Kafka began writing what he had entitled Der Verschollene (The Missing Person) in 1912 and wrote the last completed chapter in 1914. But it wasn’t until 1927, three years after his death, that Max Brod, Kafka’s friend and literary executor, edited the unfinished manuscript and published it as Amerika. Kafka’s first and funniest novel, Amerika tells the story of the young Karl Rossmann who, after an incident involving a housemaid, is banished by his parents to America. Expected to redeem himself...
Set in a near future (the novel was first published in 1961 and is set in the period 1970-73), this is Angus Wilson's most allegorical novel, about a doomed attempt to set up a reserve for wild animals. Simon Carter, secretary of the London Zoo, has accepted responsibility and power to the prejudice of his gifts as a naturalist. But power is more than just the complicated game played by the old men at the zoo in the satirical first half of this novel: it lies very near to violence, and in the...
From the author of the international bestseller `Wetlands', a raw and taboo-breaking novel of sex, death, and marriage. `It's easier to give a blow job than to make coffee.' That's what Elizabeth Kiehl, devoted mother of a seven-year-old, thinks to herself after a particularly inventive bout of sex with her husband Georg. She goes to great efforts to pleasure her husband in the bedroom and beyond, doing whatever it takes to make him happy. Elizabeth is also an extremely thoughtful and...
Martin Eden (Best Novel Classics, #34) (Classics Illustrated JES, JES31)
by Jack London
The semi-autobiographical "Martin Eden" is the most vital and original character Jack London ever created. Set in San Francisco, this is the story of Martin Eden, an impoverished sea-man who pursues, obsessively and aggressively, dreams of education and literary fame. London, dissatisfied with the rewards of his own success, intended "Martin Eden" as an attack on individualism and a criticism of ambition; however, much of its status as a classic has been conferred by admirers of its ambitious pr...
Three Men in a Boat (Humor Classics, #4) (Dover Value Editions)
by Jerome Klapka Jerome