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  A Hunger Artist - A study in...

  Franz Kafka

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  Franz Kafka was born on 3rd July 1883 in Prague, then in Bohemia, the eldest of 6, into a middle-class Jewish family. 
   
  Life for the young Kafka and his passion for literature was often made an ordeal by his over-bearing and domineering entrepreneur of a father.   
   
  In 1889 Kafka was sent to the Deutsche Knabenschule, an elementary school in Prague. His father would only allow him to be educated in German-speaking schools and even went so far as to limit visits to the synagogue to four a year. 
   
  In 1901 he graduated from the classics-oriented Altstädter Gymnasium. Kafka did well there and across a large range of subjects.  He now enrolled at the Charles Ferdinand University, to study chemistry, but quickly switched to law for which he obtained his degree in June 1906 and then performed the mandatory year of unpaid service as clerk at the civil and criminal courts. 
   
  A job at an Italian insurance company left him little time to write and after a year he took another job with the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia where he stayed until ill health led to his resignation in 1922. 
   
  Although he saw work as a means to pay the bills and to allow him time to write, he received several promotions and was noted as a good employee. 
   
  By 1917 Kafka was suffering from tuberculosis, which required frequent periods of convalescence. Interspersed with this, were several intense affairs before he settled in Berlin with Dora Diamant, a 25-year-old kindergarten teacher who herself having left the ghetto now influenced Kafka's interest in the book of Jewish law, the Talmud. 
   
  Kafka’s on-going health was littered with problems. Apart from TB there were several other ailments, including migraines, insomnia, boils, depression, all usually brought on by excessive stresses and strains. He attempted to counteract all of this by naturopathic treatments, a vegetarian diet and consuming large quantities of unpasteurized milk. 
   
  His tuberculosis still worsened. He returned to Prague, where he died on 3rd June 1924. He was 40. 
   
  His literary works are few in number but towering in influence.  His masterpieces include ‘The Trial’, ‘The Metamorphosis’ as well as a number of short stories which reveal facets of humankind that truthfully could only be born from Kafka’s brain and pen.

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  The Beauties

  Anton Chekhov

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  One great example of Chekhov's minimalism is found in The Beauties, a very short "story" - I use the term loosely, because it is really just two snapshots, two unrelated anecdotes in which a man describes seeing true beauty in two different women. These women are imperfect, yet enigmatically alluring.
  Chekhov's genius lies in the way he manages to convey with such apparent effortlessness a profound sense of the mystery of beauty, and of the sadness of those who observe and think. The narrator of this apparently inconsequential tale fixes on exactly the right details, from a myriad of possible ones, to strike at the heart. It's a masterpiece of minimalism.

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  A Study in Scarlet - The Classic...

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  The Game is Afoot...
   
  In the murky, fog-drenched streets of Victorian London, a killer prowls, leaving behind no clues but an empty house, a dead man, a woman's wedding ring, and the word RACHE scrawled in blood upon a wall. Scotland Yard's finest are utterly baffled. The brilliant but eccentric consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, however, sees the truth clearly hidden in the dust.
   
  A Study in Scarlet is the seminal work that birthed a literary legend. Written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, this gripping novel marks the very first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and his steadfast companion, Dr. John H. Watson. Here, Watson—an army doctor freshly returned from the horrors of the Afghan War—takes up lodgings at the iconic 221B Baker Street, only to find himself swept into a sinister web of international revenge, secret societies, and brilliant forensic deduction.
  A Masterpiece of Mystery/Detective Fiction
   
  From the meticulous analysis of cigar ashes and muddy footprints to the dramatic capture of a desperate killer, A Study in Scarlet laid the unshakeable foundation for the modern detective genre. Conan Doyle's incredible narrative seamlessly blends a chilling procedural thriller with a tragic, sweeping backstory, exploring the darkest corners of human nature and vengeance.
   
  With an unforgettable, high-drama performance by Andre Reaves, this classic audiobook transports listeners directly to the gaslit cobblestones of 19th-century crime solving. Grab your deerstalker, sharpen your wits, and prepare to isolate the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life.

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  The Tragedy of a Comic Song -...

  Leonard Merrick

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  The bookshelves of British literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From these Isles their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is Walter Besant.

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  A Doll's House

  Henrik Ibsen

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  Ibsen's "A Doll's House," written two years after "The Pillars of Society," became a sensation and is now widely considered his most famous play. Required reading in many secondary schools and universities, the play was highly controversial upon its release due to its sharp criticism of 19th Century marriage norms. Despite following the structure of a traditional well-made play, the play breaks convention by ending with a discussion instead of an unraveling in its final act. Although Ibsen himself denied it, "A Doll's House" is often referred to as the first true feminist play.

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  Two Tales From Oscar Wilde

  Oscar Wilde

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  Oscar Wilde (October 16, 1854 - November 30, 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams, plays, short stories, and his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. The following includes the pieces "Poems In Prose" and "The Star Child."

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