Catalog Search Results
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
Gerald Arbuthnot receives a promotion from Lord Illingworth, a worldly politician who has a sordid history of women, one of whom is Gerald's widowed mother. When their connection is revealed, the young man questions his past, present and future aspirations.
A Woman of No Importance opens with a high-class party featuring a group of society's most illustrious citizens. In the midst of the event, Gerald Arbuthnot enters and announces his new position...
Author
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
First performed in 1895, "An Ideal Husband" is Oscar Wilde's classic and much-loved comedic drama. The play tells the story of an up-and-coming politician, Sir Robert Chiltern, who tries to hide his secret past from his judgmental wife and the blackmail scheme he is forced to participate in to keep that secret quiet. Lady Chiltern has a very particular idea of what makes the "ideal husband" which leaves her with little tolerance for Sir Robert's all...
3) The Inferno
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
In 1867, when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published the first American edition of The Inferno, Dante was almost unknown in this country. The New England poet and educator, who taught Italian literature at Harvard, introduced Dante's literary genius to the New World with this vibrant blank verse translation of the first and most popular book of the three-part Divine Comedy. Expressed in haunting poetry of great emotional power, The Inferno chronicles...
Author
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-1818) is a book length poem by British Romantic Lord Byron. Published in cantos, the narrative poem is arranged in four parts, each following the journey of Harold, a character based on Byron himself. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage established Byron's reputation as a leading poet of his era, laying the foundation for many of the elements of Romantic poetry-melancholy, sublime and beautiful landscapes, and a wandering hero-that...
5) Don Juan
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
First published in 1819, "Don Juan" is often acknowledged as one of Lord Byron's greatest poetic works. An epic poem, comprised of seventeen cantos that Byron continued to work on and expand until his death, "Don Juan" follows the adventures of the famous Spanish libertine and reflects upon many of the romantic and personal experiences that are universal to all mankind. From a forbidden love affair in Spain, to exile in Italy, from being shipwrecked...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
Lady Windermere misinterprets her husband's interest in an older woman, Mrs. Erlynne, causing a rift that could lead to both marital and societal ruin. Lady Windermere's Fan Is an intriguing tale that examines intention versus outcome in a world driven by perception.
Lady Windermere is a young wife who's concerned by her husband's connection to the mysterious, Mrs. Erlynne. She believes the woman is a threat to her marriage and livelihood. Despite...
7) Salome
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
When the prophet Jokanaan is brought to the attention of the princess Salomé, he rebukes her interest, which causes her to make a brutal declaration.
Oscar Wilde's one-act tragedy explores the repercussions of her horrifying decision.
Originally composed in French in 1892, Salomé is a controversial tale full of cruelty and retribution. Wilde expands on the Biblical story of John the Baptist, whom was captured and beheaded by Herod Antipas....
8) The Sonnets
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
First published in 1609, "The Sonnets" of William Shakespeare are a collection of 154 loosely connected 14 line poems. Considered by many to be among some of the greatest love poetry ever written much debate surrounds the context of the poetry. It has been suggested that the work may be semi-autobiographical but no real evidence firmly supports this notion. The themes of the poems contained within this volume are varied and include such subjects as...
Author
Language
English
Description
A hybrid of Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience that brings poetry, philosophy and spirituality into an all-inclusive text that's both accessible and enlightening. These selections have an easy-to-follow format that allows readers to smoothly transition from one book to the next.
Blake's writing consists of two parts: one focusing on "innocence" and the other on "experience." They each feature a group of poems that fit their respective themes....
Author
Language
English
Description
When Polly Peachum, daughter to a local fence and thief-catcher, marries infamous highwayman Macheath, it sets off a comically dangerous chain of events as Polly's father is determined to have his new son-in-law killed. However, Polly isn't the only woman in Macheath's life, and he soon gets caught up in the consequences of his many indiscretions. The Beggar's Opera is the most famous surviving example of satirical ballad opera to come out of the...
11) The Odyssey
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
Odysseus has been away from Ithaca, the Greek city-state under his rule, for ten years while fighting in the Trojan War. After the fall of Troy, Odysseus begins the long journey home to his wife and son; however, his journey is plagued by misfortune as the gods feud over his fate, leaving the Ithacans to believe that he has died.
The Odyssey is attributed to the poet Homer and, after its companion poem the Iliad, is the second-oldest surviving work...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
A Room of One's Own is a curious essay. Presented originally as two speeches to the Arts Society at Newham in 1928, the work is remarkable for its distinctive tone, for Woolf's witty and deceptively casual style, and for her decision largely eschew abstract arguments in favor of narrative, anecdote and the guidance of a strong, abiding first person narrator. She also, refreshingly, avoids doctrine and bombast, instead infusing her arguments with...
13) Miss. Julie
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
In Miss Julie, a willful young aristocrat, whose perverse nature has already driven her fiancé to break off their engagement, pursues and effectively seduces her father's valet during the course of a Midsummer's Eve celebration. The progress of that seduction and the play's stunning denouement shocked Swedish audiences who first attended the play in 1889. Despite its controversial debut, this now-classic drama, inspired by the new ideas of naturalism...
Author
Language
English
Description
This Complete Works of Oscar Wilde is a truly complete and authoritative single-volume edition of Oscar Wilde's works. It contains his only novel, 'The Portrait of Dorian Gray', as well as his plays, stories, poems, essays and letters, all in their most authoritative texts. For easier navigation, there are tables of contents for each section and one for the whole volume.
This ebook contains his complete works in a new, easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate...
15) The midnight sun
Author
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
A chilling new historical crime novel from the author of the international bestseller Wolf Winter An orphaned boy brought up to serve the state as a man. A rich young woman incapable of living by the conventions of society. Neither is prepared for the journey into the heat, mystery, violence and disorienting perpetual daylight of the far north.
Sweden, 1856. The minister of justice has received a disturbing message. There's been a massacre on one...
16) Kidnapped Novel
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
Kidnapped was published in 1886 amid one of the most productive periods of Robert Louis Stevenson's career. Although it was immediately met with popular success and critical acclaim, the novel was derided for decades as a story for children before being recognized as a major work of English literature.
Set in the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising of 1745, and full of a rich blend of English and Scots, Kidnapped is a powerful work with strong Scottish...
17) On Liberty
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
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...
18) The prince
Author
Language
English
Description
The world's most influential-and controversial-treatise on politics Composed in exile and published posthumously, The Prince is Niccolò Machiavelli's legacy and the foundation of modern political theory. Drawing on his firsthand experiences as a diplomat and military commander in the Florentine Republic, Machiavelli disregards the rhetorical flourishes and sentimentality typically found in sixteenth-century mirrors for princes-guides instructing...
In Interlibrary Loan
Didn't find what you need? Items not owned by Penticton Public Library can be requested from other Interlibrary Loan libraries to be delivered to your local library for pickup. Items must be over 1 year old.
Didn't find it?
Can't find what you are looking for? Try our Materials Request Service for new books published this year. Submit Request