Did possessing and killing amount to the same thing deep within the dark recesses of the human beast? La Bete humaine (1890), is one of Zola's most violent and explicit works. On one level a tale of murder, passion and possession, it is also a compassionate study of individuals derailed by atavistic forces beyond their control. Zola considered this his `most finely worked' novel, and in it he powerfully evokes life at the end of the Second Empire in France, where society seemed to be hurtling...

The third edition of the definitive collection of Chaucer's Complete Works, reissued with a new foreword by Christopher Cannon. Since F. N.

Robinson's second edition of the The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer was published in 1957, there has been a dramatic increase in Chaucer scholarship. This has not only enriched our understanding of Chaucer's art, but has also enabled scholars, working for the first time with all the source-material, to recreate Chaucer's authentic texts. For the third edition,...

A new edition of Thomas More's Utopia—a 16th century socio-political critique made through a satirical account of an idealised fictional society. This edition is based on the first English translation of the text and provides novel insights into More's context and intentions, as well as the influence of the translator.

The New Oxford Shakespeare edition of The Tempest provides a friendly yet authoritative introduction to Shakespeare's famous play.