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  Notes From The Underground

  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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  "Notes from the Underground" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky delves deep into the mind of an unnamed narrator, presenting a profound exploration of human psychology and existentialism. Set in 19th-century St. Petersburg, the novel offers a compelling glimpse into the inner workings of a disillusioned and isolated protagonist. The story begins with the narrator, a retired civil servant, reflecting on his life and experiences. He introduces himself as a self-proclaimed "underground man," detached from society and harboring a deep resentment towards others. Through a series of fragmented and introspective monologues, the narrator takes readers on a tumultuous journey through his thoughts, emotions, and philosophical musings. "Notes from the Underground" is a profound and introspective work that invites readers to question their own existence and the complexities of the human condition. Dostoyevsky's exploration of the underground man's psyche offers a thought-provoking examination of alienation, morality, and the struggle for individuality in a rapidly changing society. Through its vivid portrayal of the narrator's internal turmoil, the novel remains a timeless and influential masterpiece in the realm of psychological literature. Read in English, unabridged.

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  The Oblong Box

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  The Oblong Box is a horror short story by Edgar Allan Poe that first appeared in the May 1844 edition of Godey's Lady's Book about a sea voyage and a mysterious box.

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  The Blue Castle

  L.M Montgomery

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  The Blue Castle is a 1926 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, best known for her novel Anne of Green Gables (1908).
  The story is set during the early 1900s in the fictional town of Deerwood, located in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada. Deerwood is based on Bala, Ontario, which Montgomery visited in 1922. Maps of the two towns show similarities.
  This novel is considered one of L.M. Montgomery's few adult works of fiction, along with A Tangled Web, and is the only book she wrote that is entirely set outside of Prince Edward Island. It has grown in popularity since being republished in 1990. The book was adapted for the stage twice; in 1982 it was made into a successful Polish musical, and ten years later Canadian playwright Hank Stinson authored another version, The Blue Castle: A Musical Love Story.
  alancy is, at twenty-nine, the old maid of the Stirling clan, which is a reputable family that has lived in the same region for over fifty years. As an only child, her entire life has been spent with her nagging mother, her perpetually down-trodden aunt, and a gossipy extended family, who, in spirit of the Victorian and middle class, actively discourage happiness and treat Valancy like a child, telling her what to do every day and constantly comparing her with her beautiful cousin, Olive, putting her down, and calling her by the baby name "Doss." Her only respites come from daydreaming of her "Blue Castle" and the handsome men who would reside in it with her, along with reading the nature books of John Foster.

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  The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s...

  Charles Dickens

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  Professor Redlaw, haunted by sorrowful memories, encounters a spectral double offering to erase his pain. Accepting the ghost’s bargain unravels hidden consequences, affecting those around him. Through spectral encounters and moral revelations, Dickens' tale explores the enduring power of memory, forgiveness, and the human spirit's resilience.

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  Two Little Soldiers - From their...

  Guy de Maupassant

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  Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France.  
  Maupassant’s early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband. 
  After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life.   
  Maupassant’s education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing. 
  After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department.  Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing.  Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature.  For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions. 
  In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, ‘Boule de Suif’, (translated as as ‘Dumpling’, ‘Butterball’, ‘Ball of Fat’, or ‘Ball of Lard’) which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming.  Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was ‘a masterpiece that will endure.’ Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique.  
  This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career.  With an audience now made available by the success of ‘Boule de Suif’ Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year.  The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy. 
  In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth.  
  On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat.  Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris.  It was here on July 6th, 1893 that Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42.

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  Alice Dunbar Nelson - A Short...

  Alice Dunbar Nelson

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  Alice Ruth Moore was born on 19th July 1875 in New Orleans where she was part of the multi-racial Creole community.  She was the first generation seemingly born free after the Civil War and unusually for the times, obtained a university education which led to her becoming a teacher at a public school in New Orleans.   
  In 1895, when she was 20, she published her first collection of short stories and poems, ‘Violets and Other Tales’, and moved to New York City where she co-founded and taught at the White Rose Mission, a Home for Girls.   
  Alice was always politically active and sought to advance the position of black women.  She began work as a journalist at the Woman’s Era newspaper where her work was seen by the established poet and journalist Paul Laurence Dunbar.  After corresponding for two years she joined him in Washington DC and they married in 1898.   
  It was a difficult relationship, due mainly to Dunbar’s fragile health, alcoholism and depression.  After a severe beating she left him and moved to Delaware to teach for a decade though took time out to enroll at Cornell University. 
  A short-lived marriage to Henry A. Callis, a physician and professor at Howard University ended in divorce and she became co-editor and writer for an influential publication of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.  A third marriage to civil rights activist Robert J. Nelson came about, as did affairs with several women, notably the activist Fay Jackie Robinson.   
  In Wilmington Delaware she and her husband devoted their time and writings to working for equality for African Americans and women’s suffrage.   
  Alice Dunbar Nelson was a natural and gifted writer across many genres, from novels, essays, plays to diaries, criticism, poetry and of course short stories, of which ‘Stones in the Village’ is a fine example.  The protagonist, like herself, is light skinned from New Orleans, which allows for a social mobility and a unique position in American society that Dunbar Nelson captures with an imagination and insight to explores another divisive perspective on race.  It is unsurprising that Alice was a prominent part of the early Harlem Renaissance and influenced many others including Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. 
  Alice and her husband moved to Philadelphia in 1932 and it was here that she died on 18th September 1935, at the age of 60, from a heart ailment.

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