Twenty-five contemporary stories from five cultures far different from our own bring us the distinct flavours and sights, values and conflicts of modern Africa, China, India, Japan, and Latin America. But against the totally foreign and exotic backdrops, the powerful dramas and relationships that come to life are universal and instantly familiar. Bringing together the works of writers as diverse as Bessie Head, Lu Wenfu, Mahasweta Devi, Yuko Tsushima, and Luisa Valenzuela, this unique collection of world literature expands our cultural horizons."This collection of contemporary multi-cultural fiction includes stories by: Bessie Head * Charles Mungoshi * Ngugi wa Thiong'o * Wang Anyi * Ding Ling * Wang Meng * Chen Rong * Lu Wenfu * Anita Desai * Mahasweta Devi * Ruth Prawer Jhabvala * R. K. Narayan * Khushwant Singh * Kobo Abe * Sawako Ariyoshi * Yasunari Kawabata * Yukio Mishima * Yuko Tsushima  * Carlos Fuentes * Luisa Valenzuela * Nadine Gordimer * Isabel Allende

    Each story contains the common elements of the gothic tale--a warped sense of time, a claustrophobic setting, a link to archaic modes of thought, and the impression of a descent into disintegration. Yet taken together, they reveal the progression of the genre from stories of feudal villains amid crumbling ruins to a greater level of sophistication in which writers brought the gothic tale out of its medieval setting, and placed it in the contemporary world. Bringing together the work of such writers as Eudora Welty, Thomas Hardy, Edgar Allan Poe, William Faulkner, Arthur Conan Doyle, Joyce Carol Oates, and Jorge Luis Borges, The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales presents a wide array of the sinister and unsettling for all lovers of ghost stories, fantasy, and horror.

    Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected — and most popular — of its kind. The Best American Short Stories 2011 includes Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Megan Mayhew Bergman, Jennifer Egan, Nathan Englander, Allegra Goodman, Ehud Havazelet, Rebecca Makkai, Steven Millhauser, George Saunders, Mark Slouka, and others

    From Walter Pater's study, "The Renaissance to Salome, the truly decadent collaboration between Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley, Karl Beckson has chosen a full spectrum of works that chronicle the British artistic achievement of the 1890s. In this revised edition of a classic anthology, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" has been included in its entirety; the bibliography has been completely updated; Professor Beckson's notes and commentary have been expanded from the first edition published in 1966. The so-called Decadent or Aesthetic period remains one of the most interesting in the history of the arts. The poetry and prose of such writers as Yeats, Wilde, Symons, Johnson, Dowson, Barlas, Pater and others are included in this collection, along with sixteen of Aubrey Beardsley's drawings.CONTENTSJohn Barlas - Oblivion / The Memphian Temple / The Dancing Girl / Beauty's Anadems / The Cat Lady / Terrible Love / My Lady's BathAubrey Beardsley - The Ballad Of A Barber / The Story of Venus & Tannhauser (with illustrations)Max Beerbohm - A Defence of Cosmetics / A Letter To The Editor / DiminuendoOlive Custance (Lady Alfred Douglas) - Peacocks (A Mood) / The Masquerade / Hyacinthus / The White Statue / Statues / Candle-LightLord Alfred Douglas - Apologia / Two Loves / Impression De Nuit / Rejected / Ode To My Soul / The Dead PoetErnest Dowson - Nuns Of The Perpetual Adoration / Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae / O Mors! Quam Amara Est Memoria... / Villanelle Of Sunset / Extreme Unction / Exile / Benedictio Domini / Spleen Michael Field - From Baudelaire / The Poet / A Dance Of Death / La Gioconda / A Dying ViperJohn Gray - On A Picture / Poem / A Crucifix / Parsifal Imitated From The French Of Paul Verlaine / Femmes Damnees / The Barber / Le Voyage a Cythere / MishkaLionel Johnson - The Cultured Faun / The Church Of A Dream / Mystic And Cavalier / To A Passionist / In Honorem Doriani Creatorisque Eius / The Destroyer Of A Soul / The Dark Angel / Nihilism / A Decadent's LyricRichard Le Gallienne - To The Reader / The Decadent To His Soul / Beauty Accurst / Sunset In The City / A Ballad Of London / The Boom In YellowArthur Symons - The Decadent Movement In Literature / Emmy / Maquillage / Morbidezza / Prologue: Before The Curtain / Prologue: In The Stalls / To A Dancer / La Melinite: Moulin Rouge / Javanese Dancers / By The Pool At The Third Rosses / Hallucination: I / Violet: Prelude / From Stephane Mallarme: Herodiade / Being A Word On Behalf Of Patchouli / Preface To The Secons Edition Of London NightsOscar Wilde - The Decay Of Lying: An Observation / Salome / Phrases And Philosophies For The Use Of The Young / Symphony In Yellow / The Harlot's House / Impression Du Matin / Helas / The Ballad Of Reading GaolTheodore Wratislaw - Opoponax / Satiety / Frangipani / Palm Sunday / Orchids / White Lilies / Sonnet Macabre / Hothouse FlowersWilliam Butler Yeats - The Lake Isle Of Innisfree / The White Birds / Rosa Mundi / To The Rose Upon The Rood Of Time / O'Sullivan Rua To Mary Lavell / The Secret Rose / The Song Of Wandering Aengus / Aedh Wishes For The Clothes Of HeavenAPPENDIXWalter Pater - from Studies In The History Of The RennaisanceJoris-Karl Huysmans - from AGAINST THE GRAINRobert Smythe Hichens - from THE GREEN CARNATIONMostyn Piggot - The Second Coming Of Arthur (A Satire Of The Yellow Book)from Silverpoints

