The three poems represented in the book are the most distinguished works of the poet.

    Included here, in addition to his classic novels and short story collections, is a group of "uncollected" short stories, some of which have never appeared in book form. We have sought, wherever possible, to use only first editions of London's work - the only way, we feel, to convey the truly original spirit of London's boundless imagination, his insight into humankind's passion for adventure, and his gripping life view.Three novels...and 54 short stories, some of them never available in book form, that exemplify two sides of Jack London (1876-1916): the quiet, contemplative writer of San Francisco and the bruising, lusty adventurer of the Yukon and the Pacific. - THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWCover Illustration: Gill Cohen

    . . By his compassion, clarity of insight, and crystal-bright prose, [Updike] makes Rabbit's sorrow his and out own.The Washington Post"Precise, graceful, stunning, he is an athlete of words and images. He is also an impeccable observer of thoughts and feelings."The Village VoiceRABBIT REDUX"Great in love, in art, boldness, freedom, wisdom, kindness, exceedingly rich in intelligence, wit, imagination, and feeling -- a great and beautiful thing . . . these hyperboles (quoted from a letter written long ago by Thomas Mann) come to mind after reading John Updike's Rabbit Redux.The New York Times Book Review "Updike owns a rare verbal genius, a gifted intelligence and a sense of tragedy made bearable by wit. . . . A masterpiece.Time

    By their selection of verses and by the personal and critical reactions they express, the selectors offer intriguing insight into their own work.

    Primo Levi emerged not only as one of the most profound and haunting commentators on the Holocaust but also as a great writer on many twentieth-century themes. Here is an anthology of writings that he considered to be essential reading. As Peter Forbes says in his Introduction, In the context of the twenty-first century, all of Levi's choices are striking; they exhibit a kind of chastened curiosity rare in our time, and an undiminished sense of wonder and horror at a universe that has such things in it. Most of the pieces, as Levi comments, reflect the fundamental dichotomies that face us all. Many have their roots in Levi's experience of Auschwitz, and in their startling juxtaposition they give the impression of a world turned upside down. One of the most important Italian writers. --Umberto Eco

    It is also a tale of mothers and daughters, their mutual rebellion and unconscious mimicry. Rose grew up with an emotionally crippled, narcissistic mother while her father, a veteran gambler, spent his waking hours in the garden cut off from his wife's harangues. Now an adult, Rose works her way through a string of unhealthy love(less) affairs. After a brief, unhappy marriage, she slips more deeply and dangerously into the lair of a parasitic, cocaine-fed artist whose sensual and manipulative ways she grows addicted to in the bohemian squalor of Venice.

    His essays consider Van Gogh, Cezanne, Rembrandt, Cranach, Watteau, Fragonard, Brueghel and his own brother Karl and also discuss general topics such as the character of the artist and of the dilettante as well as the differences between painters and poets. Every piece is marked by Walser’s unique eye, his delicate sensitivity, and his very particular sensibilities—and all are touched by his magic screwball wit.