Penguin Popular Classics

`Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see. She has deceived her father, and may thee'

A soldier of great standing and a newly married man, Othello seems to be in an enviable position. And yet, when his supposed friend sows doubts in his mind about his wife's fidelity, he is gradually consumed by suspicion. İn this tragedy of strange, ornate beauty and remarkable psychological power, innocence is corrupted, and goodness and happiness are wantonly destroyed.

'İt makes evil specific and precise and human' Sam Mendes 

General Introduction by Stanley Wells

Edited by Kenneth Muir

Introduction by Tom McAlindon

"Lord of the Flies" is a novel that has captivated schoolchildren ever since it was first published in 1954. A teacher himself, Golding clearly understood what excites and interests children. It is not only a gripping story, with strong, sympathetic characters, but it also raises timeless and profound questions. Part of its lasting appeal, particularly in schools, surely arises from the way it tackles universal issues. The novel is a catalyst for thought-provoking discussion and analysis, not only concerning the capabilities of humans for good and evil and the fragility of moral inhibition, but beyond. The boys' struggle to find a way of existing in a community with no fixed boundaries invites readers to evaluate the concepts involved in social and political constructs and moral frameworks. Ideas of community, leadership, and the rule of law are called into question as the reader has to consider who has a right to power, why, and what the consequences of the acquisition of power may be. All of these concerns are current today and can be easily related to the novel through effective teaching and learning.

Revered in eleventh-century Persia as an astronomer, mathematician and philosopher, Omar Khayyam is now known first and foremost for his Ruba'iyat. The short epigrammatic stanza form allowed poets of his day to express personal feelings, beliefs and doubts with wit and clarity, and Khayyam became one of its most accomplished masters with his touching meditations on the transience of human life and of the natural world. One of the supreme achievements of medieval literature, the reckless romanticism and the pragmatic fatalism in the face of death means these verses continue to hold the imagination of modern readers.In This translation Persion scholar Peter Avery and poet John Heath-Stubbs have collaborated to recapture the sceptical unorthodox spirit of the original by providing a near literal English version of the original verse,This edition also includes a map appendices a bibliography and an introduction examining the ruba'i form and Khayyam's life and times.

'A money value is only guaranteed as long as money itself is guaranteed'

Unfinished at the time of Marx's death in 1883 and first published with a preface by Frederick Engels in 1894, the third volume of Das Kapital strives to combine the theories and concepts of the two previous volumes in order to prove conclusively that capitalism is inherently unworkable as a permanent system for society. Here, Marx controversially asserts that - regardless of the efforts of individual capitalists, public authorities or even generous philanthropists - any market economy is inevitably doomed to endure a series of worsening, explosive cries leading finally to complete collapse. But end of capitalism will culminate in the birth of a far greater form of society.

David Fernbach's translation captures the clarity and brilliance of Marx's original work. The introduction, by Ernest Mandel, explores the position of the volume as part of wider work, explains Marxist thought and considers its long term influence.

'If wages rise, the capitalists will increase the prices of their commodities'

A vital cornerstone to Marx's overall theory of economics, the secon volume of Capital considers in depth the nature of commodity and the market-place in bourgeois society. Exploring the manner in wich capitalist society must lead inevitably to a 'spiralling movement' of unbalanced growth and social crisis, it argues forcefully that the mass production of goods distributed rapidly around the globe causes wealth to be placed increasingly in the hands of the few, at the expense of the basic human needs of the many. As Marx also shows here, a thriving capitalist society necessarily tends towards over-production, leading to vast economic convulsions. This immensely powerful work argues that prosperity in a capitalist society inevitably holds within itself the seeds of its own destruction.

David Fernbach's translation captures the clarity and brilliance of Marx's original work. The introduction, by Ernest Mandel, explores the position of the volume as part of the wider work, explains Marxist thought and considers its long-term influence.

'Let us finally imagine, for a change, an association of free men, working with the means of production held in common'

One of the most notorious works of modern times, as well as one of the most influentinal, Capital is an critique of private propertly and the social relations it generates. Living in exile in England, where this work was largely written, Marx drew on a wide-ranging  knowledge of its society to support his analysis and create fresh insights. Arguing that capitalism would cause an ever-increasing division in wealth and welfare, he predicted its abolition and replacement by a system with common ownership of the means of production. Capital rapidly acquired readership among the leaders of social democratic parties, particularly in Russia and Germany, and ultimately throughout the world, to become a work described by Marx's friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels as 'the Bible of the working class.'

In his introduction, Ernest Mandel illuminates a revolutionary theory whose impact on the turbulent events of the twentieth century has become ever more apparent.

'Dazzling'
-The New York Times

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's great masterpiece is the story of seven generations of the Buendia family and of Macondo, the town they have built. Though littler more than a settlement surrounded by mountains, Macondo has its wars and disasters, even its wonders and miracles. A microcosm of Colombian life, its secrets lie hidden, encoded in a book, and only Aureliano Buendia can fathom its mysteries and reveal its shrouded destiny. Blending political reality with magic realism, fantasy with comic invention, One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the most daringly original works of the twentieth century.

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature