Into a compellingly real portrait of nineteenth-century Russian society, Dostoevsky introduces his ideal hero, the saintly Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin. Returning to St. Petersburg from a Swiss sanatorium, the gentle and naïve epileptic Myshkin, the last, poverty-stricken member of a once great family and regarded by many as an idiot, pays a visit to his distant relative General Yepanchin and proceeds to charm the General and his family. Here he sees a picture of Nastasya...
Set out for a rollicking good time with Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), the renowned French author who created timeless classics such as „The Three Musketeers”, „The Count of Monte Cristo” and „The Man in the Iron Mask”. „Les Compagnons de Jehu” („The Companions of Jehu”) tale is based loosely on a historical account of a band of young aristocrats-turned-highwaymen that continuously steals the money of the Directoire in order to finance the restoration of monarchy and who foug...
”Rescue” is not just muscular descriptions of a boiling sea or some kind of intrigue or action. Konrad decisively decides things like lengthy / nuanced conversations. But, as in all his books, „Rescue” is darkly intense, much more happening under the surface than even the characters think. This is not an easy book to concentrate on. Tension, uncertainty about what will happen next, a gloomy atmosphere – all this is alive and overwhelming.
Having returned safely home, Robinson Crusoe marries and starts a family. Peace is not for Robinson, he hardly hangs out in England for several years: thoughts about the island are haunted him day and night. He even buys a farm, intends to engage in rural labor, to which he is so accustomed. After the death of his wife, nothing else keeps him in England, Robinson is overcome by the old wanderlust, and sets out with his faithful companion Friday to see his island once again....
„The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain” is an 1848 ghost story by Charles Dickens. It is the final novella in Dickens’ series of five Christmas Books, the first and best known of which is „A Christmas Carol”. For Victorians these ghost stories began to be associated with Christmas time, and the end of the year. In this story, Dickens narrates the hair-raising experiences of a teacher of chemistry Redlaw. As the protagonist dwells on his past sorrows and mistakes, a phanto...
„The Inheritors” is a little-known book of two main British writers. The plot is based on a political scheme to undermine the British Empire, based on a Congo-like colonial enterprise and manipulated by journalists. The main character claims that she is from the Fourth Dimension and works to replace the human race.
Here are 10 stories to introduce readers of all ages to Charles Dickens and his Victorian England filled with orphans, expectations, and Christmas spirits, including adaptations of Dickens geared toward young readers, engaging looks into the author’s life, and a few kid-friendly classics straight from the author’s quill. The most famous and funny short stories include the „Child’s Story”, „The Cratchits’ Christmas Dinner”, „A Christmas Carol”, „Hunted Down” and „The Poor Re...
Hawthorne’s use of the language is magnificent, and the premise was interesting. We get acquainted with the love triangle between the heiress of Ellen, the immature student Edward and the painful scientist Fanshaw, and everything starts to go south after the villain enters. The pacing of this novel goes beyond the strange and not in a good way. After the first half of the novel, all expectations disappeared, even the idea that the search for the abducted girl had just begun...
This is a fun collection, the second of Hawthorne, Greek myths slightly rethought and retold for children. These are famous stories with a rather friendly perception. Antey has some friends who are called „pygmies”, but it seems that their height is about six inches. But they are going to avenge him after Hercules killed him, and Big X good-naturedly accepts the loss. Theseus still kills the Minotaur, although the beast seems to be a kind of miserable soul, but does not lea...
An early collection of fairy tales. Some of the subtle, almost subconscious problems that Hawthorne faces with female sexuality. Like the stories, these plays often do not follow the traditional dramatic arcs that can disappoint, but Hawthorne is always more interested in character than plot, so you just need to abandon any expectations of high drama and sometimes enjoy the amazing revelations that come from his attention to atmospheric details.
