Editora: Greenbooks Editore
This 1891 novelette by Henry James tells of an ocean voyage on a ship called The Patagonia, sailing from Boston to Liverpool. The unnamed narrator is friends with a Mrs. Nettlepoint, a woman of good family with a son names Jason. Accompanying them -- somewhat unexpectedly -- is a young woman named Grace Mavis, who is to marry a childhood friend whom she has not seen for ten years.
In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates a world of violence and generational conflict in which two young people fall in love and die because of that love. The story is rather extraordinary in that the normal problems faced by young lovers are here so very large. It is not simply that the families of Romeo and Juliet disapprove of the lover's affection for each other; rather, the Montagues and the Capulets are on opposite sides in a blood feud and are trying to kill each other on the streets of Verona. Every time a member of one of the two families dies in the fight, his relatives demand the blood of his killer. Because of the feud, if Romeo is discovered with Juliet by her family, he will be killed. Once Romeo is banished, the only way that Juliet can avoid being married to someone else is to take a potion that apparently kills her, so that she is burried with the bodies of her slain relatives. In this violent, death-filled world, the movement of the story from love at first sight to the union of the lovers in death seems almost inevitable.Ver livro
King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s greatest and darkest works. King Lear banishes his favorite daughter when she speaks out against him. However, he does not know that his two other daughters who pay tribute to him are in fact plotting against him. Shakespeare’s observations on the nature of human suffering and kinship are never better defined than in this play.Ver livro
"The Chorus Girl" by Anton Chekhov portrays a dramatic encounter between a married woman and a chorus girl named Pasha. As the story unfolds, Nikolay Petrovitch Kolpakov, Pasha's adorer, is present in her summer villa. The atmosphere is oppressive due to the heat, and both characters eagerly await the respite of an evening walk. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, surprising Pasha. She expects to find the postman or one of her female friends, but instead, a young and beautiful stranger enters. Clearly distressed, the woman asks if her husband, Nikolay Petrovitch Kolpakov, is present. Pasha denies any knowledge of her husband's whereabouts, leading to a tense exchange between the two women. "The Chorus Girl" delves into themes of deception, betrayal, and the consequences of one's actions. It highlights the power dynamics between individuals of different social statuses and explores the complex emotions that arise from such encounters. Chekhov's poignant narrative serves as a reflection on human nature and the lingering effects of choices made in moments of desperation. Read in English, unabridged.Ver livro
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is the second and final novel by the English author Anne Brontë. It was first published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell. Probably the most shocking of the Brontë's novels, it had an instant and phenomenal success, but after Anne's death her sister Charlotte prevented its re-publication in England until 1854.The novel is framed as a series of letters from Gilbert Markham to his friend about the events connected with his meeting a mysterious young widow, calling herself Helen Graham, who arrives at Wildfell Hall, an Elizabethan mansion which has been empty for many years, with her young son and a servant. Contrary to the early 19th century norms, Helen pursues an artist's career and makes an income by selling her pictures. Mrs Graham's strict seclusion soon gives rise to gossip in the neighbouring village and she becomes a social outcast. Refusing to believe anything scandalous about her, Gilbert befriends Mrs Graham and discovers her past. In the diary she gives Gilbert, Helen chronicles her husband's physical and moral decline through alcohol and debauchery in the dissipated aristocratic society. Ultimately Helen flees with her son, whom she desperately wishes to save from his father's influence. The depiction of marital strife and women's professional identification has also a strong moral message mitigated by Anne Brontë's belief in universal salvation.Most critics now consider The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to be one of the first feminist novels. May Sinclair, in 1913, said that "the slamming of [Helen's] bedroom door against her husband reverberated throughout Victorian England". In leaving her husband and taking away their child, Helen violates not only social conventions but also the early 19th century English law.Ver livro
A man from the future dreams of a past life in this mind-bending story by the author of The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds. Known for such classic novels as The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau, H. G. Wells is considered one of the fathers of science fiction. In The Dream, he introduces a man from a futuristic utopia who lives the complete life of an early twentieth-century Englishman during a dream. Sarnac, a scientist, falls asleep for a short while. But in a vivid dream, he experiences an entire lifetime two thousand years in the past. Under the name Harry Mortimer Smith, he moves from childhood to boyhood to manhood—and finally, a murderous death. As Sarnac tries to make sense of it all, his two lives will become entangled in a state between dream and reality. “Even in the 21st century, Wells still speaks to our fears and dreams.” —The Washington Post “Nothing is more striking about Mr. Wells . . . than his power of lending freshness and vitality to some well-worn formula of fiction.” —The SpectatorVer livro
E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror as well as a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist. His stories were highly influential during the 19th century, and he is one of the major authors of the Romantic movement. 'The Mines of Falun' tells the story of Elis Fröbom, a sailor who returns from the East Indies to Gothenburg in Sweden, only to discover that his mother has died and he is alone in the world. He tells his story to an old miner who befriends him on the quay, and the miner tells him about the magical mines of Falun and urges him to become a miner. Soon after this, he sets out on a journey and constantly sees the mysterious old miner ahead of him, showing him the way, and he realises that he is on the way to Falun. Once there he is taken into the house of the mine owner, Pehrson Dahlsjö, and falls in love with his lovely daughter, Ulla Dahlsjö. But the ghostly old miner will not permit Elis to be distracted from mining by his love for an earthly woman, and Elis is torn between his love for Ulla and his obsession with the underground world of fires and minerals. It is this obsession, and the pull of the ghost of the miner, which leads to his destruction. 'Gambler's Luck' tells the story of a young German baron who is enjoying a streak of beginner's luck at the gambling tables. As his winnings mount up, the young man is gradually becoming sucked into the addictive habit of gambling. One night a stranger appears at the gambling table and watches the baron intently. The stranger appears night after night, until the baron is infuriated and challenges the man. A later chance meeting between the two results in the stranger relating a most unusual and gripping tale... 'The Cremona Violin' is the story of Councillor Krespel, an eccentric violin maker who lives with a mysterious woman, Antonia, who has the most beautiful singing voice ever heard by anyone in the town, but she was only ever heard to sing once. Krespel makes the best violins in the world but never sells any and plays each violin only once. There is a strange secret behind this odd behaviour...but it is only years later that the strange truth comes out.Ver livro
