Mardi

Herman Melville

Editora: CLXBX

Sinopse

Mardi is Herman Melville's bold and imaginative novel that blends adventure, romance, philosophy, and satire into a vast allegorical journey across the Pacific. One of Melville's most ambitious and unconventional works, the novel moves beyond realism into a dreamlike exploration of ideas, identity, and human longing.

The story begins with a dramatic escape from a whaling ship, as the narrator and his companion flee into the open sea. Their flight leads them to the mysterious archipelago of Mardi, a fantastical realm composed of countless islands, each embodying distinct cultures, beliefs, and political systems. As the narrator journeys from island to island, the narrative transforms into a sweeping meditation on love, truth, power, and the nature of civilization.

At the emotional center of the novel is the narrator's obsessive search for Yillah, a beautiful and elusive woman who becomes a symbol of idealized love and spiritual longing. This quest propels him deeper into Mardi's surreal landscapes, where poetic reflection, philosophical debate, and sharp social criticism intertwine.

Melville uses the imaginative freedom of the setting to satirize religion, monarchy, democracy, and intellectual dogma, while also probing the limits of reason and the burden of human desire. His lush, experimental prose challenges conventional storytelling, inviting readers into a world where meaning is fluid and interpretation essential.

Visionary, demanding, and deeply original, Mardi stands as a key work in Melville's development as a writer. It is a novel for adventurous readers—an expansive allegory that rewards patience with its intellectual depth and poetic ambition.

Disponível desde: 07/02/2026.

Comprimento de impressão: 733 páginas.

Outros livros que poderiam interessá-lo

The Snow Queen

Hans Christian Andersen

Gerda and Kai are inseparable friends until Kai is struck by splinters from a cursed mirror that lodge in his heart and eye, causing his heart to freeze and his perception to distort. The once excitable and loving boy becomes cynical and spiteful. As the Snow Queen takes him away to her icy palace, Gerda sets out to rescue him armed only with her love for little Kai. The Snow Queen was first published in 1844 in Danish as "Snedronningen" and is one of Hans Christian Andersen's most enduring and beloved stories, embodying themes of love, bravery, coming of age, and the triumph of light over darkness.

Ver livro

Russian Short Story The - Volume...

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai...

The Russian novel has a reputation that is immense, both in narrative and in length.  Unquestionably though the ideas, themes and characters make many novels rightly revered as world class, as icons of literature. 
 
Perhaps an easier way to enjoy a wider selection of the Russian heritage, with its varied and glorious literary talents, is with the short story.  These gems sparkle and beguile the mind with their characters and narrative, exploring facets of society and the human condition that more Western authors somehow find more difficult to navigate, or to explore, explain and relate to.   
 
The Russian short story is, in many respects, in a genre of its own.  It is at its captivating best whether it’s an exploration of real-life experiences, through fantasy and fables and on to total absurdity. 
 
In a land so vast it is unsurprising that it is a world almost unto itself. Cultures and landscapes of differing hues are packed together bound only by the wilful bonds and force of Empire. 
 
The stories in this collection traverse the decades where one might be a serf under an absolute monarch, and the reality of that was pretty near to slavery, into an emancipation of sorts in the fields, or towns under the despotic will of landowners and the rich into the upheavals of Empire and then the overthrow of the ruling class and its replacement by the communists, who promised equality for all and delivered a society where the down-trodden remained the lowest yet vital cog of the state machine and its will.  
 
Whilst Tolstoy, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Pushkin and Chekhov are a given in any Russian collection we also explore and include Andreyev, Korolenko, Turgenev, Blavatsky and many others to create a world rich and dense across a sprawling landscape of diverse people, riddled with the class and unfairness in perhaps some of the most turbulent times that Russia has ever experienced. 
 
