Other books that might interest you

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  A Defenceless Creature

  Anton Chekhov

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  Defenceless Creature - a story by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Written in 1887, first published on February 28, 1887 in the magazine Oskolki. The story describes with irony a stubborn man who achieves his goals by relying on the pity of those around him.
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  Wuthering Heights

  Emily Brontë

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  Although Wuthering Heights is now a classic of English literature, contemporaneous reviews were deeply polarised; it was controversial because of its unusually stark depiction of mental and physical cruelty, and it challenged Victorian ideas about religion, morality, class and woman's place in society. The English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, although an admirer of the book, referred to it as "A fiend of a book – an incredible monster The action is laid in hell, – only it seems places and people have English names there." Wuthering Heights was influenced by Romanticism including the novels of Walter Scott, gothic fiction, and Byron, and the moorland setting is significant. The novel has inspired many adaptations, including film, radio and television dramatisations; a musical and even a ballet

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  Chess Story

  Stefan Zweig

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  "Chess Story," also known as "The Royal Game," is Stefan Zweig's compelling novella that unfolds on a passenger steamer. It narrates the psychological duel between Mirko Czentovic, a chess champion with a mysterious past, and Dr. B, a reclusive genius. Set against the backdrop of World War II, the story explores themes of isolation, obsession, and the struggle for intellectual sanity. 
  As the chess game intensifies, so do the inner battles of the characters, revealing the profound impact of mental stress and obsession. Zweig's sharp and immersive prose draws readers into a world where a simple game reflects the complex nature of the human psyche. "Chess Story" is a testament to the enduring power of the mind and the game that challenges it, making it a riveting read that's both intellectually and emotionally charged.

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  Silence (CopyrightGroup)

  Leonid Andreyev

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  Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev was born on 21st August in Oryol, Russia to a middle-class family of Polish, Ukranian and Finnish ancestry. 
   
  He studied law in Moscow before working as a police-court reporter for a daily newspaper.  His literary efforts at this time were confined to poetry and those he did try to get published were all rejected.  
   
  In 1898 his first short story ‘Bargamot and Garaska’, published in the ‘Kurier’ newspaper caught the attention and friendship of Maxim Gorky.  Andreyev now discarded any other career path apart from that of author. 
   
  His first collection of short stories appeared in 1901 and sold over a quarter of a million copies.  He was a sensation. Using his interest in psychology and psychiatry gave him an almost unrivalled ability to delve into the human psyche and create astonishing characters. 
   
  During the first Russian revolution Andreyev was a staunch defender of democratic ideals and many of his stories reflected the heated mood of the times. With the 1905 Revolution’s failure his work became pessimistic and despairing. By the beginning of the following decade he began losing his audience to new literary movements such as the Futurists. 
   
  He published little after 1914 except political writings, instead working as the literary editor of the ‘Russian Will’ newspaper.  When the Bolsheviks took power he sensed catastrophe was coming and moved to Finland where he spent his last years in poverty distraught at the outcome of the Revolution. 
   
  Leonid Andreyev died of heart failure on 12th September 1919 at the age of 48 in Mustamäki, Finland. 
   
  His classic story ‘Silence’ is a haunting and a desperately sad account of a family broken by death and unable to reconcile their feelings.

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  Notes from the Underground

  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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  In "Notes from Underground" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, we are not talking about revolutionary personalities, a secret struggle for some ideas Fyodor Dostoyevsky tells the story of a man who is "too conscious." The man, whose name we never learn is so aware of his own thoughts and feelings as to cause him to be indecisive and overly self-critical. Add in his belief that societal expectations are shaping his actions. 
  Notes From Underground is one of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's most well renowned novels. It is thought to be one of the first existentialist Russian works. The novella is the disorganized memoir of an unknown narrator, who is referred to by critics as the Underground Man. His narration is disjointed and unreliable, and is colored by a general sense of disdain. The reoccurring themes in Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground, such as hopelessness, self-consciousness, and his grotesque Gogol-esque style of prose, proved to hold much literary influence on 20th century Russian writers, exemplified in novels such as We, Envy, and Master and Margarita.

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  Crisis of Coscience - Three...

  O. Henry

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  Showcasing three of O. Henry’s sharpest short stories, Crisis of Conscience highlights the choices available for folks whose options are limited and difficult. In the first, An Unfinished Story, O. Henry uses a technique of only half telling two stories, delivering a clear and powerful message.  
   
  The other two tales, A Retrieved Redemption and A Blackjack Bargainer, are more traditional narratives, each examining folks who are trying to get back up on the straight and narrow, and their terrible wrangle with the most evil adversary of all – hope.

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