Written in the form of an autobiography, it describes the life of the eponymous narrator Robinson Crusoe. After surviving a terrible shipwreck, Crusoe discovers he is the only human on an island far from any shipping routes or rescue. At first he is devastated, but slowly, with patience and imagination, he transforms his island into a tropical paradise. For twenty-four years he lives with no human companionship – until one fateful day, when he discovers he is not alone... „...
While „The Battle of Life” is one of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Books – his annual release of a story just before Christmas – this one breaks the tradition by not being concerned with Christmas. Rather, its subtitle, „A Love Story”, reveals more of the plot. The setting is an English village that stands on the site of a historic battle. Some characters refer to the battle as a metaphor for the struggles of life, hence the title. This novel basically depicts the battles one ...
Written in a time when criminal biographies enjoyed great success, Daniel Defoe’s „The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders” (aka „Moll Flanders”) details the life of the irresistible Moll and her struggles through poverty and sin in search of property and power. Born in Newgate prison and abandoned six months later, Moll Flanders’ drive to find and hold on to a secure place in society propels her through incest, adultery, bigamy, prostitution and a resource...
This is a story about the adventures of the youth of the regency from the lower reaches of the British nobility in the harsh and capricious world of the Caribbean Sea, complete with pirates, romance and daring Spanish girls, as well as a few last minute escapes – the clichés of romantic fantasies about adventures. There are several excerpts from Conrad’s beautiful memories. At that time, slavery was the basis of the Caribbean economy, and the hero for some time is the head ...
Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic. This charming collection of sketches from Victorian literary master brings together a number of pieces that were originally published in various popular periodicals of the era. „The Mudfog Papers” describes the local politics of the fictional town of Mudfog. It also describes the delusions of its mayor Nicholas Tulrumble, his disastrous attempts at putting on a public show and the meetings of its Society for the Advan...
With a page-length title promising thrilling adventures in exotic locations, „Captain Singleton” is often viewed as an attempt by Defoe to capitalize upon the success achieved by „Robinson Crusoe”, which had been published a year earlier and had already merited a sequel. Defoe here offers a searching exploration of society from the point of view of its outcasts. The narrative describes the life of an Englishman, stolen from a well-to-do family as a child and raised by Gypsi...
Originally a regular magazine written entirely by Charles Dickens from April 4, 1840-December 4, 1841, „Master Humphrey’s Clock” uses an elderly gentleman named Master Humphrey as a frame for a number of stories. He is a lonely, crippled old man who lives in London. He keeps manuscripts in an antique clock by the chimney. He decides to start a little club, Master Humphrey’s Clock, at which the members – eventually six in total, including Mr. Pickwick – would write and read ...
„A Tale of Two Cities” is the second historical novel by Charles Dickens and it is one of his most tragic works. The plot centers on the years leading up to the French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. The novel, first and foremost, follows several characters including Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated British barrister w...
This is the story of a sea captain named Wally, who suffered a financial catastrophe at the end of an outstanding career. All he wants is to leave his only daughter some money to help her cope with her unsuccessful marriage, so he is investing his last 500 pounds in an old steamer owned by his chief engineer, a man named Massy. Massy – a desperate man who won the money to buy his ship in the lottery.
This is an exciting, atmospheric work that works on several levels: partly a story of tropical adventures, partly a melodramatic novel, partly a psychological thriller, partly a criticism of the empire. Axel Heist lives on an island in present-day Indonesia with a Chinese aide Wang. Heist visits a nearby island when a women’s group plays in a hotel owned by Mr. Schomberg. Schomberg tries to impose himself sexually on one of the band members, Alma, later named Lena. She runs...
This is a collection of small stories. The events of all four stories develop in the sea. Although these stories and inherent supernatural phenomena, but there are no ghosts. Three stories of four show us a rude hero who does not want to be revealed deeply. The other, Partner, shows what happens to you if you are NOT a rude individualist.
Conrad stresses that the narrative clearly shows that the duel really benefited two. Combat competitions made every job and strive a little harder, forced the will to survive and win in a personal fight as seriously as the desire to survive the bloody years of the Napoleonic war. Both are officers in Napoleon’s army, and both are „to the core”.
There are collected 3 stories. One of the stories has a distinctly ironic accent. In „Smile of Fortune”, the young captain landed his ship on a tropical island. He is met by a trader named Jacobus, whom he regards as luck. Then he falls in love with the girl Jacobus. By luck, the captain arrives on another island, where there is hunger, and he can sell potatoes.
This book is somewhere morally difficult to read. It describes the travails of women. Peter Willems, a Dutchman by birth, a poor boy, leaves his miserable, joyless home in order to seek a better, more prosperous future. The sea will be a salvation for the boy. on the ship, he will find his home and his comrades in life.
