Translator Thomas Sergeant Perry
Publisher: Charles River Editors
The Princess of Cleves is a French novel published in 1678 that is regarded as one of the first psychological novels. The plot is set in the royal court of Henry II of France. This edition includes a table of contents.
Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 - 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.THE POOR RELATION'S STORY: He was very reluctant to take precedence of so many respected members of the family, by beginning the round of stories they were to relate as they sat in a goodly circle by the Christmas fire; and he modestly suggested that it would be more correct if "John our esteemed host" (whose health he begged to drink) would have the kindness to begin. For as to himself, he said, he was so little used to lead the way that really--But as they all cried out here, that he must begin, and agreed with one voice that he might, could, would, and should begin, he left off rubbing his hands, and took his legs out from under his armchair, and did begin.Show book
Aleriel, or A Voyage to Other Worlds is a science fiction novel by Wladislaw Somerville Lach-Szyrma, a Polish-English curate, author, and historian.Published in 1883, Aleriel is a Victorian novel, which was previously thought to be the first published work to apply the word Martian as a noun (it is now known that the word was first used in 1877): After the protagonist, Aleriel, lands on Mars, he buries his spacecraft in snow, "so that it might not be disturbed by any Martian who might come across it".Show book
Arguably the greatest American novel of the 20th century, Fitzgerald’s simple story of lost love has captivated readers, filmmakers and fellow writers for generations.Narrator Nick Carraway tells the story of his neighbour Jay Gatsby, whose parties at his Long Island mansion are as lavish as his past is mysterious. Yet Gatsby cares only for one of his guests: his lost love Daisy Buchanan, now married and living across the bay. In Fitzgerald’s hands, this deceptively simple story becomes a perfect work of art, told in hauntingly beautiful prose.On its first publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby was largely dismissed as a light satire on Jazz Age follies. Today, it is acknowledged as a masterpiece: a love story, an exploration of the American dream, and arguably the greatest American novel of the 20th century.Show book
Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian-born artist, was one of the first creators of pure abstraction in modern painting. His forms evolved from fluid and organic, to geometric, and finally to pictographic. Kandinsky was also an accomplished musician and believed in the concept that color and musical harmony are linked. He even claimed that when he saw color he heard music. Listen to this abridged audio of his insightful writing.Show book
“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” —Zadie Smith One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of print for almost thirty years—due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist—Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature. The audio is performed by the legendary Ruby Dee.Show book
'The Country of the Blind' is the strange story of a mountain guide who accidently falls off a cliff ledge in the Andes. He survives the fall unhurt, and finds himself in a remote valley where a tribe lives completely cut off from the rest of the world. A hereditary illness has meant that for 15 generations all the members of the tribe have been born blind. As a result, they now have a highly evolved sense of hearing, scent and touch. 'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,' thinks the mountaineer. But he finds that the gift of sight is far less useful or appreciated that he had expected in the country of the blind.Show book
