Publisher: Good Press
The novel revolves around the Cranwallis family. Egbert Cranwallis, eighth Earl of Sherringborne, invited William Saltburn to his home. William is set to buy one of his properties. Egbert's daughter, Edna, did not like the idea of the nouveau riche coming into their property. William is bent on marrying her. Will she change her mind about William and marry him?
In Charles Dickens' "Hard Times," the industrial landscape of Coketown serves as a bleak backdrop to a tale that explores the harsh realities of the 19th-century British society, a world driven by utilitarianism and the dehumanizing effects of industrialization. The novel is a powerful narrative that delves into the lives of the characters living in this grim, factory-dominated town. The story is centered around two contrasting characters: Thomas Gradgrind, a strict and utilitarian-minded schoolmaster, and Josiah Bounderby, a wealthy factory owner. Gradgrind's rigid belief in facts and statistics and Bounderby's promotion of the idea that anyone can rise from poverty through hard work represent the heart of the utilitarian philosophy that permeates the town. However, as the narrative unfolds, it becomes clear that these ideals come at a great cost. Children are educated to suppress their imagination and emotions, while the workers in Bounderby's factories endure miserable conditions and are denied any sense of dignity. Amid this grim setting, Dickens introduces characters like Stephen Blackpool, an honest and hardworking millhand, and Sissy Jupe, the daughter of a circus performer. These characters bring a sense of humanity and compassion to the story, challenging the utilitarian principles that have stripped Coketown of its soul. As the narrative progresses, the lives of the characters intersect in a series of hardships and trials, ultimately leading to moments of redemption and transformation. "Hard Times" is a narrative that critiques the dehumanizing effects of an overly rational, industrial society while emphasizing the importance of compassion, imagination, and the recognition of the complexities of human nature.Show book
Set in an African village, this follow-up to the Man Booker Prize–winning novel is “sometimes whimsical, sometimes bawdy . . . Fraught with wild visions” (The Times). “All is not well in the African village where Azaro lives. The child narrator of poet and novelist Okri’s The Famished Road, who had outwitted death in the previous book, again relates the oppressive events that continue to plague his village and his family. While political factionalization shatters the community's cohesiveness, the prodigious bar owner Madame Koto, chief exponent of the ‘Party of the Rich,’ alternately exudes portentous metaphysical malaise and miraculous erotic force. Little Azaro, himself touched and distracted by a series of animuses, follows the heels of ‘dad,’ who is a resounding vessel, by turns, of cantankerous egotism and abased self-sacrifice. This Nigerian epic reveals a violent provincial world, opaque with magical spirits which place horrendous ethical demands on fragile and fickle humanity, as if to test each individual for a thread of virtuous constancy at the core. Events drench the essentially linear narrative with all the ruthless sensuousness of a tropical storm, and Okri’s prose is lucid and deft.” —Publishers Weekly “Okri conjures up the fabulous with the same ease as he affectingly details the ways of the human spirit in a lovingly evoked African setting teeming with life—both real and mythic . . . Stunning.” —Kirkus Reviews “Once again we’re bedazzled and bedeviled by Okri’s phantasmagoric prose and the strange and wondrous sensibility of Azaro, a spirit-child living in a poor African village.” —Booklist “Both a love story and an account of the political turmoil between the parties of Rich and Poor.” —The Independent “Passages of extraordinary beauty . . . Okri paints a convincing surrealist picture.” —The Sunday TimesShow book
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six amateur actors (the mechanicals) who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world. The play consists of four interconnecting plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen, Hippolyta, which is set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon. The play opens with Hermia, who is in love with Lysander, resistant to her father Egeus' demand that she wed Demetrius, whom he has arranged for her to marry. Helena meanwhile pines unrequitedly for Demetrius. Enraged, Egeus invokes an ancient Athenian law before Duke Theseus, whereby a daughter must marry the suitor chosen by her father, or else face death. Theseus offers her another choice: lifelong chastity while worshipping the goddess Artemis as a nun. Peter Quince and his fellow players Nick Bottom, Francis Flute, Robin Starveling, Tom Snout, and Snug plan to put on a play for the wedding of the Duke and the Queen, "the most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe". Quince reads the names of characters and bestows them to the players. Nick Bottom, who is playing the main role of Pyramus, is over-enthusiastic and wants to dominate others by suggesting himself for the characters of Thisbe, the Lion, and Pyramus at the same time. He would also rather be a tyrant and recites some lines of Ercles. Bottom is told by Quince that he would do the Lion so terribly as to frighten the duchess and ladies enough for the Duke and Lords to have the players hanged. Quince ends the meeting with "at the Duke's oak we meet."Show book
The Odradek is an imaginary creature that appears in the short story The Concerns of a Family Man by Franz Kafka . The physical description of the Odradek shows it as a flat, star-shaped spool of thread, with the addition of a few other appendages.Later in the story, Kafka gives the Odradek more human characteristics, being able to stand on two legs and speak. The narrator even gets to have a few conversations with the Odradek, during which the creature's nomadic and possibly immortal nature is emphasized.Show book
The Ultimate Allan Quatermain Collection includes the 8 full-length novels, 4 short stories and 1 extracanonical work featuring Allan Quatermain.The character Allan Quatermain is an English-born professional big game hunter and occasional trader living in South Africa. An outdoorsman who finds English cities and climate unbearable, he prefers to spend most of his life in Africa, where he grew up under the care of his widower father, a Christian missionary. In the earliest-written novels, native Africans refer to Quatermain as Macumazahn, meaning Watcher-by-Night, a reference to his nocturnal habits and keen instincts. In later-written novels, Macumazahn is said to be a short form of Macumazana, meaning One who stands out. Quatermain is frequently accompanied by his native servant, the Hottentot Hans, a wise and caring family retainer from his youth. His sarcastic comments offer a sharp critique of European conventions. In his final adventures, Quatermain is joined by two British companions, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good of the Royal Navy, and by his African friend Umslopogaas.Included in this collection:1. King Solomon's Mines (1885)2. Allan Quatermain (1887)3. Allan's Wife and Other Tales (1887): Allan's Wife / Hunter Quatermain's Story / A Tale of Three Lions / Long Odds4. Marie (1912)5. Child of Storm (1913)6. Allan and the Holy Flower (1915)7. The Ivory Child (1916)8. The Ancient Allan (1920)9. She and Allan (1920)10. Extracanonical Work: Magepa the Buck (1912)Show book
Tales of Old Japan is an anthology of short stories. These stories focus on the varying aspects of Japanese life in centuries past. The book is regarded as an excellent introduction to Japanese literature and culture, by virtue of its ease of access and supplemental notes by the writer. Also included are the author's eyewitness accounts of a selection of Japanese rituals, ranging from the harakiri and marriage to a selection of sermons. This book had a lasting influence on the Western perception of Japanese history, culture and society, particularly because of just one widely known tale about samurai revenge. An Author's Republic audio production.Show book
