The mayor and local officials of a small provincial town in Russia have got it made: corruption is rife and they have all the power. Yet, when they learn that an undercover government inspector is about to make a visit, they face a mad dash to cover their tracks. Soon, the news that a suspicious person has recently arrived from St Petersburg and is staying in a local inn produces a series of events and misunderstandings that lead to a hilarious denouement. Often quoted as Russian literatures greatest comedy, The Government Inspector is a trenchant satire of the corruption, greed and stupidity of petty officialdom, and the crowning achievement of Gogols skills as a playwright.
Alma Classics is committed to make available the widest range of literature from around the globe. All the titles are provided with an extensive critical apparatus, extra reading material including a section of photographs and notes. The texts are based on the most authoritative edition (or collated from the most authoritative editions or manuscripts) and edited using a fresh, intelligent editorial approach. With an emphasis on the production, editorial and typographical values of a book, Alma Classics aspires to revitalize the whole experience of reading the classics.
A satirical reimagining of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein
From the rubble-strewn streets of US-occupied Baghdad, Hadi collects body parts from the dead, which he stitches together to form a corpse.
He claims he does it to force the government to recognise the parts as real people, and give them a proper burial.
But when the corpse goes missing, a wave of eerie murders sweeps across the city, and reports stream in of a horrendous-looking, flesh-eating monster that cannot be killed. At first its the guilty he attacks, but soon its anyone who crosses his path…
Frankenstein in Baghdad brilliantly captures the horror and black humour of a city at war.
Monty was just like any other dog. A scruffy and irascible Maltese terrier, he enjoyed barking at pugs and sniffing at trees. But after yet another dramatic confrontation with the local Rottweiler, Anthony McGowan realises its high time he and Monty had a chat about what makes him a good or a bad dog.
And they dont stop at ethics. Taking his cue from Montys canine antics, McGowan leads us on an enlightening jaunt through the world of philosophy.
Will Kant convince Monty to stop stealing cheesecake? How long will they put up with Socrates poking holes in every argument? Do they have free will to pursue answers to these questions? Join the dutiful duo as they set out to uncover who — if anyone — has the right end of the ethical stick and can tell us how best to live ones life.
But there is also a shadow over their conversations. Monty is not well… And so towards the end the biggest questions raise their heads: is there a God? Does life have a meaning? By the time of their last walk together, Monty — and the reader — will find that they have not just solved a few philosophical puzzles, but absorbed much of the history of Western philosophy.
The epic literary adventure that has transfixed readers and critics alike in Spain
Almost four hundred passengers are on board the Boeing 747 en route from Los Angeles to Singapore. Only a handful will survive the crash.
Washed ashore on a tiny island with no means of contacting the outside world, tension and fear threaten to overwhelm the group. But as they endeavour, day by day, to survive, they find themselves forced to confront the reality of the lives they left behind.
Written in deftly cinematic prose, Andres Ibanezs stunning novel is already considered a modern classic in Spain, expertly translated here by Sophie Hughes.
Dont think, dear said Balanchine. Just do.
For centuries, being a ballerina has been synonymous with being beautiful, thin, obedient and feminine. It is the crucible of womanhood, together with the harassment, physical abuse and eating disorders endemic at top schools. Can we abide this in a post #MeToo world?
Weaving together her own time at Americas most elite ballet school with the lives of renowned ballerinas throughout history, Alice Robb interrogates what it means to perform ballet today. She confronts the all-consuming nature of the form: the obsessive and dangerous practices to perfect the body, the embrace of submission and the idealisation of suffering.
Yet ballet also gifts its dancers brains in their toes, a way to fully inhabit their bodies and a sanctuary of control away from the pressures of the outside world. Perhaps it is time to reimagine its liberating potential.
Perfectly pitched and gorgeously penned, this astonishingly bold collection of stories explores the boundary between the wild and the civilized. Pitting human beings against the extremes of nature, Diane Cook surgically peels back the layers of civilization to lay bare our vulnerabilities and the ease with which our darker, primal urges emerge.
These exhilarating and terrifying tales are set in worlds that are distorted versions of our own, where an alpha male is pursued through city streets by murderous rivals, a marooned woman defends her house against the rising flood and hordes of desperate refugees, and a pack of not-needed boys take refuge in a murky forest and compete against one another for food. Wry, transgressive and utterly unique, Cooks wildly inventive debut collection illuminates, with surreal humour and heartbreak, humankinds struggle not only to thrive, but survive.
