Smk Books imprint: 112 books

Eleven of his 40 plays survive virtually complete. These plays, provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy, and they are in fact used to define the genre. Also known as the Father of Comedy and the Prince of Ancient Comedy, Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author.

Sophocles addresses themes of civil disobedience, fidelity, and love for family; and questions which law is greater: the gods' or man's—in this play that challenged many established mores of Ancient Greece.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest Greek tragedies, ‘King Oedipus’ (or ‘Oedipus Rex’) is the first play in the Oedipus trilogy (followed by ‘Oedipus at Colonus’ and then ‘Antigone’). After defeating the Sphinx and freeing the kingdom of Thebes from her curse, the flawed hero unwittingly fulfills a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother.

The winner of the Festival of Dionysus in 409 BC, 'Philoctetes' describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring disabled master archer, Philoctetes, with them to Troy. The play covers several deep, contentious themes, including moral relativity, trauma, love vs. hatred, and friendship vs. enmity.

Set in the city of Argos a few years after the Trojan war, 'Electra' recounts the tale of Electra and the vengeance that she and her brother Orestes take on their mother Clytemnestra and step father Aegisthus for the murder of their father, Agamemnon.

‘The Trachinian Maidens’ (also ‘Women of Trachis’ or ‘The Trachiniae’) is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, in which Deianeira, the wife of Heracles, is distraught over her husband's neglect of her family. Unable to cope with the thought of losing him, she decides to use a love charm on him, a magic potion that will win him back.

'Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady' tells the tragic story of a heroine whose quest for virtue is continually thwarted by her family, and is one of the longest novels in the English language. Clarissa Harlowe is a beautiful and virtuous young lady whose family has become wealthy only recently...

He Knew He Was Right describes the failure of a marriage caused by the unreasonable jealousy of a husband exacerbated by the stubbornness of a willful wife. As is common with Trollope's works, there are also several substantial subplots. Trollope makes constant allusions to Shakespeare's Othello throughout the novel.

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist best known as author of the novel Little Women. In the mid-1860s, Alcott wrote passionate, fiery novels and sensational stories. She also produced wholesome stories for children, and after their positive reception, she did not generally return to creating works for adults. Alcott continued to write until her death.

Collected here are five short essays by the world renowned philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer: 'General Rules,' 'Our Relation to Ourselves,' 'Our Relation to Others,' 'Worldly Fortune,' and 'The Ages of Life.'

Thomas Wentworth Higginson was an American Unitarian minister, author, abolitionist, and soldier. He was active in the American Abolitionism movement during the 1840s and 1850s, identifying himself with disunion and militant abolitionism. During the Civil War, he served as colonel of the 1st South...

Erec et Enide features many of the common elements of Arthurian romance, such as Arthurian characters, the knightly quest, and women or love as a catalyst to action. While it is not the first story to use conventions of the Arthurian characters and setting, Chrétien de Troyes is credited with the...

Like most Wharton novels, The House of Mirth examines the conflict between rigid social expectation and personal desire. Lily Bart is adept at playing society's games, which expect her to achieve an advantageous marriage. Yet, torn between her desire for luxurious living and a relationship based on...

It tells the story of the knight Cligès and his love for his uncle's wife, Fenice. Because of the story's de-romanticized depiction of adultery, it has been called a criticism or parody of the Tristan and Isolde romances. Cligès scholar Lucie Polak not only verifies the Tristan and Isolde reworking...