Synopses & Reviews
The Pilgrim's Progress has inspired readers for over three centuries. It is one of the best-loved and most widely read books in English literature and is a classic of the heroic Puritan tradition and a founding text in the development of the English novel. The story of Christian, whose pilgrimage takes him through the Slough of Despond, Vanity Fair, and the Delectable Mountains, is full of danger and adventure. Together with his trusty companions, Faithful and Hopeful, he encounters many enemies--the foul fiend Apollyon, Judge Hategood, Giant Despair of Doubting Castle--before finally arriving at the Celestial City.
Bunyan's own experience of religious persecution informs his story, and its qualities of psychological realism, and the beauty and simplicity of his prose combine to create a book whose appeal is universal. This edition includes the illustrations that appeared with the book in Bunyan's lifetime, giving a sense of its impact on contemporary readers.
Review
"I like it, and my students like it. The notes will tell them what they need to know."--Gail McGrew Eifrig,
Valparaiso UniversityReview
"This new World's Classics...is excellent of its kind and for its purposes - easy to recommend and impossible to fault. The Introduction is lucid and engaging...Students, teachers and the general reader will find no better companion. The advanced scholar will also learn a thing or two.--The Recorder (International John Bunyan Society magazine)
Synopsis
One of the best-selling books of all time, The Pilgrim's Progress holds a unique place in the history of English literature. Bunyan captures the speech of ordinary people as accurately as he depicts their behavior and appearance and as firmly as he realizes their inner emotional and spiritual life.
About the Author
W. R. Owens's publications include two volumes in the Oxford edition of
The Miscellaneous Works of John Bunyan (1994) and a co-edited collection of essays,
John Bunyan and his England 1628-88 (1990). He is co-editor, with P. N. Furbank, of
The Canonisation of Daniel Defoe (1988),
Defoe De-Attributions(1994), and
A Critical Bibliography of Daniel Defoe(1998). They are joint editors of
The Works of Daniel Defoe (44 vols., in progress).