Modern Classics Literature

Four more delightful tales from one of the most entertaining storytellers of all time. Though writing in the thirteenth century, Chaucer’s wit and observation comes down undiminished through the ages, especially in this accessible modern verse translation. The stories vary considerably from the uproarious Wife of Bath’s Tale, promoting the power of women to the sober account of patient Griselda in the Clerk’s Tale.

The Gods of Pegana was the book that marked the transition from imaginary creatures in the real world to the gods of imaginary world. Lord Dunsany was the most influential writer in the genre that came to be known as fantasy, of which his stories set trends for that continue to this day.

An experimental novella reimagining the main figure of TS Eliot's classic poem of memory, hopelessness, and loss in a contemporary setting. "No one wants to hear a lonely middle aged man talk about cities or memory. No one wants to know that the world exists in a kaleidoscope of colors. For one man, indigo is life, and he does not have time for the man for whom yellow is."

Jack London's 1903 novel The Call of the Wild is a brilliant tale of resilience and adaptability, but some of the language (which includes words such as brumal, ferine, obdurate, remonstrance, and pertinacity) puts a handbrake on the flow of the story. To counter that, Rob Redenbach edited London's original work and recorded an audiobook that lets you sit back and enjoy the story - without needing a dictionary on your lap.

We never forget the stories we were told as children. Even when they are not on the top of our mind, they lurk like palm prints on the drying cement foundations of our understanding of the world. We absorb the pluck of children in the face of adult perfidy, cheering the heroism of Hansel and Gretel or Beauty and the Beast. Counterpoised by the wickedness and cruelty of parents, stepmothers, and wolves in sheep's clothing, children's wiliness usually leaves them unharmed, if not heroic. As adults, we keep returning to them again and again in film, in theater, and in books.

Wenn der "beste Vorleser Deutschlands", Dieter Mann, "24 Stunden aus dem Leben einer Frau" von Stefan Zweig liest, ist das ein besonderes Hörerlebnis. Mann spricht die Geschichte der englischen Dame, die eine lebensverändernde Nacht mit einem Spieler verbringt, mit aller Wärme und Zurückhaltung. Er lässt den Ort und die Protagonisten vorm geistigen Auge lebendig werden.

A Modern Lover was written by D H Lawrence in 1909. A young man returns home to his first love to declare his feelings for her but the moment is lost when the girl will not give herself sexually. This theme was to be explored fully in Lawrence’s novel, Sons and Lovers.

Wie man verschieden Geräusche erzeugt, so umschreibt Eisendle eine Diskussion zwischen fünf Kunstfreunden...

Baudelaire gilt heute als einer der größten französischen Lyriker überhaupt und als einer der wichtigsten Wegbereiter der europäischen literarischen Moderne...

Originally appearing in 1922, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams captured generations of hearts. But times have changed. In order to connect with a new generation, this beloved tale must change too. Not everything is different though. In this updated edition, we still learn about the magic of love as one little stuffed animal is transformed.

Three grownup Tales from the Dreamtime in one novella…Open the door and enter the Dreamtime, the world of fairytales, the flower of all that is delightful and mysterious, frightening and amazing.

Do you ever wonder if there is a gnome living in the hole at the bottom of the old tree in the park? Have you ever felt like you weren't alone while in the woods? Did you know that elves are responsible for many of our day-to-day occurrences? If your mind ever fills with these kinds of questions, then these modern fairy tales are for you!

Il mito eterno del mostro, della creatura che viene strappata alla morte dalla scienza torna a vivere...

Rêveries oniriques lugubres, propos désabusés et pessimistes, bestiaires fantastiques : tout l'univers kafkaïen sur les thèmes de l'aliénation et de la persécution se retrouvent dans ces courts récits, scénarisant l'homme déraciné face au monde moderne ainsi que le combat de l'individu pour la propre responsabilité de ses choix.

Jane Addams was an American activist, philosopher, sociologist, and Nobel Prize winner. Addams’ speech The Modern Lear was delivered in 1894 at the Chicago Women’s Club and the 20th Century Club of Boston before appearing in print in 1912. In the address, Addams discusses the Pullman Railroad Strike in the Summer of 1894 in addition to other labor, union, and ethics issues of the day, using the titular character from William Shakespeare’s King Lear, who was betrayed by his two daughters, as a potent analogy.

This is a story from the "Great Ghost Stories" collection.

Cerca de la ratonera una gran roca ha surgido de la nada. «¿Cómo ha podido llegar hasta allí?», se pregunta el ratón curioso. Pero las cosas no son lo que parecen y nuestro pequeño amigo podrá conocer al animal que más admira. En esta fábula en verso moderno, los niños revisitarán el clásico relato de El león y el ratón y aprenderán a no subestimar a nadie por su tamaño, pues más vale maña que fuerza.

Una nueva y veloz visitante ha llegado a un bosque desconocido. Nadie se atreve a competir con la liebre. ¿Nadie? No exactamente. La más inesperada corredora intentará ganarle una carrera. En esta fábula en verso moderno, los niños revisitarán el clásico relato de La liebre y la tortuga y aprenderán valores como la constancia, la superación y la confianza en sí mismos.

Ernest Belfort Bax (1854-1926) was an English barrister, journalist, philosopher, rights advocate, and historian. In this essay, after dismissing St. Simonism, Fourierism, Owenism, and “Continental Nihilists”, Bax attempts to explain what modern socialism, taken broadly, really means. He outlines the three bases of modern socialism as the direction of industry by a democratic state instead of by private capitalists; as a universal Federal Republic to take the place of the present nationalist system; and in religion, a human ideal to take the place of theological cults.

This is a story from the Canterbury Tales III: Modern Verse Translation collection.