Best of
Literature

1857

Les Fleurs du Mal


Charles Baudelaire - 1857
    Tableaux Parisiens condemns the crushing effects of urban planning on a city's soul and praises the city's anti-heroes including the deranged and derelict. Le Vin centers on the search for oblivion in drink and drugs. The many kinds of love that lie outside traditional morality is the focus of Fleurs du Mal while rebellion is at the heart of Révolte.

Complete Barchester Chronicles


Anthony Trollope - 1857
    Anthony Trollope offers the complete six-novel collection of his acclaimed Barchester Chronicles, a narrative of clerical drama within the cathedral city.

Flowers of Evil and Other Works/Les Fleurs du Mal et Oeuvres Choisies : A Dual-Language Book (Dover Foreign Language Study Guides) (English and French Edition)


Charles Baudelaire - 1857
    Line-by-line English translation, with original French text on facing page.

The Flowers of Evil & Paris Spleen


Charles Baudelaire - 1857
    I recognize Baudelaire's voice in these translations."--Anna Balakian. Includes an incisive introduction to Baudelaire's life, work and influence on modern poetry.

The Letters of Gustave Flaubert, 1830-1857


Gustave Flaubert - 1857
    Sensuous, witty, exalted, ironic, grave, analytical, the letters illustrate the artist's life--and they trumpet his artistic opinions--in an outpouring of uninhibited eloquence.An acknowledged master of translation, Francis Steegmuller has given us by far the most generous and varied selection of Flaubert's letters in English. He presents these with an engrossing narrative that places them in the context of the writer's life and times. We follow Flaubert through his unhappy years at law school, through his tumultuous affair with Louise Colet; we share his days and nights amid the temples and brothels of Egypt, then on to Palestine, Turkey, Greece, and Rome. And the letters chronicle one of the central events in literary history--the conception and composition of what has been called the first modern novel, Madame Bovary. Steegmuller's selection concludes with Flaubert's standing trial for immoral writing, Madame Bovary's immediate popular success, and Baudelaire's celebration of its psychological and literary power.Throughout this exposition in Flaubert's own words of his views on life, literature, and the passions, readers of his novels will be powerfully reminded of the fertility of his genius, and delighted by his poetic enthusiasm. "Let us sing to Apollo as in ancient days," he wrote to Louise Colet, "and breathe deeply of the fresh cold air of Parnassus; let us strum our guitars and clash our cymbals and whirl like dervishes in the eternal hubbub of forms and ideas!"Flaubert's letters are documents of life and art; lovers of literature and of the literary adventure can rejoice in this edition.

Barchester Towers and The Warden


Anthony Trollope - 1857
    Rich in wit, satire, and memorable characters, the books portray the well-ordered world of English provincial society suddenly troubled by scandal and ecclesiastical intrigue.In THE WARDEN, the kind, innocent Reverence Septimus Harding is challenged by indignant church reformers - while his lovely daughter Eleanor finds herself, to his dismay, falling in love with her father's accuser.Trollope's lively story continues in BARCHESTER TOWERS, regarded by many as his masterpiece. Here the formidable Mrs. Proudie, the bishop's wife, does battle with both her one-time protege Mr. Slope and the conservative party led by Archdeacon Grantly; the result is social comedy of the highest order.This Bantam Classic edition reprints in their entirety both THE WARDEN and BARCHESTER TOWERS, the two inspired the acclaimed television series, BARCHESTER CHRONICLES.

Granny's Wonderful Chair


Frances Browne - 1857
    When Snow-flower, from her nook in the kitchen, said, "Chair of my grandmother, take me to the highest banquet hall," "instantly the chair marched in a grave and courtly fashion out of the kitchen, up the grand staircase, and into the highest hall." There it told the following stories to the king and queen, the fair lords and ladies, the many fairies, and notable people from other lands: The Christmas Cuckoo, The Lords of the White and Gray Castles, The Greedy Shepherd, The Story of Fairyfoot, The Story of Childe Charity, Sour and Civil, and The Story of Merrymind. Numerous black and white illustrations by noted artist Katharine Pyle complement the text. Suitable for ages 7 and up.