Most Popular Books by Carson McCullers

A quiet, sensitive girl searches for beauty in a small, but damned Southern town.

In one volume, the complete short fiction of the author of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, including her two most renowned novellas. Carson McCullers—novelist, dramatist, poet—was at the peak of her powers as a writer of short fiction. Here are nineteen stories that explore her signature themes including loneliness in marriage and the tragicomedy of life in the South. Included in this volume are “The Member of the Wedding” and “The Ballad of the Sad Café,” novellas that Tennessee Williams judged to be “assuredly among the masterpieces of our language.” “McCullers patented the Southern gothic genre that embraces grotesque, morbid characters with such pervading themes as unrequited love and wounded adolescence. Largely set in the South and richly autobiographical, her writings have endured because of their great power and originality.” —Library Journal

A novel that became an award-winning play and a major film, and that has charmed generations of readers, The Member of the Wedding is a story of the inimitable twelve-year-old Frankie, who is utterly bored with her life until she hears about her older brother’s wedding. Bolstered by lively conversations with her house servant, Berenice, and her six-year-old cousin—and her own unbridled imagination—Frankie takes on an overly active role in the wedding, even hoping to go (uninvited) on the honeymoon. This story is a marvelous study of the agony of adolescence and of wanting to be part of something larger and more accepting than yourself. The Member of the Wedding showcases Carson McCullers at her most sensitive, astute, and lasting best. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.

A Southern woman is undone by love and gossip in the classic novella, one of seven stories in this “brilliant . . . panorama of remarkable talent” (The New York Times). One of the most celebrated and enduringly popular works in Southern literature, this collection assembles Carson McCullers’s best stories, including her beloved novella “The Ballad of the Sad Café.” A haunting tale of love and violence in a small Southern town, the novella introduces readers to Miss Amelia, a formidable woman whose home serves as the town’s gathering place. Among other fine works, the collection also includes McCullers’s first published story, “Wunderkind,” about a musical prodigy who suddenly realizes she will not go on to become a great pianist. First published in 1951, The Ballad of the Sad Café was adapted for the stage by the Edward Albee and later made into a film starring Vanessa Redgrave and Keith Carradine. “McCullers''s finest stories.” —The New York Times

An “impeccable” novel about race relations and responsibility set in the civil-rights-era South, by the author of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (The Atlantic Monthly). In a small Georgia town, pharmacist J. S. Malone, diagnosed with leukemia, is given a mere year to live—and a lifetime’s worth of regret over years and opportunities wasted. Meanwhile, Judge Clane, still reeling from the suicide of his son, looks for meaning in the past and judgment in the present. Clane’s grandson, Jester, seeks identity in the wake of his father’s selfish act. And all three of them find their stories inexorably bound together as Sherman Pew, a young black man with blue eyes, looking to uncover the truth about his parentage, moves into a white neighborhood, thus upsetting the fragile balance of the town. “One of the few first-rate novelists of our time,” Carson McCullers deftly weaves a story of life and death, love and hate, progress and stagnation, a brilliant examination of the universal human experiences that at once bind us together and tear us apart (Kirkus Reviews).

A reprint of the 1941 novel about the sad and tragic lives of the Pendertons and the Langdons, two military couples living on an army base in the American South in the 1930s.

"This particular hell is an Army post in the South. Its inhabitants: a sexually disturbed author; his sensual animal of a wife; his fellow-officer and wife''s lover; a delicate, sensitive woman who must live with her husband''s infidelity; and the driven young Private who brings the searing drama to a head. From these elements, one of America''s superlative writers has produced a vision of existance as terrible as it is real-- a shattering voyage into the depths of human hatred and desire." -- Back cover.

“Essential reading for any serious beginning writer . . . illuminating.” —San Francisco Chronicle Carson McCullers is renowned for her Southern Gothic fiction and for such modern classics as The Member of the Wedding. This collection includes an assortment of her earliest work, written mostly before she was nineteen. Included are stories, essays, articles, poems, and writing about writing—including the working outline of “The Mute,” which would become her bestselling novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter—as well as an introduction by Joyce Carol Oates. As new generations continue to discover the work of Carson McCullers, this volume provides both an enjoyable read and an inspiring look at the beginning of a brilliant literary career.

