An extravagant series of adventures purportedly recounted by the authentic Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen to the scholar and sometime author Rudolf Eric Raspe on returning to Germany after ten years of serving in the Russian army.
This lively and hard-to-believe but hard-to-leave account first published in English in London in 1785 almost instantly became famous all over Europe of the time.
It was translated into German (and extended) in 1786 by the poet (…)
Articles les plus récents
-
"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (1785) by Rudolf Erich Raspe
15 novembre 2021, par Rudolf Erich Raspe -
The Science-fiction stories of Jack London
4 novembre 2021, par Jack LondonJack London was a major precursor in the domain of science fiction, with these remarkably innovative tales centered on the potential of science for good or (especially) evil that were as far as we have been able to determine the very first science fiction stories ever published in the US of A – and possibly anywhere else.
Although there had been a few novels throughout the history of literature with what we can call today a science fiction theme, the theme (and the term itself) of science (…) -
"The Scarlet Plague" by Jack London (1912)
1er novembre 2021, par Jack LondonThis exceptionally far-sighted vision of the “plague-fall” of civilization as we know it was a brilliant precursor of the end-of-the-world variant of the science-fiction genre that has attracted so much attention in recent years.
The Scarlet Plague was first published in the May-June 1912 issues of the U.K. monthly periodical London Magazine.
It was first published in book form in 1915 with a large number of illustrations by Gordon Grant that are all shown here.
(20,200 words)
An (…) -
"The Marble Statue" by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1819)
1er novembre 2021, par Joseph Freiherr von EichendorffFlorio is a young poet traveling through Italy who on coming to the ancient town of Lucca meets in rapid succession a boisterous fellow poet and singer, a beautiful young Greek maiden, a strange cavalier and a mysterious and somewhat evanescent lady who bears a strange resemblance to a lovely statue he comes across one night in the splendid countryside around that ancient centre of Renaissance civilisation.
All of these encounters are imbued with a sense of mystery and even (…) -
"Amok" by Stefan Zweig (1922)
29 octobre 2021, par Stefan ZweigAn expatriate doctor on the verge of a nervous breakdown in a remote outpost in the Dutch East Indies receives the visit of an elegant lady from the European community in the area’s capital who offers him a large sum of money to perform an illegal operation. Although he does need the money, her arrogant and humiliating attitude provokes him into making her a dishonourable counter-proposition that she tauntingly refuses. Losing all sense of reason and his mental equilibrium, he runs amok – (…)
-
"Chess Story (Schachnovelle)" by Stefan Zweig (1942)
25 octobre 2021, par Stefan ZweigHaving learned that the world chess champion is on board the ship that’s taking him from New York to Buenos Aires, the narrator organises a match at high stakes – the hard-nosed champion only plays for money – against the combined forces of the chess enthusiasts on the boat. The champion scornfully humiliates them but in the revenge match a bystander intervenes to prevent the group from playing the obvious move, and then plays the rest of the game to a draw. Recognizing the force of the (…)
-
"The Olive Grove" and other stories by Guy de Maupassant
22 octobre 2021, par Guy de MaupassantTABLE OF CONTENT
1. FEAR (1882) A group on a passenger boat is discussing the topic and one of them intervenes to give two examples of what fear really is other than simply the somewhat-instinctive reaction to a dangerous situation. Both examples have an eerie and almost-but-not-quite supernatural aspect. (2,300 words) Translated by M. Laurie in the Everyman’s Library collection of Maupassant stories published in the USA in 1934.
2. THAT COSTLY RIDE (1883) An impoverished young couple of (…) -
"The Sinner from Toledo" - a denunciation of religious extremism by Anton Chekhov (1881)
17 octobre 2021, par Anton ChekhovA moral fable with a sharp edge to it recounting the fate of Maria Spalanzo, who had the misfortune to cross the path of a monk in Barcelona in bygone days looking particularly lovely in the evening moonlight and thereby arousing the deadly wrath of the fanatically misogynous priest and the fatal accusation of witchcraft.
A forceful denunciation of the crimes committed during the Spanish Inquisition, written by the 21-year-old Chekhov in an exceptionally severe, anti-clerical and even (…) -
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1927) by B. Traven
15 octobre 2021, par B. TravenA remarkably realistic novel about a trio of American down-and-outers digging for gold in the troubled Mexico of the post-revolutionary period, told in the inimitably forceful, down-to-earth style of the author of The Death Ship.
A forceful tale brimming with empathy for the common man and his lot in life – but not with Mexican bandits, who get decidedly short shrift – magnificently transposed to the screen by John Huston in 1948 in his Academy-Award-winning film starring Humphrey Bogart. (…) -
"The Death Ship" (1926) by B. Traven
11 octobre 2021, par B. TravenThis extraordinary account of the life and hardships of a penniless but very articulate and anti-establishmentarian not to say revolutionary sailor in the chaotic post-WW1 world of the twenties was first published as Das Totenschiff in Germany in 1926 under the pen-name of B. Traven. It was translated into English by its mysterious author himself in 1934.
It’s a fascinating, hard-to-put down epic about the quite unbelievably bad working conditions of vagrant workers at the bottom on the (…)