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  Ivan Turgenev - A Short Story...

  Ivan Turgenev

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  Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was born on 9th November 1818 in Oryol, Russia to parents from the nobility.  He and his two brothers were raised by their mother on the family estate.  Surrounded by foreign governesses he became fluent in French, German, and English.  Their father spent little time with them and this undoubtedly had an effect on him and his brothers.  When he was nine the family moved to Moscow to give their children a proper education. 
   
  Turgenev studied for a year at the University of Moscow and then at the University of St Petersburg to study Classics, Russian literature, and philology.  During that time his father died from kidney stone disease.  In 1838 Turgenev studied philosophy and history at the University of Berlin for 3 years before returning to St Petersburg for his master's. 
   
  He started his career with the Russian Civil Service and it was only in 1852 that he made his name with his short story collection, ‘A Sportsman's Sketches’, based on his observations of peasant life and nature. 
   
  That same year he wrote an obituary for Nikolai Gogol: "Gogol is dead!... What Russian heart is not shaken by those three words?... He is gone, that man whom we now have the right (the bitter right, given to us by death) to call great."  The St Petersburg censor banned publication but the Moscow censor allowed it.  He was dismissed but Turgenev was held responsible and imprisoned for a month, and then exiled to his country estate. 
   
  Along with many other Russian intellectuals Turgenev left and settled in Paris in 1854.  During this period he wrote his finest stories and four novels. 
   
  Alexander II ascended the Russian throne in 1855, and the political climate became more relaxed, Turgenev returned home. 
   
  ‘Fathers and Sons’, Turgenev's most famous and enduring novel, appeared in 1862. Its leading character is considered the first ‘Bolshevik’ in Russian literature. But the hostile reaction prompted Turgenev's decision to again leave Russia. 
   
  His health declined during his later years. In January 1883, an aggressive malignant tumor was removed but by then it had metastasized in his upper spinal cord, causing him intense pain in his final few months of life. 
   
  Ivan Turgenev died on 3rd September 1883 of a spinal abscess, a complication of the metastatic liposarcoma, in his house near Paris.  He was buried in St Petersburg. 
   
  1 - Ivan Turgenev - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  2 - A Strange Story by Ivan Turgenev 
  3 - Mumu by Ivan Turgenev 
  4 - The District Doctor by Ivan Turgenev 
  5 - The Jew by Ivan Turgenev 
  6 - The Rendezvous by Ivan Turgenev 
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  1 - Leonid Andreyev - A Short Story Collection - An Introduction 
  2 - Silence by Leonid Nikolaevich Andreyev 
  3 - Lazarus by Leonid Andreyev 
  4 - The City by Leonid Andreyev 
  5 - The Friend by Leonoid Andreyev 
  6 - The Lie by Leonid Andreyev 
  7 - The Marseillaise by Leonid Andreyev

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  Raven The (Unabridged)

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  "The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow fall into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further distress the protagonist with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references.

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  Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz...

  L. Frank Baum

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  When an earthquake swallows Dorothy, her kitten Eureka and cousin Zeb, and Zeb's horse Jim, they're captured by the Mangaboos! The Wizard of Oz must save them by winning a magic contest - using only his wits and nine tiny piglets. Then: watch out for the savage Invisible Bears, who devour anyone they catch! Dorothy and her friends race across the Invisible Valley, trying to reach the spiral staircase inside Pyramid Mountain. But halfway up the mountain lives the strange Braided Man! Plus: Dorothy meets her old friends - the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion and more! And Eureka is charged with murder for eating one of the Wizard's piglets! The Wizard of Oz has a secret plan to save Eureka, but can it possibly work? Don't miss this thrilling installment in the critically acclaimed Oz adaptations!

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  You Only Live Twice - A James...

  Ian Fleming

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  Read by Eleanor Matsuura 
  BOND TAKES ON A DEATH-DEFYING NEW MISSION TO SECURE KEY JAPANESE INTELLIGENCE 
  James Bond is shattered by the murder of his wife at the hands of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and only the prospect of a particularly challenging mission can draw him out of his deep depression. 
  Determined to restore 007 to his former effectiveness, M sends Bond to Japan, where a criminal mastermind is using a poisonous garden inside a rocky island fortress to lure people to their deaths. Bond will have to infiltrate and destroy this mysterious ""Castle of Death"" in exchange for top secret Japanese intelligence. 
  When the mastermind behind the deadly plot proves to be an old and terrifying enemy, 007 will have to use all of his skills in a fight to the death.

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  The Return of the Native

  Thomas Hardy

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  The Return of the Native (1878) is one of Hardy's most popular novels. Set on the brooding Egdon heath it traces the lives and loves of five people. Clym Yeobright, the native, returns to Egdon from a successful career in Paris to pursue a dream of educating the poorer local people. Eustacia Vye, a young woman unhappy with life on Egdon wishes for love and life in a city. Damon Wildeve, an innkeeper and ex-engineer is a young womaniser. Thomasin Yeobright, a cousin of Clym, is a simple country girl. And finally the mysterious but faithful reddleman Diggory Venn. When the lives of these people become intertwined, we see all sides of human nature, good and bad.

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  My Mother and I

  Elizabeth Gertrude Stern

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  Elizabeth Stern was two and a half years old, when her family emigrated from Poland to Pittsburgh. My Mother and I is the story of Stern's Americanization and how it ultimately alienated her from her parents. Stern's father had been a small village rabbi. Strict and traditional in his views, he sends Elizabeth to learn Hebrew at age four, so she can fulfill her destiny "as the wife of a rabbi or scholar," but he opposes letting her attend high school. Stern's mother tries fitfully to pry open doors for her daughter. When Stern's father finds Elizabeth reading a secular book, and, in a fit of rage, flings the offending novel onto the top of a tall bookcase, her mother climbs on a chair and retrieves it for her. But Stern's mother never learns English even as it becomes her daughter’s primary language--and she is burdened by endless pregnancies (she ultimately bears 11 children, only the first 4 of whom survive). Stern's relationship with her mother is loving, but when Elizabeth goes to college, they draw apart. Her mother becomes a "shadowy figure," standing with "questioning, puzzled eyes", eyes in which there is love, "but no understanding, and always an infinite loneliness." - Summary by Sue Anderson

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