Maison d'édition: Aesop
Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with Aesop's name have descended to modern times through a number of sources. They continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media.
The classic Christmas story by Charles Dickens. Evil, old Ebeneezer Scrooge has been a skinflint all his life. His only friend and partner died and he didn't mourn, he only used it as an opportunity to strike a deal. Scrooge is visited by three ghosts. Each of them shows Scrooge scenes intended to make him change his evil ways.A Christmas Carol is possibly Dickens's most famous work, though there are so many to choose from. A Christmas Carol was published in 1843 on 19 December and the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve. Dickens had self-published, in that he paid for the costs of the printing and publication, which was a shrewd financial bet as it turned out. Dickens was only 31 at the time. A Christmas Carol was so popular that a bootleg edition was published in 1844 and Dickens sued the bootleggers. He did public readings of the story from 1849 and went on tour with it, performing it 127 times until his death in 1870.Voir livre
Science, better diet, advanced medicines are all part of a process that in the modern age keep most of us going to a ripe old age. In previous times some diseases could only be slowed and not defeated. There toil of relentless attack on our physical forms brought misery and decay. Add to this that within our number some will self-destruct, demons will pursue their inner thoughts and life will be too painful to bear. Some may shuffle off the mortal coil for no discernible reason, but life will end early, they will not take up their three-score year and ten. In this collection of short stories some of our most popular and well-known authors are grouped together with an unfortunate tag: dead at 44. These authors are not run-of-the-mill or ten a penny; they are literary leviathans who left enduring works of literature and sadly may have left us many more had they lived. We will never know. Death for these authors was usually due to many health issues but primarily: — Anton Chekhov - Tuberculosis D H Lawrence – Tuberculosis F Scott Fitzgerald – Heart attack Robert Louis Stevenson - Cerebral hemorrhage Henry Harland – Tuberculosis 01 - Dead at 44 - An Introduction 02 - The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov 03 - Odour of Chrysanthemums by D H Lawrence 04 - Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F Scott Fitzgerald 05 - Markheim by Robert Louis Stevenson 06 - A Responsibility by Henry HarlandVoir livre
The Chronicles of Clovis - which was published in 1911 - was the third of Saki's collections of short stories. The character of Clovis Sangrail is, like Saki's earlier hero, Reginald, vain, sarcastic, and self-regarding and another vehicle for Saki's delicious, biting wit satirizing Edwardian high society in some of the funniest exquisite literary miniatures.Saki was the pen name of Hector Hugh Monro. He was born in Burma in 1870, where his father was a senior official in the Burma police. From the age of two, he lived with two maiden aunts and his grandmother in Devon and was educated in Exmouth and at the Bedford Grammar School. Later he travelled in Europe with his father. He joined the Burma police but resigned after a year because of ill health and returned to England, where he began his writing career as a journalist and short story writer for magazines and newspapers. Saki is regarded as a master of the short story.At the start of the First World War, he refused a commission, enlisted as a private, and went to France, where, in November 1916, he was killed by a shot to the head, his last words being, "Put that bloody cigarette out."Public Domain (P)2016 Spiders' House Audio/Roy MacreadyVoir livre
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most intriguing novella.Austin Gilroy is a scientist and is by nature sceptical of anything to do with the occult. So when his colleague, Professor Wilson, introduces him to the mysterious and sinister hypnotist, Miss Penclosa, he is inclined to view her as a fraud.But when Gilroy's fiancée is hypnotised and Miss Penclosa makes her do the unthinkable, Gilroy is forced to change his views. He embarks on a series of hypnosis experiments with himself as the subject this time... but it soon becomes apparent to him that the odious Miss Penclosa has fallen in love with him and is now manipulating him to her own ends. Her power over him seems absolute ... can he ever manage to extricate himself from her evil clutches?Voir livre
A Scandal in Bohemia is the first short story, and the third overall work, featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. It is the first of the 56 Holmes short stories written by Doyle and the first of 38 Sherlock Holmes works illustrated by Sidney Paget. The story is notable for introducing the character of Irene Adler, often used as a romantic interest for Holmes in later derivative works. Doyle ranked "A Scandal in Bohemia" fifth in his list of his twelve favourite Holmes stories. "A Scandal in Bohemia" was first published on 25 June 1891 in the July issue of The Strand Magazine, and was the first of the stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1892.Voir livre
The author dedicates his story to ‘The Happy Few’. This presumably means those who lead lives free of hypocrisy and deceit. They are few indeed in the second part of this authoritative novel of early 19th Century France. Julien Sorel leaves the country town of Verrieres and flees to Paris with the sound of guns in pursuit. He is to take up a post as secretary to M. de la Mole, an influential businessman in the capital. Peasant though he may be, Julien is a man of ideas and in the drawing rooms of Paris in 1830, gripped by the fear of a second revolution, anyone with intellect is treated with disdain. However, Mathilde, the daughter of the house, has a reverence for past days of glory and honour and, although repulsed by his low status, sees in Julien a chance to break away from her boring suitors and the staleness of her social life. She seduces and rejects him twice before Julien learns the ways of polite society, convinces her of his merit, she becomes infatuated and soon expects his child When her father is informed, he requires reassurance that Julien is not just an ambitious social climber who exploits women for the benefit of his career so he writes to Madame de Renal, with whom Julien had a passionate love affair. The young secretary learns of the nature of her reply and his following action results in a trial which could end in one of three ways: his freedom to live with Mademoiselle de la Mole, to run away with Madame de Renal or death by guillotine. But while in prison the young cleric finds the truth of his beliefs and convictions and he’s not prepared to compromise!Voir livre
