Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
Short Stories - Enriched edition - cover

Short Stories - Enriched edition

Wilkie Collins

Publisher: DigiCat

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

In Wilkie Collins' captivating collection, "Short Stories," readers are treated to a rich tapestry of narratives that showcase his mastery of suspense and psychological insight. The stories, imbued with Collins' hallmark blend of Gothic elements and social realism, explore themes of deception, morality, and the complexities of human nature. This collection reflects the Victorian era's fascination with the macabre and the unknown, demonstrating Collins' ability to weave intricate plots that captivate and provoke thought, thereby solidifying his role as a pioneer of modern detective fiction. Wilkie Collins, renowned for his pioneering contributions to the mystery genre, crafted these short stories during a period of literary experimentation and cultural upheaval. As a close friend of Charles Dickens, his exposure to the literary circles of the Victorian age undoubtedly influenced his writing style and thematic choices. Moreover, Collins' personal experiences with societal injustices, as well as his own struggles with health, shaped his narrative voice, allowing him to navigate the darker aspects of human experience with empathy and keen insight. For readers seeking a profound exploration of the human psyche and the moral dilemmas of society, Collins' "Short Stories" is an indispensable addition to their literary repertoire. Each tale is a compelling invitation to delve into the intricacies of character and plot, ensuring that both new and seasoned readers will find themselves enthralled by Collins' skillful storytelling.

In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience:
- A comprehensive Introduction outlines these selected works' unifying features, themes, or stylistic evolutions.
- The Author Biography highlights personal milestones and literary influences that shape the entire body of writing.
- A Historical Context section situates the works in their broader era—social currents, cultural trends, and key events that underpin their creation.
- A concise Synopsis (Selection) offers an accessible overview of the included texts, helping readers navigate plotlines and main ideas without revealing critical twists.
- A unified Analysis examines recurring motifs and stylistic hallmarks across the collection, tying the stories together while spotlighting the different work's strengths.
- Reflection questions inspire deeper contemplation of the author's overarching message, inviting readers to draw connections among different texts and relate them to modern contexts.
- Lastly, our hand‐picked Memorable Quotes distill pivotal lines and turning points, serving as touchstones for the collection's central themes.
Available since: 10/11/2022.
Print length: 3600 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • Hyacinth - cover

    Hyacinth

    Saki Saki

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    In this comedic tale, the story revolves around a spirited young boy named Hyacinth, whose mischievous nature leads to chaos during a local election. His mother, Matilda, is determined to bring him along to the polling station, despite warnings from her friend Mrs. Panstreppon about Hyacinth's unpredictable behavior. As the election unfolds, Hyacinth's antics take a wild turn when he befriends the children of a rival candidate and mischievously locks them in a pigsty, threatening their safety in the heat of political rivalry.
    Show book
  • Plain Pleasures - cover

    Plain Pleasures

    Jane Bowles

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    "The most important writer of prose fiction in modern American letters . . . Her work, her life: deep truth, observed without pretension, with humor and humanity. As artist and person, an angel." ―Tennessee WilliamsIn these uncanny and insidious tales, Jane Bowles presents an incendiary and groundbreaking vision of the mad possibilities of literary modernism. From "Everything Is Nice," where an American woman is led to a house in a "blue Moslem town" by a veiled woman with porcupines in her basket, to "Camp Cataract," a tour de force of middle-class claustrophobia and dread set in Colorado, these stories are a bewildering, headlong plunge into the jagged, fever-dream world of Jane Bowles. And for the first time ever, this collection includes the excised sections of Bowles's novel Two Serious Ladies (which was originally Three Serious Ladies).
    Show book
  • Transformation - cover

    Transformation

    Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Guido has lost it all. At rock bottom, and while wandering the shore, Guido spies a misshapen creature floating toward him in the water, riding on a huge chest. The creature offers Guido a path of revenge – switching bodies for three days in exchange for the untold riches in the chest. Guido unfortunately fails to see a potential down side. 
     
    Through skillful handling of the gothic motif of the doppelgänger, Shelley’s tale explores concepts that would eventually culminate into her masterpiece – Frankenstein.
    Show book
  • The Saint and the Spool - cover

    The Saint and the Spool

    Mike DeFrench

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    One winter night, as the snows fall outside their home, and a boy cannot sleep, his father tells him the story of a Saint. 
    A martyr. 
    She is well known to all Christians in the land. Her, and her infant child. 
    She is credited with stopping the reign of the pagan king. 
    Here is her story...
    Show book
  • Young Blood - Ten Terrifying College Tales - cover

    Young Blood - Ten Terrifying...

    Anonymous

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Bored roommates use a planchette to contact a legendary ghost that haunts Pune University. Will she answer? 
    Is the abandoned Khairatabad Science College in Hyderabad really haunted? A gang of students break inside to investigate. 
    Nirav and Pavi love each other . . . most of the time. Will exploring a forbidden place inside IIT Kharagpur bring them closer? 
    From strange sightings to urban legends, from haunted buildings to not-so-friendly ghosts, colleges in India have their fair share of spine-tingling tales, be it Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, St. Bede's College in Shimla or Delhi University. Young Blood is a collection of ten tales that reimagine college urban legends and true first-person accounts, that promises to terrify even die-hard fans of horror.
    Show book
  • Benediction - From their pens to your ears genius in every story - cover

    Benediction - From their pens to...

    F. Scott Fitzgerald

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on 24th September 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota into an upper-middle class family. Whilst his mother was pregnant with him, his two young sisters tragically died.  Fitzgerald once said this was when his destiny as a writer was ordained. 
    His intelligence and talent was recognised from an early age, with his first story, about a detective being published in the school magazine when he was just 13.   
    In 1913 he enrolled at Princeton but his devotion to his own literary pursuits resulted in him leaving and, rather bizarrely, joining the Army.  In 1918, stationed at Fort Sheridan near Montgomery, Alabama he met and became infatuated and then inseparable from Zelda Sayre.  Initially though she refused to marry him but with the success of ‘This Side of Paradise’, the fame and the flow of money enabled them both to begin a gilded life.  For them this was The Jazz Age.  For Fitzgerald he was already an alcoholic. 
    He continued to write with great mastery and the titles of his novels and many of his 164 short stories are household names.  The Great Gatsby, often cited as The Great American Novel was published to mixed reviews.  As America moved from the Great Depression to the slaughter of the Second World War his works and himself were seen as far too entwined with the decadent twenties. The world had moved on and he hadn’t.   
    Further tragedy was never far from his life. Zelda after years of erratic and now intolerable behaviour was committed to an institution in 1936.  His own sales began to decline and he became a hack for hire in Hollywood, dependent on increasing amounts of booze and the weekly pay check.  His drunken state had often resulted in arrest or hospitalisation, further imperiling his talents.   Despite his contribution to many MGM films he received only one credit. 
    The end came all too soon for one of America’s greatest ever writers.  On 21st December 1940, at only 44 years of age in Hollywood, F Scott Fitzgerald succumbed to a heart attack.
    Show book