Alma Books The Woman in the Case and Other Stories Чехов Антон Павлович

While at a party organized by the lieutenant of his regiment, the shy and awkward Ryabovitch is suddenly kissed by an unknown woman in a dark room. This unexpected and electrifying encounter marks a turning point in his life and a shift in his personality, arousing his passions and setting him on a desperate quest to discover the identity of the mysterious lady. One of Chekhov's most admired stories, The Kiss is joined in this volume by five equally celebrated tales in a brand-new translation by Hugh Aplin: The Lady with the Little Dog, Ward Number Six, The Black Monk, The House with the Mezzanine and The Peasants - making this an indispensable collection for those wanting to discover Chekhov at his creative best

В сборник "Степь" вошли повести, написанные Чеховым в плодотворный и во многом переломный для его творчества период 1880—1890-х гг. В них молодой писатель, уже лишившийся юношеского оптимизма, а впоследствии достигший спокойной и ироничной умудренности зрелых лет, открыл для себя тему, которая стала для него главной, — тему русской интеллигенции • Любовь и профессиональная деятельность, отношения с людьми, родительские чувства и попытки обрести смысл существования — все это для героев его повестей становится поводом для сложного и беспощадного самоанализа • Книга на английском языке • Anton Chekhov widely hailed as the supreme master of the short story also wrote five works long enough to be called short novels-here brought together in one volume for the first time in a masterly new translation by the award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

«Дама с собачкой и другие рассказы 1896–1904» — это очаровательный сборник сказок, показывающий Антона Чехова на пике его писательского творчества. Это издание Penguin Classics переведено Рональдом Уилксом с предисловием Пола Дебрецени • В последние годы своей жизни Чехов написал несколько рассказов, которые вошли в число его шедевров и вошли в число самых уважаемых произведений русской литературы. Пронзительные «Дама с собачкой» и «О любви» исследуют природу любви вне брака – ее романтический идеализм и страх разочарования. А в таких рассказах, как «Крестьяне», «Дом с мезонином» и «Моя жизнь», Чехов рисует яркую картину положения бедняков и их бессилия перед эксплуатацией и лишениями. Собрав здесь произведения, Чехов отошел от реализма своих ранних рассказов, расширив диапазон персонажей и сюжетов, одновременно выработав сдержанный минималистический стиль, который вдохновил таких современных авторов рассказов, как Эрнеста Хемингуэя и Уильяма Фолкнера

When it is discovered that the reigning world chess champion, Mirko Czentovic, is on board a cruiser heading for Buenos Aires, a fellow passenger challenges him to a game. Czentovic easily defeats him, but during the rematch a mysterious Austrian, Dr B., intervenes and, to the surprise of everyone, helps the underdog obtain a draw. When, the next day, Dr B. confides in a compatriot travelling on the same ship and decides to reveal the harrowing secret behind his formidable chess knowledge, a chilling tale of imprisonment and psychological torment unfolds • Stefan Zweig’s last and most famous story, ‘A Game of Chess’ was written in exile in Brazil and explores its author’s anxieties about the situation in Europe following the rise of the Nazi regime

Edgar Allan Poe was a writer of uncommon talent; in The Murders in the Rue Morgue he created the genre of detective fiction while his genius for finding the strangeness lurking within us all has been an influence on everyone from Freud to Hollywood. This complete collection of all his short stories and novellas contains well-known tales 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart' alongside hidden gems that both unsettle and enthrall the reader

В этом сборнике представлены некоторые из самых глубоких и трогательных аллегорических рассказов Джека Лондона • "Белый Клык" и "Зов предков" - пожалуй, наиболее известные повести Джека Лондона о волках, собаках и людях. Истории Белого Клыка, полупса-полуволка, и Бэка во многом схожи. Оба проходят суровую школу жизни, "выживают там, где может выжить только сильный" и оказываются перед выбором, каким законам следовать: дикой природы или человека. Выразительно, образно и метко писатель рассказывает о любви и преданности, хитрости и жестокости - людей и тех, кто называется их меньшими братьями • В этот том также входит "Батар", в котором обиженная собака мстит своему хозяину; и "Любовь к жизни", в которой раненый старатель, брошенный своим напарником, вынужден в одиночку пробираться домой через дикую местность, где за ним охотится волк-одиночка