We cannot know how to fix a problem until we understand its causes. But even for some of the most common mental health problems, specialists argue over whether the answers lie in the persons biology, their psychology or their circumstances.
As a cognitive neuropsychiatrist, Anthony David brings together many fields of enquiry, from social and cognitive psychology to neurology. The key for each patient might be anything from a traumatic memory to a chemical imbalance, an unhealthy way of thinking or a hidden tumour.
Patrick believes he is dead. Jennifers schizophrenia medication helped with her voices but did it cause Parkinsons? Emma is in a coma — or is she just refusing to respond?
Drawing from Professor Davids career as a clinician and academic, these fascinating case studies reveal the unique complexity of the human mind, stretching the limits of our understanding.
Its 2008, and the Celtic Tiger has left devastation in its wake. Brothers Hart and Cormac Black are waking up to a very different Ireland — one that widens the chasm between them and brings their beloved father to his knees. Facing a devastating choice that will put their livelihood, even their lives, on the line, the brothers soon learn that their biggest danger comes when there is nothing to lose.
A sharp snapshot of a family and a nation suddenly unmoored, this epic-in-miniature explores cowardice and sacrifice, faith rewarded and abandoned, the stories we tell ourselves and the ones we resist. Hilarious, poignant and utterly fresh, The Wild Laughter cements Caoilinn Hughes position as one of Irelands most audacious, nuanced and insightful young writers.
A young woman named Amanda lies dying in a remote Argentinian hospital. A boy named David sits beside her.
Shes not his mother. Hes not her child.
At Davids ever more insistent prompting, Amanda recounts a series of events from the apparently recent past, a conversation that opens a chest of horrors. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, toxins, and the power and desperation of family.
A chilling tale of maternal anxiety and ecological menace, Fever Dream is a modern classic. Samanta Schweblins unforgettable debut is a prescient warning about our manipulation of the natural world, and an unforgettable exercise in literary suspense.
An award-winning story of friendship and the power of imagination, from the celebrated author of The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman
The loss of a parent brought them together. Two boys united by grief.
Set on the rugged north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, where the wind merges with the forest and the waves, where albatross whirl overhead and snow lies deep on the land, two lonely boys form a powerful friendship. Together they take refuge in a magical undersea world of their own creation, searching for a sense of belonging. But for one of them the line between fantasy and reality begins to blur, and the loyalty of his friend is put to the test in a journey that threatens to end in tragedy.
Infused with his characteristic charm, Denis Theriaults novel The Boy Who Belonged to the Sea is a powerful fable about the pain of losing someone you love and the longing for security, which has touched readers hearts all over the world.
Beas daughter, Agnes, is slowly wasting away, her lungs ravaged by the smog and pollution of the overpopulated metropolis they call home.
The only alternative is to build a life in the vast expanse of untamed land known as The Wilderness State. No one has been allowed to venture here before. That is all about to change. But as Bea soon discovers, saving her daughters life might mean losing her in ways she hadnt foreseen.
Passionate and exhilarating, The New Wilderness is the story of a mothers fight to save her daughter in a world she can no longer call her own.
Ninni Holmqvists eerie dystopian novel envisions a society in the not-so-distant future where men and women deemed economically worthless are sent to a retirement community called the Unit. With lavish apartments set amongst beautiful gardens and state-of-the-art facilities, elaborate gourmet meals, and wonderful music and art, they are free of financial worries and want for nothing. Its an idyllic place, but theres a catch: the residents — known as dispensables — must donate their organs, one by one, until the final donation. When Dorrit Weger arrives at the Unit, she resigns herself to this fate, seeking only peace in her final days. But she soon falls in love, and this unexpected, improbable happiness throws the future into doubt.
Clinical and haunting, The Unit is a modern-day classic and a spine-chilling cautionary tale about the value of human life.
After creating the perfect beat, DJ Darky goes in search of Charles Stone, aka the Schwa, a little known avant-garde jazzman, to play over his sonic masterpiece. His quest brings him to a recently unified Berlin, where he stumbles through the citys dreamy streets ruminating about race, sex, love, Teutonic gods and the Berlin Wall in search of his artistic — and spiritual — other.
Ferocious, bombastic and laugh-out-loud funny, Slumberland is the second novel from Man Booker-winner Paul Beatty, a comic genius at the top of his game.