Alma Books Moral Fables Leopardi Giacomo

The notorious adventurer and seducer Giacomo Casanova tells of his travels – on the run from the authorities of his native Venice – around northern Europe, poking fun at the ruling classes he encounters there, before focusing on a pivotal incident that occurs in Warsaw. Insulted by a Polish count over an Italian ballerina, Casanova finds himself forced to challenge his rival to a duel, and the sequence of events and their aftermath are described with gusto by the narrator • A rollicking autobiographical account by one of the most iconic figures of eighteenth-century Europe, The Duel is presented here with an extract about the same event from Casanova’s memoirs, written fifteen years later

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

Admired for the poetical heights of his Canti, the gentle wit of his prose dialogues and the soul-searching questionings of his Zibaldone (Notebooks), Leopardi was also an acute social commentator and a sharp dissector of the human mind • Thoughts – a collection of philosophical and critical observations put together for publication by Leopardi himself shortly before his death in 1837 – shows a more light-hearted side to Leopardi’s personality, and offers both those who are familiar with and those who are new to his works a fresh insight into the thought processes and the worldview of Italy’s last great polymath

Dual-Language Edition • First published in 1831, and here presented in a dual-language edition with annotations and additional reading material, Leopardi's poetical masterpiece is an unsurpassed anatomy of man's unhappiness on earth • Trapped between an admiration for the classical past and a disappointment in the impoverished present, Leopardi rejected both the easy allure of Catholic faith and the unbridled optimism proposed by science and the Enlightenment. His unflinching pessimism and existential resolve, here brilliantly rendered in verse by prize-winning translator J.G. Nichols, make him one of the most fascinating and best-loved Italian poets

The adventures of Mowgli, the young man raised by wolves in the jungles of Central India, and his friends Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther and Kaa the python, as they face the arch villain Shere Khan the tiger, have become so popular that they have achieved an almost mythical status throughout the world. They were collected by Kipling in The Jungle Book and its sequel, The Second Jungle Book, which also contain other stories set in India which prominently feature animals, such as the well-known "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi", which describes the struggles of a mongoose against venomous cobras • Here presented with brand-new illustrations by Ian Beck, these hugely popular tales, inspired by ancient fables and Kipling's own experiences in India, form a vivid account of the relationship between humans and nature, and will continue to inspire readers young and old

In order to repay a small debt, the young student Mitya is persuaded by a friend to falsify a bank bond and cash it in. Little does he suspect that this small misdemeanour will have a profound impact on the lives of many other people around him – indirectly even leading to the gravest of crimes. This in turn sets off a long journey towards redemption and rehabilitation • Published only in 1911, after Tolstoy's death, The Forged Coupon examines the deep, unpredictable consequences of every human act, revealing the Russian master's moral preoccupations in the last years of his life, as well as his rejection of Christianity's simplistic division between good and evil

First published in 1861, Humiliated and Insulted plunges the reader into a world of moral degradation, childhood trauma, unrequited love and irreconcil­able relationships. At the centre of the story are a young struggling author, an orphaned teenager and a depraved aristocrat, who not only foreshadows the great figures of evil in Dostoevsky's later fiction, but is a powerful and original presence in his own right • This new translation catches the verve and tumult of the original, which – in concept and execution – affords a refreshingly unfamiliar glimpse of the author

Leo Tolstoy's most personal novel, Anna Karenina scrutinizes fundamental ethical and theological questions through the tragic story of its eponymous heroine. Anna is desperately pursuing a good, "moral" life, standing for honesty and sincerity. Passion drives her to adultery, and this flies in the face of the corrupt Russian bourgeoisie. Meanwhile, the aristocrat Konstantin Levin is struggling to reconcile reason with passion, espousing a Christian anarchism that Tolstoy himself believed in

This collection contains some of the most important works by one of the twentieth century’s most popular and influential poets. The appeal of Fried’s verse lies in its simplicity and directness, whether he is writing – with his customary humanity, honesty and perception – about love, about political and moral issues, or about the problems brought on by illness, bereavement, ageing and death • This bilingual edition – with English translations by Stuart Hood, his long-term friend and colleague at the BBC – enables the reader to get a flavour of the original of these immensely enjoyable and enlightening poems

As a group of Western tourists travel down the Nile on the steamer Korosko towards the historical sites near Egypt's southern border, they are kidnapped by a marauding band of dervishes who demand their conversion to Islam. Cut off from the world, deprived of the comforts of civilized society and shaken in their beliefs, they will have to overcome the most arduous obstacles to regain their freedom and safety • Written towards the end of the Victorian era and permeated with a sense of fear and uncertainty, The Tragedy of the Korosko calls into question the moral authority of Europe's presence in the Arab peninsula and the cultural supremacy of British colonialism, all the while demonstrating Conan Doyle's unparalleled ability as a storyteller

Stephen Glennard is in desperate need of money. So when he becomes aware of the potential value of a series of passionate love letters written to him by the recently deceased author Margaret Aubyn, he sells them and marries the beautiful Alexa Trent. However, his shame and guilt at building a new life on the betrayal of another’s love slowly begins to eat away at him, and Margaret’s memory has a power that can reach him from beyond the grave • The first of Edith Wharton’s works depicting life in “old New York”, The Touchstone is an acutely observed novella, and an exploration of the tension between self-serving opportunism and the desire to live a moral life

Fully annotated edition with over 300 notes • In the Midwestern city of Zenith, the middle-aged real-estate agent George F. Babbitt appears to have achieved the American dream: he has a wife and children, a car and a neat house with a neat yard; he is successful at work, comfortably off, exceedingly well fed and a proud member of all the right clubs – in short, he has all he needs to be happy. Or does he? As we follow his humdrum daily routine and startling events begin to unfold around him, we discover that all is not well in Babbitt’s world: his moral foundations are shaking, and he can’t help harbouring rebellious dreams of escape and romance • A trenchant satire on the consumer society and an indictment of the fatuous ideals of Middle America in the Roaring Twenties, Babbitt – the crowning achievement of Sinclair Lewis, winner of the 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature – questions the attractions of materialistic fulfilment, at the same time laying bare the hollowness of social respectability and blind conformism