This is a story about a young pastor who decides to go to his newly appointed ward in disguise, to find out what factors in the community repel all pastors working there before they leave the community. As the secret is revealed, we meet many citizens of the community and become familiar with their problems and misfortunes. The pastor becomes an integral part of the community he seeks to serve when he is accepted.
This collection of short works. Despite the fact that these are short stories, the author never ceases to amaze with his approach to his characters. The scene from Brittany „Idiots” is perhaps his most significant work. Here, Conrad describes a family cursed by a mental illness in a French village, and how the embryo difficulties affect parents.
Almayer is a European by nature who never lived in Europe. He has to marry the adoptive Malay daughter of another European, who promises Almayer a rich life. But the European does not keep his word. The main character gets depressed. But the story revolves around the stupidity of Almayer’s life and the stupidity of Europeans, who believe that they are superior to others.
Events revolve around the daughter of a bankrupt magnate. She is viciously attacked by her disappointed governess, who has her marriage plans for her father, and Flora takes with her the belief that she is unattractive. Psychological history that keeps the reader from beginning to end. Soon, Flora discovers that even the staff does not love her, and her situation is complicated by the selfish indignation of her father against her attachment to Anthony.
Events unfolding in Marseille. George secretly gets the forbidden goods, and this makes money. He falls in love with Rita da Lastiola, a young woman with a certain wealth and mystery that supports the work of Karlist and inherited the fortune from a rich man who took her for a mistress. She is of peasant origin, and her motives and feelings are the subject of endless debate.
This collection of four stories. One of the stories is Prince Roman. It tells about the Polish people and their hero. The conversation was about aristocracy. How did this discredited item come about? However, neither the great Florentine artist, who did not close his eyes at death while thinking about his city, nor Saint Francis, who blessed the city of Assisi with his last breath, were barbarians.
In Alberta, Canada, young Fred’s family awaits the return of their father who is looking for a site for a new home for them. But just as he return, bloodhounds seeking the thief who stole a box containing hundreds of dollars trace the scent to Fred’s father. Fred sets out to find Athabasca Bill who may have information that will prove that his father is innocent. Elizabeth Marchant (1862–1941) was a prolific English writer who wrote in the style of the Victorian adventure n...
Do literatury młodzieżowej zaliczają się książki pisane dla nastoletnich czytelników oraz tak zwanych młodych dorosłych (Young Adult). W literaturze dla młodzieży najczęściej poruszane są tematy i problemy ważne dla osób wkraczających w okres dojrzewania. Autorzy książek zaliczanych do literatury młodzieżowej piszą o pierwszych związkach i rozstaniach, miłości, porzuceniu, przyjaźni, a także o używkach, seksualności czy samobójstwie. Jedną z pozycji w tej kategorii, która podejmuje próbę zmierzenia się z wieloma problemami charakterystycznymi dla okresu dojrzewania, jest na przykład kontrowersyjna powieść „13 powodów” Jaya Ashera, w oparciu o którą powstał głośny serial pod tym samym tytułem (wyprodukowany przez platformę Netflix). Warto pamiętać, że wiele powieści uważanych obecnie za młodzieżowe w przeszłości było adresowanych do starszych czytelników. Dopiero po późniejszych adaptacjach były akceptowane jako powieści dla młodych osób – tak było w przypadku utworów pisanych przez Juliusza Verne’a. Znaczna część jego powieści powstała jako teksty dla dorosłych, jednak zyskały one popularność również wśród młodszych czytelników z uwagi na atrakcyjną formę. Dlatego też powieści Verne’a takie jak „20 000 mil podmorskiej żeglugi” czy „W 80 dni dookoła świata” znajdują się w kategorii „Dla młodzieży”. W tej kategorii odnaleźć można zarówno powieści zaliczane do fantastyki, horroru, kryminału czy thrilleru, jak i romanse, powieści obyczajowe, a także pozycje będące połączeniem dwóch lub więcej gatunków. Do takich należą powieści „Ponad wszystko” Nicoli Yoon, „Fanfik” Natalii Osińskiej, cykl „Buntowniczka z pustyni” Alwyn Hamilton, „Eleonora i Park” oraz „Fangirl” Rainbow Rowell, a także cykl Victorii Aveyard „Czerwona królowa”. Nie zabrakło tu również kultowej i międzypokoleniowej serii „Jeżycjada” Małgorzaty Musierowicz, powieści o Harrym Potterze J. K. Rowling, a także publikacji zaliczanych do klasyki literatury dla młodzieży („Mała księżniczka” Frances Hodgson Burnett, „Ania z Zielonego Wzgórza” Lucy Maud Montgomery).
