Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  The Queen of Spades - The...

  Alexander Puschkin

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  Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was born on 26th May 1799 in Moscow into a family of Russian nobility. 
   
  Raised by nursemaids and French tutors in French he learnt Russian only via the household staff. 
   
  He graduated from the prestigious Imperial Lyceum, near St Petersburg and plunged into the vibrant and raucous intellectual youth culture of what was then the capital of the Russian Empire.  
   
  In 1820, he published his first long poem, ‘Ruslan and Ludmila’, with much controversy about both subject and style.  Pushkin was heavily influenced by the French Enlightenment and gravitated, with other literary radicals, towards social reform angering the Government. 
   
  His early literary work and reputation was poetic and written as he travelled around the Empire or engaged himself in various rebellions against the Ottoman Empire.  A clash with his own government after his poem, ‘Ode to Liberty’, was found among the belongings of the Decembrist Uprising rebels meant two years of internal exile at his mother's rural estate.  His friends and family continually petitioned for his release, sending letters and meeting with Tsar Alexander I and then Tsar Nicholas I.   
   
  In 1825, whilst at his Mother’s estate, Pushkin wrote his most famous play, the drama ‘Boris Godunov’.  
   
  Upon meeting with Tsar Nicholas I, Pushkin obtained his release and began work as the Tsar's Titular Counsel of the National Archives.  However, because of the earlier problems the tsar retained control of everything Pushkin published, and he was banned from travelling at will. 
   
  Around 1828, Pushkin met the 16-year-old Natalia Goncharova, one of the most talked-about beauties of Moscow.  After much hesitation, Natalia accepted his marriage proposal after she received assurances that the government had no intentions to persecute the libertarian poet.  When the Tsar gave Pushkin the lowest court title, Gentleman of the Chamber, he became enraged, feeling that the Tsar intended to humiliate him. 
   
  In the year 1831, during Pushkin's growing literary influence, he met Nikolai Gogol.  Recognising his gifts Pushkin supported him and published his short stories in his own magazine ‘The Contemporary’. 
   
  By the autumn of 1836, Pushkin was falling into greater and greater debt and facing scandalous rumours that his wife was having an affair.  
   
  In January 1837, Pushkin sent a ‘highly insulting letter’ to his wife’s pursuer, Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès.  The only answer could be a challenge to a duel. 
   
  It took place on 27th January.  D'Anthès fired first, critically wounding Pushkin; the bullet entered at his hip and penetrated his abdomen.  Two days later Alexander Pushkin died of peritonitis.  He was 37. 
   
  One of Pushkin’s most lauded stories ‘The Queen of Spades’ takes on gambling and the need for just a tiny piece of information that will turn the game in his favour and take life to a level that is sure to be both deserved and his by right.

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  The Pilgrim's Progress

  John Bunyan

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  The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come is a Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. First published in 1678, it is considered one of the most significant works of English literature and Protestant theology.  
  The story follows Christian, a character representing everyman, as he journeys from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, which symbolizes Heaven. Burdened by the awareness of his sins, depicted by a physical weight on his back, Christian seeks salvation. He is guided by Evangelist, who directs him to the Wicket Gate. Along his journey, Christian encounters various allegorical characters who either assist or impede his progress. Christian, an everyman character, journeys from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City (representing Heaven). Burdened by the knowledge of his sin (represented by a physical burden on his back), Christian seeks salvation. He is guided by Evangelist, who directs him to the Wicket-gate. Along his path, Christian encounters various allegorical characters who either help or hinder his progress.

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  Father Brown: The Hammer of God...

  G. K. Chesterton

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  The Hammer of God," readers are surprised to learn from Father Brown that the murderer is not a violent madman but rather a very respected member of the community. The Reverend Wilfred Bohun could no longer stand the scandalous behavior of his alcoholic brother Norman, who blasphemed God and humiliated the Reverend Bohun in the eyes of his parishioners. Chesterton states that Wilfred and Norman Bohun belong to an old noble family whose descendants are now mostly "drunkards and dandy degenerates." Rumor has it that there has been "a whisper of insanity" in the Bohun family.

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  Across the Sullen Void - A...

  Ray Bradbury

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  This is a collection of science fiction short stories that were written for the pulp sci-fi magazines of the 1940s - 1950s. It includes new illustrations and minor edits to the original text. The selections were chosen to showcase Ray Bradbury's flavor of science-fiction/fantasy that he became famous for. This includes stories about technological advancement, space exploration, alien invasion, space warfare, encounters with hostile aliens, and trips to alien planets (including Mars). While the stories were written about a future that we have yet to achieve, the human struggles that these stories explore as still as relevant today, as the day they were written.

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  Concerning the American Language...

  Mark Twain

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  Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri on the 30th November 1835 and is far better known by his pen name of Mark Twain.  An American writer and humorist of the first order he is perhaps best known for his novels ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and its sequel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ which are often described with that mythic line The Great American Novel. 
  Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri which would later provide the backdrop to these great novels.  Apprenticed to a printer he also became a typesetter and then a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi.  Later, heading west with his brother Orion to make his fortune, he failed at gold mining and instead turned to journalism and thence his true calling as a writer of humorous stories where his wit and humor sparkled from every paragraph, his craft evident with every page and punctured target. 
  A staunch supporter of copyright protections this helped him keep much of the wealth his writing created, though much money was also lost on investments that he pursued in his love for science and technology as well as investing in his own inventions. 
  Twain was born during a visit by Halley’s comet, and he predicted that he would go out with it as well.  He died the day after its subsequent return on 21st April 1910, at his house, Stormfield, located in Redding, Connecticut.

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  Viy

  Nikolai Gogol

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  "Viy" by Nikolai Gogol is a haunting tale that delves into the supernatural. The story follows Khoma, a skeptical seminary student, who is tasked with saying prayers over the deceased witch princess. As Khoma faces a nightmarish encounter with the reanimated corpse, the narrative unfolds into a chilling exploration of fear, folklore, and the clash between the mortal and supernatural realms. Gogol weaves a tale of horror and the macabre, leaving readers on the edge of their seats as the boundary between the living and the dead blurs in the mysterious night.

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