Various Readers
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Antony and Cleopatra (1607) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Inspired by Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives-a series of biographies on influential figures of the ancient world-Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra sometime between 1599 and 1601. Often considered a sequel of sorts to his earlier play Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra has served as source material for countless film and television adaptations. "Let Rome in Tiber melt,...
2) Richard III
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Believed to have been written in 1591, William Shakespeare's "Richard III" is one of the bards first plays, the first installment in a tetralogy of plays which includes "Henry IV, Part I," "Henry IV, Part II," and "Henry V." One of the longest of Shakespeare's plays and consequently rarely performed unabridged, "Richard III" is the story of the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of King Richard III of England. The play begins with...
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Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) is a metatheatrical drama by Luigi Pirandello. Viewed as an important work of absurdist literature, the play was a critical failure when it was first, staged in Rome. Revised by its author and bolstered by successful performances in New York City, Six Characters in Search of an Author has been, recognized as a pioneering examination of the nature of creativity, the relationship of the director and actors...
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Gerald Arbuthnot receives a promotion from Lord Illingworth, a worldly politician who has a sordid history of women, one of whom is Gerald's widowed mother. When their connection is revealed, the young man questions his past, present and future aspirations.
A Woman of No Importance opens with a high-class party featuring a group of society's most illustrious citizens. In the midst of the event, Gerald Arbuthnot enters and announces his new position...
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Although one of his lesser known plays, Shakespeare's considerable abilities as a playwright are readily apparent in "Troilus and Cressida." This historical and tragic 'problem play', thought to be inspired by Chaucer, Homer, and some of Shakespeare's history-recording contemporaries, is initially a tale of a man and woman in love during the Trojan War. When Cressida is given to the Greeks in exchange for a prisoner of war, Troilus is determined to...
6) King John
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First published in the "First Folio" in 1623 and likely written in the 1590s, "King John" is one of William Shakespeare's best historical plays. It centers on the events of King John's reign of England during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. King John, son of Henry I of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, inherits the throne after the death of his older brother, King Richard I. John's claim to the throne is challenged by the King of...
7) Tom Jones
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Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:
• New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars
• Biographies of the authors
• Chronologies of contemporary...
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Fearing for the safety of her young child's life, a young slave called Roxy swaps her light-skinned baby with that of her master. Her master's child grows up as a slave, while Roxy's child grows up as a white man called "Tom" who becomes cruel and ends up leading a life crime. The book is a cutting indictment of a society based on racial prejudice and slavery brimming with Twain's characteristic wit and irony. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835—1910),...
9) Henry IV
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Classic Books Library presents this new beautiful edition of William Shakespeare's play, "Henry VI, Part 1", featuring a specially commissioned new biography of William Shakespeare. In the first instalment of a trilogy set during the War of the Roses, Henry VI rises to King following the death of his father, Henry V. As England's military hold in France dwindles, rivalry runs high between the Houses of York and Somerset, leading to Lord Talbot's defeat...
10) Henry VIII
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Henry VIII - William Shakespeare - King Henry VIII has one of the fullest theatrical histories of any play in the Shakespeare canon, yet has been consistently misrepresented, both in performance and in criticism. This edition offers a new perspective on this ironic, multi-layered, collaborative play, revealing it as a complex meditation on the progress of Reformation which sees English life since Henry VIII's day as a series of bewildering changes...
11) Henry V
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Believed to have been written in 1599, William Shakespeare's "Henry V" forms the final installment of a tetralogy of plays, which includes "Richard II", "Henry IV, Part I", and "Henry IV, Part II". The play focuses on the events surrounding the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War. Henry, who is introduced in the earlier plays as a wild and undisciplined youth, has now come of age and ascended to the thrown following the death of his...
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During her prolific career, popular English children's writer Edith Nesbit wrote or collaborated on over sixty books of fiction for children in her illustrious literary career. In "Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare" first published as "The Children's Shakespeare" in 1897, she turns her attention to a series of interpretations of several of William Shakespeare's best-known comedies and dramas. These retellings of many of Shakespeare's plays are written...
13) Richard II
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Classic Books Library presents this new beautiful edition of William Shakespeare's play, "Richard II". This edition features a specially commissioned new biography of William Shakespeare. The play is the first in Shakespeare's tetralogy chronicling the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, and covers the battle for power between King Richard and Henry Bolingbroke (who would eventually be Henry IV). Embezzlement, exile and an uprising...
14) An Ideal Husband
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First performed in 1895, "An Ideal Husband" is Oscar Wilde's classic and much-loved comedic drama. The play tells the story of an up-and-coming politician, Sir Robert Chiltern, who tries to hide his secret past from his judgmental wife and the blackmail scheme he is forced to participate in to keep that secret quiet. Lady Chiltern has a very particular idea of what makes the "ideal husband" which leaves her with little tolerance for Sir Robert's all...
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Valentine and Proteus are devoted comrades ― until they travel to Milan and meet Silvia, the Duke's ravishing daughter. Torn between the bonds of friendship and the lure of romance, the two gentlemen are further bedeviled by Proteus's prior commitment to Julia, his hometown sweetheart, and the Duke's disdain for Valentine. Thus the stage is set for a comic spree involving a daring escape into a forest, capture by outlaws, and the antics of a clown...
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Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited. "The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the "story" of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare's language intact. Specific stage directions...
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Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince and Other Stories(1888) is an inscrutable, magical fairy tale collection that has filled readers of all ages with joy and wonder. Each story explores profound truths of love, morality, and suffering; yet there is a poignant beauty that shines through each of these remarkable and timeless tales.
The opening story, "The Happy Prince" is set in a town full of suffering, where a little sparrow who had been abandoned by...
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First published in 1653, Izaak Walton's "The Compleat Angler" is a classic and much-loved treatise on the art of fishing. Immediately popular after its publication, "The Compleat Angler" was reprinted and updated numerous times by Walton. Written as a conversation between the fictional characters of the experienced angler Piscator and his student Viator, which was changed to a hunter named Venator in later editions, the treatise is part an instructional...
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When a mysterious houseboat appears on the river Styx, it brings an influx of famous souls who begin to flock towards the new favored location. A Houseboat on the Styx is a series of different stories that tie into one exciting narrative.
Charon is a mythological character who navigates the Styx river under the guidance of Hades. The water acts as a border between the living world and the afterlife. As a ferryman, Charon transports deceased souls...
20) The Aeneid
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The Aeneid, by Vergil, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:
• New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars
• Biographies of the authors
• Chronologies of contemporary...