Pater was shocked at the reaction his book inspired: 'I wish they would not call me a hedonist, it gives such a wrong impression to those who do not know Greek.'.The book had begun as a series of idiosyncratic, impressionistic critical essays on those artists that embodied for him the spirit of the Renaissance; by collecting them and adding his infamous Conclusion, Pater gained a reputation as a daring modern philosopher. But The Renaissance survives as one of the most innovative pieces of cultural criticism to emerge from the nineteenth century.

    A passionate love story set against the ugly political backdrop of repression, torture, and murder, "The Noli," as it is called in the Philippines, was the first major artistic manifestation of Asian resistance to European colonialism, and Rizal became a guiding conscience—and martyr—for the revolution that would subsequently rise up in the Spanish province.

    This edition covers everything including his novels, Christmas books, short stories, Christmas short stories, collaborations, non-fiction, poetry, and plays. Also, you can easily navigate through chapters using the linked Table of Contents found at the start of this edition. Purchase this Charles Dickens Collection and treat yourself to the following list of works by this classic British Author: Novels: The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836-1837) Oliver Twist (1837-1839) The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839) The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841) Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty (1841) The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-1844) Dombey and Son (1846-1848) David Copperfield (1849-1850) Bleak House (1852-1853) Hard Times: For These Times (1854) Little Dorrit (1855-1857) A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Great Expectations (1860-1861) Our Mutual Friend (1864-1865) The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol (1843) The Chimes (1844) The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) The Battle of Life (1846) The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848) Short Story Collections: Sketches by Boz (1836) The Mudfog Papers (1837) Master Humphrey’s Clock (1840-1841) Reprinted Pieces (1861) The Uncommercial Traveller (1860–1869) Short Stories: The Lamp Lighter (1838) To be Read at Dusk (1852) The Lazy Tour of Idle Apprentices (1857) The Signal Man (1866) George Silverman’s Explanation (1868) Holiday Romance (1868) Christmas Short Stories: A Christmas Tree (1850) What Christmas is as we Grow Older (1851) The Poor Relation’s Story (1852) The Child’s Story (1852) The Schoolboy’s Story (1853) Nobody’s Story (1853) Going Into Society (1858) Somebody's Luggage (1862) Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings (1863) Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy (1864) Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions (1865) Collaborative Works: The Holly-Tree Inn (1855) The Wreck of the "Golden Mary" (1856) The Perils of Certain English Prisoners (1857) A House to Let (1858) The Haunted House (1859) A Message from the Sea (1860) Tom Tiddler's Ground (1861) The Trial for Murder (1865) Mugby Junction (1866) No Thoroughfare (1867) Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Plays: Sunday Under Three Heads (1836) American Notes: For General Circulation (1842) Pictures from Italy (1846) A Child's History of England (1853)

    In an original and dynamic prose style, he portrays such eternal human themes as love, honour and adultery with rich and colourful language. The inspiration for Mascagni's opera, 'Cavalleria Rusticana' depicts a young man's triumphal return home from the army, spoilt when he learns that his beloved is engaged to another man. Verga's acute awareness of the hardships and aspirations of peasant life can be seen in stories such as 'Nedda', 'Picturesque Lives' and 'Black Bread', while others such as 'The Reverend' and 'Don Licciu Papa' show the dominance of the church and the law in the Sicilian communities he portrays so vividly.

    When she is chosen as a lower-ranking concubine she enters the erotically charged and ritualised Forbidden City. But beneath its immaculate façade lie whispers of murders and ghosts, and the thousands of concubines will stoop to any lengths to bear the Emperor's son.Orchid trains herself in the art of pleasuring a man, bribes her way into the royal bed, and seduces the monarch, drawing the attention of dangerous foes. Little does she know that China will collapse around her, and that she will be its last Empress.

