In the summer of her 28th year, Edna Pontellier and her children, along with the wives and families of other prospective businessmen, spend the summer in an idyllic coastal community away from their husbands and the sweltering heat of 1890s' New Orleans. Aware of deep yearnings that are unfulfilled by marriage and motherhood, Edna plunges into an illicit liaison that reawakens her long dormant desires, inflames her heart, and eventually blinds her...

John Stuart Mill's resolute dedication to the cause of freedom inspired this 1859 treatise. Discussed and debated from time immemorial, the concept of personal liberty went without codification until the publication of this enduring work which applies an ethical system of utilitarianism to society and the state which to this day remains well known and studied. Mills (1806-1873), a British economist, philosopher, and ethical theorist whose argument...

Frankenstein: Using parts from corpses, Victor Frankenstein creates a large, man-like creature. Rejected and abused by humans, the creature takes revenge by committing murder. Frankenstein then pursues the creature, determined to kill him or die in the attempt. -- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: When Dr. Henry Jekyll begins to look ill and isolates himself from his friends, they fear for his life. A mysterious evil man named Edward...

The Fourth Edition is again based on Robert Kimbrough's meticulously re-edited text. Missing words have been restored and the entire novel has been re-punctuated in accordance with Conrad's style. The result is the first published version of Heart of Darkness that allows readers to hear Marlow's voice as Conrad heard it when he wrote the story. "Backgrounds and Contexts" provides readers with a generous collection of maps and photographs that bring...

"A perennial favorite in the Norton Critical Editions series, Pride and Prejudice is based on the 1813 first edition text, which has been thoroughly annotated for undergraduate readers." ""Backgrounds and Sources" includes biographical portraits of Austen by members of her family and by biographers Park Honan, Claire Tomalin, and David Nokes. Seventeen of Austen's letters - eight of them new to the Third Edition - allow readers to glimpse the close-knit...

"Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley is a timeless masterpiece that delves deep into the realms of human ambition, morality, and the consequences of unchecked scientific pursuit. Set in the backdrop of 18th-century Europe, the novel follows Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist consumed by his obsession to unlock the secrets of life itself. Through his relentless experimentation, he creates a creature, stitched together from various body parts, only to...

Presents an annotated edition of "The Scarlet Letter," the story of a young wife convicted of adultery in seventeenth-century New England, and includes five shorter works by Hawthorne, a selection of the author's letters and notebook entries, and critical commentary.