The Penguin Book of Existentialist Philosophy

A powerful new anthology that redefines our understanding of existentialism and argues for its contemporary relevance. 
 
'Superb ... I can't imagine a better way of meeting the existentialists in all their variety' - Sarah Bakewell, author of At the Existentialist Café 
 
'Existentialist thought [...] is an effort to reconcile the objective and the subjective, the absolute and the relative, the timeless and the historical.' Simone de Beauvoir 
 
In the aftermath of the Second World War, a group of intellectuals gathered to discuss urgent questions of existence, commitment, racism, colonialism, and feminism. Their ideas would continue to shape those debates throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 
 
his major new anthology gathers the key texts of existentialism, and their major intellectual influences, along with other works previously neglected in overviews and anthologies of the movement. Incorporating the writings of Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre and Frantz Fanon, alongside selections from Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud and Martin Heidegger, it significantly expands and redefines our understanding of what existentialism means, and why it matters. 
 
Edited with an Introduction by Jonathan Webber

A superb selection of texts, both thorough and adventurous. I can't imagine a better way of meeting the existentialists in all their variety

Sarah Bakewell, author of At the Existentialist Café

Webber is an expert on French Existentialism... it’s wonderful to have this range of existentialist writings in a single affordable volume

The Best Philosophy Books of 2025, Five Books

Jonathan Webber is Professor of Philosophy at Cardiff University. He is the author of Rethinking Existentialism (Oxford University Press, 2018) and The Existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre (Routledge, 2009), editor of Reading Sartre: on Phenomenology and Existentialism (Routledge, 2011), and translator of Sartre's book The Imaginary (Routledge, 2004). He has written on existentialism for public audiences at Aeon, New Statesman, and Times Literary Supplement. He is a trustee of the Mind Association and President of the UK Sartre Society.

'Superb ... I can't imagine a better way of meeting the existentialists in all their variety' - Sarah Bakewell, author of At the Existentialist Café 
 
‘We are thrown into the world at every moment, and committed within it’ 
 
In the aftermath of the Second World War, a group of intellectuals gathered to discuss urgent questions of existence, commitment, racism, colonialism and feminism. Their ideas would continue to shape debates throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This major new anthology gathers the key texts of existentialism, and their major intellectual influences, along with other works previously neglected in overviews and anthologies of the movement. Incorporating the writings of Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre and Frantz Fanon, alongside selections from Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud and Martin Heidegger, it significantly expands and redefines our understanding of what existentialism means, and why it matters. 
 
Edited with an Introduction by Jonathan Webber

An Anthology

Weird Fiction

Penguin Weird Fiction: a celebration of the very best of the weird, a store of novels and tales that for generations have delighted and horrified. 
 
Sometime around the turn of the twentieth century, something happened, something... weird. In the dark halls of ivy-clad manors, in the ancient woodland escapes of New England, a generation of authors were inspired to radically reinterpret the horror and fantasy writing of the past. From the terrible plagues of Edgar Allan Poe to the religious terror of May Sinclair and on to the awful, tentacle-faced mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, this anthology celebrates the very best of this writing, a collection of brilliant tales that for generations have delighted and horrified. 
 
‘Escape from the prison-house of the known and the real into those enchanted lands of incredible adventure and infinite possibilities which dreams open up to us, and which things like deep woods, fantastic urban towers, and flaming sunsets momentarily suggest . . .’ H.P. Lovecraft

Sometime around the turn of the twentieth century, something happened, something... weird. In the dark halls of ivy-clad manors, in the ancient woodland escapes of New England, a generation of authors were inspired to radically reinterpret the horror and fantasy writing of the past. From the terrible plagues of Edgar Allan Poe to the religious terror of May Sinclair and on to the awful, tentacle-faced mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, this anthology celebrates the very best of this writing, a collection of brilliant tales that for generations have delighted and horrified.

From Marguerite de Navarre to Marcel Proust

The Penguin Book of French Short Stories: 1

'Beautiful and deep ... a sumptuous treat for any book lover' The Independent 
 
'Food for short story lovers everywhere' Irish Times 
 
*A major celebration of the French short story and Spectator Book of the Year* 
 
The short story has a rich tradition in French literature. This feast of an anthology celebrates its most famous practitioners, as well as newly translated writers ready for rediscovery. The first volume spans four hundred years, taking the reader from the sixteenth century to the 'golden age' of the fin de siècle. Its pages are populated by lovers, phantoms, cardinals, labourers, enchanted statues, gentleman burglars, retired bureaucrats, panthers and parrots, in a cacophony of styles and voices. From the affairs of Madame de Lafayette to the polemic realism of Victor Hugo, the supernatural mystery of Guy de Maupassant to the dark sensuality of Rachilde, this is the place to start for lovers of French literature, new and old. 
 
