Alma Books Manon Lescaut Прево Антуан-Франсуа

Славу аббату Прево принесли не многотомные громоздкие романы, на которые он был такой мастак, а небольшая повесть «История кавалера де Грие и Манон Леско» о необыкновенной любви незаурядного юноши и юной девушки, в образе которой, по выражению Мопассана, воплотилось «все, что есть самого увлекательного, пленительного и низкого в женщинах»

Сопроводительная статья и примечания Евгения Гунста • Роман аббата Прево (1697-1763) "Манон Леско" (1831) неизменно попадает в списки литературных шедевров, в какой бы стране они ни составлялись. Множество книг и статей посвящено тому, почему этот короткий роман о любви так трогает сердца. Вот одна из первых рецензий: "Книга написана с таким мастерством, что даже порядочные люди сочувствуют мошеннику и публичной девке". Но сочувствие возникло далеко не у всех: сразу же после первой публикации роман был запрещен и двадцать лет ходил в самиздате. Автор был вынужден изъять некоторые сцены и написать "предуведомление", в котором он назвал роман "нравственным трактатом, изложенным в виде занимательного рассказа". Анатоль Франс иронично назвал эту уловку "шалью, наброшенной на плечи мадемуазель Манон"

When the young nobleman Des Grieux lays eyes on the beautiful and charming Manon Lescaut, he immediately falls in love with her, and they elope to Paris, incurring the wrath of his family and forfeiting his inheritance. However, he struggles to satisfy her taste for luxury, frittering away the little he has left, and his domestic bliss finally disintegrates when he finds out that Manon has betrayed him for a rich lover • Although causing scandal on its initial publication in 1731 and subsequently being banned, Manon Lescaut proved very popular with eighteenth-century readers, and remains one of literature's finest and most evocative depictions of obsessive love

Alma Classics edition of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer contains 3,000 notes and 30 pages extra material • "And specially from every shires ende • Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende, • The hooly blisful martir for to seke, • That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke." • Assembling at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, a group of pilgrims begin their journey to Canterbury Cathedral. To entertain themselves on the long road, their host suggests that they regale each other with stories, with the teller of the best tale set to earn a free supper • The pilgrims correspond to all sections of medieval society, from the crusading knight to the drunken cook, and their tales span a range of genres, including the comic ribaldry and deception of 'The Miller's Tale' and the story of chivalry and courtly romance told by the Franklin

Inspired by Boileau's Lutrin and illustrating the debate within European intellectual circles between the "Ancients", who argued that all essential knowledge was to be found in classical texts, and the "Moderns", who claimed that contemporary learning superseded the old sources, The Battle of the Books shows Swift at his wittiest and most trenchant. In this early satire, various books in St James's Library take on a life of their own and come into conflict with one another, in a pastiche of the heroic epic genre • As well as providing humorous reflections on the nature of scholarship and education, Swift seizes the opportunity to take swipes at several authors and critics. The result is a timeless and entertaining parody by one of the most enduringly popular writers in the English language

Roberta, Phyllis and Peter have their comfortable lives in London thrown into disarray by the unexpected disappearance of their father. They are forced to move to a small cottage in the countryside with their mother, who struggles to make ends meet by writing books. The children find solace in a stretch of railway track and the station nearby, and befriend the railway porter, who teaches them about running the station, and an old gentleman who takes the 9.15 train every day. Through this love of the trains they are led on many exciting adventures, including a quest to discover the secret of their father's disappearance • One of the most popular children's books ever written, E. Nesbit's tale has enchanted generations of readers since it was first released in 1906

Meet Miss Charlotte… a modern Mary Poppins who wears a large hat and a crumpled dress that maker her look like a scarecrow, and she talks to a rock! • When the mysterious and eccentric Miss Charlotte arrives in the village of Saint-Anatole to take over the tiny library, the locals are surprised to find out that she does things differently. Wearing a long blue dress and a giant hat, she takes her books out for a walk in a wheelbarrow and shows the children that reading can be fun and useful. Sometimes she is so caught up in the magic of the stories she shares with her audience that she forgets all sense of reality – so much so that one day she loses consciousness and the children must find a way to bring her back • The second in Dominique Demers’s popular Adventures of Miss Charlotte series, The Mysterious Librarian, brilliantly illustrated by Tony Ross, is a wonderful story about the magical and inspiring power of books

