Urban Life & the Individual
Metropolis, anonymity, moral conflict and the pressure of work in the industrial and post-industrial age.
- Conscience vs. social expectation
- Class, precarity and ambition
- Loneliness, anxiety and identity
Collection: Modernity and Alienation
Modernity and Alienation — Classic Literature on the Self, Society & the Machine Age
A cornerstone series from Ispalbooks UK exploring how classic writers confronted the shock of modern life: industrial cities, new technologies, fractured identities and the search for meaning. Thoughtfully edited to deliver an elegant, comfortable reading experience, with clear introductions that illuminate ideas, context and influence.
Why read “Modernity and Alienation”
- Relevance that endures: Classic literature that dissects work, power, technology and urban life—exactly the questions we keep asking today.
- Big ideas, clearly introduced: Accessible framing helps readers enter complex debates (existentialism, social critique, individual freedom).
- Edition you can trust: Clean layouts and a calm, refined design that prioritises clarity, flow and sustained reading.
From Dostoevsky and Nietzsche to Conrad, Hardy and Gissing, these masterworks probe the promises and perils of modernity: ambition and failure, isolation and desire, conscience and revolt.
Themes & Editorial Focus
Philosophy & Social Critique
Power, morality, meaning: texts that ask what a human being can be—and should be—under modern conditions.
- Ethics, freedom and responsibility
- Critiques of progress and ideology
- Origins of “modern thought”
Form & Innovation
Narrative experiment, psychological depth and the early shapes of modernist technique.
- Unreliable voices and fractured time
- Interior monologue and psychology
- From realism to the edge of modernism
Featured Titles (selection)
A focused selection from the series:
- Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Notes from Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Demons (The Devils) – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Friedrich Nietzsche
- Beyond Good and Evil – Friedrich Nietzsche
- On the Genealogy of Morals – Friedrich Nietzsche
- The Birth of Tragedy – Friedrich Nietzsche
- The Gay Science – Friedrich Nietzsche
- Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
- Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
- The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
- Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad
- New Grub Street – George Gissing
- The Odd Women – George Gissing
- Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
- The Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane
- Hunger – Knut Hamsun
Who it’s for
- Readers of classic literature who want elegant, reliable editions to live with and annotate.
- Students & book clubs looking for clear introductions that support lively discussion and further study.
- Thinkers & general readers interested in modernity, alienation, ethics and the roots of contemporary culture.
FAQs
What makes these editions different?
A curated approach to classic literature: careful introductions for orientation, elegant design and page layouts that support long, focused reading—at home, in the library or on the move.
Where should I start?
If you enjoy philosophy and ideas, begin with Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil. For narrative and psychology, try Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment or Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. For the literary workplace, Gissing’s New Grub Street remains startlingly fresh.
Where can I buy them?
All titles are available via our central store: shop.peyrusse.es.