Edited and with an introduction by Patrick McGuinness, academic, writer and translator.

If you're in the market for something beautiful and deep, The Penguin Book of French Short Stories is a sumptuous treat for any book lover.

Tales with a certain ooh la la ... an eclectic, often steamy collection charting the history of the French short story [with] some gems by less famous figures ... high marks for quality and variety.

A French version of The Thousand and One Nights ... Both volumes tell us something new about writing in French ... Such a creative arrangement forces us to rethink what we expect a short story to be or do ... Perhaps all short fiction reminds us that the end is nigh, in which case not the least of Patrick McGuinness's achievements is that of showing us how to read and live accordingly.

It's hard to imagine a better introduction to French literature than this glorious two-volume bran tub of short fiction ... outstanding masterpieces all ... There's a welcome playfulness throughout.

Patrick McGuinness's magisterial anthology teems with universes from each of its 84 authors ... There is so much to discover in these stories - both history and food for short story lovers everywhere.

Impeccably edited by Patrick McGuinness. The first volume stretches from the 16th century to the early 20th century ... Volume two takes us from there to the early 21st century, featuring more women and non-white authors than the first volume. Treat yourself: buy both.

What a collection it is ... Both volumes fizz with the enthusiasm with which McGuinness has assembled stories that range across centuries and continents ... This will surely turn out to be the definitive anthology of French-language short fiction.

Patrick McGuinness is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of St Anne's College. Born in Tunisia and raised in Belgium, he is a poet, novelist and translator. His novel The Last Hundred Days was longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the 2011 Costa First Novel Award, and his second novel, Throw me to the Wolves, won the 2020 Encore Award. His other books include three collections of poems, The Canals of Mars (2004), Jilted City (2010), Blood Feather (2023) and a memoir, Other People's Countries (2015), which won the Duff Cooper Prize. He was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2011, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

The short story has a rich tradition in French literature. This feast of an anthology celebrates its most famous practitioners, as well as newly translated writers ready for rediscovery. The first volume spans 400 years, taking the reader from the sixteenth century to the 'golden age' of the fin de siècle. Its pages are populated by lovers, phantoms, cardinals, labourers, enchanted statues, gentleman burglars, retired bureaucrats, panthers and parrots, in a cacophony of styles and voices. From the affairs of Madame de Lafayette to the polemic realism of Victor Hugo, the supernatural mystery of Guy de Maupassant to the dark sensuality of Rachilde, this is the place to start for lovers of French literature, new and old.

10 Parallel Texts

Great Italian Stories

A spellbinding selection of short stories in the original Italian alongside their English translations 
 This new dual-language edition of ten stories selected from The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories celebrates some of the very best twentieth-century literature from Italy. Each story appears in the original Italian alongside an expert English translation, providing unique cultural insight and literary inspiration for language learners. Ranging from a spellbinding tale of the supernatural to a powerful portrait of post-war Italy, this revelatory collection includes works from beloved authors, Italo Calvino, Fausta Cialente, Alba de Céspedes, Grazia Deledda, Natalia Ginzburg, Elsa Morante, Lalla Romano, Umberto Saba, Alberto Savinio, and Elio Vittorini.

This new dual-language edition of ten stories selected from The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories celebrates some of the very best twentieth-century literature from Italy. Each story appears in the original Italian alongside an expert English translation, providing unique cultural insight and literary inspiration for language learners. Ranging from a spellbinding tale of the supernatural to a powerful portrait of post-war Italy, this revelatory collection includes works from beloved authors, Italo Calvino, Fausta Cialente, Alba de Céspedes, Grazia Deledda, Natalia Ginzburg, Elsa Morante, Lalla Romano, Umberto Saba, Alberto Savinio, and Elio Vittorini.

Great Spanish Stories

A riveting selection of short stories in Spanish alongside their English translations 
 This new dual-language edition of ten stories selected from The Penguin Book of Spanish Short Stories celebrates some of the very best twentieth-century literature from Spain. Each story appears in Spanish alongside an expert English translation, providing unique cultural insight and literary inspiration for language learners. Ranging from a poignant tale of betrayal to a darkly humorous exchange between wedding guests, this captivating collection includes works from authors such as Leopoldo Alas (Clarín), Cristina Fernández Cubas, Medardo Fraile, Carmen Martín Gaite, Karmele Jaio, Carmen Laforet, Javier Marías, Carme Riera, Manuel Rivas, and Esther Tusquets.

