Other books that might interest you

• 

  Buddenbrooks - The Decline of a...

  Thomas Mann

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Buddenbrooks is a 1901 novel by Thomas Mann, chronicling the decline of a wealthy north German merchant family over the course of four generations, incidentally portraying the manner of life and mores of the Hanseatic bourgeoisie in the years from 1835 to 1877. Mann drew deeply from the history of his own family, the Mann family of Lübeck, and their milieu.It was Mann's first novel, published when he was twenty-six years old. With the publication of the second edition in 1903, Buddenbrooks became a major literary success. Its English translation by Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter was published in 1924. The work led to a Nobel Prize in Literature for Mann in 1929; although the Nobel award generally recognises an author's body of work, the Swedish Academy's citation for Mann identified "his great novel Buddenbrooks" as the principal reason for his prize.Mann began writing the book in October 1897, when he was twenty-two years old. The novel was completed three years later, in July 1900, and published in 1901. His objective was to write a novel on the conflicts between businessman and artist's worlds, presented as a family saga, continuing in the realist tradition of such 19th-century works as Stendhal's Le Rouge et le Noir (1830; The Red and the Black). Buddenbrooks is his most enduringly popular novel, especially in Germany, where it has been cherished for its intimate portrait of 19th-century German bourgeois life.Before Buddenbrooks Mann had written only short stories, which had been collected under the title Der kleine Herr Friedemann (1898, Little Herr Friedemann). They portrayed spiritually challenged figures who struggle to find happiness in (or at the margins of) bourgeois society. Similar themes appear in the Buddenbrooks, but in a fully developed style that already reflects the mastery of narrative, subtle irony of tone, and rich character descriptions of Mann's mature fiction.The exploration of decadence in the novel reflects the influence of Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation (1818, 1844) on the young Mann. The Buddenbrooks of successive generations experience a gradual decline of their finances and family ideals, finding happiness increasingly elusive as values change and old hierarchies are challenged by Germany's rapid industrialisation. The characters who subordinate their personal happiness to the welfare of the family firm encounter reverses, as do those who do not.The city where the Buddenbrooks live shares so many street names and other details with Mann's native town of Lübeck that the identification is unmistakable, although the novel makes no mention of the name. The young author was condemned for writing a scandalous, defamatory roman à clef about (supposedly) recognisable personages. Mann defended the right of a writer to use material from his own experience.The years covered in the novel were marked by major political and military developments that reshaped Germany, such as the Revolutions of 1848, the Austro-Prussian War, and the establishment of the German Empire. Historic events nevertheless generally remain in the background, having no direct bearing on the lives of the characters.

  Show book

• 

  Versio Latina (Homeri Odyssea)...

  Homer

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The Versio Latina, or Latin translation of the works of Homer, has existed since the 14th century, but was first printed, under the name of Andreas Divus, in 1537. It is a crib, to give it no finer name, but a crib which had immense influence, being the first introduction to Homer for generations of mediaeval and early modern scholars. (Introduction by hefyd)

  Show book

• 

  Utopia

  Thomas More

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Thomas More's Utopia stands out as one of the most striking political works ever written. Composed specifically as a response to Henry VIII's break with Rome, the book meditates on the perfect society, while indirectly critiquing the political and social ills of Tudor England. Containing thoughts on religious pluralism, a welfare state and women's rights, More's book was well ahead of its time, already hinting at later theories on communism and capitalism centuries before Marx, Engles and Smith.

  Show book

• 

  Good wives (Unabridged)

  Louisa May Alcott

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Three years on from Little Women, the March girls and their friend Laurie are young adults with their futures ahead of them. Although they all face painful trials along the way - from Meg's sad lesson in housekeeping to Laurie's disappointment in love and a tragedy which touches them all. Each of the girls finally finds happiness, if not always in the way they expect.

  Show book

• 

  The Seer

  Bram Stoker

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The Seer, a short story, is actually the first two chapters of Stoker’s seventh novel, The Mystery of the Sea. The tale is set in Cruden Bay, a locale Stoker used in other works as well. The narrator encounters a strange woman during his stay at the Kilmarnock Arms, a small hotel that was actually located in the town of Cruden Bay and that Stoker himself frequented. The strange woman educates the narrator about the Second Sight, giving the listener a closer look into the supernatural elements that Stoker was so fond of.
  
  Public Domain (P)2013 Ennunciation LLC

  Show book

• 

  Carnacki The Ghost Finder - No 1...

  William Hope Hodgson

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  William Hope Hodgson was born in Essex, England on November 15th, 1877. 
   
  Over his short career he produced a large body of work which explored and covered many genres. From horror, to science fiction, to stories on the sea, where he had spent much of his early life. 
   
  In 1899, at the age of 22, he opened W. H. Hodgson's School of Physical Culture, in Blackburn offering tailored exercise regimes for personal training.  
   
  Eventually the business shut down and he immersed himself in writing.  An article in 1903 ‘Physical Culture versus Recreative Exercises’ led the way into fiction writing.  In 1904 came his first short story ‘The Goddess of Death’.  It was the beginning of an intensely creative period in his life. 
    
  He wrote novels, poetry and many, many short stories including series on the Sargasso Sea and Captain Gault. 
   
  One of his most memorable creations was his Carnacki, Supernatural Detective creation.  This fused together his passion for sleuthing and interest in the Occult.  It was a memorable success. 
   
  When war drew its shadow over Europe Hodgson received a commission as a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. In 1916 he was thrown from a horse and suffered a serious head injury; he received a mandatory discharge, and returned to writing. 
   
  Hodgson recovered sufficiently to re-enlist but at the Battle of Ypres in April 1918 he was killed by an artillery shell.

  Show book