Arthur Machen (3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror,…
In «The Embroidered Towel» by Mikhail Bulgakov the young doctor arrives at his new post after a bone-jarring 24-hour wagon ride. He frets about how young he looks, and feels intimidated by the well-stocked pharmacy and medical library his predecessor has left behind. He also worries that he’ll have to treat a hernia and won’t…
«The Dream of a Ridiculous Man» (Russian: Сон смешного человека, Son smeshnovo cheloveka) is a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky written in 1877. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing of any value in the world. Slipping into nihilism with the “terrible anguish” he is determined to commit suicide….
Размышления главных персонажей новеллы – Адама и Евы – преподаны Твеном в форме дневниковых записей. Автор вновь поднимает вечный вопрос о земном существовании с двух точек зрения – мужской и женской. Сквозь юмор повествования о жизни этой пары проступает взгляд великолепного знатока человеческих слабостей. Твен благосклонно наблюдает за людьми с позиции скептически настроенного оптимиста. На…
The Divine Comedy Inferno by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed in 1320, that gives the widest synthesis of medieval culture and world ontology. Dante’s Inferno a real medieval encyclopedia of scientific, political, philosophical, moral and religious knowledges. It is considered to be the preeminent work in Italian and world literature. The Divine Comedy…
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz is a novella by novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was first published in the June 1922 issue of The Smart Set magazine, and was included in Fitzgerald’s 1922 short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. Much of the story is set in Montana, a setting that may…
The Death of Ivan Ilyich – first published in 1886, is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, considered one of the masterpieces of his late fiction, written shortly after his religious conversion of the late 1870s. «Usually classed among the best examples of the novella», The Death of Ivan Ilyich tells the story of a high-court…
О’Генри – американский писатель. Рассказы О’Генри отличаются изобретательной фабулой, неожиданными развязками и насмешливым юмором. Они образуют сказочно-авантюрную эпопею американской жизни, полную достоверных бытовых примет и метких авторских наблюдений. Подлинный герой О’Генри – «маленький американец» с его правом на счастье. Аудиокнига на английском языке. The Day We Celebrate. Stories
В настоящее издание включены два рассказа из раннего периода творчества американского писателя Фрэнсиса Скотта Фицджеральда [1896 – 1940], вошедшего в историю мировой литературы романами о жизни Америки 20-х годов. «Хрустальная чаша» – огромная хрустальная чаша – символ невезения и бездушной роскоши. Подаренная к свадьбе героини рассказа, она влечет за собой череду трагических и нелепых событий….
«»The Dead»» is the final short story in the 1914 collection Dubliners by James Joyce. The other stories in the collection are shorter, whereas at 15,952 words, «„The Dead“» is almost long enough to be described as a novella. The story deals with themes of love and loss as well as raising questions about the…
«The Curious Case of Benjamin Button» is a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in Collier’s Magazine on May 27, 1922. It was subsequently anthologized in his book Tales of the Jazz Age, which is occasionally published as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories. It also was…
The Conquest of Bread is an 1892 book by the Russian anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin. Peter Kropotkin was born a Russian prince whose father owned 1,200 serfs. But he became a Russian activist, writer, revolutionary, scientist, economist, sociologist, historian, essayist, researcher, political scientist, biologist, geographer and philosopher. The Conquest of Bread has become a classic of…
There is no riddle that sharp mind of detective Sherlock Holmes can’t solve. Observation, intelligence, selflessness and bravery distinguish a famous literature character created by writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The inimitable duet of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson sets to investigation of a crime series, masterly solves complicated cases and restores justice inside and outside…
The Christmas Tree and the Wedding» is a short story written by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky published in 1848. The piece is narrated by an awkward outcast attending a Christmas party. He observes the party’s guest of honour and takes special interest in one of the children. The narrator begins by mentioning to the reader…
