Der Klassiker der Seuchenliteratur in neuer Übersetzung.

In den Jahren 1665 und 1666 erlebte das südliche England eine der letzten großen Pestepidemien Europas. Allein in London forderte diese rund 70.000 Todesopfer, was etwa einem Fünftel der Stadtbevölkerung entsprach.

Daniel Defoe, der bekannte Autor des "Robinson Crusoe", war zur Zeit des Seuchenausbruchs gerade einmal fünf Jahre alt, wurde jedoch anlässlich der im Jahre 1720 in Marseille grassierenden Pest dazu bewegt, ein Werk über die Große Pest von London zu verfassen. Um eine realistisch wirkende Chronik der Ereignisse zu erstellen, stützte er sich dabei nicht nur auf bloße Zahlen, sondern griff die Erinnerungen Überlebender auf, und setzte außerdem einen fiktiven Ich-Erzähler ein: einen Londoner Kaufmann, der während des gesamten Pestlaufs in London verweilte.

Ungekürzte Ausgabe.

Die Pest zu London - Ein Bericht vom Pestjahr - Illustrierte Neuübersetzung

Giunta in Inghilterra con i suoi genitori dopo aver abbandonato la città natale di Poiter, la bella Roxana sposa giovanissima un ricco birraio. Ma dopo alcuni anni di vita brillante, suo marito la abbandona e fugge all'estero per evitare la bancarotta. Ridotta in estrema povertà, Roxana affida i figli ai suoceri e, con la complicità della sua giovane e viziosa servetta Amy, diventa l'amante del proprio padrone di casa. La coppia si trasferisce a Parigi, dove Roxana diventa presto famosa per la sua bellezza. Ma dopo l'assassinio del suo amante, la donna baratta la propria virtù per la fama e la ricchezza e cade nelle braccia di un principe reale, con il quale si reca in Italia per proseguire, tra alterne fortune, la sua carriera di spregiudicata cortigiana. Narrato in forma autobiografica, "Lady Roxana" è la storia di una donna piena di ambizioni, dall'energia indomabile e dalla vitalità straordinaria, che rifiuta la propria condizione sociale, arrivando fino al crimine, alla menzogna e al carcere pur di raggiungere la ricchezza. A lungo trascurato e messo in ombra da "Le avventure di Moll Flanders", suo più fortunato predecessore, questo romanzo di Defoe è oggi apprezzato per il suo giusto valore, in particolare per la sua complessità psicologica e morale. Pur essendo stato scritto circa trecento anni fa, "Lady Roxana" riesce ancora oggi ad appassionare e scandalizzare il lettore, in particolare per le sue tematiche incentrate sull'indigenza, la prostituzione, l'abbandono dei figli e la vivace dissolutezza dei personaggi. La presente versione corrisponde alla prima edizione del testo datata 1724, cioè all'opera originale così come concepita dall'autore, senza divisione in capitoli. Successivamente, nel 1745, l'editore modificherà il testo per aggiungervi un finale più edificante. Completano questa edizione le illustrazioni di John Ward Dunsmore.

Lady Roxana - . La concubina fortunata. Edizione illustrata

Publié en 1722 - soit trois ans après Robinson Crusoé -, Colonel Jack est sans doute, au côté de Moll Flanders, la plus grande réussite de l'écrivain dans la veine picaresque. Rêvant d'une destinée éclatante, Jack, un gamin ramassé dans le ruisseau londonien, entend devenir à la force du poignet un authentique gentleman. Mais Defoe ne serait pas Defoe s'il se bornait à nous raconter le parcours d'un homme de caractère. Jack réussira, soit ; mais après s'être frotté à toutes les fripouilles, et avoir manqué cent fois de devenir fripouille lui-même. On ne s'étonnera pas que, chemin faisant, il emprunte quelques épisodes - calamiteux le plus souvent - à la vie de Defoe en personne. En y rajoutant il est vrai une forte dose d'aventures de son cru : rapt, voyages forcés, engagements militaires (avec blessures), opérations commerciales du genre risqué, capture par un corsaire français, esclavage... A conseiller à tous ceux qui déplorent que l'existence soit si terne : le Dr Defoe s'entend comme aucun autre à soigner les maladies de langueur. Inexplicablement, ce chef-d'œuvre tout de gouaille et de mauvaise éducation (traduit il y a plus d'un demi-siècle par Michel Le Houbie, qui se frotta aussi à Peter Cheney et à Conan Doyle) était resté absent des tables de la librairie depuis des lustres.

Colonel Jack

Contains: Christopher Condent John Bowen John Halsey Nathaniel North Samuel Bellamy Samuel Burgess Thomas Howard Thomas Tew William Fly William Kiddas well as biographies of the probably fictional captains James Misson, William Lewis (pirate), and John Cornelius.

