Essential Classics

· · · · · ·
Latest release: August 28, 2019
Series
7
Books

About this ebook series

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an American classic, a book that has inspired troves of writers in its wake, and that has sparked generations of discussion and debate. It is a novel by Mark Twain noted for its depiction of people and locations along the Mississippi River. One of the first major American novels to employ vernacular English, Adventure of Huckleberry Finn offers a satire on Southern Antebelleum society, particularly regarding attitudes of racism. Told in the first person by protagonist Huckleberry Finn, the book is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, Ph.D. in literature and modern studies from Yale University.


Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835. Raised in Missouri, Twain gained prominence for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the latter known as a Great American Novel.


Vivian Heller received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Modern Studies from Yale University. She is author of Joyce, Decadence, and Emancipation(University of Illinois Press) and of The City Beneath Us  (W.W. Norton & Company), a history of the building of the New York City subway system. She is an associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and is the writing tutor for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is also a long-standing member of the non-fiction committee of the PEN Prison-Writing Committee, which awards prizes to inmates from across the country.


Essential Classics publishes the most crucial literary works throughout history, with a unique introduction to each, making them the perfect treasure for any reader’s shelf.


Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Book 1 · Aug 2019 ·
4.5
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an American classic, a book that has inspired troves of writers in its wake, and that has sparked generations of discussion and debate. It is a novel by Mark Twain noted for its depiction of people and locations along the Mississippi River. One of the first major American novels to employ vernacular English, Adventure of Huckleberry Finn offers a satire on Southern Antebelleum society, particularly regarding attitudes of racism. Told in the first person by protagonist Huckleberry Finn, the book is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, Ph.D. in literature and modern studies from Yale University.


Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835. Raised in Missouri, Twain gained prominence for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the latter known as a Great American Novel.


Vivian Heller received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Modern Studies from Yale University. She is author of Joyce, Decadence, and Emancipation(University of Illinois Press) and of The City Beneath Us  (W.W. Norton & Company), a history of the building of the New York City subway system. She is an associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and is the writing tutor for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is also a long-standing member of the non-fiction committee of the PEN Prison-Writing Committee, which awards prizes to inmates from across the country.


Essential Classics publishes the most crucial literary works throughout history, with a unique introduction to each, making them the perfect treasure for any reader’s shelf.


The Time Machine
Book 2 · Aug 2019 ·
4.4
The Time Machine cemented author H.G. Wells as the father of modern science fiction. In it, the Time Traveller embarks on a staggering journey 800,000 years into the future, where he is propelled to the age of a slowly dying Earth. There he encounters the highly evolved Eloi, as well as the brutish Morlocks who lurk beneath in tunnels. The Time Machine offers a harrowing and penetrating look into a proposed future for mankind, and illuminates its roots in the present. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, Ph.D. in literature and modern studies from Yale University.


H.G. Wells was an English writer who pioneered the science fiction genre and wrote more than 100 books during his career. The Time Machine, his first novel, brought him instant fame. Wells is known also as a futurist, his works foretelling the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, and nuclear weapons.


Vivian Heller received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Modern Studies from Yale University. She is author of Joyce, Decadence, and Emancipation(University of Illinois Press) and of The City Beneath Us  (W.W. Norton & Company), a history of the building of the New York City subway system. She is an associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and is the writing tutor for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is also a long-standing member of the non-fiction committee of the PEN Prison-Writing Committee, which awards prizes to inmates from across the country.


Essential Classics publishes the most crucial literary works throughout history, with a unique introduction to each, making them the perfect treasure for any reader’s shelf.


The Scarlet Letter
Book 3 · Aug 2019 ·
4.2
The Scarlet Letter is generally considered to be Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece. Set in 17th century Boston, it follows the plight of Hester Prynne, a young woman who bears a child out of wedlock, refuses to name the father, and is condemned to wear a scarlet ‘A’ for the rest of her life. With The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reaches back to America’s Puritan roots to probe themes of lust, sin, guilt and redemption. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, Ph.D. in literature and modern studies from Yale University.


Born in 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote at the forefront of dark romanticism. His renderings of colonial America reflect the strictures of New England Puritanism and give voice to characters who try to extricate themselves from social conventions.


Vivian Heller received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Modern Studies from Yale University. She is author of Joyce, Decadence, and Emancipation(University of Illinois Press) and of The City Beneath Us  (W.W. Norton & Company), a history of the building of the New York City subway system. She is an associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and is the writing tutor for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is also a long-standing member of the non-fiction committee of the PEN Prison-Writing Committee, which awards prizes to inmates from across the country.


Essential Classics publishes the most crucial literary works throughout history, with a unique introduction to each, making them the perfect treasure for any reader’s shelf.


