Publisher: Interactive Media
The story follows the life of a man named Polzunkov, who is living in poverty and is constantly persecuted by those around him. The novel is said to be based on Dostoevsky's own experiences living in poverty, and it is considered to be one of his most autobiographical works.
Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. His work also included two books on recreational war games. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is often called the "father of science fiction", along with Jules Verne and the publisher Hugo Gernsback.THE LABOUR UNREST: Our country is, I think, in a dangerous state of social disturbance. The discontent of the labouring mass of the community is deep and increasing. It may be that we are in the opening phase of a real and irreparable class war.Show book
These 22 stories are told by the Goblin to the King Vikram. King Vikram faces many difficulties in bringing the vetala to the tantric. Each time Vikram tries to capture the vetala, it tells a story that ends with a riddle. If Vikram cannot answer the question correctly, the vampire consents to remain in captivity. If the king answers the question correctly, the vampire would escape and return to his tree. In some variations, the king is required to speak if he knows the answer, else his head will burst. This work is taken form baital pachisi and One of its oldest recensions is found incorporated in the Katha-Sarit-Sagara ("Ocean of the Streams of Story"), a work in Sanskrit compiled in the 11th century by Somadeva. (Wikipedia)
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Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was born on 26th May 1799 in Moscow into a family of Russian nobility. Raised by nursemaids and French tutors in French he learnt Russian only via the household staff. He graduated from the prestigious Imperial Lyceum, near St Petersburg and plunged into the vibrant and raucous intellectual youth culture of what was then the capital of the Russian Empire. In 1820, he published his first long poem, ‘Ruslan and Ludmila’, with much controversy about both subject and style. Pushkin was heavily influenced by the French Enlightenment and gravitated, with other literary radicals, towards social reform angering the Government. His early literary work and reputation was poetic and written as he travelled around the Empire or engaged himself in various rebellions against the Ottoman Empire. A clash with his own government after his poem, ‘Ode to Liberty’, was found among the belongings of the Decembrist Uprising rebels meant two years of internal exile at his mother's rural estate. His friends and family continually petitioned for his release, sending letters and meeting with Tsar Alexander I and then Tsar Nicholas I. In 1825, whilst at his Mother’s estate, Pushkin wrote his most famous play, the drama ‘Boris Godunov’. Upon meeting with Tsar Nicholas I, Pushkin obtained his release and began work as the Tsar's Titular Counsel of the National Archives. However, because of the earlier problems the tsar retained control of everything Pushkin published, and he was banned from travelling at will. Around 1828, Pushkin met the 16-year-old Natalia Goncharova, one of the most talked-about beauties of Moscow. After much hesitation, Natalia accepted his marriage proposal after she received assurances that the government had no intentions to persecute the libertarian poet. When the Tsar gave Pushkin the lowest court title, Gentleman of the Chamber, he became enraged, feeling that the Tsar intended to humiliate him. In the year 1831, during Pushkin's growing literary influence, he met Nikolai Gogol. Recognising his gifts Pushkin supported him and published his short stories in his own magazine ‘The Contemporary’. By the autumn of 1836, Pushkin was falling into greater and greater debt and facing scandalous rumours that his wife was having an affair. In January 1837, Pushkin sent a ‘highly insulting letter’ to his wife’s pursuer, Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès. The only answer could be a challenge to a duel. It took place on 27th January. D'Anthès fired first, critically wounding Pushkin; the bullet entered at his hip and penetrated his abdomen. Two days later Alexander Pushkin died of peritonitis. He was 37. 1 - Alexander Pushkin - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 2 - The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin 3 - The Blizzard by Alexander Pushkin 4 - The Stationmaster by Alexander Pushkin 5 - The Shot by Alexander Pushkin 6 - The Coffin Maker by Alexander Pushkin - - - 1 - Cornwall - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 2 - Malachi's Cove by Anthony Trollope 3 - Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe 4 - The Screaming Skull by F Marion Crawford 5 - The Haunted Church by Frederick Cowles 6 - The Limping Ghost by Frederick Cowles 7 - In the Mist by Mary E Penn 8 - The Botathen Ghost from Footprints of Former Men in Far Cornwall by the Reverend R S Hawker 9 - Room For One by Frederick Cowles 10 - Colonel Benyon's Entanglement by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 11 - Christmas Eve at a Cornish Manor House by Clara VennShow book
A series of charming short stories by this celebrated author of the classic novel Little Women.Show book
Rosa Mulholland was born in Belfast on 19th March 1841. She originally wished to become a painter but turned to literary pursuits and attempted to publish her first book at 15. Charles Dickens, who took an early interest in her work, did much to encourage and help her during his lifetime including publishing many of her works in his magazine ‘All the Year Round’. Her early years in the remote and mountainous west of Ireland helped her gather backdrops, landscapes and characters that would be put to great use later in her career. Mulholland was a keen poet and was published in magazines and journals as well as in book form. She was also a devout Catholic and prominent in literacy circles. In May 1891 she married John Thomas Gilbert in Dublin. He was a Dublin antiquarian and historian, who authored the ‘History of the City of Dublin’, and edited several other important standard works. With his knighthood in 1897 Rosa became Lady Gilbert. Mulholland was a prolific and well-received writer during her career. Her early works tend to show women yearning for careers and lifestyles that at that point society would not accept and she was careful not to overstep those boundaries. In her later years much of her fiction was embedded with independent, strong-willed female heroines. Rosa Mulholland died on 21st April 1921 in Dublin, Ireland. One of Mulholland’s most popular short stories is ‘The Ghost at the Rath’. An inherited house is not as welcoming as one hoped it would be.Show book
How can we look afresh at Shakespeare as a writer of sonnets? What new light might they shed on his career, personality, and sexuality? Shakespeare wrote sonnets for at least thirty years, not only for himself, for professional reasons, and for those he loved, but also in his plays, as prologues, as epilogues, and as part of their poetic texture. This ground-breaking book assembles all of Shakespeare's sonnets in their probable order of composition. An inspiring introduction debunks long-established biographical myths about Shakespeare's sonnets and proposes new insights about how and why he wrote them. This volume will be treasured by students, scholars, and every Shakespeare enthusiast.Show book
