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  The Criminal from Lost Honour

  Friedrich von Schiller

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  Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) was arguably Germany's most famous poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright.The Criminal from Lost Honour is written in the form of a crime report, and is notable as an early attempt at psychological analysis of the criminal Christian Wolf. In particular, Schiller delves into the impact of early experiences, rejections, and humiliations on the descent on the man from honest publican to criminal and murderer. But despite the psychological analysis, Schiller's racy fast-paced prose as he narrates how Wolf is catapulted from one turning point in his life to the next, draws the listener irresistably into the story and grips their attention right through to the last astonishing scene.

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  The Egg

  Sherwood Anderson

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  Sherwood Anderson's wonderful story of a young boy, brought up on an unsuccessful chicken farm, whose impoverished parents try their luck at running a restaurant. The father, not a natural showman by nature, attempts one night to entertain the sole diner with tricks which use eggs. The result is disastrous.

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  Edgar Allan Poe - Selected Tales

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  Edgar Allan Poe will always be associated with the macabre and mysterious. In this selection of 11 of his short stories Poe's unique voice can be heard in all its Gothic splendour. 
  "The Fall of the House of Usher" a death obsessed man, in his desperate attempt to save his sister from premature burial, seals his own fate. 
  "The Masque of the Red Death" A nobleman uses his wealth to protect himself from the Red Death only to find it stalks his palace of pleasure and privilege as a guest. 
  " The Premature Burial" Fearful that his cataleptic illness may lead to premature interment, the narrator becomes obsessed with avoiding such an horrific end. 
  "The Tell-Tale Heart" A murderer's frenzied guilt over his deadly deed manifests itself in a bizarre incriminating manner. 
  "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" A macabre and violent double murder in Paris attracts the attention of Dupin, an amateur detective whose powers of deduction foreshadow the techniques of Sherlock Holmes nearly 50 years later. 
  "The Oblong Box" While on a sea voyage the narrator mistakes his old friend's mysterious reticence regarding his cargo of an "Oblong Box" for rudeness, with tragic consequences. 
  "The Oval Portrait" While convalescing in an old castle, a man becomes intrigued by a portrait of a young woman and soon learns of its sad history. 
  "The Black Cat" A Man spirals down into an existence of increasing drunkenness and violence. Those he once loved are dragged down with him, but one is bent on revenge. 
  "The Raven" A short poem in which a Raven enters a lovelorn man's room only to be the unexpected prophet of the poet's bleak and lonely future. 
  "The Sphinx" The oppressive atmosphere of a Cholera epidemic causes the writer to overestimate the evidence of his own eyes. 
  "The Pit and the Pendulum" A claustrophobic masterpiece, describing the experience of a man undergoing the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition.

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  History of Herodotus The - Book...

  Herodotus, George Rawlinson

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  One of the masterpieces of classical literature, the "Histories" describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. But while this epic struggle forms the core of his work, Herodotus' natural curiosity frequently gives rise to colorful digressions - a description of the natural wonders of Egypt; an account of European lake-dwellers; and far-fetched accounts of dog-headed men and gold-digging ants. With its kaleidoscopic blend of fact and legend, the "Histories" offers a compelling Greek view of the world of the fifth century BC.BOOK 4: MELPOMENE: After the taking of Babylon, an expedition was led by Darius into Scythia. Asia abounding in men, and vast sums flowing into the treasury, the desire seized him to exact vengeance from the Scyths, who had once in days gone by invaded Media, defeated those who met them in the field, and so begun the quarrel.

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  Great Expectations (Version 3)

  Charles Dickens

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  In one of Charles Dickens’ most beloved stories, Philip Pirrip, known as “Pip”, narrates his own journey, from the hindsight of 50 years.Pip grows up with his older sister after losing his parents at a very early age. His sister, a tough unloving woman, rules Pip and her gentle husband Joe with an iron hand.  During Pip's 7th year, while playing in the marshes, he is accosted by an escaped criminal whom he decides to help by stealing food from his own home.  But the convict is caught and returned to prison.Miss Havisham, an eccentric, rich recluse, sends for Pip to come to her house to play with Estella, a haughty and rude girl about his age. Although Pip is ashamed of himself as a poor uneducated boy, he is fascinated by Estella. A few years later, he becomes apprenticed to Joe, a blacksmith, but dreams of becoming rich and clever and marrying Estella. A stranger, Mr. Jaggers, arrives to inform him that he has come into a handsome property, and will be removed from his present home to be brought up as a gentleman. The benefactor is kept secret, but Pip is sure it must be Miss Havisham.In London, he acquires a tutor, grand new clothes and the lifestyle he always wanted.  However, life is complicated as a gentleman in society, and he finds himself very unhappy, as Estella remains indifferent to him, involved with someone else.  Pip begins overspending his generous allowance, and worse, spurns his old friends.  Then unexpected problems from his past arise, and begin to transform his attitude.  (Summary by Mil Nicholson)

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  A Christmas Carol A Dramatic...

  Charles Dickens

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  A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843. It recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol during a period when the British were exploring and re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer customs such as Christmas trees. He was influenced by the experiences of his own youth and by the Christmas stories of other authors, including Washington Irving and Douglas Jerrold. Dickens had written three Christmas stories prior to the novella and was inspired following a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several establishments for London's street children. The treatment of the poor and the ability of a selfish man to redeem himself by transforming into a more sympathetic character are the key themes of the story. There is discussion among academics as to whether this is a fully secular story, or if it is a Christian allegory.Published on December 19, the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve; by the end of 1844 thirteen editions had been released. Most critics reviewed the novella favorably. The story was illicitly copied in January 1844; Dickens took legal action against the publishers, who went bankrupt, further reducing Dickens's small profits from the publication. In 1849 he began public readings of the story, which proved so successful he undertook 127 further performances until 1870, the year of his death. A Christmas Carol has never been out of print and has been translated into several languages; the story has been adapted many times for film, stage, opera and other media.

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