Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Nicholas Nickleby

  Charles Dickens

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  The welfare of children— a theme of many novels by Charles Dickens— is central to Nicholas Nickleby, the story of a fatherless young man, his mother, and his sister who find themselves at the mercy of a greedy and unscrupulous relative. Nicholas Nickleby is both a vivid indictment of the exploitive, brutal boarding schools of the late 19th century and a celebration of a little family's resilient generosity of spirit. Actor Paul Scofield's performance captures the warmth and charm of this story and its array of colorful characters.

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  Ulysses - The Classic Tale

  James Joyce

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  Ulysses is a modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It was first serialized in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920 and then published in its entirety in Paris by Sylvia Beach on February 2, 1922, Joyce's 40th birthday. It is considered one of the most important works of modernist literature and has been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire movement."According to Declan Kiberd, "Before Joyce, no writer of fiction had so foregrounded the process of thinking". Ulysses chronicles the appointments and encounters of the itinerant Leopold Bloom in Dublin in the course of an ordinary day, 16 June 1904. Ulysses is the Latinised name of Odysseus, the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey, and the novel establishes a series of parallels between the poem and the novel, with structural correspondences between the characters and experiences of Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom, and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus, in addition to events and themes of the early 20th-century context of modernism, Dublin, and Ireland's relationship to Britain. The novel is highly allusive and also imitates the styles of different periods of English literature. Since its publication, the book has attracted controversy and scrutiny, ranging from an obscenity trial in the United States in 1921 to protracted textual "Joyce Wars". The novel's stream of consciousness technique, careful structuring, and experimental prose—replete with puns, parodies, and allusions—as well as its rich characterization and broad humor, have led it to be regarded as one of the greatest literary works in history.

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  The Great Gatsby

  F Scott itzgerald

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  The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, the novel depicts narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. A youthful romance Fitzgerald had with socialite Ginevra King, and the riotous parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922 inspired the novel. Following a move to the French Riviera, he completed a rough draft in 1924. He submitted the draft to editor Maxwell Perkins, who persuaded Fitzgerald to revise the work over the following winter. After his revisions, Fitzgerald was satisfied with the text, but remained ambivalent about the book's title and considered several alternatives. After its publication by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received generally favorable reviews, although some literary critics believed it did not hold up to Fitzgerald's previous efforts and signaled the end of the author's literary achievements. Despite the warm critical reception, Gatsby was a commercial failure. The book sold fewer than 20,000 copies by October, and Fitzgerald's hopes of a monetary windfall from the novel were unrealized. When the author died in 1940, he believed himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. After his death, the novel faced a critical and scholarly re-examination amid World War II, and it soon became a core part of most American high school curricula and a focus of American popular culture. Numerous stage and film adaptations followed in the subsequent decades. Gatsby continues to attract popular and scholarly attention. The novel was most recently adapted to film in 2013 by director Baz Luhrmann, while contemporary scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of social class, inherited wealth compared to those who are self-made, race, environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American dream.

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  The Velveteen Rabbit

  Margery Williams

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  A toy does not question its purpose. It is loved, or it is forgotten.
  Once, a little stuffed rabbit found himself in a child's arms. And for a time, that was enough. But then he learned a terrible, wonderful secret—one whispered by an old, threadbare toy with eyes that had seen too much.
  "Real isn't how you're made. It's something that happens to you."
  But what does it cost, to become Real?
  And is love ever enough?

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  Aristopia: a Romance-History of...

  Castello Newton Holford

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  "Aristopia: A Romance-History of the New World is an 1895 utopian novel written by Castello Holford. It holds the distinction of being considered the first novel-length alternate history in English and is among the earliest examples of alternate histories in general1.    In this captivating tale, Ralph Morton, an early settler in Virginia, stumbles upon a reef made of solid gold. Rather than squandering his newfound wealth, Morton shrewdly uses it to establish a planned society called Aristopia (derived from the Greek word for "the best place"). Drawing inspiration from Sir Thomas More's Utopia, Morton introduces his own innovations and adaptations.    Here are some key features of Aristopia:    Land Ownership: In Aristopia, all land is owned by the government, which then leases it to businesses and private citizens.  Monopolized Trade: Large-scale trade is monopolized by the state.  Wealth Limitations: Inherited wealth is limited.  Productive Refugees: Morton welcomes productive refugees from European conflicts, including Huguenots, Irish fugitives, and skilled artisans from northern Italy and Switzerland.  Prosperity and Expansion: The colony thrives, expands westward, and even supports the American Revolution. Eventually, Aristopia conquers Canada and comes to dominate all of North America north of Mexico.  This novel offers a unique twist on the utopian genre by imagining an alternate history where the United States was founded under different circumstances, leading to a superior society in the author's own time"

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  History of Tom Jones a Foundling...

  Henry Fielding

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  A foundling of mysterious parentage brought up by Mr. Allworthy on his country estate, Tom Jones is deeply in love with the seemingly unattainable Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighboring squire though he sometimes succumbs to the charms of the local girls. When Tom is banished to make his own fortune and Sophia follows him to London to escape an arranged marriage, the adventure begins. A vivid Hogarthian panorama of eighteenth-century life, spiced with danger and intrigue, bawdy exuberance and good-natured authorial interjections, Tom Jones is one of the greatest and most ambitious comic novels in English literature.
  BOOK 5: Peradventure there may be no parts in this prodigious work which will give the reader less pleasure in the perusing, than those which have given the author the greatest pains in composing. Among these probably may be reckoned those initial essays which we have prefixed to the historical matter contained in every book; and which we have determined to be essentially necessary to this kind of writing, of which we have set ourselves at the head.

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