A Study in Scarlet
Book 4 · Aug 2019 ·
4.6
A Study in Scarlet was the career-starting, first Sherlock Holmes story published by Arthur Conan Doyle. Set in 19th-century London, it follows Dr. John Watson, a war veteran, and the enigmatic young Sherlock Holmes, a uniquely gifted detective. Two murders in London have Scotland Yard confounded, and the solution Holmes illuminates transports the reader to America’s Wild West of the 1850s, and beyond. A Study in Scarlet is a seminal work, and one that has transformed the mystery and crime genres. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, Ph.D. in literature and modern studies from Yale University.


Arthur Conan Doyle was a writer and physician born in Edinburgh. Doyle is best known for his detective fiction featuring Sherlock Holmes.


Vivian Heller received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Modern Studies from Yale University. She is author of Joyce, Decadence, and Emancipation(University of Illinois Press) and of The City Beneath Us  (W.W. Norton & Company), a history of the building of the New York City subway system. She is an associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and is the writing tutor for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is also a long-standing member of the non-fiction committee of the PEN Prison-Writing Committee, which awards prizes to inmates from across the country.


Essential Classics publishes the most crucial literary works throughout history, with a unique introduction to each, making them the perfect treasure for any reader’s shelf.


Pride and Prejudice
Book 5 · Aug 2019 ·
4.8
Pride and Prejudice is considered to be one of the great love stories of our time. Perhaps Jane Austen’s most beloved novel, it is at heart a satire of English manners. Elizabeth Bennet is the second of five daughters born to a country gentleman in a fictional village outside of London. Headstrong and vivacious, Elizabeth spars with the aloof and disdainful Mr. Darcy, in an unconventional and yet timeless courtship for the ages. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, Ph.D. in literature and modern studies from Yale University.


Born in 1775 to wealthy parents in Hampshire, England, Jane Austen is best known for her ironic accounts of the British landed gentry from which she arose. Her novels, particularly Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Mansfield Park, mark a literary transition towards 19th century realism, and address with skillful humor and rounded intelligence various institutions of marriage, manners and manicured English society. For her body of work, Austen is widely considered to be the first woman to write great comic novels.


Vivian Heller received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Modern Studies from Yale University. She is author of Joyce, Decadence, and Emancipation(University of Illinois Press) and of The City Beneath Us  (W.W. Norton & Company), a history of the building of the New York City subway system. She is an associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and is the writing tutor for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is also a long-standing member of the non-fiction committee of the PEN Prison-Writing Committee, which awards prizes to inmates from across the country.


Essential Classics publishes the most crucial literary works throughout history, with a unique introduction to each, making them the perfect treasure for any reader’s shelf.


Wuthering Heights
Book 6 · Aug 2019 ·
4.5
Wuthering Heights is a moody 19th-century triumph, lauded for its dark imagery, austere setting, and depiction of fraught romance. Wuthering Heights is Emily Bronte’s account of the tormented love story between orphan Heathcliff and the daughter of his benefactor, Catherine Earnshaw. Troubled, stark, and violent, Wuthering Heights was hugely controversial at its publication in 1847, but has since become a classic of English literature. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, Ph.D. in literature and modern studies from Yale University.


Emily Bronte was an English novelist and poet, best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights. Silent and reserved, Bronte wrote using the pen name Ellis Bell, and was one of the Bronte siblings.

Vivian Heller received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Modern Studies from Yale University. She is author of Joyce, Decadence, and Emancipation(University of Illinois Press) and of The City Beneath Us  (W.W. Norton & Company), a history of the building of the New York City subway system. She is an associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and is the writing tutor for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is also a long-standing member of the non-fiction committee of the PEN Prison-Writing Committee, which awards prizes to inmates from across the country.


Essential Classics publishes the most crucial literary works throughout history, with a unique introduction to each, making them the perfect treasure for any reader’s shelf.

Dracula
Book 7 · Aug 2019 ·
4.6
Dracula is a Gothic horror novel by Bram Stoker, considered to be one of the most enduring and skillful examples of the modern vampire genre. It tells the story of Count Dracula, and of Professor Abraham Van Helsing, who attempts to thwart the vampire in his attempt to move from Transylvania to London, in order to find new blood and spread the undead curse. This Essential Classics edition includes a new introduction by Professor Vivian Heller, Ph.D. in literature and modern studies from Yale University.


Bram Stoker was a 19th-century Irish writer best known for Dracula. During his lifetime, Stoker was also the business manager of the Lyceum Theater in London. In order to write Dracula, Stoker spent years researching European folklore and vampire mythology, and the product was the book that would become a classic of horror fiction.


Vivian Heller received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Modern Studies from Yale University. She is author of Joyce, Decadence, and Emancipation(University of Illinois Press) and of The City Beneath Us  (W.W. Norton & Company), a history of the building of the New York City subway system. She is an associate at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies and is the writing tutor for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She is also a long-standing member of the non-fiction committee of the PEN Prison-Writing Committee, which awards prizes to inmates from across the country.


Essential Classics publishes the most crucial literary works throughout history, with a unique introduction to each, making them the perfect treasure for any reader’s shelf.