Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  The Little Match Girl - From...

  Hans Christian Andersen

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  The bookshelves of European literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is the prolifically talented Hans Christian Anderson.

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  Bliss

  Katherine Mansfield

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  "Bliss" is a modernist short story by Katherine Mansfield first published in 1918. It was published in the English Review in August 1918 and later reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories.
  The story follows a dinner party given by Bertha Young and her husband Harry.

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  Désirée's Baby - From their pens...

  Kate Chopin

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  Katherine O'Flaherty was born on the 8th February 1850 in St Louis, Missouri to parents of French and Irish descent. 
  At age 5, she was sent to the Sacred Heart Academy and, apart from a 2 year period at home when her father died, remained there until graduating in 1868.  Whilst there she began writing and became an avid reader of almost anything that crossed her path.   
  Kate married Oscar Chopin in 1870 and the couple moved to New Orleans, and later to the rural setting of Cloutierville, Louisiana to raise their 6 children.  
  In 1882 her husband died leaving her in a deep trench of debt.  Despite her best efforts to turn the businesses around they were sold, and she moved the family back to St Louis and the financial help of her mother.  Sadly, her mother died within the year.  Kate, now struggling with depression, pushed herself to write and gained a local reputation as a writer of short stories that captured the local color and vibrancy of her surroundings.  
  By the early 1890’s her short stories were published nationally.  With this widespread audience also came negative reviews, controversy, and cries of immorality as themes such as interracial relationships, the rights of women and other burning issues of the day were written about. 
  Despite the criticism, which unnerved her, she continued to write though in the main her works, around 100 short stories and two novels, were not attributed with any literary worth. 
  Kate Chopin died from a brain haemorrhage in St Louis Missouri on the 22nd of August 1904.  She was 54. 
  For much of the 20th Century her work was forgotten and out of print.  It was only in early 1970’s, with the rise of feminism and the call for a more just society that she was given the status her works had long described and shone a literary light at.  She is now safely revered as one of America’s great authors.

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  A Passion in the Desert - From...

  Honoré de Balzac

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  Honoré de Balzac was born on the 20th May, 1799 in the French city of Tours into an upper middle class family.  
  At birth Balzac was wet-nursed and often then schooled away from home by parents who seemed remote.  So difficult was life that at 15 he attempted suicide. The family’s intention was for him to have a career in law but Balzac preferred literature.  An avid reader, he began writing but his early attempts showed little promise.  
  He thereafter settled in Paris and began to publish anonymously across political, philosophical, and historical novels. 
  In 1825, Balzac purchased a printing house.  He was soon bankrupt and forced to return to writing in order to reduce his debts.  But his literary fortunes had changed, and his writing was now to achieve considerable success.  He was accepted among the city’s literary élites and its salons and would play an important role in establishing the copyright law in France.  
  Balzac often worked on more than one project at a time and in his magnus opus ‘The Human Comedy’ all types of texts were collected to offer a rare narrative of different classes and social stereotypes of society.  For many Balzac is considered the father of French realism, yet his works also cover philosophical and psychological questions.  His writing was a fundamental source of inspiration for many distinguished and later writers such as Flaubert, Zola and Proust.  
  Balzac also tried his hand at magazine publication with ‘La Chronique de Paris’ and ‘La Revue Parisienne.’  Although he was partnered with others such as Victor Hugo, it was another complete financial failure.  
  As a committed Catholic, Balzac’s stories also dealt with themes of mysticism, esotericism and spirituality, as well as universality and humanism.  
  In politics, he was a staunch defender of the French Crown but unlike his contemporaries he was not an implacable enemy of the republicans.  He often presented disagreements between royalists and republicans as a tolerable difference in political opinion.  
  Despite many relationships Balzac married only towards the end of his life and it was in 1833 that he met the Polish Countess Hanska, who only became his wife 17 years later after an extensive relationship by correspondence and, by then, his health was ruinously bad.  
  Honoré de Balzac died on 18th August 1850 in Paris.  He was 51.

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  The Picture of Dorian Gray

  Oscar Wilde

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  Dive into Oscar Wilde's haunting masterpiece, The Picture of Dorian Gray, a philosophical novel that explores the corruption of a soul consumed by vanity and hedonistic pleasure. This gripping narrative of a young, enchantingly handsome Dorian Gray, who wishes for his portrait to age while he remains youthful, reveals the dark consequences of such desire. 
  As Dorian embarks on a life influenced by the cynical Lord Henry Wotton, he plunges into a world of immorality, retaining his outward beauty while his portrait grotesquely transforms to mirror his inner corruption. Wilde's only novel, blending elements of Gothic horror with eloquent tragedy, provocatively challenges the obsession with outward appearance, starkly commenting on Victorian society's moral decadence. 
  Engage with a book that has captivated readers for over a century with Wilde's razor-sharp wit and sumptuous prose, inviting you to ponder the price of eternal beauty. The Picture of Dorian Gray remains a timeless reflection on aesthetics and ethics, becoming increasingly relevant in today's visually driven culture. Rediscover this classic novel that beautifully marries horror, beauty, and moral questioning. 
  This audiobook was narrated and produced by RAM Studios, where humans and artificial intelligence collaborate to create an excellent listening experience. (The reading is done primarily by AI)

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  At the Mountains of Madness -...

  H. P. Lovecraft

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  More classic horror narrations on Jonathan's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JonathanDunneHorrorAudiobooks 
  Title: At the Mountains of Madness — Part 6 of 12 
  Author: H. P. Lovecraft 
  Narrator: Jonathan Dunne 
  Original Publication: 1936 
  Public Domain: Yes 
  Series Placement: Timeless Terrors No. 84 — Part 6 of 12 
  Description: 
  In Part Six of At the Mountains of Madness, Dyer and Danforth continue their perilous journey through the cyclopean ruins, studying vast mural-like carvings that reveal the long and terrible history of the city’s creators. These stone records chronicle the rise of an alien civilization, its sciences, its wars, and its dominance over a prehistoric Earth—long before humanity’s first steps. 
  As the explorers piece together this ancient narrative, admiration gives way to mounting unease. The story etched into the walls speaks not only of creation and mastery, but of rebellion, catastrophe, and forces that even these non-human beings struggled to control. The city becomes less a monument and more a warning, its silent corridors echoing with implications too vast to fully grasp. 
  This chapter deepens the cosmic scope of the tale, transforming archaeological discovery into existential horror, and preparing the ground for the terror that lurks beyond recorded history. 
  This is Part 6 of a 12-part complete audiobook series, where each chapter peels back another layer of a truth humanity was never meant to uncover.

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