The 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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"Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austin (1811)
2 April 2023, by Jane Austin -
"Tristam Shandy" by Laurence Sterne (1759)
29 March 2023, by 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 March 2023, by 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 March 2023, by 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 March 2023, by 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 March 2023, by 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 (…) -
"Not Only Dead Men" (1942): an early A. E. van Vogt story
7 March 2023, by A. E. van VogtFirst published in the November 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, this well-written wartime story, only ever republished in the sixties in a little anthology of van Vogt stories bizarrely - and off-puttingly - entitled Monsters (Bug-Eyed Monsters — even worse! — in the UK edition at the time), tells of confrontation and — yes! — (eventual) cooperation between a group of isolated whale-fishermen in the northern seas and strange aliens desperately fighting a ferocious enemy that has (…)
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"Granite" by the Austrian writer and painter Adalbert Stifter (1853)
25 February 2023, by Adalbert StifterAn account of life and death and nature in the high alps in upper Austria long before modern life changed the ancient ways in those remote parts, recounted with strong poetic overtones by the narrator as he remembers a striking incident from his youth in that magnificent region.
A charming, captivating and finally very moving reading experience.
By the gifted Austrian writer, painter and teacher Adalbert Stifter (1805-1868), one of the leading figures of the Biedermeier literary movement (…) -
"An Unpleasantness" by Anton Chekhov (1888)
10 February 2023, by Anton ChekhovGrigory Ivanovitch is an experienced doctor who, while doing his rounds at the hospital, is so upset with his incompetent assistant for being drunk on duty that he utterly loses his temper and strikes the fellow. The consequences of this act on the life of the hospital and on the career of the doctor and the assistant, and the play of forces at work in the hospital organisation and in the judicial system – for there are judicial consequences – are the marrow of this story with a strong (…)
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"Immensee" by Theodor Sturm (1849)
5 February 2023, by Theodor SturmAn elderly man meditates on the great love of his life, a young girl who had promised to follow him around the world but who had married one of his oldest friends while he was away from her pursuing his university studies.
Delicately told in the light, poetical and nature-loving style of one of the most gifted and prolific German writers of his time, the distinguished jurist, poet, novelist and story-writer Theodor Sturm (1817-1888).
(11,300 words)
Translated by C. W. Bell M. A. an (…)