    With her own inexorable but utterly unpredictable logic and her almost uncanny ability to conjure the strange states of mind and emotion that constitute our daily consciousness, Eisenberg pulls us as if by gossamer threads through her characters—a tormented woman whose face determines her destiny; a group of film actors shocked to read a book about their past; a privileged young man who unexpectedly falls into a love affair with a human rights worker caught up in an all-consuming quest that he doesn't understand.In Eisenberg’s world, the forces of money, sex, and power cannot be escaped, and the force of history, whether confronted or denied, cannot be evaded. No one writes better about time, tragedy and grief, and the indifferent but beautiful universe around us.

    The title novella, "Raise the Red Lantern," which became a critically acclaimed film, tells the story of Lotus, a young woman whose father's suicide forces her to become the concubine of a wealthy merchant. Crushed by loneliness, despair, and cruel treatment, Lotus finds her descent into insanity both a weapon and a refuge."Nineteen Thirty-Four Escapes" is an account of a family's struggles during one momentous year; plagued by disease, death, and the shady promise of life in a larger town, the family slowly disintegrates.Finally, "Opium Family" details the last years of a landowning clan whose demise is brought about by corruption, lust, and treachery -- fruits of the insidious crop they harvest.

    The novel’s frank portrayal of a woman’s emotional, intellectual, and sexual awakening shocked the sensibilities of the time and destroyed the author’s reputation and career. Many years passed before this short, pioneering work was recognized as a major achievement in American literature.Set in and around New Orleans, The Awakening tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother who, determined to control her own life, flouts convention by moving out of her husband’s house, having an adulterous affair, and becoming an artist.Beautifully written, with sensuous imagery and vivid local descriptions, The Awakening has lost none of its power to provoke and inspire. Additionally, this edition includes thirteen of Kate Chopin’s magnificent short stories.--back coverStories Included in the Volume:The AwakeningEmancipation: A Life FableA Shameful AffairAt the ‘Cadian BallDésirée’s BabyA Gentleman of Bayou TêcheA Respectable WomanThe Story of an HourAthénaïseA Pair of Silk StockingsElizabeth Stock’s One StoryThe StormThe GodmotherA Little Country Girl

     Selected by five hundred writers, English professors, and creative writing teachers from across the country, this collection includes only the most highly regarded nonfiction work published since 1970. Contents:The fourth state of matter by Jo Ann BeardGetting along with nature by Wendell BerryThe pain scale by Eula BissThe unwanted child by Mary Clearman BlewTorch song by Charles BowdenEmbalming Mom by Janet BurrowayPhysical evidence by Kelly Grey CarlisleThe glass essay by Anne CarsonBurl's by Bernard CooperVisitor by Michael W. CoxLiving like weasels by Annie DillardReturn to sender by Mark DotyLeap by Brian DoyleSomehow form a family by Tony EarleyKissing by Anthony FarringtonThe beautiful city of Tirzah by Harrison Candelaria FletcherSun dance by Diane GlancyMirrorings by Lucy GrealyPresent tense Africa by William HarrisonReading history to my mother by Robin HemleyWorld on a hilltop by Adam HochschildA small place by Jamaica KincaidHigh tide in Tucson by Barbara KingsolverSmall rooms in time by Ted KooserThe essayist is sorry for your loss by Sara LevineMastering the art of French cooking by E. J. LevyPortrait of my body by Phillip LopateFlight by Barry LopezThe undertaking by Thomas LynchSorry by Lee MartinInterstellar by Rebecca McClanahanBad eyes by Erin McGrawThe search for Marvin Gardens by John McPheeThe date by Brenda MillerSon of Mr. Green Jeans by Dinty W. MooreCelibate passion by Kathleen NorrisThis is not who we are by Naomi Shihab NyeAutopsy report by Lia PurpuraWatching the animals by Richard RhodesShitdiggers, mudflats, and the worm men of Maine by Bill RoorbachRepeat after me by David SedarisImelda by Richard SelzerThe Pat Boone Fan Club by Sue William SilvermanA measure of acceptance by Floyd SklootBlack swans by Lauren SlaterThe love of my life by Cheryl StrayedMother tongue by Amy TanIf you knew then what I know now by Ryan Van MeterConsider the lobster by David Foster WallaceHawk by Joy Williams

