Collected here in Penguin Classics are two of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's shorter works Notes from Underground & The Double translated by Ronald Wilks with an introduction by Robert Louis Jackson Alienated from society & paralysed by a sense of his own insignificance the anonymous narrator of Dostoyevsky's groundbreaking Notes from Underground tells the story of his tortured life With bitter irony he describes his refusal to become a worker in the 'anthill' of society & his gradual withdrawal to an existence 'underground' The seemingly ordinary world of St Petersburg takes on a nightmarish quality in The Double when a government clerk encounters a man who looks exactly like him
- his double perhaps or possibly the darker side of his own personality Like Notes from Underground this is a masterly tragicomic study of human consciousness Ronald Wilks's extraordinary new translation is accompanied here by an introduction by Robert Louis Jackson discussing these pivotal works in the context of Dostoyevsky's life & times This edition also contains a chronology bibliography table of ranks & notes on each work Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) was born in Moscow From 1849-54 he lived in a convict prison & in later years his passion for gambling led him deeply into debt His other works available in Penguin Classics include Crime & Punishment The Brothers Karamazov The Idiot & Demons If you enjoyed Notes from Underground & The Double you might like Dostoyevsky's Demons also available in Penguin Classics' Notes from Underground with its mood of intellectual irony & alienation can be seen as the first modern novel That sense of meaninglessness of existence that runs through much of twentieth-century writing
- from Conrad & Kafka to Beckett & beyond
- starts in Dostoyevsky's work' Malcolm Bradbury


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Presenting the apology & confession of a minor mid-19th-century Russian official this title offers a half-desperate half-mocking political critique & an account of man's breakaway from society & descent 'underground' ...

Beginning in 1967 Bukowski wrote the column Notes of A Dirty Old Man for the underground newspaper Open City Perennially drunk broke & in search of a woman Bukowski takes on the guise of a wise fool as he ventures through America's seedy lowlife Peopled by Kerouac Burroughs & other much less salubrious characters his exploits provoke humour & despair whilst highlighting the inherent beauty & futility of life ...

'A deeply honest & brave portrait of of an individual sensibility reckoning with her country's violent role in the world' Hisham Matar New York Times Book Review In the wake of the 11th September attacks & the US-led invasion of Iraq Suzy Hansen who grew up in an insular conservative town in New Jersey was enjoying early success as a journalist for a high-profile New York newspaper Increasingly though the disconnect between the chaos of world events & the response at home took on pressing urgency for her Seeking to understand the Muslim world that had been reduced to scaremongering headlines she moved to Istanbul Hansen arrived in Istanbul with romantic ideas about a mythical city perched between East & West & with a naive sense of the Islamic world beyond Over the course of her many years of living in Turkey & traveling in Greece Egypt Afghanistan & Iran she learned a great deal about these countries & their cultures & histories & politics But the greatest most unsettling surprise would be what she learned about her own country?and herself an American abroad in the era of American decline It would take leaving her home to discover what she came to think of as the two Americas the country & its people & the experience of American power around the world She came to understand that anti-Americanism is not a violent pathology It is Hansen writes 'a broken heart A one-hundred-year-old relationship' Blending memoir journalism & history & deeply attuned to the voices of those she met on her travels Notes on a Foreign Country is a moving reflection on America's place in the world It is a powerful journey of self-discovery & revelation?a profound reckoning with what it means to be American in a moment of grave national & global turmoil ...

Shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal is a darkly compelling novel that explores the taboo subject of pupilteacher relationships obsession & betrayal From the first day that the beguiling Sheba Hart joins the staff of St George's history teacher Barbara Covett is convinced she has found a kindred spirit Barbara's loyalty to her new friend is passionate & unstinting & when Sheba is discovered having an illicit affair with one of her pupils Barbara quickly elects herself as Sheba's chief defender But all is not as it first seems in this dark story & as Sheba will soon discover a friend can be just as treacherous as any lover' Brilliant nasty gripping' Zadie Smith' Compelling dark sexy' Observer' Superbly gripping One of the most compelling books I've read in ages' Daily Telegraph' Deliciously sinister' Daily Mail Zoe Heller is the author of three novels Everything You Know Notes on a Scandal which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2003 & The Believers The 2006 film adaptation of Notes on a Scandal starring Cate Blanchett & Judi Dench received four Oscar nominations She lives in New York ...

When Jeanne is accepted on to a Ph D course she is over the moon brimming with excitement & grand plans
- but is the world ready
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Please note this is a region B Blu-ray & will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play Documentary focusing on the audio diaries of British writer & theologian John Hull in which he recorded his experience with blindness Having gone blind in the middle of his career & just before the birth of his first son John Hull decided to keep audio records of his experiences as a way to come to terms with his condition & to record important family events Having studied theology at Cambridge & obtained a Ph D from the University of Birmingham John combined his academic work on theology & education with his new experiences of disability & blindness This included producing articles & books on the topic in which he sought to examine his condition in a Christian context as well as producing real-world solutions to aid the disabled The film combines John&s reflections with reconstructions featuring actors Dan Renton Skinner as John & Simone Kirby as his wife Marilyn to tell the story of how his eyes & eventually his visual memory failed him Special Features Audio Introduction Enhanced Soundtrack Audio Description by Stephan Mangan Audio Description by Louise Fryer Integrated Hard of Hearing Subtitles Also

Includes:: a bonus DVD with a creative subtitled version of the film Featurettes Radio Hull Notes on Notes on Blindness Directing as a Team Lip Synching John & Marilyn

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A vivid present tense account of life in a dysfunctional family told by a perceptive thirteen year old girl with a sense of irony & humour Lou her sister Sarah
- 'for people who have been forced to share living accommodation for the last thirteen & half years we have very little in common'- & her brother Mickey-'he's gay but he doesn't yet know it'-discover that their parents are going to be doing a 'trial separation with a view to permanent' & that their dad is having an affair with a sixth former ' Thinking of my dad as anyone's 'lover' is actually quite gross' Boyfriend' didn't seem the right word for an adult who is fast approaching forty-seven & owns socks that are older than I am' Meet Lou her siblings her mum & dad her nan who does seances her friend Faiths who has six mums & dads (all gay) & Hammy the escaped hamster
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Suicide is everywhere It haunts history & current events It haunts our own networks of friends & family The spectre of suicide looms large but the topic is taboo because any meaningful discussion must at the very least consider that the answer to the question
- 'is life worth living?'
- might not be an emphatic yes; it might even be a stern no Through a sweeping historical overview of suicide a moving literary survey of famous suicide notes & a psychological analysis of himself Simon Critchley offers us an insight into what it means to possess the all too human gift & curse of being of being able to choose life or death

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' The term culture

Includes:: all the characteristic activities & interests of a people; Derby Day Henley Regatta

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