Klasika

As he roams the US, Mexico, Morocco, Paris and London, Jack Kerouac breathlessly records, in prose of pure poetry, the life of the road. Standing on the engine of a train as it rushes past fields of prickly cactus; witnessing his first bullfight in Mexico while high on opium; catching up with the beat night-life in New York; burying himself in the snow capped mountains of north-west America; meditating on a sunlit roof in Tangiers; or falling in love with Montmartre and the huge white basilica of Sacré Couer - Kerouac reveals the endless diversity of human life and his own high-spirited philosophy of self-fulfillment.

Set against the background of Oklahoma and Californian migrant life, this novel tells of the Joad family, who, like thousands of others, are forced to travel West in search of the promised land.

How on earth did James Herriot come to be sitting on a high Yorkshire moor, smelling vaguely of cows? James isn't sure, but he knows that he loves it. This second hilarious volume of memoirs contains more tales of James' unpredictable boss Siegfried Farnon, his charming student brother Tristan, animal mayhem galore and his first encounters with a beautiful girl called Helen.

The fifth volume of memoirs from the author who inspired the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small During his decades spent as a country vet in Yorkshire, James Herriot has seen huge advances in medical science, technological leaps, and a world irrevocably changed by war. Yet some things have always stayed the same -- gruff farmers, hypochondriac pet owners, and animals that never do quite what you expect them to. From a green young man in his first job in the 1930s, to an experienced veterinary surgeon, married with two children, James has spent his entire career among the people and animals of Darrowby. And there's nowhere else he'd rather be. Since they were first published, James Herriot's memoirs have sold millions of copies and entranced generations of animal lovers. Charming,

Set in the rich farmland of the Salinas Valley, California, this often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations hopelessly re-enact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

Miller's most famous play, it is the story of the American Dream gone awry when a small man is destroyed by society's false values. Death of a Salesman won the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 and continues to shine on stages throughout the world even today.This concise supplement to Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman helps students understand the overall structure of the play, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author.

Quentin Compson and Shreve, his Harvard room-mate, are obsessed by the tragic rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen. As a poor white boy, Sutpen was turned away from a plantation owner's mansion by a negro butler. From then on, he was determined to force his way into the upper echelons of Southern society. His relentless will ensures his ambitions are soon realised; land, marriage, children, his own troop to fight in the Civil War-but Sutpen returns from the conflict to find his estate in ruins and his family collapsing. Secrets from his own past threaten to ruin the lives of his children and destroy everything he has worked for.

The death and burial of Addie Bundren is told by members of her family, as they cart the coffin to Jefferson, Mississippi, to bury her among her people. And as the intense desires, fears and rivalries of the family are revealed in the vernacular of the Deep South, Faulkner presents a portrait of extraordinary power - as epic as the Old Testament, as American as Huckleberry Finn.

Tennessee Williams's sensuous, atmospheric plays transformed the American stage with their passion, exoticism and vibrant characters who rage against their personal demons and the modern world. This collection includes a number of William's plays, including "A Streetcar Named Desire".

One hot summer night in the house of the Mississippi Delta's richest cotton planter, a family imprisoned by the past is torn apart by the revelations of feelings of lust, greed and envy.

This novel is an extraordinarily poignant evocation of a lost happiness that lives on in the memory. For years now the Ramsays have spent every summer in their holiday home in Scotland, and they expect these summers will go on forever. In this, her most autobiographical novel, Virginia Woolf captures the intensity of childhood longing and delight, and the shifting complexity of adult relationships. From an acute awareness of transcience, she creates an enduring work of art.

Beginning in 1967, Bukowski wrote the column "Notes of A Dirty Old Man" for the underground newspaper "Open City". Perennially drunk, broke and 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 and other much less salubrious characters, his exploits provoke humour and despair, whilst highlighting the inherent beauty and futility of life.