Linda Grant, beset by medical bills and other pressing obligations, tells her children that they will not be celebrating Christmas this year. Older Keith takes the news in stride, while younger Teddy angrily insists he will have his Christmas turkey one way or another. When the neighborhood schoolteacher drops by to extend an invitation to…
«First published in the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, XIV (January, 1844), “The Christmas Banquet” shares its subtitle—”from the unpublished “Allegories of the Heart”—with “Egotism; or the Bosom-Serpent,” another Hawthorne story of the period. “The Christmas Banquet” is an allegory composed by Elliston and read aloud to his wife Rosina (and an old friend)…
The Chimes, is a novella written by Charles Dickens and first published in 1844, one year after A Christmas Carol. It is the second in his series of «„Christmas books,“» five novellas with strong social and moral messages that he published during the 1840s. In addition to A Christmas Carol and The Chimes, the Christmas…
Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost and horror stories. In his own day it was his ghost stories which were his most popular works. Among the most significant works Edward Benson: And the dead Spoke…, The Outcast,…
When Perry Parkhurst decides that his long-time engagement to Betty Medill has gone on long enough, he presents her with a marriage license and an ultimatum: get married immediately or end the relationship all-together. But things don’t go quite as well as Perry expected, and the two end up parting ways for good. Perry decides…
The Call of the Wild is a short adventure novel by Jack London, published in 1903 and set in Yukon, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character of the novel is a dog named Buck. The story opens at a ranch in Santa Clara…
«Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories «„Rip Van Winkle“» (1819) and «„The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“» (1820), both of which appear in his collection The Sketch Book of…
«Selected works of Oscar Wilde «„Best of Oscar Wilde“» is the book that everyone should read to understand themselves and each other. “The ones who are able to see the high meaning of beauty are cultural people. However, the chosen one is the one who sees only one thing in beauty: the Beauty itself” said…
The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century…
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin himself appears to have called the work his Memoirs. Although it had a tortuous publication history after Franklin’s death, this work has become one of the most famous…
The Apology of Socrates was written by Plato. In fact, it’s a defensive speech of Socrates that he said in a court noted down by Plato. The main subject of the speech is a problem of the evil. Socrates insists that neither death nor death sentence is evil. We shouldn’t be afraid of the death…
The Allegory of the Cave, or Plato’s Cave, was presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic (514a–520a) to compare «the effect of education (παιδεία) and the lack of it on our nature». It is written as a dialogue between Plato’s brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates, narrated by the latter. The allegory…
Знаменитый роман Томаса Гарди «Тэсс из рода д`Эрбервиллей» впервые был опубликован в 1891 году и сразу же вызвал неоднозначную и противоречивую реакцию современников писателя. Они были настолько шокированы его сюжетом и содержанием, что долгое время книга не находила понимания и признания ни у критиков, ни у читателей. Зато в наши дни «Тэсс из рода д`Эрбервиллей»…
«Человек, который пережил землетрясение, рассказывает: – Я шёл по дороге к дому своих друзей, где меня ждал ночлег; дорога не очень круто вползала на каменистые террасы; там прилепился старый город, такой же тёмный, как почва под ним. В нём было много зданий, сложенных из круглых речных камней…» Терремото
Венок сонетов — является редким жанром стихотворчества. Это — поэтическая форма, объединяющая в себе 15 сонетов. Каждый новый сонет начинается с последней строчки предыдущего. 14й сонет завершается первой строкой первого сонета (как бы замыкает круг венка). 15й — (магистральный) состоит из первых строк предшествующих 14 сонетов. Он является тематическим и композиционным ключом (основой) венка. Венок…
«Мастерская лудильщика в подвале. К двери, ведущей на улицу, восемь ступенек. Другая дверь ведет в спальню, а третья, налево, во двор. Два оконца ниже уровня земли. Небольшой горн, наковальня, несколько старых самоваров и кастрюль; жестянки, котлы, листы кровельного железа. Невысокий шкафчик с оторванной дверцей служит столом. Скамья, два-три табурета. Леа, среднего роста женщина, высохшая, с…
