Translator Theodore Alois Buckley
Publisher: Charles River Editors
Euripides was one of the greatest Greek tragedians and is considered one of the most important figures in ancient literature. Euripides is thought to have written close to 100 plays and almost 20 of them have survived. This edition of Helen includes a table of contents.
“A heartfelt and lovely Christmas tale for kids, moms, dads and book lovers everywhere!" The Washington PostCharles John Huffam Dickens FRSA was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. A true Christmas treasure for the whole family!Show book
The Red Badge of Courage tells the story of Henry Fielding, a farm boy who sets out in search of glory by running away from home to join the Civil War, only to find himself running away from the battlefield in terror during the first skirmish. Mortified by his cowardice, Henry yearns for a wound, his own red badge of courage, which would legitimize his desertion of his company. When Henry is finally wounded, he finds himself feeling real anger for the very first time and is finally able to redeem himself. First published in 1865, The Red Badge of Courage is considered one of the most important novels of the nineteenth century. It explores the dual natures of battle-the simultaneous sensations of beauty and violence, of terror and triumph-and masterfully mirrors them to Henry's own inner turmoil.Show book
"Greene had wit and grace and character and story and a transcendent universal compassion that places him for all time in the ranks of world literature . . ." —John le Carré Graham Greene's first published novel tells the story of Andrews, a young man who has betrayed his fellow smugglers and fears their vengeance. Fleeing from them, with no hope of pity or salvation, he takes refuge in the house of a young woman, also alone in the world. Elizabeth persuades him to give evidence against his accomplices in court, but neither she nor Andrews is aware that to both criminals and authority, treachery is as great a crime as smuggling. The first step in a brilliant career, The Man Within offers a foretaste of Green's recurring themes of religion, the individual's struggles against cynicism, and the indifferent forces of a hostile world.Show book
Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 in the Russian province of Tula to a wealthy noble family. As a child, he had private tutors but he showed little interest in any formal education. When he went to the University of Kazan in 1843 to study oriental languages and law, he left without completing his courses. Life now was relaxed and idle but with some writing also taking place. Gambling debts forced an abrupt change of path and he joined the army to fight in the Crimean War. He was commended for his bravery and promoted but was appalled at the brutality and loss of life. He recorded these and other earlier experiences in his diaries which formed the basis of several of his works. In 1852 ‘Childhood’ was published to immediate success and was followed by ‘Boyhood’ and ‘Youth’. His experience in the army and the horrors he witnessed resulted in ‘The Cossacks’ in 1862 and the trilogy ‘Sevastopol Tales’. After the war he travelled around Europe, visiting London and Paris and meeting such luminaries as Victor Hugo and Charles Darwin. It was now that Tolstoy began his masterpiece, ‘War and Peace’. Published in 1869 it was an epic work that changed literature. He quickly followed this with ‘Anna Karenina’. These successes made Tolstoy rich and helped him accomplish many of his dreams but also brought problems as he grappled with his faith and the lot of the oppressed poor. These revolutionary views became so popular that the authorities now kept him under surveillance. He led a life of asceticism and vegetarianism and put his socialist ideals into practice by establishing numerous schools for the poor and food programmes. He also believed in giving away his wealth, which caused much discord with his wife. His writing continued to bring forth classics such as ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ and many brilliant and incisive short stories such as ‘How Much Land Does A Man Need’. In 1901 Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Church and controversially deselected for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Whilst undertaking a pilgrimage by train in October 1910 with his daughter Aleksandra he caught pneumonia in the nearby town of Astapovo. Leo Tolstoy died on November 9th, 1910, he was 82. In this much acclaimed short story Tolstoy’s characters are engulfed by a huge snowstorm which descends upon them and puts the successful conclusion of their journey into perilous doubt.Show book
Crabbed Age ad Youth is a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson: There is a strong feeling in favour of cowardly and prudential proverbs. The sentiments of a man while he is full of ardour and hope are to be received, it is supposed, with some qualification. But when the same person has ignominiously failed and begins to eat up his words, he should be listened to like an oracle. Most of our pocket wisdom is conceived for the use of mediocre people, to discourage them from ambitious attempts, and generally console them in their mediocrity.Show book
Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller was born on 10th November 1759, in Marbach, Württemberg, the sole son of six children, into a very religious family. During his childhood his father was away, engaged in the Seven Years War and contact was sporadic until with the War’s end in 1763. His father became a recruiting officer and the family moved to Lorch. It was here that Schiller received his early education, the quality of which was poor, not helped by the child’s frequent truancy. His parents sought a clerical career for him and a local priest was engaged to teach him Latin and Greek. As a boy, Schiller was excited by the idea of becoming a cleric and often wore black robes and pretended to preach. In 1766, the family left Lorch. Schiller's father had not been paid for three years, and the family’s savings were depleted, so his father Kaspar, joined the garrison in Ludwigsburg for the Duke of Württemberg. There the boy Schiller came to the attention of the Duke. He entered the elite military academy, the Karlsschule Stuttgart, in 1773, and eventually studied medicine, which led him to frequently attempt cures for his various illnesses. At the academy, he wrote his first play, ‘The Robbers’, which dramatizes the conflict between two aristocratic brothers. The play's themes of social corruption and proto-revolutionary republican ideals astounded its original audience. Schiller became an overnight sensation. In 1780, he obtained a post as regimental doctor in Stuttgart. In order to attend the first performance of ‘The Robbers’ in Mannheim, Schiller left his regiment without permission. As a result, he was arrested, sentenced to 14 days imprisonment, and forbidden from publishing any further works. He fled Stuttgart in 1782, going via Frankfurt, Mannheim, Leipzig, and Dresden to Weimar. Along this journey he had an affair with an army officer's wife, Charlotte von Kalb. She was at the centre of an intellectual circle and known for her cleverness and instability. Schiller settled in Weimar in 1787. Two years later he was appointed professor of History and Philosophy in Jena, where he wrote only historical works. On 22nd February 1790, he married Charlotte von Lengefeld who bore him two sons and two daughters. Schiller returned with his family to Weimar from Jena in 1799. There Johann Wolfgang von Goethe convinced him to return to playwriting and together they founded the Weimar Theater, which led to a renaissance of drama now referred to as Weimar Classicism. They also worked together on Xenien, a collection of short satirical poems in which they challenged opponents of their philosophical vision. For his achievements, Schiller was ennobled in 1802 by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, adding the nobiliary particle ‘von’ to his name. Schiller died on 9th May 1805, at age 45, from tuberculosis, at Weimar. Although primarily admired for his plays Schiller also wrote histories, poetry and some notable translations. In his short story ‘The Criminal from Lost Honour’ the layers of a man’s life are examined as perhaps only Schiller and his literary genius can.Show book
