The landmark novel that inspired Verdi's opera La Traviata, in a
sparkling new translation
"One of the greatest love stories of all time," according to Henry
James, and the inspiration for Verdi's opera La Traviata, the
Oscar-winning musical Moulin Rouge!, and numerous ballets, stage plays
(starring Lillian Gish, Eleonora Duse, Tallulah Bankhead, and Sarah
Bernhardt, and films (starring Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Rudolph
Valentino, Isabelle Huppert, and Colin Firth), The Lady of the
Camellias itself was inspired by the real-life nineteeth-century
courtesan Marie Duplessis, the lover of the novel's author, Alexander
Dumas fils.
Known to all as "the Lady of the Camellias" because she is never seen
without her favorite flowers, Marguerite Gautier, the most beautiful,
brazen, and expensive courtesan in all of Paris. But despite having many
lovers, she has never really loved--until she meets Armand Duval, young,
handsome, and hopelessly in love with her.
"Marguerite and Armand are the kind of bright, self-destructive young
things we still read about in magazines, watch on-screen, or brush up
against today."
--Liesl Schillinger, from the Note on the Translation
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of
classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700
titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works
throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the
series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and
notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as
up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
