A contemporary collection of stories by one of France s finest writers.

Revered by key literary figures including as Balzac and Merimee, Stendhal is best known for his novels, but his shorter works were just as powerful. In this brand new translation, Susan Ashe brings his greatest Italian stories to the modern reader, whilst staying true to Stendhal s style and brilliance.

The collection includes:

- The Abbess of Castro- Vittoria Accordamboni- The Cenci- Along with accompanying essays by Charles Dickens, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Stendhal himself.

Together, these stories convey Stendhal s love of Italy and admiration for the society s honesty, sincerity, and above all, passion. Roman Tales will reaffirm Stendhal as one of the great French masters of the 19th Century."

Jorge Luis Borges wrote: "Fame is a form of incomprehension, perhaps the worst." Since his death Borges has been inducted into the world literary canon through the efforts of a number of influential critics and the Borges estate. Central to this project has been the publication of a group of grand volumes whose greatest achievement has been to make available in English works that had previously remained obscure, even in Spanish. The five-year collaboration (1967-1972) between Borges and Norman Thomas di Giovanni produced the translations that brought Borges his burgeoning global English readership. The Lesson of the Master--a memoir and essays--is an indispensable work for Borges readers and his growing legion of students and scholars. Di Giovanni was the only translator to have Borges on hand on a daily basis to contradict or authorize his work. In addition di Giovanni is not burdened with an over-reverence for his subject but is on the contrary playful, robust, and witty. The Lesson of the Master is an essential illumination of one of the great masters of twentieth-century literature.