    Not a master mason or carpenter, Filippo Brunelleschi was a goldsmith and clock maker. Over twenty-eight years, he would dedicate himself to solving puzzles of the dome's construction. In the process, he did nothing less than reinvent the field of architecture. He engineered the perfect placement of brick and stone (some among the most renowned machines of the Renaissance) to carry an estimated seventy million pounds hundreds of feet into the air, and designed the workers' platforms and routines so carefully that only one man died during the decades of construction. This drama was played out amid plagues, wars, political feuds, and the intellectual ferments of Renaissance Florence - events Ross King weaves into a story to great effect. An American Library Association Best Book of the Year Boston Globe: "An absorbing tale." Los Angeles Times: "Ross King has a knack for explaining complicated processes in a manner that is not only lucid but downright intriguing... Fascinating."

     A young prostitute seeking temporary refuge from the brothel, Rachel awakens in a beautiful garden in Arles to discover she is being sketched by a red-haired man in a yellow straw hat. This is no ordinary artist but the eccentric painter Vincent van Gogh—and their meeting marks the beginning of a remarkable relationship. He arrives at their first assignation at No. 1, Rue du Bout d'Arles, with a bouquet of wildflowers and a request to paint her—and before long, a deep, intense attachment grows between Rachel and the gifted, tormented soul. But the sanctuary Rachel seeks from her own troubled past cannot be found here, for demons war within Vincent's heart and mind. And one shocking act will expose the harsh, inescapable truth about the artist she has grown to love more than life.

    Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her. After a time at the opera house, she begins hearing a voice, who eventually teaches her how to sing beautifully. All goes well until Christine's childhood friend Raoul comes to visit his parents, who are patrons of the opera, and he sees Christine when she begins successfully singing on the stage. The voice, who is the deformed, murderous 'ghost' of the opera house named Erik, however, grows violent in his terrible jealousy, until Christine suddenly disappears. The phantom is in love, but it can only spell disaster.Leroux's work, with characters ranging from the spoiled prima donna Carlotta to the mysterious Persian from Erik's past, has been immortalized by memorable adaptations. Despite this, it remains a remarkable piece of Gothic horror literature in and of itself, deeper and darker than any version that follows.

    The last of Italo Calvino's works to appear during the author's lifetime, Collection of Sand is a group of essays never before published in English, discussing subjects ranging from cuneiform and antique maps to Mexican temples and Japanese gardens.

    Caesar and Cleopatra satirizes Shakespeare's use of history and comments wryly on the politics of Shaw's own time, but the undertone of melancholy makes it one of his most affecting plays.

    This classic play, which provided the inspiration for Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors", draws heavily on the theme of mistaken identity.

    Under the watchful gaze of his young assistant and the threatening presence of a new generation of artists, Mark Rothko takes on his greatest challenge yet: to create a definitive work for an extraordinary setting.A moving and compelling account of one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, Mark Rothko, whose struggle to accept his growing riches and praise became his ultimate undoing.

    Together they build a fulfilling life around the most menial of jobs—Benfu’s work collecting trash. As he sorts through the discards of others, he regularly discovers abandoned children. With unwavering determination, he and Calli spend decades creating a family of hand-picked daughters that help heal the sorrow and brighten their modest home. But all is not perfect and when crisis threatens to separate their family, Benfu—or possibly his band of headstrong daughters—must find a way to overcome the biggest hardship yet. Inspired by a true story, and set against the backdrop of a country in transition, The Scavenger’s Daughters is a sweeping present day saga of triumph in the face of hardship, and the unbreakable bonds of family against all odds.

    A moving and hilarious account of a spring day in a small Welsh coastal town, Under Milk Wood is "lyrical, impassioned and funny, an Our Town given universality" (The New Statesman and Nation).

    After a fall from his horse, an Italian aristocrat wakes up believing he is the medieval German emperor Henry IV. Twenty years later the woman he once loved visits him, accompanied by her lover and psychiatrist, who plans to shock "Henry" back to sanity. But is "Henry" as mad as they think? And what is madness anyway?