Dr. Dolliver, a worthy character of great antiquity. A person’s desire for an immortal existence, an attempt to satisfy which would be stated in various ways: first, through the selfish old sensualist, Colonel Dabni, who greedily grabbed the mysterious elixir and took his draft so that he died on the spot; then, through the plain old Grandir, longing to live for Pansy; and, perhaps, through Pansy herself, who, having come to enjoy some kind of ennobling love, would like to ...
At the center of the novel is a group of four characters. These are two young American artists, Hilda and Kenyon, who were brought to Rome by a thirst to comprehend the secrets of art, and their friends – the artist Miriam and the young Donatello, who are introduced into this circle not by a passion for art, but by love for Miriam. Everyone is struck by the similarity of the count with the famous statue of Praxiteles, depicting a faun. Most importantly, this similarity is n...
Amazingly conveyed the characters of the era and characters, suffering and atonement, sin and clogging of society. The plot of the story is simple – a married woman, whose husband has been absent for two years, gives birth to a child. In Puritan society, where the concept of „"personal life"” does not exist, the people are in deep shock from what happened, but mercifully decides not to kill the woman, but to punish with shame. The letter „"A"” now shines on her chest....
Previously, it never occurred to anyone to write down fairy tales. They were told to each other, passed down from generation to generation... and if not for scientists, such as the Grimm brothers, many stories would not have reached us. The reader is not only acquainted with the famous fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, but also learns what a fairy tale is, when it appeared and how it changed. He learns about the life of the brothers Jacob and William and about their diffic...
The great Goethe invented his Faust when he was a little over twenty years old, and completed the tragedy a few months before his death. This work was the result of the philosophical and artistic searches of the author – a poet, playwright, prose writer, the greatest scientist of his time, a man of encyclopedic knowledge. The hero of the tragedy, Dr. Johann Faust, lived in the first half of the 16th century and was known as a magician and a warlock who, having rejected mode...
In the novel “Far From the Crazed Crowd”, Hardy reveals the great and eternal drama of the relationship between a man and a woman. At one time, the vivid, complicated story of the love triangle of the independent and proud Bathsheba, who inherited the farm in the wilderness of Northern England, the peasant Gabriel Oak and the “alien from urban civilization” sergeant Troy became a real literary scandal. Interestingly, Hardy’s novel is still considered scandalous and violates...
Hardy’s fifth novel, entitled "Comedy in Chapters." In a typical Hardy manner, the story is based on a love triangle. Ethelberta and her involuntary sister Picoti are in love with the same man, Christopher, who reciprocates Ethelberta’s feelings. However, a happy result for them is out of the question, because it is poor.
The novel „Doctor Grimshawe’s Secret”, in which a specific eerie coloring is attached to one particular house, still existing in Salem and adjacent to the old cemetery on Charter Street. This mood was expressed in giving a certain amount of mystery, magic or horror to events that are basically not supernatural. An interesting novel for mystery lovers.
A group of "local historians" of men comes together and tells each other stories about women from the past. All stories are connected with love, marriage to the wrong person and illegitimate children. This says a lot about how women looked at that time. Even those in abundance had very little influence and were often convicted of using it when they had a chance.
The novel takes the reader to the very depths of rural England. The small village of Hintok, the scene of the novel, is so small that it’s even hard to find in the thicket of the forest, but this is where the tragedies of “truly Sophocles greatness” are played out. The reason for these tragedies is the clash of natural human characters preserved in the reserved wilderness of rural England.
Jude is a layman who is cursed by an even larger figure: a pre-feminist minx. In the case of Jude, being associated with a woman in the then strange double is a fatal flaw. And not just any woman: Sue Briadhead, a Bovarian double, is ambivalent, mean and not romantic. Of course, she alone would betray Judah’s affection, break his heart. She is the sad queen of drama!
Hardy’s historical novel against the backdrop of the grandest Napoleonic wars tells about the love and sorrows of ordinary people who found themselves in unusual times. When the expected invasion brings several regiments to her small rural community, the young maid Anna Garland is looked after by three people in uniform: faithful trumpet major John Loveday, his sailor brother Bob, and the cowardly Festus Derriman of the cavalry of Yomanria.