Carson McCullers''s ''The Greatest Works of Carson McCullers'' is a collection of her most renowned literary works, including ''The Heart is a Lonely Hunter'' and ''The Member of the Wedding.'' McCullers''s prose is characterized by its emotional depth and psychological insight, exploring themes of loneliness, alienation, and the search for identity. Her writing style is both poignant and introspective, painting vivid portraits of her characters and their internal struggles. Set in the American South during the early to mid-20th century, McCullers''s works reflect the societal and cultural issues of the time, offering a window into the human experience. Carson McCullers drew inspiration for her writing from her own struggles with illness and isolation, as well as her observations of the world around her. Her unique perspective and empathy for her characters shine through in each of her stories, making her one of the most celebrated authors of her time. McCullers''s ability to capture the complexities of human emotion and relationships makes ''The Greatest Works of Carson McCullers'' a must-read for anyone interested in classic American literature or the human condition. This collection serves as a timeless literary contribution that continues to resonate with readers today.

A landmark gathering of McCullers’ shorter works, including all her published stories, plays, essays, poems, and an unfinished autobiography Celebrated worldwide for her masterly novels, Carson McCullers was equally accomplished, and equally moving, when writing in shorter forms. This Library of America volume brings together for the first time her twenty extraordinary stories, along with plays, essays, memoirs, and poems. Here are the indelible tales “Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland” and “A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.” as well as her previously uncollected story about the civil rights movement, “The March”; her award- winning Broadway play The Member of the Wedding and the unpublished teleplay The Sojourner; twenty-two essays; and the revealing unfinished memoir Illumination and Night Glare. This wide-ranging gathering of shorter works reveals new depths and dimensions of the writer whom V. S. Pritchett praised for her “courageous imagination—one that is bold enough to consider the terrible in human nature without loss of nerve, calm, dignity, or love.” LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

"A quirky Southern family is plagued by mental illness, infidelity and violence born out of naïveté."--

More than 30 years after it was written, the autobiography of Carson McCullers finally will be published. From a precocious childhood to her painful decline from crippling strokes, McCullers offers poignant, unabashed remembrances of early writing successes, family and intense relationships. 21 photos.

Carson McCullers was an American realist author, whose stories depict the inner lives of misfits, outcasts and other lonely people. Her characters often endure physical and psychological difficulties that complicate their natural but bizarre searches for compassion. Her masterpiece ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ is now ranked by the Modern Library as 17th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. McCullers’ work has often been described as Southern Gothic and is indicative of her Deep South roots. For the first time in publishing history, this eBook presents McCullers’ complete works, with numerous illustrations, rare texts, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to McCullers’ life and works * Concise introductions to the texts * All the novels and short stories, with individual contents tables * The complete poetry and plays * Features rare poems appearing for the first time in digital publishing * Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Rare uncollected essays and articles * Excellent formatting of the texts * Includes McCullers’ autobiography * Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres CONTENTS: The Novels The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940) Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941) The Member of the Wedding (1946) Clock without Hands (1961) The Shorter Fiction The Ballad of the Sad Café (1951) Uncollected Short Stories The Plays The Member of the Wedding: A Play (1951) The Sojourner (1953) The Square Root of Wonderful (1958) The Poetry Sweet as a Pickle and Clean as a Pig (1964) Uncollected Poems The Non-Fiction The Mortgaged Heart (1971) Uncollected Essays The Autobiography Illumination and Night Glare (1967)

''A Wunderkind - a Wunderkind a Wunderkind. The syllables would come out rolling in the deep German way, roar against her ears and then fall to a murmur...'' Writing about outcasts, dreamers and misfits in the Deep South, Carson McCullers was acclaimed for her sympathetic depictions of loneliness, the need for understanding and the search for love. These four masterly stories of eccentrics, failed prodigies, injustice and hope, written when she was in her twenties, explore the human condition with humour and pathos. This book includes Wunderkind, The Jockey, Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland, A Tree, A Rock and A Cloud.

A novella and six short stories, selected from The ballad of the sad caf©♭, which was published in 1951.

A transient stops at an all-night cafe and explains to the owner and a paperboy how the science of love helped him to recover after his wife left him.