Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Gusev

  Anton Chekhov

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  "Gusev"  is an 1890 short story by Anton Chekhov.
  Several discharged soldiers return home from the Far East by ship. Confined to the hospital cabin, they are all apparently dying of consumption and seemingly indifferent to their condition. Among them are Gusev, a mild, racist, slightly dim man, and the mysterious Pavel Ivanovich, an ardent "protester" who often goes on diatribes (many of which Gusev either misunderstands or ignores) about his lifelong commitment to telling people "the truth to their faces". Ivanovich is proud of having riled every single person around him during his three years' service in the East, and thinks all the other men present are fools. He later reveals that he is the son of a priest and had to disguise himself as a peasant to buy his third-class ticket. One day, while Gusev is asleep, Pavel Ivanovich dies. One of the other soldiers, seeing that Gusev will also die shortly, helps him up to the ship's deck, where they look at the waves crashing into one another. Several days later, Gusev dies. His body is sewn into a sailcloth sack and weighted. After a short prayer, it is thrown into the ocean, where a shark bites at it. Up above, the ocean begins to reflect the colors of the sky, "...tender, joyous, passionate colours for which it is hard to find a name in human speech".

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  Memory (Unabridged)

  H. P. Lovecraft

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  This story takes place in the ancient valley of Nis, in vegetation-covered stone ruins described by Lovecraft in great detail. These crumbling blocks of monolithic stone now serve only for grey toads and snakes to nest under. Interspersed in the ruins are large trees that are home to little apes. Through the bottom of this valley runs the great, slimy red river called Than. "Memory" involves only two characters: "the Genie that haunts the moonbeams" and "the Daemon of the Valley". The Genie inquires of the Daemon who it was that long ago placed the stones that were now the desolate ruin near the river Than. The Daemon replies that he remembers the name of the creatures "clearly," but only because their name rhymed with that of the river: they were called Man. He also remembers "dimly" that they appeared like the small apes that now leap through the ruins. The Genie flies back to his moonbeams, and the Daemon turns to regard an ape in silent contemplation.

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  The Metropolis

  Upton Sinclair

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  “The Metropolis” by Upton Sinclair is a novel that deals with the extravagant life of New York City’s high society. The protagonist, Allan Montague, is a lawyer who moves to New York City from Mississippi. When an injustice befalls the poor, Allan is the first to fight for what is right. But as he continues his lawsuit, he begins to realize that the very people he’s fighting with are the very people who rule New York. He must be wily and careful if he is to survive this pursuit of justice.

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  O Pioneers!

  Willa Cather

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  "O Pioneers!" is one of Willa Cather's most celebrated novels, published in 1913. It's the first book in her "Great Plains Trilogy" and is set in the rural farming community of Hanover, Nebraska, at the turn of the 20th century. The story focuses on the life of Alexandra Bergson, a strong-willed young woman who inherits her father's farm and must navigate the challenges of frontier life. Cather paints a rich portrait of the American Midwest, exploring themes of immigration, the relationship between people and the land they inhabit, and the enduring spirit of the pioneers who sought to tame it.

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  The Great Gatsby - The Deluxe...

  Francis Scott Fitzgerald

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  “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” 
  Step into the glittering yet hollow world of the 1920s—a realm of champagne, jazz, and restless ambition. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald peers beyond the shimmer of the American Dream, revealing the illusions and disillusionment at its core. 
  The novel unfolds in the summer of 1922 through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate and World War I veteran who rents a modest home in West Egg, Long Island. His enigmatic neighbor, Jay Gatsby, is a self-made millionaire famed for extravagant parties but haunted by a singular obsession: to reclaim Daisy Buchanan, the woman he once loved. Daisy, trapped in wealth and a loveless marriage, becomes both the object of Gatsby’s dream and a symbol of its emptiness. 
  At its heart, The Great Gatsby is a meditation on illusion, identity, and the cost of desire. It is both a tragic love story and a sharp critique of the American Dream—its promises, its failures, and its corruption. 
  Written in the Jazz Age, Fitzgerald’s lyrical prose captures a generation intoxicated by success yet shadowed by disillusionment. A century later, the novel endures because it speaks to the dreamer in us all, chasing a light always just out of reach.

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  His Wife's Deceased Sister -...

  Frank R Stockton

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  Frank Richard Stockton was born in Philadelphia on 5th April 1834.  
  His father, a Methodist minister, discouraged Stockton’s literary career from an early age.  Feeling unable to go against those wishes it was for many years that Stockton’s income was maintained as a wood engraver.   
  His first work was published in 1867 and his first collection only appeared in 1870.  Despite this late arrival Stockton’s innovative and often far-fetched stories, with a gentle ‘poking fun’ humour were very popular.  Like his contemporary Mark Twain he avoided the scolding, hectoring and moral tones of many other authors and instead gently teased and cajoled his reader to open their eyes to the ills, the greed and the ambitions of the world around them.  His sci-fi stories in particular were far-seeing and inventive including a tale of negative gravity and a bloodless Anglo-US war won by technological feats.  
  Perhaps his most enduring tale though is ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?’ from 1882.  A condemned man is given a choice of being eaten alive or marrying his princess lover.  But he has to choose which door each is behind. 
  Frank R Stockton died in Washington, DC, on 20th April 1902, of a cerebral haemorrhage.  He is buried at The Woodlands in Philadelphia.

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