This new dual-language edition of ten stories selected from The Penguin Book of Spanish Short Stories celebrates some of the very best twentieth-century literature from Spain. Each story appears in Spanish alongside an expert English translation, providing unique cultural insight and literary inspiration for language learners. Ranging from a poignant tale of betrayal to a darkly humorous exchange between wedding guests, this captivating collection includes works from authors such as Leopoldo Alas (Clarín), Cristina Fernández Cubas, Medardo Fraile, Carmen Martín Gaite, Karmele Jaio, Carmen Laforet, Javier Marías, Carme Riera, Manuel Rivas, and Esther Tusquets.

Black Joy

Black joy is . . . 
 
The babble and buzz of the barber shop. 
Chicken and chips after school with your girls. 
Stepping foot in your mother country for the very first time. 
Feeling at one with nature. 
Learning to cook souse with your mum. 
Connecting with the only other Black colleague in your workplace. 
Loving and finding complete happiness in your fatness. 
 
Joy surrounds us. It can be found it in the day to day. It's what we live for. So why do we so rarely allow ourselves to revel in it? This must-read anthology is your invitation to do so - and is a true celebration of Black British culture in all its glory. 
 
Edited by award-winning journalist, and former gal-dem editor-in-chief, Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff and up-and-coming talent Timi Sotire, twenty-eight iconic voices speak on what Black joy means to them in this uplifting and empowering anthology. 
 
 
With essays from: 
 
Munya Chawawa -- Leigh-Anne Pinnock -- Diane Abbott -- Jason Okundaye --Bukky Bakray -- Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé -- Lavinya Stennett -- Henrie Kwushue Chanté Joseph -- Travis Alabanza -- Isaac James -- Sophia Tassew -- Lauryn Green -- Melz Owusu -- Timi Sotire -- Fope Olaleye -- Richie Brave -- Tope Olufemi -- Athian Akec -- Mikai Mcdermott -- Ife Grillo -- Rukiat Ashawe -- Mayowa Quadri -- Tobi Kyeremateng -- Haaniyah Angus -- Theophina Gabriel -- Ruby Fatimilehin -- Vanessa Kissule 
 
--- 
 
"A refreshing and invigorating burst of joy, exploring the beauty in the nuances of our existence, honing in on what propels us forward, and establishing a vital hope" - BOLU BABALOLA, author of Love in Colour 
 
"Every bit as joyous as the title suggests'" CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS, author of Queenie 
 
"A rich, gorgeous celebration of the power in embracing joy" LIV LITTLE 
 
"Black Joy is a delightful celebration of Black Britishness" MASHABLE

A refreshing and invigorating burst of joy, exploring the beauty in the nuances of our existence, honing in on what propels us forward, and establishing a vital hope

Every bit as joyous as the title suggests

Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie

A story a day from Black Joy should be a mandatory process to ward off any negative vibes

A rich, gorgeous celebration of the power in embracing joy

Black Joy is an unapologetic celebration of Black British culture and an ode to our food, our friendships and our love

Melissa Cummings-Quarry, co-author of Grown: The Black Girls' Guide to Growing Up

A beautiful, audacious collection that serves to remind us who we are and accompany collective healing.

Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff is a journalist, editor, features writer, columnist. She is the Senior Staff Editor at The New York Times, a Guardian freelance writer, and former Editor-in-Chief at gal-dem. She was also the editor of Mother Country: Real Stories of the Windrush Children.

Love, literature, friendship, music, carnival, travel, dance, work, nature, food - Black Joy can be found in so many places. And this anthology is an invitation for readers to ruminate on what brings them joy, too. 
 
Edited by award-winning journalist Charlie Brinkhust-Cuff and up-and-coming talent Timi Sotire, join twenty-eight inspirational voices in this uplifting and empowering anthology as they come together to celebrate being Black British, sharing their experiences of joy and what it means to them. 
 
