the intricate relationship between sexuality and power. An influential intellectual and philosopher, Foucault examines how attitudes towards sex have evolved in Western society, challenging the widely held belief that the Victorian era was a time of sexual repression. Instead, he argues that...

Set against the backdrop of the days leading up to the trial and execution of Socrates in 399 BC, Theaetetus is a profound philosophical dialogue penned by Plato. The narrative revolves around a conversation between Socrates, Theodorus the geometrician, and Theaetetus, an earnest and promising youth. Together, they embark on a quest to explore the essence of knowledge, making this...

A Perfect Spy by John le Carré is widely considered a masterpiece of the spy genre and a cornerstone of contemporary British literature, now proudly featured in Penguin Modern Classics. Le Carré's eleventh novel tells the intricate tale of Magnus Pym, a high-ranking diplomat who mysteriously disappears, sending shockwaves through the intelligence community. The novel follows Magnus Pym's sudden disappearance,...

First published in paperback, this acclaimed new translation of The Qur'an offers English readers a chance to experience one of the most significant religious texts in human history. This sacred scripture of Islam is considered by Muslims to be the infallible word of God, as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel. These divine revelations, which occurred over...

Last Witnesses by Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich is a profoundly moving narrative that delves into the harrowing experiences of Soviet children during the Second World War. Through their recollections, Alexievich paints a vivid and heart-wrenching picture of what it meant to grow up amidst the chaos, destruction, and despair that engulfed the Soviet Union in those dark years. Their stories...

History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky stands as an epic, captivating, and monumental account of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Spanning a wide array of historical, political, and social contexts, Trotsky's narrative delves into the intricate details and dramatic moments that led to the overthrow of the Russian Provisional Government and the establishment of Bolshevik power. Through his...

The paradigm-shifting classic that connected the dots between transatlantic slavery, capitalism and racism. “If one criterion of a classic is its ability to reorient our most basic way of viewing an object or a concept, Eric Williams's study supremely passes that test” – Seymour Drescher Arguing that the slave trade was at the heart of Britain's economic progress, Eric Williams's...

What Is Existentialism? by Simone de Beauvoir provides a profound exploration into the philosophical realm of existentialism, encouraging readers to examine the nature of existence and human freedom. Through meticulous essays and thought-provoking discourse, de Beauvoir delves into the intricacies of how we perceive and interact with the world. The book challenges readers to consider the inherent meaninglessness of life...

The Will to Power is a profound and influential collection of Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts, detailing some of his most crucial and radical reflections on philosophy. The text delves deep into the recesses of nihilism, metaphysics, the philosophy of morality, and the future of Europe, alongside Nietzsche’s enduring concept of the 'will to power'. The idea proposes that the main driving...

The Politics by Aristotle delves into the core questions of political science, offering profound insights into the nature of human society and governance. Rather than presenting a linear plot, the book is a comprehensive analysis of political structures and their impact on society. Aristotle meticulously examines various city constitutions, including oligarchies, democracies, and tyrannies, evaluating each system's strengths and weaknesses...

Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Joyous Science is an intellectual journey that invites readers to explore themes of life, art, ethics, and individuality. This philosophical masterwork is celebrated for its candid and fervent engagement with the essence of human existence. Nietzsche beckons readers into a world where traditional values and beliefs are dismantled, culminating in the radical declaration that ‘God is dead’....

The third and final instalment in the Essential Works of Foucault series, Power explores the compelling and profound writings of Michel Foucault on key issues that have shaped Western political and social discourse. This volume offers an expansive collection of Foucault's articles, interviews, and seminars that delve into the intricate dynamics of power in society. He scrutinises institutions such as...

Early Greek Philosophy by Jonathan Barnes is a compelling anthology that delves into the very roots of Western philosophical thought. This volume brings together the seminal works of the Pre-Socratic philosophers, whose innovative and bold ideas laid the groundwork for the intellectual developments of Plato, Aristotle, and their successors. The thinkers featured in Early Greek Philosophy are renowned not just...

