The account of the not-always-successful attempts of the traveling schemer Chichikov to make his way in the world by ingratiating himself with important people and devising complicated schemes to achieve financial and social success by wile and charm — notably to purchase deceased surfs (“dead souls” in the language of the time) to defraud the government with — and above all by not doing anything involving hard work.
Although only partially completed — in a crisis of depression Gogol (…)
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"Dead Souls" (1842) by Nikolai Gogol
16 juin 2021, par Nikolai Gogol -
"A Simple Soul (Un cœur simple)" by Gustave Flaubert (1877)
4 juin 2021, par Gustave FlaubertGustave Flaubert (1821-1880) is generally considered as one of the greatest French-language stylists of all time because of the elegant, clear and incisive quality of his prose.
During his lifetime he published just four novels (two "mainstream" novels and two historical novels) and one collection of short stories, Trois Contes (Three Tales), containing this novelette and two historical stories.
This powerful account of the life of the poor, uneducated and very unsophisticated servant (…) -
Herman Melville’s masterful story "Bartleby, the Scrivener" (1853)
31 mai 2021, par Herman MelvilleThe narrator-lawyer recounts how a young man in his office, the mildest and most inconspicuous person one could imagine, demonstrated the most determined and persistent refusal to obey instructions in a surprising and surprisingly effective way by simply stating in the calmest of tones : “I would prefer not to”.
A statement that becomes the leitmotif of this strange, modern-sounding Kafkaesque story, and a parable of implacable passive resistance to authority at no matter what cost.
Told (…) -
"Nutcracker and the Mouse-King" (1816) – a fairy-tale for everyone by E. T. A. Hoffmann
24 mai 2021, par E. T. A. HoffmannMarie’s godfather is a very talented watchmaker who gives his grandchildren a castle with a marvellous set of animated figures on Christmas Eve – and a strangely realistic little figure with a large head that can crack nuts with its teeth. These presents are carefully put away by the parents for safekeeping out of reach of the children in a large showcase in the front hall, and Marie lingers there at midnight to admire them when she sees a group of mice led by their strange seven-headed king (…)
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"From the Life of a Good-for-nothing (Taugenichts)" — a Romantic classic by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1826)
17 mai 2021, par Joseph Freiherr von EichendorffIn the first sentence of this masterpiece of the German Romantic movement the youthful narrator rubs the sleep out of his eyes, listens to the twittering of the starlings and the murmurings of his father’s mill and sits on the doorstep to bask in the warm spring sunshine, only to hear his father’s outraged admonition "You Good-for-nothing ! There you sit sunning yourself, and stretching yourself till your bones crack, leaving me to do all the work alone. I can keep you here no longer ! Off (…)
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"Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell (1949)
13 mai 2021, par George OrwellOne of the most famous novels of its time and certainly the best-known and most widely-read science-fiction novel of all time, Nineteen Eighty-Four is an extrapolation some forty years into the future of the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union — that had just been extended to a significant part of Europe — to England and most of the rest of the world.
Written in 1948, Orwell cleverly reversed the last two digits of that year to provide a connection to his own time while leaving a credible (…) -
"Animal Farm" by George Orwell (1945)
11 mai 2021, par George OrwellThis brilliant parable describes in simple, clear and convincing terms the revolt of the animals in an English farm that at first succeeds in establishing an egalitarian society, only to evolve relentlessly into a system of oppression under the leadership of a small group of intelligent, well-organised and very articulate manipulators, the pigs.
This parable of the rise and fall of revolutionary dreams is told in such a straight-forward, linear manner that it has achieved richly-deserved (…) -
"Homage to Catalonia" (1938) by George Orwell
10 mai 2021, par George OrwellGeorge Orwell, a convinced left-wing socialist, went to Barcelona in December 1936 to join the forces in Catalonia fighting against the military uprising led by the General Franco. He joined the extreme-left party P.O.U.M. there and spent six months on duty in their section of the front line before being seriously wounded.
He was present in Barcelona when there was severe internecine fighting between the Communist-led government forces and Anarchist and P.O.U.M. militiamen that ended with (…) -
"Martin Eden" (1909) by Jack London
10 mai 2021, par Jack LondonThis is about a rough, uneducated, young 20-year-old sailor and ex-gang-leader with a lot of drive and years of sailing all over the high seas behind him getting introduced to high society after having rescued the son of a wealthy family from a street brawl.
He rapidly develops strong ideas about love (of the wonderfully captivating daughter of the house), society (the shallowness of the world-outlook of the finally quite despicable bourgeois class), education (which he decides to catch up (…) -
"Down and Out in Paris and London" (1933) by George Orwell
6 mai 2021, par George OrwellGeorge Orwell (1903-1950) was a passionate defender all his life of the underdogs in the society of his time, and in spite of his background as a member of the upper middle class — he was well educated and spoke with a “posh” accent — spent several years in his late twenties working as a dishwasher in Paris restaurants and hotels and also just tramping about England for months on end without a penny in his pocket, observing and experiencing for himself the ways and the language and the (…)