Download or read book Two Days in the Life of the Terrestrial Globe and Other Stories written by Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevskiĭ (kni︠a︡zʹ) and published by Alma Classics. This book was released on 2012 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the title piece of this collection a party of guests wonder at the great comet which has appeared in the sky, and give their predictions of what this ill omen portends for the Earth. Mixing elements of the Gothic with fantasy, this piece marks the dawn of Russian science fiction, and constitutes a prime example of the creativity and imagination of Odoevsky's story-telling. Including the much-loved children's story 'The Little Town in the Snuffbox', the mysteries 'Imbroglio' and 'The Black Glove', and the artistic portrait 'Beethoven's Last Quartet', this volume of Odoevsky's short stories represents some of the finest of early-nineteenth-century Russian short fiction.
Download or read book Secretum written by Francesco Petrarch and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By writing what he called a "e;secret book"e; - taking the shape of a conversation between himself and St Augustine - Petrarch aimed to compose a cathartic text which would alleviate his spiritual crisis and help him make further inroads towards knowledge and fulfilment.At once an intimate repository of his most personal thoughts and emotions and a literary masterpiece dealing with universal issues, Secretum - Petrarch's best-known work in Latin - is a fascinating and pioneering example of the autobiographical genre.
Download or read book The Encyclopedia of the Gothic written by William Hughes and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-10-06 with total page 880 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Encylopedia of the Gothic features a series of newly-commissioned essays from experts in Gothic studies that cover all aspects of the Gothic as it is currently taught and researched, along with the development of the genre and its impact on contemporary culture. Comprises over 200 newly commissioned entries written by a stellar cast of over 130 experts in the field Arranged in A-Z format across two fully cross-referenced volumes Represents the definitive reference guide to all aspects of the Gothic Provides comprehensive coverage of relevant authors, national traditions, critical developments, and notable texts that define, shape, and inform the genre Extends beyond a purely literary analysis to explore Gothic elements of film, music, drama, art, and architecture. Explores the development of the genre and its impact on contemporary culture
Download or read book Testament written by Francois Villon and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most celebrated of French medieval poets, Francois Villon makes poetry out the basest material - the raw urban life of Paris with its petty officials, students, clergy, tradesmen, pimps, whores and thieves. Despite successful studies, the young Villon immersed himself in this world, embarking on a career of petty crime that brought him repeated imprisonment. Condemned to death, but then reprieved and banished from Paris, he disappears from history in 1463, leaving behind a legend of poete maudit that has never lost its fascination. Dual language edition.
Download or read book Humiliated and Insulted written by Fyodor Dostoevsky and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1861, Humiliated and Insulted plunges the reader into a world of moral degradation, childhood trauma, unrequited love and irreconcilA-able relationships. At the centre of the story are a young struggling author, an orphaned teenager and a depraved aristocrat, who not only foreshadows the great figures of evil in Dostoevsky's later fiction, but is a powerful and original presence in his own right.This new translation catches the verve and tumult of the original, which - in concept and execution - affords a refreshingly unfamiliar glimpse of the author.
Download or read book Poems written by Antonia Pozzi and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After her tragic death in December 1938 at the early age of twenty-six, Antonia Pozzi's poems - which she had been secretly writing for years - were brought to light and became the object of great critical attention, going through several editions in Italy and being translated into all the major European languages. Since then, her reputation has risen steadily, and she is now considered one of the greatest Italian poets of the twentieth century.
Download or read book Three Novellas written by Leo Tolstoy and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Tolstoy's last published works of fiction, The Devil revolves around the young landowner Yevgeny's irrepressible lust for Stepanida, a sensual peasant woman. Even when he gets married to a respectable upper-class lady, he finds himself unable to put an end to his encounters with Stepanida, and becomes increasingly consumed by guilt and helplessness in the face of his urges.In some ways comparable to the controversial Kreutzer Sonata, The Devil shows Tolstoy at his most salacious, and addresses the conflicts between desire, social norms and personal conscience. Also included in this volume is Family Happiness, one of Tolstoy's earliest works, an entertaining and cynical account of marriage from the perspective of a disillusioned wife, and A Landowner's Morning.
Download or read book Hadji Murat written by Leo Tolstoy and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hadji Murat, one of the most feared and venerated mountain chiefs in the Caucasian struggle against the Russians, defects from the Muslim rebels after feuding with his ruling imam, Shamil. Hoping to protect his family, he joins the Russians, who accept him but never put their trust in him - and so Murat must find another way to end the struggle.Tolstoy knew as he was writing this, his last work of fiction, that it would not be published in his lifetime, and so gave an uncompromising portrayal of the Russians' faults and the nature of the rebels' struggle. In the process, he shows a mastery of style and an understanding of Chechnya that still carries great resonance today.