The gripping true story of one man's ten-year expedition from a village in West Africa to the Arctic Circle - a rare gem of travel writing which has inspired a generation. 'The play of moonlight on the icebergs was indescribably strange, and its magnificent refracted shimmers were brighter than day. One night, fooled by its brilliance, I got up at...

John le Carré’s The Russia House is a masterful blend of espionage, romance, and political intrigue, set against the backdrop of the Cold War's most human of moments. The protagonist, Barley Blair, is far from your typical spy. A disillusioned and self-destructive small-time publisher, Barley’s real passions lie in whisky and jazz, not international espionage. During a drunken evening at...

In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell embarks on a harrowing journey through the industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire during the bleak 1930s. Commissioned by the Left Book Club in 1936, Orwell's aim was to report on the living conditions of the working class. What he discovers profoundly changes his perspective and leads to the creation of a...

In The Medium is the Massage, Marshall McLuhan vividly explores the profound impact that different forms of media have on human perception and society. This revolutionary work delves into the ways in which communication mediums – from print and radio to television and newer digital technologies – shape our sensory experiences. Through a combination of words and striking visuals, McLuhan...

The Essays by Michel Montaigne is a timeless collection of musings that delve deep into the human condition, exploring a vast array of themes with unparalleled originality. Without adhering to a strict narrative, Montaigne's essays meander through topics as diverse as personal introspection, philosophical contemplation, and societal critique. His writing is deeply rooted in personal experience, as he reflects on...

The Eclogues by Virgil is an exquisite collection of ten pastoral poems that masterfully blend a Greek literary form with vivid depictions of contemporary Roman life. These poems traverse the tranquil landscapes of rural Italy, where shepherds converse and sing, grappling with the various emotional and socio-political upheavals of their time. Filled with idyllic imagery and poignant emotion, the Eclogues...

In Speaking Out, Albert Camus, renowned for his profound influence on 20th-century literature, offers readers an evocative collection of his most illuminating speeches and lectures. This anthology captures the essence of Camus’ philosophical and moral standpoints, vividly portraying his enduring commitment to humanism, justice, and freedom. Through this definitive collection, readers are invited to journey through pivotal moments in Camus'...

Immerse yourself in the quintessential text on architecture that has influenced generations of builders and designers. On Architecture, written by the Roman architect Vitruvius around 40 BC, delves into the principles and practicalities of architecture, engineering, and urban planning through ten exhaustive chapters. This new illustrated edition from Penguin Classics not only presents Vitruvius' vision with renewed clarity but also...

Set in a dystopian future in the year 1984, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four presents a chilling depiction of a totalitarian regime under the leadership of the Party and its mysterious figurehead, Big Brother. The society is characterized by omnipresent surveillance, incessant propaganda, and severe repression of free thought. Citizens live under the watchful eyes of telescreens, programmed to detect any...

Monkey King, also known as Journey to the West, is one of the pinnacles of Chinese literature, brought to life in a masterful new translation by the award-winning Julia Lovell. This vibrant and imaginative tale, often attributed to Wu Cheng'en, was written during the Ming dynasty and stands as one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. The story unfolds during...

Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson is a splendidly wit-laden memoir that brings to life the humour and chaos of family existence in a rural setting. Written in 1953, Jackson artfully recounts her experiences with her husband and their four spirited children in rural Vermont. Amidst the charming yet unpredictable landscape, life's simple moments are transformed into sources of...

Hot Money by Naomi Klein is a compelling and deeply researched exploration of how unfettered capitalism is imperilling our planet. In this incisive work, Klein meticulously lays out the intricacies of climate science, economic forces, and political policies, revealing a sobering truth: the climate crisis is deeply entwined with the logic of market deregulation and neoliberal dogma. Through a series...

George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is a riveting first-person account of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War. This gripping narrative immerses readers in the complexities of the war that raged through Spain from 1936 to 1939. Orwell, who volunteered to fight against Francisco Franco's fascist forces, recounts his time on the front lines with the militia of the Workers'...

In late 1888, only weeks before his final collapse into madness, Nietzsche embarked on the task of composing his autobiography. Ecce Homo remains one of the most intriguing and bizarre examples of the genre ever written. This extraordinary work traces Nietzsche's life, work, and evolution as a philosopher, presenting an intimate portrait of the man behind some of philosophy's most...

