LITMIR.BIZ

Émile Zola was one of the most important, though controversial, French novelists of the late nineteenth century, and founder of the Realist movement. In 1871 Zola began to write his most notable series of novels, the “Rougon-Macquart Novels”, that relate the history of a fictional family under the Second Empire. As a strict naturalist, Zola was greatly concerned with science, especially the problems of evolution and heredity vs. environment. However, unlike Honoré de Balzac, whose works examined a wider scope of French society, Zola focused on the evolution of one, single family. “The Ladies’ Paradise” is the eleventh novel in this series, and begins exactly where “Pot-Bouille” left off. Octave Mouret has married and now owns a department store where twenty year old Denise Baudu, who has come to Paris with her brothers, takes a job as a saleswoman. The novel reflects symbolically on capitalism, the modern city, changes in consumer culture, the bourgeois family, and sexual attitudes at the end of the 19th century. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First serialized in “The Century Magazine” in 1885 and 1886, Henry James’s “The Bostonians” is the story of Basil Ransom and his cousin Olive Chancellor and their competition for the allegiance and affection of the talented and beautiful Verena Tarrant. Basil, a conservative lawyer and Civil War veteran, has gone to Boston to visit his cousin Olive, an outspoken and independent feminist who is very active in the cause. Olive takes her cousin to hear a speech on female emancipation and the speaker is the enchanting Verena. Both Basil and Olive are taken with her. Basil wishes to marry Verena and take her away from the public and political life she has been drawn to. Olive, however, wishes to see Verena continue in her activism and invites Verena to live with her and spend more time with her fellow feminists. Verena accepts Olive’s offer and thus begins a battle between two strong and intelligent people both vying for control over Verena’s future. Rich with political and romantic drama, detailed characters, and set against a fascinating cross-section of American life in the late 19th century, “The Bostonians” remains a timely and affecting achievement in American literature. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1920, D. H. Lawrence’s “Women in Love” is the sequel to his 1915 novel “The Rainbow” and is widely considered one of his best works and one of the most important English novels of the twentieth century. “Women in Love” continues to follow the Brangwen family, focusing on the lives and loves of sisters Gudrun and Ursula Brangwen. Living in the Midlands of England during the 1910’s, Ursula is a teacher and Gudrun is an artist. The sisters meet two men who live nearby, Rupert Birkin and Gerald Crich, the four find that they have much in common and the sisters soon get involved with them romantically. Rupert and Ursula are at first friends, but develop a loving relationship and eventually become engaged. Gudrun pursues a romantic relationship with Gerald, a local industrialist, but their romance is stormy and tumultuous and ultimately ends in tragedy. Controversial during its time for its frank depictions of sexuality and the destructiveness of relationships and jealousy, “Women in Love” is a modern and powerful story of love and human imperfections set against the backdrop of the social turmoil of the First World War. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1902, “The Wings of the Dove” is considered to be one of Henry James’s great masterpieces. It is the story of Milly Theale, a wealthy American heiress, who has traveled to London and tries to conceal that she is facing a serious illness, and the young couple she spends time with there, Kate and Merton. Milly is in love with Merton, but does not tell him this, while Kate and Merton are secretly engaged to be married to each other, a secret that they too are concealing from Milly. Kate and Merton feel they cannot marry as they are quite poor. Driven by desperation and greed, Kate concocts a cruel plot to inherit Milly’s money. She attempts to convince Merton to pretend to love Milly, marry her, and then he will inherit her riches upon her impending death. Kate and Merton would then be free to marry with Milly’s money. It is a story of greed and deception, while also a heartbreaking portrait of Milly’s struggle to “achieve, however briefly and brokenly, the sense of having lived”. A semi-biographical tale of James’s own cousin, Minny Temple, “The Wings of the Dove” is a classic and compelling work of American literature. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1880, “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ” by Lew Wallace is considered one of the most important and influential Christian novels of the nineteenth-century. The novel follows much of the life of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince from Jerusalem living in the time of Christ. Wallace intertwines the lives of Judah and Jesus of Nazareth, beginning the novel with the events of the Nativity and later following the downfall and ensuing hardships of Judah’s life as a Roman slave, charioteer, and later, a convert to Christianity. The events depicted in the Gospels of the New Testament concerning Jesus are carefully threaded throughout Judah’s story, ultimately finding both Jesus and Judah at the Crucifixion, though in different capacities. The incredible historical spectacle that is Judah of the House of Hur’s life is a demonstration of fortitude and conviction, a classic story of redemption for the whole family. “Ben-Hur” was an immediate success upon its publication and was the first novel to ever be blessed by a pope. Wallace wrote this remarkable epic work as an inspiration of faith, and it became one of the most popular and enduring American novels of the nineteenth century.

