Other books that might interest you

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  The Cloak aka The Overcoat

  Nikolai Gogol

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  Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was born on 1st April 1809 to a father, descended from Ukrainian Cossacks and a mother with a military background in the Ukrainian town of Sorochyntsi, then part of the Russian Empire and rich in Cossack traditions and folklore.   
   
  His father wrote poetry and plays which the young Gogol helped stage at his uncle’s home theatre.  This helped ignite in him a love of literature and blossomed when he attended, what is now, the Nizhyn Gogol State University at the age of 12.  Here he participated in school theatre productions and refined his mastery of his native Ukrainian and also the Russian of his Imperial masters. 
   
  In 1828 he went to St Petersburg and unsuccessfully tried to begin a career as an actor after finding that with no money and no connections the civil service was barred to him. 
   
  Embezzling money from his mother he embarked on a trip to Germany. When the money ran out, he returned to St Petersburg but the experiences were used in a series of stories he contributed to periodicals.  These tales were steeped in his childhood memories of the Ukrainian landscape and peasantry enlivened with the supernatural of its folklore woven with realistic events of the day.  He wrote in Russian in a whimsical, colloquial style with a smattering of Ukrainian words and phrases that provided an authenticity.  Eight stories were published as ‘Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka’.  Seemingly all at once fame and fortune arrived. Gogol was hailed by his contemporaries, including Pushkin, as a pre-eminent writer of Russian literature.   
   
  His success continued with his brilliant plays ‘The Inspector General’ and the comedy ‘The Marriage for the Theatre’, both being highly acclaimed.   
   
  In 1834 he became Professor of Medieval History at the University of St. Petersburg but with little academic or teacher training, failed to adequately fulfil many of his duties and soon resigned this post.  With no obligations and using his earnings from his writing, which now included the impressionistic and immortal ‘Dead Souls’, Gogol travelled around Europe, spending the most time in Rome where he studied art, read Italian literature and developed a passion for opera.  
   
  In the 1840s Gogol became preoccupied with a need to purify his soul and embarked on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In tandem he fell under the influence of a strict and austere spiritual ascetic who persuaded him to observe strict fasts that, allied with his depression and deteriorating health, contributed to his death on 21st April 1852 at the age of only 43. 
   
  Gogol had a profound and enduring impact on literature which can be evidenced from his masterpiece, ‘The Cloak’, more popularly although wrongly translated as ‘The Overcoat’ published in 1841.  A hundred years later Vladamir Nabokov called it ‘The greatest Russian short story ever written.’

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  The Twins

  Bessie Kyffin-Taylor

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  Lady Bessie Kyffin-Taylor was an English writer famous for her outstanding supernatural stories, which were published in a single volume in 1920, just two years before her death.The Twins is one of Kyffin-Taylor's most famous novelettes. It tells the bizarre tale of identical twin brothers. One brother is hell-bent on evil and constantly contrives to ensure his twin is blamed for his ill-doing. The evil twin's deeds become worse and worse until he contrives to force his brother into an engagement to a woman he does not love...and when this woman is later found murdered, her fiancé is convicted of the murder and sentenced to death.But from this point, the story takes a strange twist. One twin is hanged for murder and returns to haunt his brother in the most terrifying manner....

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  Daphnis and Chloe

  Longus

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  Daphnis and Chloe is one of the most engaging and gently erotic stories to emerge from the ancient worlds of Greece and Rome. It is a pastoral tale, telling of a boy and a girl, both abandoned (but separately) as babies on nearby hillsides; one becomes a goatherd, the other a shepherdess, and a mutual attraction arises as they move from childhood to adolescence and to the slow discovery of desire. Will aggressive forces and rival suitors prevent a natural consummation and happy conclusion? Daphnis and Chloe is a gem from the pen of the otherwise unknown second-century CE Greek writer Longus. It is the only work of his to survive, and little is known of him. Though perhaps overshadowed by the Roman magnificence of Ovid's Metamorphoses (dating from a century earlier), Longus' story entranced the choreographer Michel Fokine, who persuaded the French composer Maurice Ravel to write music for a ballet on the love story as part of the Ballets Russes' season in Paris in 1912. Ravel, inspired, produced one of the most ravishing scores of the Impressionist period. Despite that, Longus' original text seems to have slipped into obscurity. Here, at last, is the world premiere audiobook recording presented with sensitivity and charm by Nicholas Boulton. The Athenian Society translation.

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  The Aspern Papers

  Henry James

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  The unnamed narrator of Henry James’ novella is an editor and literary critic obsessed with the life and work of Jeffrey Aspern, a long-deceased American poet, who died at an appropriately Romantic and tragic young age. No one is going to prevent him from bringing the secrets hidden in the paper to light for a curious public, least of all an old world spinster living out her last days in Venice, and her mousy young niece, Miss Tina. This cat-and-mouse game continues, detailed in James’ inimitable manner, until it culminates in a single withering glance.

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  The Necklace - and Other Stories

  Guy De Maupassant, Stephen Crane

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  Embark on a captivating auditory journey with our digital audiobook version of "The Necklace and Other Stories," a literary masterpiece featuring timeless tales from renowned authors. Immerse yourself in the rich narratives and profound insights crafted by the brilliant minds of Guy de Maupassant and Stephen Crane. This collection promises to be an enthralling listening experience for literature enthusiasts and newcomers alike. 
   
  Key Features: 
   
  "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant: Dive into the mesmerizing world of Maupassant's classic tale of desire, greed, and the consequences of one fateful choice. Experience the allure of a lost necklace and the unexpected turns that life takes. 
   
  "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane: Join the intense journey of survival as Crane masterfully paints the struggles of four men against the forces of nature. Feel the raw emotions and gripping suspense unfold in this iconic short story inspired by the author's real-life experience. 
   
  "The Blue Hotel" by Stephen Crane: Step into the mysterious and unsettling atmosphere of Crane's narrative. This story explores the complexities of human behavior and the consequences of misunderstanding, all set against the backdrop of a seemingly innocuous hotel. 
   
  "Death and the Child" by Stephen Crane: Delve into the poignant and thought-provoking exploration of life and death in Crane's tale of innocence and mortality. Experience the profound impact of a child's encounter with the inevitable, as only Stephen Crane can deliver.

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  Oedipus Rex

  Sophocles

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  Full-cast dramatization of Oedipus the King, the Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed c. 429 BCE. Featuring Douglas Campbell, Eric House and Robert Goodier.

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