Le Grand Rêve Flibustier

En 1651, Robinson Crusoé quitte York, en Angleterre, pour naviguer, contre la volonté de ses parents qui souhaitaient qu'il devienne avocat. Son navire est abordé par des pirates de Salé : Crusoé devient l'esclave d'un Maure. Mais il parvient à s'échapper sur un bateau portugais qui l'emmène au Brésil, où il devient le propriétaire d'une plantation. En 1659, alors qu'il a vingt-huit ans, il rejoint une expédition recherchant des esclaves africains. Suite à une tempête, son bateau fait naufrage et il est le seul survivant. Il se retrouve seule sur une île à l'embouchure de l'Orénoque au Venezuela. Il y découvre une grotte, l'aménage pour en faire son habitation. Crusoé s'adapte à sa nouvelle vie en chassant, en cultivant du blé. Il apprend à faire de la poterie se met à l'élevage de chèvres. Il lit la Bible et rien ne lui manque, si ce n'est la compagnie des hommes.
À PROPOS DE L'AUTEUR
Daniel Defoe, de son vrai nom Daniel Foe, est un aventurier, commerçant, agent politique et écrivain anglais, né vers 1660 à Londres et mort le 24 avril 1731 dans la Cité de Londres. Il est notamment connu pour être l'auteur de Robinson Crusoé et de Heurs et malheurs de la fameuse Moll Flanders. Il est probablement né sur Fore Street à Londres, dans la paroisse de St. Giles du borough Cripplegate. La famille de Daniel Defoe est originaire des Flandres. Son père, James, qui tient une boutique de chandelles dans le quartier populaire de Cripplegate, est un protestant, membre d'une église puritaine, les Presbytériens. En 1673, il confie l'éducation de son fils au révérend Charles Morton, qui dirige près de Londres une institution privée à Newington Green, académie dissidente qui le prépare à la carrière de ministre presbytérien4. Entrepreneur à partir de 1682, Daniel Defoe s'occupe de diverses affaires pendant vingt ans : commerce (bonneterie de gros, tuilerie), spéculation, politique. Il fait faillite à plusieurs reprises, ce qui lui vaut plusieurs séjours en prison. Dégoûté de la politique, il ne s'occupa plus que de littérature.

Robinson Crusoé

Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incidents.Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is presented as an autobiography of the title character (whose birth name is Robinson Kreutznaer), a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers, before ultimately being rescued. The story has been thought to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra", now part of Chile, which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.Despite its simple narrative style, Robinson Crusoe was well received in the literary world and is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre. It is generally seen as a contender for the first English novel. Before the end of 1719, the book had already run through four editions, and it has gone on to become one of the most widely published books in history, spawning so many imitations, not only in literature but also in film, television and radio, that its name is used to define a genre, the Robinsonade.

Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress (full title: The Fortunate Mistress: Or, A History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, Afterwards Called the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany, Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II) is a 1724 novel by Daniel Defoe. The novel examines the possibility of eighteenth-century women owning their own estate despite a patriarchal society, as with Roxana's celebrated claim that "the Marriage Contract is ... nothing but giving up Liberty, Estate, Authority, and everything, to the Man". The novel further draws attention to the incompatibility between sexual freedom and freedom from motherhood: Roxana becomes pregnant many times due to her sexual exploits, and it is one of her children, Susan, who come back to expose her, years later, near the novel's close, helping to precipitate her flight abroad, subsequent loss of wealth, and (ambiguous) repentance.

The character of Roxana can be described as a proto-feminist because she carries out her actions of prostitution for her own ends of freedom but before a feminist ideology was fully formed, (though Defoe also works to undercut the radicalism of her position). The book also explores the clash of values between the Restoration court and the middle-class.

Roxana also discusses the issues of truth and deceit. As the text is a first-person narration and written to simulate a real first-hand account of a woman, first comes the issue of subjectivity, but also the underlying lie as to the veracity of the text. The reader can only trust in Roxana to give us a true account of her story, but as she often lies to other characters in the book, and even to herself, she is not a reliable narrator. Furthermore, the whole construction of her character is made on lies and disguises. Her name, or names, are not mentioned until the end of the novel, so even the most basic aspect of her identity - her name - is a mystery for the majority of the novel. And the name that is most associated to her: Roxana, is based on a lie and on a disguise, namely the Turkish dress. Published anonymously, and not attributed to Defoe till 1775, Roxana was nonetheless a popular hit in the eighteenth century, frequently reprinted in altered versions to suit the taste of the day: thus the 1775 edition, which called itself The New Roxana, had been sentimentalised to meet the tastes of the day.

Roxana : The Fortunate Mistress

A Journal of the Plague Year. Written by a Citizen who continued all the while in London.

A Journal of the Plague Year

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Die Pest zu London - Ein Bericht vom Pestjahr - Illustrierte Neuübersetzung

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