The long letter that Kafka wrote to his father to explain why he’d always had so much difficulty communicating with him. An extraordinary document told from the heart by a son who may not have been as good a talker as his domineering and self-assured father, but who sure knew how to put words together in a flowing, expressive, forceful and moving way.
Written when Kafka was thirty-five years old, it was never actually delivered and was found in his papers after his death from tuberculosis (…)
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"Letter to Father" by Franz Kafka (1919)
21 October 2022, by Franz Kafka -
"Caliph Stork" and 7 other fairy tales by Wilhelm Hauff (1826)
16 October 2022, by Wilhelm HauffWilhelm Hauff, a rising star of the rich "Biedermeier" period of German literature in the early 19th century, was able to publish outstanding collections of fairy tales that he called Almanacs in each of his last three years before his tragic death by typhoid fever in 1827 at the age of 24.
This is his Almanac of 1826, featuring his celebrated story about a Caliph and his Vizier who were transformed into storks by a magician, at their request, in order to be able to understand the language (…) -
"The Engagement in St. Domingo" by Heinrich von Kleist (1811)
3 October 2022, by Heinrich von KleistIn the midst of the campaign of racial extermination of the thousands of white-skinned people left on Haiti (then called St. Domingo) after the successful uprising of slaves there in 1804, a young officer desperately seeks shelter and food for his small company of civilians in a wayside house, where he is lured into a very false sense of security by the family of the local killer-in-chief. We follow the ups and downs of the attempts of the officer to survive in the face of (…)
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"The Story of the Good Kasperl and the Pretty Annerl" by Clemens Brentano (1817)
28 August 2022, by Clemens BrentanoA remarkable old woman of eighty-eight who has walked for a very long time to come to the Duke’s residence to plead for mercy and forgiveness for her grandson Kasperl and her goddaughter Annerl, both of whom have come to a sad end, recounts their story in an irresistibly authentic way that cannot fail to charm the most blasé reader.
Clemens Brentano (1778-1842), co-editor with Achim von Arnim of the celebrated cycle of folk songs and fables Des Knabens Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn) (…) -
"The Marquise of O..." by Heinrich von Kleist (1808)
23 August 2022, by Heinrich von KleistIn this stark investigation of the feminine condition in a rigid society ruled by pitiless moral strictures, the young widow Marquise of O... finds herself in an unexpected condition with no idea of how or why this situation came to be, and courageously puts an ad in the local paper proposing marriage to the person responsible for this state of affairs. We then flash back, in rapid succession, to a violent military assault on the fortified town of which her father was the governor, to an (…)
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"Investigations of a Dog" by Franz Kafka (1922)
27 June 2022, by Franz KafkaA solitary dog recalls the investigations he had undertaken in his youth to understand the whys and the wherefores of such questions as food, hunger, language and communication with other members of his community. In the course of his investigations he had encountered strange and quasi-mystical phenomena and had never quite achieved his goals of understanding, but even in his old age he has never stopped meditating on the findings of his investigations.
Transposed into a different, (…) -
"Literary Lapses" - 40 tales by Stephen Leacock (1910)
18 May 2022, by Steven LeacockA collection of stories by the Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock (1869-1944), a distinguished Professor of Economics and Political Science at Montreal’s McGill University and author of the best-selling comical classics Sunshine Stories of a Little Town and Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich.
This first book published by Canada’s best-known humorist was a great popular success at the time and is arguably one of his best works. Most of these tales will leave you with a smile on your (…) -
"The Ice Palace" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1922)
13 May 2022, by F. Scott FitzgeraldSally Carrol leaves her sleepy southern town where she had declared: “I want to go places and see people. I want my mind to grow. I want to live where things happen on a big scale…” to visit her fiancé up north shortly before their planned marriage. It’s January and it’s very cold up there where a big carnival has been organized for the first time in years with a particularly spectacular ice palace, and Sally Ann has a memorable, life-changing experience learning about the ways and mores of (…)
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"Casanova’s Homecoming" by Arthur Schnitzler (1918)
14 March 2022, by Arthur SchnitzlerThe celebrated seducer, adventurer, diplomat and author Casanova is in his fifties, is practically penniless and has only one dream – to be allowed to return to his beloved Venice from which he had escaped over the rooftops of its central prison some twenty years previously.
We follow his thoughts and adventures as he meets old friends and spends several eventful days dining and wining and debating and gambling and womanizing and fighting – and especially exercising all his formidable (…) -
"Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich" - 8 tales by Stephen Leacock (1914)
11 March 2022, by Steven LeacockA charming set of sometimes-scathing and always-smile-raising satirical sketches of life in the wealthy sectors of a typical American town ca. 1914 [1], by Canada’s foremost humorist [2], author of the immortal Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town. (60,000 words)
An e-book is available for downloading below. CONTENTS I A Little Dinner with Mr. Lucullus Fyshe II The Wizard of Finance III The Arrested Philanthropy of Mr. Tomlinson IV The Yahi-Bahi Oriental Society of Mrs. Rasselyer-Brown (…)