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  The Tempest

  William Shakespeare

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  The Tempest is a play by English playwright William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610-1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that Shakespeare wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, the rest of the story is set on a remote island, where the sorcerer Prospero, a complex and contradictory character, lives with his daughter Miranda, and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit. The play contains music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island. It explores many themes, including magic, betrayal, revenge, and family. In Act IV, a wedding masque serves as a play-within-a-play, and contributes spectacle, allegory, and elevated language.
  Although The Tempest is listed in the First Folio as the first of Shakespeare's comedies, it deals with both tragic and comic themes, and modern criticism has created a category of romance for this and others of Shakespeare's late plays. The Tempest has been put to varied interpretations, from those that see it as a fable of art and creation, with Prospero representing Shakespeare, and Prospero's renunciation of magic signaling Shakespeare's farewell to the stage, to interpretations that consider it an allegory of Europeans colonizing foreign lands.

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  What Is Man?

  Mark Twain

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  Locked in his desk for 25 years, What Is Man? was Twain's most serious, philosophical, and private work. The narrative appears in the form of a Socratic dialogue between a romantic young idealist and an elderly cynic. The pair debate issues of mankind, such as whether man is free to act or is more of a machine, whether personal merit is meaningless given how the environment shapes us, and if man truly has impulses other than to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. An unflinching critic of human affection, a bittersweet humorist, and a master of comic asides, Mark Twain speaks to us across time with verve and wisdom in this rare work. This recording is performed by comedy legend Carl Reiner, a recipient of the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

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  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  Washington Irving

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  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving is a captivating and timeless tale that transports readers to a bygone era of superstition and ghostly folklore.  
  The story follows Ichabod Crane, a bumbling but endearing schoolteacher, as he becomes entranced by the haunting legend of the Headless Horseman, a phantom rider who terrorises the small town of Sleepy Hollow. Irving's lyrical and evocative prose paints a vivid picture of a world where reality and myth intertwine, where reason gives way to fear and imagination. As Ichabod's obsession with the legend grows, the stage is set for a thrilling and unforgettable encounter with the ghostly apparition, leaving readers breathless and captivated until the very end. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a masterful work of fiction that continues to enchant and enthral readers of all ages. 
  This new audio edition is brought to life for 21st century audiences by narrator Jake Urry.

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  Bartleby The Scrivener: A Story...

  Herman Melville

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  "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street" is a novella written by Herman Melville, first published in 1853. The story is a poignant exploration of the dehumanizing effects of modern capitalism and the isolation that can result from the mechanization of work. The novella is narrated by an unnamed Wall Street lawyer who hires a scrivener named Bartleby to copy legal documents. Initially, Bartleby is diligent and efficient, but over time, he starts responding to requests with the phrase "I would prefer not to." This passive resistance leads to a series of confrontations and ultimately to Bartleby's refusal to do any work at all. The lawyer is both fascinated and perplexed by Bartleby's behavior, and the story explores themes of alienation, conformity, and the dehumanizing nature of modern office life.

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  The Heart of a Dog

  Mikhail Bulgakov

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  A well-to-do professor working in Moscow strikes up an unlikely friendship with a stray dog and attempts a scientific first by transplanting the testicles and pituitary gland of a recently deceased man into the dog.
  
  With a wild, but alarmingly human animal on the loose, the professor's previously respectable life becomes a nightmare beyond his imagination. A suberp satirical novel, it is also a sharp and pointed criticism of Soviet society, especially the new rich that arose after the Bolshevik revolution.

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - 20th...

  Willa Cather, Mary Elizabeth...

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  This century unfolds with a fast-changing world riven by immense wars and glutton hungry Empires.  Women strive to win the most basic of rights, the right to vote.  Their literary testament is now a vital part of our cultural world.  They write on all manner of subjects with truth, with imagination and with undeniable talent. We are all the richer for their words. 
   
  1 - The Top Ten - 20th Century Women 
   
  2 - Paul's Case by Willa Cather 
   
  3 - Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf 
   
  4 - The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield 
   
  5 - A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Gaspell 
   
  6 - Here We Are by Dorothy Parker 
   
  7 - The Face in the Glass by Mary Elizabeth Braddon 
   
  8 - The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railroad by Baroness Orczy 
   
  9 - Rooms by Gertrude Stein 
   
  10 - White Bread by Zona Gale 
   
  11 - The Stones of the Village by Alice Dunbar Nelson

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