Publisher: Logos
A collection of essays by Friedrich Nietzsche about Greek philosophy. Topics covered include The Greek State, The Greek Woman, On Music and Words, Homer's Contest, The Relation of Schopenhauer's Philosophy to a German Culture, Philosophy During the Tragic Age of the Greeks, and On Truth and Falsity in their Ultramoral Sense.
Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin was born on 22nd October 1870 in Voronezh province, in the South-West of the Russian Empire. His early life was plagued by his Father’s gambling habits which caused his education to be erratic and the family to lose most of their wealth. Bunin published his first poem in 1887 in St Petersburg and later in Oryol he worked for the local paper and became its editor, handily allowing him to publish his own poems and short stories. There he met and married Varvara Pashchenko. Ivan Bunin's debut book of poetry ‘Poems (1887–1891)’ was published in 1891. This poetry and his translation of Longfellow garnered him his first Pushkin Prize. Now he switched to writing prose and his novella ‘Antonov Apples’ is regarded as his first masterpiece. Many more would follow. The October Revolution of 1905 found Bunin in the Crimea. Scenes of ‘class struggle’ he saw more as the oppressed people's craving for anarchy and destruction. In November 1906 he began a passionate affair with Vera Muromtseva, within a few months they were touring through Egypt and Palestine. ‘The Bird's Shadow’ collection was the result. His second Pushkin Prize came in 1909 for Poems (1903–1906) and further translations. He was now elected to the prestigious Russian Academy. More widespread fame came in 1910 with ‘The Village’, a controversial and bleak portrayal of Russian country life. Travel too beckoned them back to the Middle East, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and for winters in Capri with their friend Maxim Gorky. That friendship suddenly ended in April 1917 as the revolution began to ferment in war-ravaged Russia. After the Bolsheviks took power and the upheavals continued, he decided to leave Russia, finally achieving that in early 1920. It would take some time to heal the wounds and stress he had been under and for his writing to begin again. Settled in France, Bunin published many of his previous works and collections of novellas. He also made regular contributions to the Russian emigre press. Although reluctant to become involved in politics, Bunin was now feted as both a writer and the figurehead of non-Bolshevik Russian values and traditions. In 1933 he became the first Russian to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature ‘for following through and developing with chastity and artfulness the traditions of Russian classic prose.’ In 1938 Bunin began working on the celebrated cycle of nostalgic, and erotically themed stories known Dark Avenues (or Dark Alleys). As World War II broke out he chose to remain in Grasse spending the war at his remote Villa Jeanette, high in the mountains. Ivan Bunin was a staunch anti-Nazi, and often, under difficult conditions, sheltered fugitives after Vichy was occupied by the Germans. He wrote but did not publish during these years until on August 23rd the Nazi’s fled Grasse without a fight. The next day the Americans came. In May 1945 he returned to Paris and, apart from convalescing at times in Juan-les-Pins, he stayed for the rest of his life. After 1948, with his health deteriorating, Bunin concentrated upon writing his memoirs and a book on Chekhov. His last years were overshadowed by bitterness and despair at the situation in Russia and the treatment of its peoples. He was suffering now from asthma, bronchitis and chronic pneumonia. Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin died in a Paris attic flat on 8th November 1953. Heart failure, cardiac asthma and pulmonary sclerosis were given as the causes of death. He was 83.Show book
Delve into the introspective depths of "The Confessions of St. Augustine," a seminal work blending autobiography with spiritual reflection. Saint Augustine lays bare his early life, grappling with sin, ambition, and the pursuit of worldly pleasures. Through a profound journey toward faith, marked by intellectual and emotional turmoil, Augustine discovers divine grace. His confessions transcend time, offering a powerful testament to the transformative power of faith and the eternal quest for truth.Show book
Social scientist and crime writer James A. Buccellato explores Detroit's struggle with gang violence, public corruption, and the politics of vice during the tumultuous first half of the twentieth century. Though detectives denied it, the Italian mafia was operating in Detroit as early as 1900, and the city was forever changed. Bootleggers controlled the Detroit River and created a national distribution network for illegal booze during Prohibition. Gangsters, cops, and even celebrities fell victim to the violence. Some politicians and prominent businessmen like Henry Ford's right-hand man, Harry Bennett, collaborated closely with the mafia, while others, such as popular radio host Gerald Buckley, fought back and lost their lives.Show book
These memoirs reflect the momentous changes that have taken place over the last century through the prism of Flavia Ormond's experiences: first as an evacuee in Canada during the Second World War, then as a returned exile travelling and working in unusual circumstances in Egypt and Italy, where she lived for many years; and finally her love affair with art which led to a rewarding career as an art dealer in London, New York and Paris, moving amongst leading collectors and museums. Early chapters are profiles of Flavia Ormond's forebears, John Lubbock, an acolyte of Charles Darwin, Augustus Pitt Rivers, founder of the eponymous museum in Oxford, George Agnew of the notable art dealing firm in Bond Street, and the Grant Duffs, her immediate family. The author pursued her passion for cultural history and travel during a long marriage to John Ormond, great nephew of John Singer Sargent.Show book
Living with multiple sclerosis was never going to be easy. The phrase 'I rule it, it doesn't rule me' was to become Lydia's benchmark. She clung fiercely to these words. They would booster her strength in the years ahead when at times, fear of the pain and its affects, especially the horrendous agony of an MS attack, would almost break her.Show book
Dostoevsky's life was marked by brilliance and brutality. Sentenced to death as a young revolutionary, he survived mock execution and Siberian exile to live through a time of seismic change in Russia, eventually being accepted into the Tsar's inner circle. Somehow, amidst all this, he found time to write short stories, journalism, and novels such as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov, works now recognized as among the finest ever written. In Dostoevsky in Love Alex Christofi weaves carefully chosen excerpts of the author's work with the historical context to form an illuminating and often surprising whole. The result is a novelistic life that immerses the listener in a grand vista of Dostoevsky's world. Along the way, Christofi relates the stories of the three women whose lives were so deeply intertwined with Dostoevsky's: the consumptive widow Maria; the impetuous Polina who had visions of assassinating the Tsar; and the faithful stenographer Anna. Christofi reconstructs the memoir Dostoevsky might have written had life—and literary stardom—not intervened. He gives us a new portrait of the artist as never before seen: a shy but devoted lover, an empathetic friend of the people, a loyal brother and friend, and a writer able to penetrate to the very depths of the human soul.Show book
