Classics World Literature

"La Morte amoureuse" est une nouvelle fantastique de Théophile Gautier, parue en 1836. Le vieux Romuald raconte à un autre ecclésiastique qu'il nomme "frère" les faits étranges qui ont suivi son ordination.

Thomas Watson was one of the most famous Puritan preachers in history, and his 17th-century writings are still read across the world today. A highly influential example of Puritan writing, The Great Gain of Godliness is Watson's study of Malachi 3:16-18. British Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon bemoaned the fact that he couldn't find a copy of The Great Gain of Godliness.

The Three Kingdoms is one of the Chinese Noble Classics. The great empire of China is in turmoil. As the government becomes increasingly incompetent, warlords and nobles battle for power. In the north is the Kingdom of Wei, headed by cunning and manipulative Cao Cao. In the southeast is the Kingdom of Wu, ruled by masterful and charismatic Sun Quan. In the west is the Kingdom of Shu, commanded by kindhearted and humble Liu Bei.

"Le Journal d'un curé de campagne", considéré comme le chef-d'œuvre de Georges Bernanos, est le journal intime d'un jeune prêtre de village dans le nord de la France. De nature passionné et nourri d'idéaux, il confie ses espoirs, ses pensées, ses doutes, ses quêtes et dresse le portrait d'une communauté villageoise, de petites gens, de nobles et de plus fortunés qu'il voudrait "élever" malgré une santé fragile. Paru en 1936, il reçoit le Grand prix du roman de l'Académie française.

Le narrateur (dont l'identité ne nous est pas connue) arrive à la maison de son ami Roderick Usher, ayant reçu de lui une lettre dans laquelle il se plaignait de maladie et réclamait sa présence. Cette maladie se manifeste par une hyperacuité des sens et une grande anxiété. La sœur jumelle de Roderick, Madeline, est elle aussi malade, tombant dans des états de transes cataleptiques.

Frémeaux et Associés met à la disposition du public pour la première fois l'enregistrement inédit du deuxième ouvrage de "Souvenirs de mon enfance" : "Le Château de ma Mère". Le succès dans le monde francophone de l'édition de "La Gloire de mon Père" rappelle l'importance de cet héritage, désormais incarné par son auteur.

Man has always wanted to travel into the unknown and encounter what he has not, and perhaps cannot, experience in the real world. The early 20th century witnessed an explosion of science fiction literature. Authors studied the wonders of scientific and technological progress and imagined worlds that had developed even greater advances. Jules Vernes' and H.G. Wells' fantastic tales well whetted the public's appetite for adventure tales.

"Arria Marcella" est une nouvelle fantastique publiée pour la première fois en 1852. Trois jeunes gens visitent un musée napolitain dans lequel sont rassemblés les vestiges de Pompéi et Herculanum. L'un deux, Octavien, s'abime dans la contemplation du buste admirable d'une femme qui fut pétrifiée sous les cendres de l'éruption du Vésuve. Se rendant sur le site de Pompéi de nuit, il s'aperçoit à sa grande stupeur qu'il a remonté le temps et se trouve dans la ville telle qu'elle existait en 79 après JC. Il se mêle à la population et retrouve la belle inconnue.

The central character, Tevye the milkman, goes around the community in the Russian countryside delivering milk and cheese, but also dispensing wisdom from the Talmud laced with his commonsense view of life. Funny, enriching, but also moving, this remarkable little Jewish classic will charm all who hear it, especially in the reading by veteran audiobook performer Neville Jason.

When Prince Oroonoko's passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonoko's noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behn's visit to Surinam, Oroonoko reflects the author's romantic view of native peoples as noble savages in 'the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin'.

Écouter "Werther", c'est aujourd’hui dépoussiérer un mythe. En effet tout le monde connaît "l'histoire" de Werther et son suicide, mais peu sont ceux qui connaissent véritablement le parcours intérieur de ce geste solitaire... Geste magnifique, mais aussi geste de désespoir social face à ses blocages intimes et aux barrières convenues par une société fière de ses convenances.

Set in Kiev in 1911 during a period of heightened anti-Semitism, the novel tells the story of Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman blamed for the brutal murder of a young Russian boy. Bok leaves his village to try his luck in Kiev and, after denying his Jewish identity, finds himself working for a member of the anti-Semitic Black Hundreds Society. When the boy is found nearly drained of blood in a cave, the Black Hundreds accuse the Jews of ritual murder.

Europe, 1940. As war rages across the continent, America watches anxiously from the sidelines. And President Franklin Roosevelt has been keeping an even closer eye on developments in the Third Reich. At the president’s personal request, Lanny Budd gained the confidence of the Nazi high command and began transmitting valuable information back to the White House. Espionage is a dangerous game, however, and Presidential Agent 103 soon finds himself a target of the French Resistance fighters he is attempting to assist.

Dystopian literature is a genre of fictional writing used to explore social and political structures in a nightmarish world. The term dystopia refers to a society characterized by misery, squalor, or oppression, and the theme is most commonly used in science-fiction and speculative-fiction genres.

Under Western Eyes, Conrad's novel of political treachery and oppression, begins with a bomb that kills a hated Russian minister of police along with innocent bystanders. A young student named Razumov hides the perpetrator, then betrays him and becomes a spy among his exiled comrades. He faces a moral dilemma from which there is no escape. This masterwork, published six years before the Russian Revolution, is a chillingly accurate prophecy of what was to come.

Conte philosophique considéré comme l'un des chefs-d'œuvre de Voltaire, "Candide" frappe par sa légèreté, et sa justesse. Le héros est un jeune homme crédule à qui son précepteur, Pangloss, inculque une théorie très simpliste sur l'optimisme. Les mésaventures du jeune héros mettent à mal cette doctrine. Cela permet à Voltaire de se moquer de toutes les théories métaphysiques qui ne résistent pas à l'épreuve des faits.

Leutnant Trotta rettet dem Kaiser in der Schlacht bei Solferino das Leben und wird zum Dank in den Adelsstand erhoben. Sein Sohn dient als Bezirkshauptmann in der Provinz, dessen Sohn - der Enkel des 'Helden von Solferino' - versucht erfolglos, Karriere beim Militär zu machen. Dann beginnt der Krieg.

All the delightful and bizarre inhabitants of Wonderland are here: the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat, the hooka-smoking Caterpillar and the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Ugly Duchess... and, of course, Alice herself - growing alternately taller and smaller, attending demented tea parties and eccentric croquet games, and observing everything with clarity and rational amazement.

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, was an Irish writer known also by the Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo. His book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, comprises two parts, the first being the "Kwaidan Proper" and the second, "Insect-Studies", which consists of an essay each on ants, butterflies and mosquitos. According to the author, most of the folk tales and ghost stories in the first part were translated from old Japanese texts. The themes encompass resurrection, sacrifice, magic, and the realm of dreams.

At the opening of The Claverings (1866) the beautiful Julia Brabazon jilts her lover Harry Clavering in order to make a marriage of convenience with a wealthy but dissolute earl. Harry licks his wounds, leaves London to train as a civil engineer, and falls in love with his employer's daughter, to whom he soon becomes engaged. But when Julia returns unexpectedly as a wealthy widow, the flame of Harry's old love is rekindled.