Stephen Orgel Volgorde van de boeken (chronologisch)

New York, eind negentiende eeuw. Als Newland Archer gravin Olenska ontmoet, heeft hij zich juist verloofd met May Welland, 'het schrikwekkende product van het maatschappelijk systeem waartoe hij behoorde en waar hij in geloofde: het jonge meisje dat niets wist en alles verwachtte.' De welopgevoede Archer raakt onder de indruk van het ongebruikelijke, impulsieve optreden van Olenska. Tegen de achtergrond van de dramatische ontwikkelingen die dit met zich meebrengt, schetst Wharton met ragfijne ironie een anstaanjagend scherp portret van mensen die zijn opgesloten in een milieu waarin menselijkheid wordt geloochend, terwijl de eigen 'beschaving' tegelijkertijd wanhopig wordt gecultiveerd.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!' Epic and tragic in its scope, King Lear explores a king's demise into madness and insanity when he is betrayed by two of his manipulative and scheming daughters. It is Cordelia, the third and only daughter who refuses to flatter her father to deceive, who is banished from the kingdom, leading to dramatic and tumultuous events.

Banished from Italy, Prospero lives on a remote island with his daughter. Using his magic, he vows to seek revenge on the injustice dealt to him by his brother, but in doing so Shakespeare questions the difficulty of distinguishing 'men' from 'monsters', and the realities of justice.

The essential lyric works of the great Elizabethan playwright newly revised and updated Though best known for his plays and for courting danger as a homosexual, a spy, and an outspoken atheist Christopher Marlowe was also an accomplished and celebrated poet. This long-awaited updated and revised edition of his poems and translations contains his complete lyric works from his translations of Ovidian elegies to his most famous poem, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, to the impressive epic mythological poem Hero and Leander.