Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
Maison d'édition: Sovereign
Synopsis
One of Shakespeare's most famous stories of young lovers, Romeo and Juliet who would do anything to be together.
Maison d'édition: Sovereign
One of Shakespeare's most famous stories of young lovers, Romeo and Juliet who would do anything to be together.
Explore one of literature’s most enduring short stories in The Lady, or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton. Set in a semi-barbaric kingdom, this suspenseful tale follows a young man forced to choose between two doors—one hiding a beautiful maiden, the other a deadly tiger. With a king’s justice system based on chance and a princess torn between love and jealousy, Stockton delivers a gripping narrative that ends with one of the most famous cliffhangers in literary history. A classic of psychological fiction and moral dilemma, this story continues to provoke thought and debate over a century later.Voir livre
"The Story of a Mother" (Danish: Historien om en moder) is a story by the Danish poet, travel writer, short story writer, and novelist Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875). The tale was first published December 1847. The story has been made into films several times, and also adapted into an animated film using the stop-motion puppet technique. A mother has not slept for three days and nights watching over her sick child. When she closes her eyes for just a moment, Death comes and takes her child. The mother rushes into the street and asks a woman, who is Night, which way Death went. Night tells her to go into the forest, but first the mother must sing every lullaby that she has ever sung for her child. In the forest, a thorn bush tells her which way to continue, but only after she has warmed the bush by pressing it to her chest, causing her to bleed. The mother then reaches a lake that carries her across in exchange for her eyes, which she cries out...Voir livre
Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life, but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. As a young man, he mixed in London literary circles, receiving encouragement from Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen and W. E. Henley, the last of whom may have provided the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island. THE MORALITY OF THE PROFESSION OF LETTERS: The profession of letters has been lately debated in the public prints; and it has been debated, to put the matter mildly, from a point of view that was calculated to surprise high-minded men, and bring a general contempt on books and reading.Voir livre
Alexander Kuprin was born in Narovchat, Penza in Russia on 7th September 1870. At 3 his Father died and he and mother moved to Moscow. By 10 he was enrolled at the Second Moscow Military High School and there his interest in literature began. The Alexander Military Academy followed and two years later he was a sub-lieutenant and posted to an Infantry Regiment for a further four years. Despite his duties he was a now a keen writer and published his first short story at this time. His military duties also garnered him experiences for his breakthrough work ‘The Duel’. Leaving the military he left for Kiev to work for local newspapers. He continued to publish both stories and novels and by 1901 he was in St Petersburg becoming part of a group that included Chekhov, Ivan Bunin, Maxim Gorky and Leonid Andreyev. In the years that followed further controversial works and acclaim followed. His comments on the regime meant he was also put under secret police surveillance. As World War I erupted, Kuprin opened a military hospital but was then given command of an infantry company in Finland. He was soon discharged on grounds of ill health. The October Revolution saw him praise Lenin, but he warned that the Bolsheviks threatened Russian culture and might cause further widespread suffering to the peasants. As Civil War raged he took his family to Helsinki and then on to Paris. Exile saw his talents decline further and his succumbing to alcoholism. He became lonely and withdrawn. The family's poverty increased his malaise. In May 1937, the Kuprin’s returned to Moscow. He now saw his work published but wrote almost nothing new. In 1938 his health rapidly deteriorated. Already suffering from a kidney problems and sclerosis, he had now developed cancer of the oesophagus. Alexander Kuprin died on 25th August 1938. 1 - Alexander Kuprin - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 2 - A Slav Soul by Alexander Kuprin 3 - Cain by Alexander Kuprin 4 - An Evening Guest by Alexander Kuprin 5 - Demir Kaya by Alexander Kuprin 6 - A Legend by Alexander Kuprin 7 - Anathema by Alexander Kuprin 8 - The Garden of the Holy Virgin by Alexander Kuprin 9 - The Outrage by Alexander Kuprin 10 - The Park of Kings by Alexander KuprinVoir livre
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.Voir livre
In this volume we discover that the obvious and the easy are not perhaps as obvious and easy as our authors first present them. They play with us. There is certainty. Then there is uncertainty. There is a fact and then seemingly not. One thing we can rely on though is that each new twist and turn takes us on a journey of frustration and exasperation that is as enjoyable as it is bewildering. And, in the company of the sparkling wits of Chesterton, Aumonier, Barrie and a host of others who summon indignation and vexation as they rile and befuddle us then being exasperated was never quite so much fun. 01 - Exasperated - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 02 - A Somewhat Improbable Story by G K Chesterton 03 - The Man Who Did Not Believe in Luck by Jerome K Jerome 04 - Putois by Anatole France 05 - The Lady, or the Tiger by Frank Stockton 06 - The Inconsiderate Waiter by J M Barrie 07 - The Absent Minded Man by Jerome K Jerome 08 - The Little Room by Madeline Yale Wynne 09 - The Mysterious Card by Cleveland Moffet 10 - Where Was Wych Street by Stacy AumonierVoir livre