The Magic Paint

  CARSON MCCULLERS Wunderkind

  ROBERT MUSIL Flypaper

  VLADIMIR NABOKOV Terra Incognita

  R. K. NARAYAN A Breath of Lucifer

  FRANK O’CONNOR The Cornet-Player Who Betrayed Ireland

  DOROTHY PARKER The Sexes

  LUDMILLA PETRUSHEVSKAYA Through the Wall

  JEAN RHYS La Grosse Fifi

  SAKI Filboid Studge, the Story of a Mouse That Helped

  ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER The Last Demon

  WILLIAM TREVOR The Mark-2 Wife

  JOHN UPDIKE Rich in Russia

  H. G. WELLS The Door in the Wall

  EUDORA WELTY Moon Lake

  P. G. WODEHOUSE The Crime Wave at Blandings

  VIRGINIA WOOLF The Lady in the Looking-Glass

  STEFAN ZWEIG Chess

  a little history

  Penguin Modern Classics were launched in 1961, and have been shaping the reading habits of generations ever since.

  The list began with distinctive grey spines and evocative pictorial covers – a look that, after various incarnations, continues to influence their current design – and with books that are still considered landmark classics today.

  Penguin Modern Classics have caused scandal and political change, inspired great films and broken down barriers, whether social, sexual or the boundaries of language itself. They remain the most provocative, groundbreaking, exciting and revolutionary works of the last 100 years (or so).

  On the fiftieth anniversary of the Modern Classics, we’re publishing fifty Mini Modern Classics: the very best short fiction by writers ranging from Beckett to Conrad, Nabokov to Saki, Updike to Wodehouse. Though they don’t take long to read, they’ll stay with you long after you turn the final page.

  * In English in original.

  * In English in original.