Download or read book Memoirs of a Good for Nothing written by Joseph von Eichendorff and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eichendorff's prose masterpiece - a picaresque account of the wanderings of a young man who leaves home after a row with his father, and who eventually finds love with the girl of his dreams - is one of the best-known classics of German literature. Deeply imbued with the style and sentiment of German Romanticism, and philosophical and poetic in its approach to nature and existence, "e;Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing"e; is at once an exhilarating romp and an exemplary distillation of nineteenth-century thought.
Download or read book Theatre and Its Double written by Antonin Artaud and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1938, The Theatre and Its Double is a collection of essays detailing Antonin Artaud's radical theories on drama and theatre, which he saw as being stifled by conservatism and lack of experimentation.Containing the famous manifestos of the 'Theatre of Cruelty', the collection analyses the underlying impulses of performance, provides some suggestions on a physical-training method for actors and actresses, and features a long appreciation of the expressive values of Eastern dance drama.
Download or read book Lulu Plays written by Frank Wedekind and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two of Wedekind's most seminal plays, "e;Earth Spirit"e; and "e;Pandora's Box"e; both focus on the actions of the young heroine Lulu, who embodies both animal sensuality and waif-like innocence, as she escapes a life on the streets, receives a society education, marries, takes on various lovers, becomes a dancer in a revue, is imprisoned for murder, and encounters Jack the Ripper. When "e;Earth Spirit"e; was premiered Leipzig in 1898, Wedekind was vilified and persecuted for advocating unfeigned sexual pleasure and making his heroine a heartless whore. "e;Death and Devil"e; and "e;Castle Wetterstein,"e; the other plays that make up this volume, are essentially extensions of and complementary to the Lulu tragedies.
Download or read book Sepulchres and Other Poems written by Ugo Foscolo and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Expressing the author's political, civic and sentimental concerns, these poems will surprise the English reader with their immediacy and intimacy. "e;On Sepulchres"e;, Foscolo's masterpiece, as well as being one of the pinnacles of European neoclassical literature, is still one of the most widely studied poems in Italy. Foscolo's poetry reveals the inner recesses of a passionate, restless and surprisingly modern mind.
Download or read book Ruslan and Lyudmila written by Alexander Pushkin and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to rescue his beloved Lyudmila, who has been abducted by the evil wizard Chernomor, the warrior Ruslan faces an epic and perilous quest, encountering a multitude of fantastic and terrifying characters along the way.The basis for Glinka's famous opera of the same name, Ruslan and Lyudmila - Pushkin's second longest poetical work - is a dramatic and ingenious retelling of Russian folklore, full of humour and irony.
Download or read book Wilhelm Meister written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 881 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seduced by the chimerical world of the theatre and taking upon himself the grand ambition of becoming a successful performer and dramatist, the merchant's son Wilhelm Meister embarks on a tumultuous quest of self-discovery. Along his path he finds himself having to negotiate love, desire and the need to face up to his own past and responsibilities.
Download or read book Memories of London written by Edmondo De Amicis and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a first-time visitor to London, De Amicis was awestruck by the bustle and magnificence of the Victorian metropolis and wrote a number of sketches in his trademark witty, observational style, which made him one of the best-selling travel writers of his age.Originally conceived as a series of newspaper articles and later published in volume form, De Amicis's Memories of London brings back to life all the bygone charm of the capital of the British Empire. De Amicis's impressions are paired here with a piece written by one of his contemporaries, the French writer LouisLaurent Simonin, which leaves the city's opulence and grandeur behind and offers an uncompromising look at the poverty and squalor of its most deprived areas.
Download or read book Slight Misunderstanding written by Prosper Merimee and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trapped in an unhappy marriage with a boorish, inattentive, and socially ambitious husband, Julie de Chaverny enjoys a flirtatious dalliance with the elegant Major de Chateaufort. However, the sudden reappearance of an old admirer who has returned from Turkey--along with a tale of breathtaking derring-do and chivalry to add to his charms--reawakens in Julie a forgotten passion. She pursues a rash and dangerous course of action, one that will have tragic consequences.
Download or read book Jew s Beech written by Annette von Droste-Hulshoff and published by Alma Books. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on a true story, this haunting tale centers on two brutal murders--the first of a local forester and the second of a Jewish moneylender near a beech tree--and the impact these events have on the life of Friedrich Mergel, a herdsman with a turbulent family history. A prototype of the murder mystery and a thoughtful examination of village society, this intriguing novella contains hints of the Gothic and the uncanny, including ominous thunderstorms, mysterious disappearances, eerie doppelgangers and grizzly discoveries, as well as a famously ambiguous climax.
