Other books that might interest you

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  King John

  E.A. Copen, William Shakespeare,...

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  King John of England is pitted against the united powers of France, Brittany, Austria, and the papacy. Will England be destroyed by his fatal indecision? 
  As alliances are made, broken, and remade, the paranoid and erratic John reveals his weakness and reliance on those around him—including his powerful mother Queen Elinor and Faulconbridge, the cynical and witty bastard son of the dead King Richard I. 
  In this early history play, King John is played by Michael Feast, the Bastard by Michael Maloney, and Constance by Eileen Atkins.

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  Oblomov

  Ivan Goncharov

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  Ivan Goncharov’s Oblomov is a profound exploration of indolence and the human condition, centered on Ilya Oblomov, a Russian nobleman whose defining trait is his overwhelming lethargy. Unable to muster the energy for work or ambition, Oblomov spends his days in bed or lost in nostalgic reveries of his idyllic childhood estate. His apathy contrasts sharply with his pragmatic friend Stoltz, who strives for progress and success. When Oblomov falls in love with Olga, her attempts to inspire him initially spark change, but his inertia ultimately prevails. Goncharov’s novel critiques societal stagnation and the feudal system while painting Oblomov’s passivity as both tragic and universal. A poignant blend of humor and pathos, Oblomov examines the tension between dreams and reality, leaving readers to ponder the fine line between contentment and complacency.

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  Stephen Leacock - A Short Story...

  Stephen leacock

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  Stephen P H Butler Leacock FRSC was born on 30th December 1869 in Swanmore, near Southampton, England, the third of eleven children. 
  The family emigrated to Canada in 1876, settling on a 100-acre farm in Sutton, Ontario.  There he was home-schooled until, funded by his grandfather, he was enrolled into the elite Upper Canada College in Toronto.  Academically he was very strong and thence proceeded on to the University of Toronto to study languages and literature.  After completing two years of study in only one, he was obliged to leave because his alcoholic father had abandoned the family and finances could not stretch to cover his education.  Leacock now enrolled in a 3 month course to become a qualified high school teacher and thereby gain a regular income.  For the next decade he worked at Upper Canada College.  
  His passion was economics and political theory and in 1899 he became a postgraduate student at the University of Chicago and earned his PhD.  In 1906, he wrote ‘Elements of Political Science’, quickly adopted as a standard academic textbook for the next two decades and his most profitable book.   
  Although he had already published several humorous pieces it was only in 1910 that these works were collected and published and turned him into a commercially successful writer.  Volume after volume now appeared almost annually and it was often said that more people had heard of him than of Canada. 
  Politically he was a social conservative.  He opposed women’s right to vote and was a champion of Empire but also an advocate of social welfare legislation and wealth redistribution, but often caused friction with his racist views. 
  Stephen Leacock died on 28th March 1944 of throat cancer in Toronto, Canada.  He was 74.

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  Morella

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  "Morella" is a short story in the Gothic horror genre by 19th-century American author and critic Edgar Allan Poe.
  An unnamed narrator, deeply affected by his friend Morella, marries her despite not feeling romantic love, drawn instead by an indefinable, intense connection. Morella, a reclusive and profoundly erudite woman, immerses him in her mystical studies, particularly German metaphysical texts on identity, pantheism, and reincarnation. Over time, the narrator grows disturbed by her eerie presence, her cold touch, and her otherworldly voice, which shift his joy into horror. As Morella's health declines, marked by tuberculosis-like symptoms, he secretly wishes for her death, tormented by her unsettling gaze and cryptic demeanor.

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  3 Stories About - Identity - A...

  O Henry, Sherwood Anderson,...

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  There is something about the number 3.    
   
  The Ancient Greeks believed 3 was the perfect number, and in China 3 has always been a lucky number, and they know a thing or two.   
   
  Most religions also have 3 this and 3 that and, of course, in these more modern times, three’s a crowd may be too many, except when it’s a ménage à trois.  It seems good things usually come in threes. 
   
  Whatever history and culture says WE think 3, a hat-trick of stories, is a great number to explore themes and literary avenues that classic authors were so adept at creating. 
   
  From their pens to your your ears. 
   
  01 - 3 Stories About - Identity 
  02 - Hands by Sherwood Anderson 
  03 - My First Goose by Isaac Babel 
  04 - The Gift of the Magi by O Henry

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  Crime and Punishment

  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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  One of the most influential works of Russian literature and a classic of world literature, Crime and Punishment follows the great moral dilemmas of one St. Petersburg man who makes a case to justify murder.Rodion Raskolnikov is impoverished and desperate, and he thinks himself to be above the laws of society. He decides it’s just for him to kill an old woman because, with the money he’ll steal from her, he can go on to perform great deeds. But, of course, his logic falls apart quickly, and guilt comes to swallow him whole. Sharp and suspenseful, this story of Raskolnikov’s dance with a police investigator and redemption by a sex worker is a philosophical novel for the ages. The Encyclopedia Britannica calls it “​​one of the finest studies of the psychopathology of guilt written in any language.” Crime and Punishment remains as relevant to discussions of power and responsibility in the 21st century as it was in the 19th.

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