Ozymandias And Other Stories

Here is the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley like you've never seen it before. With strange illustrations that breathe a new life into the poem, this book is something different for you to add to your bookshelf.

Five of Saul Bellow’s most moving, richly textured, and exquisitely plotted short stories make up this volume, each providing a history of personality and self-awakening. The title story, “Him with His Foot in His Mouth,” follows a musicologist narrator who for years has scattered wounding witticisms “from the depths of my nature, that hoard of strange formulations.” As the story unfolds he tries to discover what led him into a “deep legal-financial hole,” while he awaits extradition from a refuge in British Columbia. “What Kind of Day Did You Have?” follows a divorced suburban woman and her lovers—would-be and actual—through a frantic day in their lives. Their needs and passions, as well as their comic conflicts, are matters of life and death. In “Zetland: By a Character Witness” and in “A Silver Dish,” Bellow returns, with his unequaled command of eloquent recollected detail, to a bygone Chicago, “Zetland” is a brilliant portrait of an artist as a young boy and a man, precocious and eccentric; “A Silver Dish” is a memorable story of a raffish, willful father and his affectionate son. “Cousins,” the final story in the volume, explores the mysteries of family feeling—mysteries that defy both logic and the worthiness of their objects, as Ijah Brodsky, successful in the larger world, is drawn into an encounter with criminal and naively idealistic forces. This collection represents a turning point in the bountiful career of Saul Bellow, a felicitous rendering of the human condition in all its absurd complexity.

As he demonstrated in The Fox and Other Stories, (Turtle Press - 1996) and The Man Who Saw Himself (Xlibris -2002), Ed Robison continues to watch and listen closely to the world around him. This new collection reveals fresh poignancies and acutely observed quotidian mini-dramas that can easily burn into the consciousness of those willing to pause and listen. The River of Fire, the key story, is another unforgettable look at the horror of war. “It wouldn’t be entirely out of line to characterize Ed Robison as a Damon Runyon of the resorts, retirement communities, logging towns and ... porch swings of the Northwest.” —Jim Nisbet Author of Prelude to a Scream.

In this unique collection of Waugh's early short stories, some of which became the inspirations for his novels, Waugh displays his unique talent for comedy and narration. 'Mr Loveday's Little Outing' is a blackly comic tale of a mental asylum and its favourite resident, while 'Cruise' sees a hilarious series of letters from a naïve young woman as she travels with her family. These witty and immaculately crafted stories display the finest writing of a master of satire and comic twists.

Eric Linklater was one of the most respected and prolific Scottish writers of this century, yet more than twenty-five years have passed since his last collection of short stories was published. This selection covers Linklater's entire writing life. The settings are as various as the places where he lived - Orkney, India, California, Edinburgh and the Highlands - the events that take place, both fantastic and sensual in their depiction. A strong seam of Scottish history and culture runs through much of Linklater's work. The short stories include classics of the form, such as The Goose Girl and Kind Kitty, and wild variations on fairy stories, medieval myths, bawdy folktales, Viking sagas and 1920s crime reports. They derive from the magic of the world - love, beauty, ambition, drink and language. Their exuberant invention and comic verve provide glorious evidence for George Mackay Brown's assertion that 'Linklater is one of Scotland's best story-tellers ever'.

Mr. William Hyde was discharged from Deer Lodge Penitentiary a changed man. That was quite in line with the accepted theory of criminal jurisprudence, the warden's discipline, and the chaplain's prayers. Yes, Mr. Hyde was changed, and the change had bitten deep; his humorous contempt for the law had turned to abiding hatred; his sunburned cheeks were pallid, his lungs were weak, and he coughed considerably. Balanced against these results, to be sure, were the benefits accruing from three years of corrective discipline at the State's expense; the knack of conversing through stone walls, which Mr. Hyde had mastered, and the plaiting of wonderful horsehair bridles, which he had learned. Otherwise he was the same "Laughing Bill" his friends had known, neither more nor less regenerate.

This introduction to the tools required for literary study provides all the skills, background and critical knowledge which students require to approach their study of literature with confidence.