 
With incredible pieces from: 
 
Diane Abbott - Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé - Fopé Ajanaku - Athian Akec - Travis Alabanza - Haaniyah Angus - Rukiat Ashawe - Bukky Bakray - Richie Brave - Munya Chawawa - Ruby Fatimilehin - Theophina Gabriel - Lauryn Green - Ife Grillo - Isaac James - Chanté Joseph - Vanessa Kisuule - Henrie Kwushue - Tobi Kyeremateng - Mikai McDermott - Jason Okundaye - Tope Olufemi - Melz Owusu - Leigh-Anne Pinnock - Mayowa Quadri - Lavinya Stennett - Timi Sotire - Sophia Tassew

Tales of the German Imagination from the Brothers Grimm to Ingeborg Bachmann

'It was a very momentous day, the day on which I was to be slaughtered' 
 
 Bringing together tales of melancholy and madness, nightmare and fantasy, this is a new collection of the most haunting German stories from the past 200 years. Ranging from the Romantics of the early nineteenth century to works of contemporary fiction, it includes Hoffmann's hallucinatory portrait of terror and insanity 'The Sandman'; Chamisso's influential black masterpiece 'Peter Schlemiel', where a man barters his own shadow; Kafka's chilling, disturbing satire 'In the Penal Colony'; the Dadaist surrealism of Kurt Schwitters' 'The Onion'; and Bachmann's modern fairy tale 'The Secrets of the Princess of Kagran'. Macabre, dreamlike and expressing deep unconscious fears, these stories are also spiked with unsettling humour, showing stylistic daring as well as giving insight into the darkest recesses of the human condition. 
 
Peter Wortsman's powerful translations are accompanied by brief overviews of the lives of each author, and an introduction discussing the notion of 'angst' and the stories' place in the context of German history. 
 
Translated, selected and edited with an introduction by Peter Wortsman

All twenty-five tales make absolutely riveting reading and are almost all suitable for reading to children as bedtime stories. As for the adults - within the pages of Tales of the German Imagination is a treasury of delicious, old fashioned story-telling

A solid collection of classic stories ... a labor of love

Peter Wortsman is a freelance translator and journalist. He was a 2010 Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin and is the author of Modern Way to Die: small stories and microtales, the plays Burning Words and The Tattoed Man Tells All. Wortsman's translations from the German include Telegrams of the Soul: Selected Prose of Peter Altenberg, Travel Pictures by Heinrich Heine, Posthumous Papers of a Living Author by Robert Musil, and Peter Schlemiel, the Man Who Sold His Shadow, by Adelbert con Chamisso.

Writings from the Zen Masters

These are unique stories of timeless wisdom and understanding from the Zen Masters. With rich and fascinating tales of swords, tigers, tea, flowers and dogs, the writings of the Masters challenge every perception - and seek to bring all readers closer to enlightenment. 
 
Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

1914-1918

Poems of the Great War

The work of 21 poets is represented: including Rupert Brooke, Robert Graves,  Ivor Gurney, Thomas Hardy, Charlotte Mew,  Alice Meynell, Wilfred Owen, Herbert Read, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon and Edward Thomas.

Published to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of Armistice, this collection is intended to be an introduction to the great wealth of First World War Poetry. The sequence of poems is random - making it ideal for dipping into - and drawn from a number of sources, mixing both well-known and less familiar poetry.

Various

Arunava Sinha

A splendid guide to unmapped lands&hellip; [Sinha] is one of the best living translators at work bringing the Bengali classics into English&hellip; he writes with exceptional elegance and wit, and is astonishingly productive

The prose short story arrived in Bengal in the wake of British colonizers, and Bengali writers quickly made the form their own. By the twentieth century a profusion of literary magazines and journals meant they were being avidly read by millions. 
 
Writers responded to this hunger for words with a ferocious energy which reflected the turmoil of their times: these stories covered land wars, famine, the caste system, religious conflict, patriarchy, Partition and the liberation war that saw the emergence of the independent country of Bangladesh. Across these shifting geographical borders, writers also looked inward, evolving new literary styles and stretching the possibilities of social realism, political fiction and intimate domestic tales. 
 
A first in English, this anthology gathers together a century's worth of extraordinary stories. From a woman who eats fish in secret to the woes of an ageing local footballer, from the anxieties of a middle-class union rep to a lawyer who stumbles upon a philosopher's stone, this is a collection that celebrates making art of life, in all its difficulty and joy.

Various

Praise for The Penguin Book of Bengali Short Stories

A splendid guide to unmapped lands… [Sinha] is one of the best living translators at work bringing the Bengali classics into English… he writes with exceptional elegance and wit, and is astonishingly p ...

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Parallel Texts3 Books

Weird Fiction5 Books

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