The founding father of modern Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin has exerted - through his novel in verse Eugene Onegin, his plays, his short stories and his narrative poetry - a long-lasting influence well beyond the borders of his motherland. A slightly lesser-known, but by no mean less important aspect of his writing is his vast production of shorter verse, a genre at which he excelled and arguably still remains unsurpassed • This volume, part of Alma's series of the complete poetic works of Alexander Pushkin, collects the poems Pushkin wrote during his time in St Petersburg as a young intellectual and his subsequent stay in the Caucasus and the Crimea, and includes many signifi cant poems of his early maturity, such as "My Homeland", "Something or Nothing?" and "A Storm", each presented in a verse translation opposite the original Russian text

Миссис Рэмзи обещает своим гостям, что на следующий день они вместе отправятся к маяку, вид на который открывается из окон их летнего домика. Однако этот визит состоится лишь спустя десять лет, за которые семье Рэмзи придется пережить войну и горе утраты. Это путешествие позволит героям познать себя • Данное издание является частью серии Alma Classics и Virginia Woolf Collection и содержит критический аппарат и материалы для дополнительного чтения, в том числе фотографии и примечания • По мотивам произведения был снят фильм «На маяке» • Книга на английском языке • When Mrs Ramsay tells her guests at her summer house on the Isle of Skye that they will be able to visit the nearby lighthouse the following day, little does she know that this trip will only be completed ten years later by her husband, and that a gulf of war, grief and loss will have opened in the meantime

Пилот, совершивший жёсткую посадку в пустыне Сахара, встречает мальчика, который представляется Маленьким принцем и рассказывает историю о том, как он рос на своём крошечном астероиде, путешествовал по галактикам, и наконец, попал на Землю. Его открытия и встречи, взгляды, наполненные невинной детской непосредственностью, вызывают у каждого взрослого сильнейшую рефлексию о жизни и природе человека • Впервые опубликованная в 1943 году с акварельными авторскими иллюстрациями повесть «Маленький принц» Антуана де Сент-Экзюпери быстро стала классикой философской сказки для юного и взрослого читателя. Произведение обладает миллионными тиражами и переведено на десятки языков • В 2015 году по книге снят одноимённый мультфильм • Книга на английском языке

Под давлением своего начальника, трудоголика Ривьера, пилот почтового самолёта Фабьен соглашается на опасный полёт во время ночной грозы в Аргентине. По мере того, как погода ухудшается, и поддерживать связь с Фабьеном становится труднее, Ривьер начинает сомневаться в своих бескомпромиссных методах, а когда жена Фабьена приходит искать мужа, беспокойство начальника перерастает в тяжёлую вину • Роман «Ночной полёт» Антуана де Сент-Экзюпери основан на его собственном опыте работы пилотом коммерческих авиалиний. Это трагическое размышление о долге, судьбе и личности аутентично показывает безрассудство ранних воздушных путешествий • Книга на английском языке • Under the pressure of his boss, the intransigent Riviere, the airmail pilot Fabien attempts a perilous flight during a heavy night-time thunderstorm in Argentina

Candide is an innocent young nobleman who leads an idyllic, sheltered life and has adopted the optimistic mindset promoted by his tutor Dr Pangloss. But after committing an indiscretion and being expelled from his family home, Candide finds himself on a journey that will take him to Portugal, Argentina, Britain and Turkey and expose him to torture, war, shipwreck and natural disasters, leading him to question whether he is really living in the “best of possible worlds” • Published in 1759, when it became a best-seller and stirred up much controversy, Candide is an exhilarating picaresque romp and a biting satire by one of the Enlightenment’s major figures that still resonates to this day