    From the trilogy's darker themes of violence and social control to fashion and weaponry, the collection's exploration of the Hunger Games reveals exactly how rich, and how perilous, protagonist Katniss' world really is.• How does the way the Games affect the brain explain Haymitch's drinking, Annie's distraction, and Wiress' speech problems?• What does the rebellion have in common with the War on Terror?• Why isn't the answer to "Peeta or Gale?" as interesting as the question itself?• What should Panem have learned from the fates of other hedonistic societies throughout history and what can we?The Girl Who Was On Fire covers all three books in the Hunger Games trilogy.

    Stories increasingly change point of view, switch location, and sometimes pack as much material as a short novel might,” writes guest editor Elizabeth Strout. “It’s the variety of voices that most indicates the increasing confluence of cultures involved in making us who we are.” The Best American Short Stories 2013 presents an impressive diversity of writers who dexterously lead us into their corners of the world.In “Miss Lora,” Junot Díaz masterfully puts us in the mind of a teenage boy who throws aside his better sense and pursues an intimate affair with a high school teacher. Sheila Kohler tackles innocence and abuse as a child wanders away from her mother, in thrall to a stranger she believes is the “Magic Man.” Kirstin Valdez Quade’s “Nemecia” depicts the after-effects of a secret, violent family trauma. Joan Wickersham’s “The Tunnel” is a tragic love story about a mother’s declining health and her daughter’s helplessness as she struggles to balance her responsibility to her mother and her own desires. New author Callan Wink’s “Breatharians” unsettles the reader as a farm boy shoulders a grim chore in the wake of his parents’ estrangement.“Elizabeth Strout was a wonderful reader, an author who knows well that the sound of one’s writing is just as important as and indivisible from the content,” writes series editor Heidi Pitlor. “Here are twenty compellingly told, powerfully felt stories about urgent matters with profound consequences.”

    This early novel explores the cavernous landscapes and labyrinthine passages of Sicily's castles and convents to reveal the shameful secrets of its all-powerful aristocracy.

    And here, for the first time, is an anthology of poems from the show, chosen by Keillor for their wit, their frankness, their passion, their "utter clarity in the face of everything else a person has to deal with at 7 a.m." Good Poems includes verse about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendance. It features the work of classic poets, such as Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost, as well as the work of contemporary greats such as Howard Nemerov, Charles Bukowski, Donald Hall, Billy Collins, Robert Bly, and Sharon Olds. It's a book of poems for anybody who loves poetry whether they know it or not.

    'Where I'm Calling From', his last collection, encompasses classic stories from 'Cathedral', 'What We Talk About When We Talk About Love' and earlier Carver volumes, along with seven new works previosly unpublished in book form. Together, these 37 stories give us a superb overview of Carver's life work and show us why he was so widely imitated but never equaled.

    Long recognized as very applied and practical, Eggen and Kauchak's Educational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms, seventh edition is now even more applied and concise, giving students exactly what they need to know in the course. The author's hallmark cases remain, in both written and videotape format, to introduce real-world applications in a way that no other text can. Along with expanded applications to diversity (urban, suburban, and rural areas), technology, and a new pedagogical system that completely restructures how information is delivered in the book and will help students really understand what they should be getting out of every single chapter. The text now comes with two new DVDs of video material and an access code for the new Teacher Prep Website that will be automatically shrinkwrapped with all new copies of the text. Educational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms once again truly fulfills the promise of its title, giving students a window on the classrooms in which they will someday teach.

    Screenwriter, director, and star of the acclaimed film Me and You and Everyone We Know, Miranda July brings her extraordinary talents to the page in a startling, sexy, and tender collection.