Edited and translated by Paul Auster, this selection from Joubert's notebooks introduces a master of the enigmatic who seeks "to call everything by its true name" while asking us to "remember everything is double." "Joubert speaks in whispers," Auster writes. "One must draw very close to hear what he is saying."

    The title esay consider's time's transforming effect on arrt, meditating on the erosion of a statue and the resulting production of a new, sublime work of art.

    Forced to select his ‘queen’ he settles on the Chantal’s housekeeper, Mademoiselle Pearl. Now looking upon Mademoiselle Pearl with a new found curiosity – while at the same time realising that the Chantal’s treat the Mademoiselle as something more than a housekeeper – Gaston questions Chantal about Mlle Pearl’s background."It's the most intriguing story I ever heard. Imagine coming into the world like that! Imagine such a boring family having such a wonderful secret."

    It was a huge critical and commercial success in France and abroad, a precursor of the Romantic movement. The novel's author, Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, had previously spent 28 months in the French colony of Ile de France (now Mauritius) in 1778-80. This extended exposure to the island not only inspired Paul et Virginie, but also led to one of the period's fullest and most fascinating accounts of a colonial society and its daily life.First published in 1773, Voyage'a L'Isle de France is now available in this newly translated and annotated edition -- Journey to Mauritius. Mixing indignation with a lyrical appreciation of the island's beauty, Bernardin provides us with one of the earliest examples of a walking guide as he details Mauritius' sights and landscapes. An introduction sets this travel account in its historical context, discussing Bernardin's life and ideas.

    

    . . . [Cranston] seems to know exactly what his readers need to know, and thoughtfully enriches the background—both physical and intellectual—of Rousseau's youthful peregrinations . . . . He makes the first part of Rousseau's life as absorbing as a picaresque novel. His fidelity to Rousseau's ideas and to his life as it was lived is a triumph of poise."—Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker"The most outstanding achievement of Professor Cranston's own distinguished career."—Robert Wokler, Times Literary SupplementMaurice Cranston (1920-1993), a distinguished scholar and recipient of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his biography of John Locke, was professor of political science at the London School of Economics. His numerous books include The Romantic Movement and Philosophers and Pamphleteers, and translations of Rousseau's The Social Contract and Discourse on the Origins of Inequality.