01 - The Russian Short Story - Volume 3 - An Introduction 
02 - An Honest Thief by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
03 - The Crocodile. An Extraordinary Incident - Part 1 by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
04 - The Crocodile. An Extraordinary Incident - Part 2 by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
05 - Bobok by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
06 - How a Muzhik Fed Two Officials by Nikolai Schedrin 
07 - Diary of a Lunatic by Leo Tolstoy 
08 - Aloysha the Pot by Leo Tolstoy 
09 - How Much Land Does A Man Need by Leo Tolstoy 
10 - The Snowstorm - Part 1 by Leo Tolstoy 
11 - The Snowstorm - Part 2 by Leo Tolstoy 
12 - God Sees The Truth But Waits by Leo Tolstoy

Ver livro

The Incredulity of Father Brown

G.K. Chesterton

In the third of his series of Father Brown short stories G.K Chesterton is almost reticent in putting his clerical detective at the forefront of the narrative. 
In the majority of the tales the diminutive priest makes a somewhat unremarkable entrance as almost an afterthought; a seemingly inconsequential individual whom the colourful personalities that populate the stories might easily overlook. But the beauty of Chesterton’s creation is that Father Brown in his anonymity is precisely placed to observe and penetrate both the souls and minds of men.

Ver livro

The Gentleman from San Francisco

Ivan Bunin

The Gentleman from San Francisco is a short story by Ivan Bunin, a Nobel Prize-winning but often overlooked Russian author. It was translated into English by D. H. Lawrence (with Samuil Koteliansky). The story is often hailed as a classic of the genre.

A 58-year-old American from San Francisco, now in possession of a vast fortune, sets off with his wife and daughter on a world tour. A series of events causes laughter, embarassment, and revolt as he and his family travel through Italy and remarkable changes begin to take effect.

Ver livro

After the Race - From their pens...

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on the 2nd February 1882 in Dublin into a middle-class family, and the eldest of ten surviving siblings
Admired as a brilliant student he briefly attended the Christian Brothers-run O'Connell School before excelling at the Jesuit schools of Clongowes and Belvedere. From there he went on to attend University College Dublin from 1898, studying English, French and Italian
In 1902, Joyce was now in his early twenties, and went to Paris to study Medicine but soon abandoned his teachings. Back in Dublin to attend to his dying Mother he met Nora Barnacle. They bonded immediately into a life-long match. Together they decided to emigrate to Europe. The couple lived in Trieste, Rome, Paris, and finally Zürich where Joyce pursued a variety of jobs and ventures to supplement his literary pursuits but none of these paid off.
After publishing a poetry volume, ‘Chamber Music’, in 1907, his short story collection ‘The Dubliners’, in 1914, helped establish his talent in the rapidly changing world.
Although far from home Joyce’s literary heart and works were set in his recollections of Dublin. Characters are close resemblances of family and friends and indeed enemies. His landmark work ‘Ulysses’, published in 1922, is set in the streets and alleyways of the city as it parallels Homer’s Odyssey in a variety of styles including its famed stream of consciousness.
His pen continued to produce classics of the order of ‘A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man’ and ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ together with several volumes of poetry and a play ‘The Exiles, in 1918.
On the 11th January 1941, Joyce underwent surgery in Zürich for a perforated duodenal ulcer. The next day he fell into a coma. On the 13th after a brief period of lucidity in which he called for his wife and son he passed. He was 58.

Ver livro

The Mysterious Island

Jules Verne

The Mysterious Island is one of Jules Verne's greatest and most imaginative adventure novels—a powerful story of survival, ingenuity, and the triumph of human intelligence over nature. Set during the American Civil War, the novel begins when five prisoners escape captivity in a stolen balloon, only to be cast away by a violent storm on an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean.

Led by the brilliant engineer Cyrus Harding, the castaways must rely on science, cooperation, and determination to survive in their new and hostile environment. From building shelter and tools to mastering fire, agriculture, and industry, the group transforms the unknown island into a place of order and civilization. Yet the island holds many secrets—mysterious interventions, unexplained phenomena, and hidden dangers that suggest a powerful unseen presence at work.

As the castaways uncover the truth behind the island's mysteries, the novel expands into a larger narrative that connects to Verne's broader literary universe, rewarding readers with suspense, wonder, and emotional depth. Rich in scientific detail and philosophical reflection, the story celebrates knowledge, teamwork, and moral strength.

The Mysterious Island is a timeless classic of science fiction and adventure, offering an unforgettable exploration of human resilience and curiosity. It stands as a crowning achievement of Jules Verne's storytelling—both thrilling and profoundly inspiring.

Ver livro