A magnificently vibrant portrait of the society of the time, the mid-19th Century when England was the most prosperous and industrially advanced country in the world, and of the eternal social comedy, the fair of vanities – the never-ending fair in the wicked town of Vanity referred to in the title was the central theme of John Bunyan’s 17th-Century classic Pilgrim’s Progress) – that rings just so true down to our own times.
What a writer, and what a masterpiece ! Witty, brilliant, and (…)
Articles les plus récents
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"Vanity Fair" by William Thackeray (1848)
15 avril 2023, par William Thackeray -
"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë (1847)
12 avril 2023, par Emily BronteWhere two families of different social levels living four miles apart in the wild heaths of Yorkshire, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, have an intense love-hate relationship that, in spite of the vivid animosity and fear and violence that run rampant throughout this extraordinary chronicle, results in four dramatic marriages between the offspring of the the two families.
This wonderful book has everything — passion, scope, emotion, significance — and is told in a masterful way that casts a (…) -
"Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë (1847)
8 avril 2023, par Charlotte BrontëThis famous novel needs no introduction : suffice it to say that its enviable reputation as one of the finest English-language novels of all time is fully justified. Scope, emotion, pace, mastery of the language : all of the ingredients for a masterpiece are here, with a perhaps feminine kind of sensitivity to heighten the nuances of awareness, but in no way limited in scope to the feminine experience.
(186,000 words)
An e-book is available for downloading below. Portrait of Charlotte (…) -
"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austin (1813)
5 avril 2023, par Jane AustinJane Austin’s second and most famous novel, centered like its predecessor Sense and Sensibility on the subject of match-making in a landed-gentry milieu and on the mindsets of its female protagonists who are absolutely concentrated on this eternal theme.
A well-told story with excellent rhythm, lively dialogues and nicely-delineated personages, one of the most celebrated English novels of the 19th century.
(122,000 words)
An e-book is available for downloading below. CHAPTER I
IT is (…) -
"Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austin (1811)
2 avril 2023, par Jane AustinThe first of the four novels published during Jane Austin’s lifetime, this classic explores in depth the central theme of all her oeuvre : the anxieties of genteel, well-educated, well-mannered — and totally dependant — young women (and their mothers) embarked upon the search for a suitable mate who will enable them to maintain their desirable social status with as few moral compromises as possible. And it is hard if not quite impossible not to feel empathy for Marianne Dashwood, the clever, (…)
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"Tristam Shandy" by Laurence Sterne (1759)
29 mars 2023, par Laurence SterneThis effervescent brimming-over-with-the-joy-of-life novel in the form of a fictional autobiography goes shooting off in every which way as one thought leads to another, so that it takes the verbose but quite spell-bindingly fascinating and funny author a whole 80 pages to bring his life story (that starts naturally enough but nevertheless very originally with the hilarious account of the moment of his conception) up to the moment of his birth. This great book was written in the early days (…)
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"The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling" by Henry Fielding (1749)
26 mars 2023, par Henry FieldingTom Jones comes into this history as a new-born baby found one morning in the bed of Mr. Allworthy, a wealthy country squire, who adopts him. The story rapidly skips ahead to when he’s a dashing fellow of eighteen full of life who has a tendency of getting into trouble, in particular with the feminine portion of humanity. He’s expelled from Mr. Allworthy’s home because of a false accusation brought against him by his scheming cousin Blifil, the only son of Mr. Allworthy’s deceased sister – (…)
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"Gulliver’s Travels" by Jonathan Swift (1729)
23 mars 2023, par Jonathan SwiftJonathan Swift’s scathing satire of the society of his time in the form of a seafarer’s account of all the amazing peoples he had encountered in strange far-off places – the tiny Lilliputs, the enormous Brobdingnags, the math-and-music-loving peoples of the floating island of Laputa and the interesting mores of their womenfolk, the foolish professors, scientists and artists of Balnibarbi, the famous spectres from all epochs in Glubbdubdrib, the immortals of Luggnagg and, especially, the (…)
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"Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe (1719)
20 mars 2023, par Daniel DefoeThe great story – one of the very first English novels – about how an adventurous man in the 17th century accomplishes his destiny when marooned on a desert island, where he manages not only to survive but to prosper, to find spiritual peace and comfort in his condition, to open his heart to a native whose life he has saved, and finally to triumph in a series of extraordinary challenges that have to be read to be believed.
In spite of the archaic mindset of the central character – notably (…) -
"Youth is Beautiful" by Hermann Hesse (1916)
17 mars 2023, par Hermann HesseHermann Hesse, the celebrated author of Siddharta and Steppenwolf, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947, was also a masterful writer of short stories, of which this delicate, charming account of a young man returning to his birthplace is an outstanding example.
(14,400 words)
It has been specially translated here for this site.
An e-book, with the original text in an annex, is available for downloading below.
The original text can also be seen here. CHAPTER ONE (…)