In Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, one of the towering figures of English literature is revealed with unparalleled immediacy and originality, in a biography to which we owe much of our knowledge of the man himself. Through a series of richly detailed anecdotes, Johnson emerges as a sociable figure, vigorously engaging and fencing with great contemporaries such as Garrick, Goldsmith, Burney and Burke, and of course with Boswell himself. Yet anxieties...

Russia's first major novel, and still one of the most popular works of Russian fiction, Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls is a comic epic of greed and gluttony that is admired not only for its colorful cast of characters and devastating satire, but also for its moral fervor.

Oedipus has unknowingly killed his father, married his mother and had four children by her. The play centers around how the persons react as they become aware of the facts.

Wise Blood evokes a terrifying world as it reveals a weird relationship between a sluttish young girl, a conniving widow, and a young man who deliberately blinds himself. A Good Man is Hard to Find is a collection of tales about healing preachers, Godless spectators, Civil War veterans, and a never to be forgotten Bible salesman who steals a girl's wooden leg. The Violent Bear It Away tells of a strangely decadent family - three generations of men...

The provocative title of Ayn Rand's The Virtue of Selfishness introduces an equally provocative thesis about ethics. Traditional ethics has always been suspicious of self-interest, praising acts that are selfless in intent and calling amoral or immoral acts that are motivated by self interest. Ayn Rand's view is exactly the opposite. This collection of nineteen essays is an effective summary of Ayn Rand's philosophy, which holds the value of the individual...

APLS GRANT 10-28-2002 $23.95.