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Originally published in serial form from 1855 to 1857, “Little Dorrit” is characteristic of Charles Dickens’ later works. The story is a condemnation of British society, particularly of the system of debtor’s prisons, an issue that was of particular importance to Dickens as his father had been imprisoned for his debts when Dickens was a young man. Through the memorable characters of Little Amy Dorrit and her father William Dorrit, as well as the disenchanted Arthur Clennam, recently returned from abroad, Dickens weaves a suspenseful tale that plumbs the depths of lives confined by poverty and their own internal shortcomings. Despite the changing fortunes of many of the characters, financial scandal and personal ruin is never far behind them, and they must use their wits and intelligence to seek freedom in unexpected ways. “Little Dorrit” is in turns a touching romance, a biting social commentary, and a cautionary tale of lies, and personal responsibility. Dickens, at the height of his illustrious career, employs his masterful irony, humor, and experienced writing style to create a powerful story about both physical and psychological imprisonment, as well as the freedom of a spirit that feels love, kindness, and acceptance. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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Chretien de Troyes was a French poet in the late 12th century whose work represents some of the best examples of Arthurian legend from medieval times. Contained in this volume are the author’s four completed Arthurian romances. The first of these stories is that of “Erec and Enide”, which recounts the story of Erec, one of King Arthur’s knights, and the conflict between love and knighthood he experiences in his marriage to Enide. The second romance is the tale of the knight “Cligès” and his love for his uncle’s wife, Fenice. The third romance is that of “Yvain, the Knight of the Lion”, in which Yvain seeks to avenge his cousin Calogrenant, who had been defeated by an otherworldly knight. Lastly is the tale of “Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart”, which centers on Lancelot’s rescue of Guinevere, King Arthur’s queen. These classic medieval poems form some of the earliest and most prominent examples of the legend of King Arthur. This edition follows the prose translation of William Comfort.

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Considered one of the most important and widely read novels ever written in the Italian language, “The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi)” is Alessandro Manzoni’s 1827 historical novel, which details the terribly oppressive rule of the Spanish over Italy in the early 1600s. At the center of the novel is the story of two young lovers, Renzo and Lucia, whose marriage is forbidden by the local baron, who wishes to wed the lovely Lucia himself. Forced to flee their homes, Renzo and Lucia are separated and must struggle against the ravages of war, famine, and the plague to be reunited again. While in essence a simple and affecting love story, “The Betrothed” is also a fascinating and detailed glimpse into a dramatic and tumultuous period in Italy’s history. Famed for its depiction of young love, devotion, and fidelity, the novel is also noted for its incredibly realistic depictions of the real-life plague that ravaged Milan, as well as the subsequent bread shortages and violent unrest. Manzoni’s “The Betrothed” is an epic Italian masterpiece.

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First published in 1869, this deliberately written work follows the ambitions and whims of the young Frédéric Moreau as he travels from his provincial hometown to the enticing metropolis of Paris. Though he survived the Revolution of 1848, Moreau is still prone to all the mistakes and petty concerns of a young man of the middle class: he develops an infatuation for a married woman, Madame Arnoux, and falls in and out of love with her throughout the novel; his ambitious endeavors soon bore him and leave him with Parisian ennui; and, despite the founding of the Second French Empire, Moreau is disappointed by the lack of social progress around him. Through all of this disillusionment, the author makes it very clear that he saw his generation as one without true passion or genuine feeling, utilizing irony and pessimism to underscore the mood of that social and political time in the history of France. The last work of Flaubert published in his lifetime, “Sentimental Education” has since been hailed as one of the most influential novels of the 19th century. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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First published in 1722, Daniel Defoe’s “Moll Flanders” is the classic and tragic morality tale of its title character. Based in part on the true story of a female criminal that Defoe met in Newgate Prison, Moll Flanders is the daughter of a convict and is driven by a singular ambition, to raise her station in life, by any means necessary. In the process of trying to lift herself out of squalor and become a lady she is married several times, abandons her many children, and eventually resorts to thievery and prostitution in her constant quest for a better life. Bad luck and poor judgment plague Moll at every turn and at one point she discovers she has inadvertently married her own half-brother. Eventually convicted of theft, Moll is transported to the new world where she finally begins to turn her life around. Moll is able to redeem herself, repair many of her fractured relationships, and finds love and a new life of prosperity in the Colonies. One of Defoe’s best and most loved works, “Moll Flanders,” is both the story of a fascinating and complicated woman and ultimately a tale of remorse and redemption. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

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