&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LI&&RScaramouche&&L/I&&R, by &&LB&&RRafael Sabatini&&L/B&&R, is part of the &&LI&&R&&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R &&L/I&&Rseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R: &&LDIV&&R

• New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars
• Biographies of the authors
• Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
• Footnotes and endnotes
• Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
• Comments by other famous authors
• Study questions to challenge the readers viewpoints and expectations
• Bibliographies for further reading
• Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics &&L/I&&Rpulls together a constellation of influences--biographical, historical, and literary--to enrich each readers understanding of these enduring works.&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R &&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&RRaised by a supposed "godfather," Andre-Louis Moreau knows nothing about his background or his real parents--not even his real name. All he knows is that he wants vengeance against the vicious, arrogant aristocrat who brutally murdered his best friend. As France plummets into revolution at the end of the eighteenth century, Moreaus journey toward revenge takes him through several careers, from lawyer to fugitive to actor and playwright--and eventually to member of the French National Assembly. Hiding with a troupe of itinerant actors, he gleefully plays the traditional Commedia Dell-Arte role of Scaramouche, the trouble-making trickster who, like Shakespeares fools and jesters, speaks painful truths disguised as harmless comedy. &&LP&&R&&LSTRONG&&RRafael Sabatini&&L/B&&R was a twentieth-century Alexandre Dumas: a masterful creator of swashbuckling historical romances. Mixing real people with fictional characters and actual events with invented ones, Sabatini drew vivid, accurately detailed pictures of revolution-addled France. In Scaramouche, he turns a sweeping adventure epic into a subtle psychological study, as Moreaus odyssey gradually becomes less about revenge than about self-discovery.&&L/P&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&LSTRONG&&RIncludes 8 pieces of original art.&&L/B&&R&&LBR&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LB&&RJohn D. Cloy, Ph.D.&&L/B&&R, is Bibliographer for the Humanities at the University of Mississippi Libraries. He is the author of &&LI&&RPensive Jester: The Literary Career of W.W. Jacobs&&L/I&&R (University Press of America, 1996) and &&LI&&RMuscular Mirth: Barry Pain and the New Humor&&L/I&&R (University of Victoria Press, 2003), as well as various articles on turn-of-the-century English literature and humor, comparative literature, and British short fiction.&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R