This collection of Pushkin’s stories begins with ‘The Queen of Spades’, perhaps the most celebrated short story in Russian literature. The young Hermann, while watching some friends gambling, hears a rumour of how an officer’s grandmother is always able to predict the three winning cards in a game. He becomes obsessed with the woman and her seemingly mystical powers, and seeks to extract the secret from her at any cost • This volume, part of a new series of the complete works of Pushkin in English, also includes ‘Dubrovsky’, the story of a man’s desire to avenge himself after his land is unjustly taken from him by an aristocrat; ‘The Negro of Peter the Great’, a tale inspired by Pushkin’s maternal grandfather; and the unfinished story ‘Egyptian Nights’, a meditation on poetry and the poet

Gilbert's libretti of the comic operas composed by Arthur Sullivan are hugely well known, and lines such as "let the punishment fit the crime" have entered the English lexicon - but his short stories also deserve to be rediscovered by the modern reader. This collection, carefully curated by the secretary of the W.S. Gilbert Society, brings together the best of these sharp, clever, comical tales - many of which are published here for the first time since their first appearance in ephemeral magazines - enriched with the author's own illustrations • The stories feature many of the powerful motifs so associated with his work - fairies, elixirs, magic - and a wide variety of characters - from burglars to barristers and shopkeepers to gentlemen. This volume is shot through with the observational wit which drove Gilbert and Sullivan's works to fame, and constitutes a hugely enjoyable companion for fans of the pair's theatrical oeuvre

When strange things are reported to be floating in rivers in rural Vermont after a flood, old myths about hill-dwelling monsters who abduct humans resurface in subsequent debates, much to the annoyance of local academic Albert N. Wilmarth. However, when he starts receiving letters from a man named Henry Wentworth Akeley about the supposed presence near his farmhouse of an extraterrestrial race worshipping ancient cosmic deities, Wilmarth finds himself drawn into an astonishing correspondence that leads to a harrowing discovery • A seminal early contribution to the horror and science-fiction genres, ‘The Whisperer in Darkness’ is presented here, along with other classics from the Lovecraft canon – such as ‘The Call of Cthulhu’, ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’, ‘The Music of Erich Zann’ and ‘The Silver Key’ – in a brand-new collection showcasing the finest tales from the twentieth century’s foremost purveyor of terror

Dazzlingly original, Kobo Abe's The Woman in the Dunes is one of the premier Japanese novels in the twentieth century, and this Penguin Classics edition contains a new introduction by David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas • Niki Jumpei, an amateur entomologist, searches the scorching desert for beetles. As night falls he is forced to seek shelter in an eerie village, half-buried by huge sand dunes. He awakes to the terrifying realisation that the villagers have imprisoned him with a young woman at the bottom of a vast sand pit. Tricked into slavery and threatened with starvation if he does not work, Jumpei's only chance is to shovel the ever-encroaching sand - or face an agonising death. Among the greatest Japanese novels of the twentieth century, The Woman in the Dunes combines the essence of myth, suspense, and the existential novel

London, 1960. The lives of teenage twins Maisy and Duncan change forever the night their sick mother is taken to an asylum. Sent to live in the New Forest with their cold-hearted grandmother, Mrs Mitcham, they feel unloved and abandoned • And when one day Duncan doesn't come home from exploring in the forest, no one - least of all his grandmother - appears to care about his disappearance. The police, who've found the bodies of other missing boys, offer little hope of finding Duncan alive • Yet Maisy refuses to give up. Though she doesn't know the woods well, she knows someone who does. The strange old woman who lives at their heart • Dare Maisy enlist the help of the woman in the wood?