Burton Raffel Livres

This superb collection celebrates the astonishing growth of the short storiy in America from the early nineteenth century to the outbreatk of World War II. From the very beginnings of this youngest of literary forms, American writers have played a crucial role in its development. Here are thirty-three of their finest stories, ranging from the brooding romanticism of Hawthorne and Poe to the wit of Twain and Thurber - from the high moral consciousness of James to the sheer high spirits of Saroyan. Taken together, these classic tales form a remarkably rich and vital record of one of our literature's proudest and most original achievements.

George P. Elliott, Bobbie Ann Mason, Blanche McCrary Boyd, Jayne Anne Phillips, Peter J. Taylor, Ann Beattie, Jean Stafford, Richard Ellman, Purdy James, Donald Barthelme, Stanley Elkin, Philip Roth, Richard Yates, John Updike, Grace Paley, Flannery O'Connor, John Cheever, Alice Walker, Mark Helprin, Wright Morris, Robert Greenwood, Leonard Michaels, Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, Joyce Carol Oates, Layle Silbert, Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow, Ivi Goodman, Walter Mosley Jr.

Two Households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona , where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life ; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents'strife. [...] Deux anciennes Maisons d'égale dignité Dans la belle Vérone où se tient notre scène Font un nouvel éclat de leur antique hargne, Le sang civil salit les mains des citoyens. Or dans le sein fatal de ces deux ennemis Deux amants prennent vie sous la mauvaise étoile ; Leur malheureux écroulement très pitoyable Enterre en leur tombeau la haine des parents. Les terribles moments de leur amour mortel Et l'obstination des rages familiales Que rien sinon la mort des deux enfants n'apaisera, Pendant deux heures nous le jouerons sur ce théâtre ; Et si vous nous prêtez une patiente oreille, Tout défaut, notre zèle le rachètera.

Presents a new translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic chronicling the heroic adventures of Beowulf, the Scandinavian warrior who saves his people from the ravages of the monster Grendel and Grendel's mother.

<i>The Annotated Shakespeare series enables today’s readers to understand and enjoy the plays of the world’s greatest dramatist. Comprehensive on-page annotations assist with vocabulary, pronunciation, prosody, and alternative readings of phrases and lines in these handsome and affordable paperback editions. </i> In no other play has Shakespeare created two such equally titanic personages as Rome’s great soldier and statesman Mark Antony and the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. The story of their irresistible attraction, their jealous quarrels and betrayals, and the effects on friends and subjects of their ruinous choices is a tale leading irretrievably to despair and defeat. Their suicides, however, strike us as a kind of triumph. Shakespeare stood at the height of his powers when he penned this great tragedy, one of the last he produced.