The poems of Rabindranath Tagore are among the most haunting and tender in Indian and in world literature, expressing a profound and passionate human yearning. His ceaselessly inventive works deal with such subjects as the interplay between God and the world, the eternal and transient, and with the paradox of an endlessly changing universe that is in tune with unchanging harmonies. Poems such as "Earth" and "In the Eyes of a Peacock" present a picture of natural processes unaffected by human concerns, while others, as in "Recovery - 14," convey the poet's bewilderment about his place in the...

Jaroslav Hasek's black satire, the inspiration for such works as Joseph Heller's Catch-22
Good-natured and garrulous, Svejk becomes the Austro-Hungarian army's most loyal Czech soldier when he is called up on the outbreak of the First World War - although his bumbling attempts to get to the front serve only to prevent him from reaching it. Playing cards, getting drunk and becoming a general nuisance, the resourceful Svejk uses all his natural cunning and genial subterfuge to deal with the doctors, police, clergy and officers who chivvy him towards battle. The story of a...

Inspiring poets from Ben Jonson and Alexander Pope to W. H. Auden and Robert Frost, the writings of Horace and Persius have had a powerful influence on later Western literature. The Satires of Persius are highly idiosyncratic, containing a courageous attack on the poetry and morals of his wealthy contemporaries even the ruling emperor, Nero. The Satires of Horace, written in the troubled decade ending with the establishment of Augustus s regime, provide an amusing treatment of men s perennial enslavement to money, power, glory, and sex. Epistles I, addressed to the poet s...

A dazzling Urdu epic that evokes a magical Indo-Muslim world
Originally composed in the fourteenth century and made popular in 1803 by Mir Amman's colloquial retelling, this wonderfully entertaining story paints a portrait of a distant and colorful time and place. In despair at having no son to succeed him, the king of Turkey leaves his palace to live in seclusion. Soon afterward, however, he encounters four wandering dervishes-three princes and a rich merchant-who have been guided to Turkey by a supernatural force that prophesied their meeting. As the five men sit together in the...

Enduring and profound, among the earliest and most popular of all books of fables

First recorded 1500 years ago, but taking its origins from a far earlier oral tradition, the Pancatantra is ascribed by legend to the celebrated, half-mythical teacher Visnu Sarma. Asked by a great king to awaken the dulled intelligence of his three idle sons, the aging Sarma is said to have composed the great work as a series of entertaining and edifying fables narrated by a wide range of humans and animals, and together intended to provide the young princes with vital guidance for life. Since...

Widely read and beloved for more than a thousand years, the Hitopadesa (Book of Good Counsels) is an anthology of folk wisdom that offers humorous and profound reflections on human lives and loves, philosophies and follies. Drawing on traditional sources, Narayana presents classic tales as narrated by animals, resulting in a work that is a fascinating blend of fable and satire.

A collection of the world's most beloved fables

Jean de la Fontaine popularized some of our most loved proverbial tales, including "The Hare and the Tortoise" and "The Hen Who Laid Golden Eggs," transforming the world's great fables into charming works of astonishing originality, wit, and verve. James Michie's earthy translations capture the friendly brio, nimble comedy, and jaunty wisdom of the original. Black-and-white line drawings by J. J. Grandville introduce each fable.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the...

A masterpiece of ancient Chinese philosophy, second in influence only to the Tao Te Ching
One of the founders of Taoism, Chuang Tzu was firmly opposed to Confucian values of order, control, and hierarchy, believing the perfect state to be one where primal, innate nature rules. Full of profundity as well as tricks, knaves, sages, jokers, unbelievably named people, and uptight Confucians, The Book of Chuang Tzu perceives the Tao-the Way of Nature- not as a term to be explained but as a path to walk. Radical and subversive, employing wit, humor, and shock tactics,...

Ken Kesey's bracing, inslightful novel about the meaning of madness and the value of self-reliance

Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the seminal novel of the 1960s that has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian...

Unrivaled in its range and intensity, the poetry of World War I continues to have a powerful effect on readers. This newly edited anthology reflects the diverse experiences of those who lived through the war, bringing together the words of poets, soldiers, and civilians affected by the conflict. Here are famous verses by Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, and Wilfred Owen; poetry by women writing from the home front; and the anonymous lyrics of soldiers' songs. Arranged thematically, the selections take the reader through the war's stages, from conscription to its aftermath, and offer a blend...