De Profundis and Other Prison Writings by Oscar Wilde offers a profound glimpse into the soul of one of literature's most enigmatic figures during his darkest hours. This collection, edited with an insightful introduction by Colm Tóibín, compiles Wilde's poignant letters and poems penned during his incarceration. It reveals the extraordinary depths of Wilde's emotional and intellectual resilience amidst adversity,...

Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud is a groundbreaking philosophical and psychological treatise that delves into the complex relationship between individual psyche and societal expectations. In this influential work, Freud grapples with the perpetual struggle between man's quest for personal happiness and the restrictive demands of civilized society. He meticulously examines how human beings cope with such dichotomies, exploring...

All the King's Men, first published in 1946, is an acclaimed novel by Robert Penn Warren that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1947. Set against the backdrop of the American South during the 1930s, this literary masterpiece explores the turbulent world of politics through the compelling rise and fall of its protagonist, Willie Stark. The novel begins...

A classic work of social science from the twentieth century's most prophetic critic of capitalism Prospect One of the most powerful books in social sciences ever written. ... A must-read Thomas Piketty The twentieth century's most prophetic critic of capitalism Prospect Tracing the history of capitalism in England and beyond, Karl Polanyi's landmark 1944 classic brilliantly exposed the myth of...

Set against the backdrop of the late 1970s, Rabbit is Rich by John Updike continues the story of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, a man who finds himself at a crossroads in life. No longer the restless youth of earlier novels, Rabbit has settled into middle age with all its trappings of comfort and success. He serves as the Chief Sales Representative...

A Treatise of Human Nature is David Hume's seminal work, where he embarks on an expansive exploration of the complexities of human psychology and the ways in which our minds navigate the world. The book is divided into three parts: the understanding, the passions, and morals, each addressing critical inquiries into human cognition, emotion, and conduct. Published in 1739-40 when...

A collection of some of Dostoyevsky's finest short stories. With their penetrating psychological insight and their emphasis on human dignity, respect, and forgiveness, Dostoyevsky's early short stories contain the seeds of the themes that came to his major novels. Poor Folk, the author's first great literary triumph, is the story of a tragic relationship between an impoverished copy clerk and...

Ethics, published shortly after the death of the Dutch philosopher Benedict Spinoza, stands as his greatest and most impactful work. The book meticulously constructs a holistic philosophical system that delves into the essence of existence and the ethical life. Spinoza employs a rigorous, geometric method, presenting propositions and axioms in a logical progression. This structured approach allows him to systematically...

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate Told in the form of two intensely personal 'letters', The Fire Next Time is an excoriating condemnation of the...

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics - irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas, and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. This candid portrayal of a woman who refuses to accept her allotted role as wife and mother caused an outcry when it was published in 1899. It is the story of Edna Pontellier, who spends...

Miraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back as much as four thousand years, the poem of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is the world's oldest epic, predating Homer by many centuries. The story tells of Gilgamesh's adventures with the wild man Enkidu, and of his arduous journey to the ends of the earth in quest of the Babylonian Noah and the...

Since the original, prewar translation, there has been no completely new rendering of the French original into English. This translation brings to the fore a more sharply engaged, comic, and lucid Proust, creating one of the greatest, most entertaining reading experiences in any language. As the great story unfolds from its magical opening scenes to its devastating end, Penguin makes...

With "long hair in the wind, beards and bandanas flapping, earrings, chain whips...and Harleys flashing chrome", the Hell's Angels erupted into 1960s America, paralysing whole towns with fear. Determined to discover the truth behind the terrifying reputation of these marauding biker gangs, Hunter S. Thompson spent a year on the road with the Angels, documenting his hair-raising experiences with Charger...

In a new translation by Ronald Wilks Notes from Underground (1864) is a study of a single character, "the real man of the Russian majority," and a revelation of Dostoyevsky's own deepest beliefs. One of his best critics has said of the first part that it forms his "most utterly naked pages. Never afterwards was he so fully and openly...