"Not all the water in the rough rude sea/Can wash the balm off from an anointed king," declares the soon-to-be deposed ruler of this historical drama. Confident in his divine right, Richard II is an ineffective and unpopular king who abuses his power and sows the seeds of his own downfall. Toppled from the throne by Henry, his ambitious cousin, Richard only learns to value kingship after he loses it, achieving a tragic dignity only with his downfall....

"A spirited, gracefully polemical introduction and the final story, "She Unnames Them, '' frame this collection of fiction and poetry, placing it in a natural but unsentimental light. These are not really "talking animal'' stories: they are about human apprehension of natural creation (including rocks and plants) and the relations this apprehension governs; or, how communication makes communities. Seven of ten stories and seven of 19 poems having...

Presents a collection of stories that lays bare the terror, hurt, and uncertainty that lurks at the edges of ordinary lives.

Regarded by many as the masterpiece of Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex tells the story of Oedipus, a man who becomes the king of Thebes, whilst in the process unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. This edition follows the Francis Storr Translation.