"How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book." wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden. Today that book continues to provoke, inspire, and change lives all over the world, and each rereading is fresh and challenging. Yet as Thoreau's countless admirers know, there is more to the man than "Walden. An engineer, poet, teacher, naturalist, lecturer, and political activist, he truly had multiple lives to lead, and each one speaks forcefully to us today. Sponsored by the Thoreau Society, the brief, handsomely presented books in this series offer the thoughts of great...
"How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book." wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden. Today that book continues to provoke...
In The King, a retelling of Le Morte D'Arthur, Donald Barthelme moves the chivalrous Knights of the Round Table to the cruelty of the Second World War. Dunkirk has fallen, Europe is at the breaking point, Ezra Pound and Lord Haw-Haw are poisoning the radio waves, Mordred has fled to Nazi Germany, and King Arthur and his worshipful Knights are deep in the fighting. When the Holy Grail presents itself--which is, in this version, the atomic bomb, "a superweapon if you will, with which we can chastise and thwart the enemy"--they must decide whether to hew to their knightly ways or adopt a...
In The King, a retelling of Le Morte D'Arthur, Donald Barthelme moves the chivalrous Knights of the Round Table to the cruelty of the Second World ...
National Book Award finalist and two-time Newbery Honor-winning author Gary D. Schmidt recaptures the classic tale of one man's spiritual journey in this contemporary retelling of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, masterfully illustrated with watercolors by artist Barry Moser.Here again is the tale of Christian's epic trek from the City of Destruction to the Heavenly Palaces - of the pitfalls that threaten to waylay him and the graces that strengthen him along the way. Matching Bunyan's flare for storytelling and vivid imagery, Gary Schmidt's new narrative also echoes the style of...
National Book Award finalist and two-time Newbery Honor-winning author Gary D. Schmidt recaptures the classic tale of one man's spiritual journey in t...
First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London's masterpiece. Based on London's experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike.
First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London's masterpiece. Based on London's experiences as a gold prospector in the Cana...
The "calculated pandemonium" of the splendidly irrational kingdom of Wonderland is what Barry Moser set out to capture in illustrating the Lewis Carroll classic.In his seventy-five wood engravings, Moser depicts with consummate invention, wit, and skill the quite exceptional inhabitants and sights of Wonderland-the March Hare, the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat's grin-as reviewed through Alice's eyes. The result is startlingly original. (Alice herself, a mischievous tousle-haired brunette, is a far cry from the prim Alice of earlier artists.)
The "calculated pandemonium" of the splendidly irrational kingdom of Wonderland is what Barry Moser set out to capture in illustrating the Lewis Carro...
Unique among his works, Oscar Wilde's play Salome (1893) was written originally in French. Joseph Donohue's new translation of the horrific New Testament story has recast Wilde's shockingly radical drama in the natural idiomatic language of our own day. Presenting a colloquial and spare American English version of Wilde's consciously stylized French, Donohue's approach gives full value to the Irish author's dark ruminations on evil and perversity in a world on the brink of a new, unsettling Christian dispensation.
The play was first translated into English in 1894 by Wilde's...
Unique among his works, Oscar Wilde's play Salome (1893) was written originally in French. Joseph Donohue's new translation of the horrific ...
Description: In Epitaphs for the Journey: New, Selected and Revised Poems, Paul Mariani revisits forty years of writing poems, including revising many of his earlier lyrics, to shape his latest volume into a life lived and lived again over the past seven decades. The eight sections--or cantos--each composed of twelve poems, cover roughly a decade apiece and contour Mariani's search for answers to the constant interplay of the felt presence of the Mystery we call God as it plays with the modern imagination. Mariani's background is Catholic and broadly classic, and warmly embraces all aspects...
Description: In Epitaphs for the Journey: New, Selected and Revised Poems, Paul Mariani revisits forty years of writing poems, including revising many...
Explore how the dormancy and difficulty of winter can be a time of spiritual preparation and transformation. For many, winter is a time of postponed activity and of shoveling snow, navigating ice, and trying to keep warm. What can easily be forgotten in winter s cold and occasional dreariness is that it can also be a time of shoring up, of purity, praise, delight, and play. In thirty stirring pieces from translated Sanskrit and Hebrew poems to Henry David Thoreau and Basho, Jane Kenyon, John Updike, Kathleen Norris, and Annie Dillard we share in the recognition of winter s hardships and...
Explore how the dormancy and difficulty of winter can be a time of spiritual preparation and transformation. For many, winter is a time of postpone...
As winter's austere power begins to fade, we notice the first signs of vigor and life returning to the world: delicate crocuses pushing through the damp earth; frogs croaking in the barely thawed ponds; the year's first warm breeze on our faces. These first sure signs of spring bolster our spirits and remind us of the eternal cycle of death and rebirth, and also--more poignantly--of the steady march of time and our own advancing years. With each successive spring, it seems, we cherish the promise of renewed life more and more. These thoughtfully chosen writings, poems and meditations--from...
As winter's austere power begins to fade, we notice the first signs of vigor and life returning to the world: delicate crocuses pushing through the...
