LITMIR.BIZ

Loosely based on Goethe's personal experiences, the novel is written mostly in the form of letters in which Werther recounts his unrequited love for a married woman. Its Sturm und Drang style, portraying the rebellion of youthful genius against conventional standards, makes it a perennial favorite with readers of every era.

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In the early part of the twentieth century, Upton Sinclair earned a reputation as a prolific writer, committed socialist, and political activist. He gained enormous popularity when his eloquent 1906 novel The Jungle exposed conditions in the U.S. meat-packing industry, and years later, he earned a Pulitzer Prize for his series tale, Dragon's Teeth. In The Money Changers, Sinclair explores the Wall Street panic of 1907 in novel form, exposing greed and corruption within the American system. Originally published a century ago, it's a cautionary tale with a theme that could have been ripped from today's headlines.Allan Montague is a prosperous New York lawyer trying to help an old friend from Mississippi who's just moved to the city. Young widow Lucy Dupree, whose beauty makes men's hearts skip a beat, is eager to move forward and establish herself in the right social circles. As a favor, Montague offers to help Lucy sell a block of stock. But with that one transaction, they unwittingly become tangled in a web of unscrupulous power brokers who've concocted a daring scheme to manipulate the stock market for personal gain. If their plan succeeds, a rival trust company will fall, sparking a Wall Street bloodbath . . . and financial chaos throughout the world!

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A blind musician with amazing talent is called upon to perform for the dead. Faceless creatures haunt an unwary traveler. A beautiful woman &#8212; the personification of winter at its cruelest &#8212; ruthlessly kills unsuspecting mortals. These and seventeen other chilling supernatural tales &#8212; based on legends, myths, and beliefs of ancient Japan &#8212; represent the very best of Lafcadio Hearn's literary style. They are also a culmination of his lifelong interest in the endlessly fascinating customs and tales of the country where he spent the last fourteen years of his life, translating into English the atmospheric stories he so avidly collected.<BR>Teeming with undead samurais, man-eating goblins, and other terrifying demons, these twenty classic ghost stories inspired the Oscar&#174;-nominated 1964 film of the same name.<BR>

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Charles Chesnutt was perhaps the most influential African-American fiction writer during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The House Behind the Cedars, his dramatic masterpiece, was crafted during the tumultuous post-Civil War era in the South, when many in white society feared the «evils» of interracial relationships. Boldly, with vivid detail and memorable characters, this novel explores the practice of «passing,» as John and Rena Walden, two light-skinned African Americans, step over the color line to share in the American Dream.Conceived by a novelist who himself had once considered «passing,» The House Behind the Cedars continues as one of the bravest, most compelling, and most important explorations of racism in American fiction.

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A monumental classic and one of the most widely read novels in history, Les Mis&#233;rables portrays the epic struggle between good and evil in the soul of one man: Jean Valjean. In a world brutalized by poverty and ignorance, the ex-convict struggles to renew his life and reaffirm his humanity. But he is haunted, both by his seemingly inescapable past and the malignant shadow of the infamous police detective Javert. Rich in detail, packed with adventure, and filled with the sweep of human passions, Les Mis&#233;rables is more than a literary masterpiece&#8212;it remains a powerful social document. Dedicated to the poor, the oppressed, and the misunderstood, this captivating novel captures the impossible societal layers&#8212;and the essence of life&#8212;as it truly existed in nineteenth-century France. This fine edition features the renowned original translation and a sensitive abridgment.

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"Of lasting appeal to readers of all countries and centuries."&#8212;Vladimir NabokovRussian literature's first major prose novel, this gripping work was a primary influence on Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and other great nineteenth-century writers. Mikhail Lermontov, «the poet of the Caucasus,» drew upon his personal Byronic exploits to create these tales of treachery, abductions, and sexual intrigue. Published in 1840, one year before the author's death at age twenty-six in a duel, the novel retains its overwhelming power and fascination.Centered on the escapades of Pechorin, a dashing young officer and the hero of the title, the book consists of a series of interconnected short stories. The picaresque adventures revolve around Pechorin's escapades and reflect his cynical but passionate worldview. Set amid the rugged Caucasian wilderness&#8212;an exotic land populated by bandits and smugglers, transplanted society women, and lawless freebooters&#8212;it offers a thrilling blend of brutality, elegance, and enduring romance.

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"Before hearing my death sentence I was aware that my lungs breathed, that my heart beat, and that my body lived in the community of other men; now, I plainly saw that a barrier had sprung up between them and me. Nothing was the same as before." The imprisoned narrator of this profoundly moving novel awaits execution&#8212;and waits, and waits. Although his guilt is undeniable, his essential humanity emerges as he struggles with the certainty of impending death.Victor Hugo's impassioned early work carries the same power and universality as Les Mis&#233;rables. A vocal opponent to the barbarity of the guillotine, Hugo attempted to arouse compassion in the service of justice. This tale distills his beliefs and offers a highly significant contribution to the ongoing debate over the death penalty. A new Foreword by activist David Dow examines the message and relevance of Hugo's story to modern society.

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The Iron Heel treads upon the faces of the poor. Determined to crush the working class at any cost, the brutal dictatorship incites a paranoid atmosphere of witch-hunting hysteria, employing gangs of thugs to stifle free speech. Avis Everhard, wife of a labor leader, narrates this gripping novel. In moving terms, she reveals the wretched poverty that props up aristocratic wealth and recounts the desperate struggles of revolutionaries against the insidious rise of the Iron Heel. George Orwell hailed this prescient tale as «a truer prophecy of the future than either Brave New World or The Shape of Things to Come.» Written more than a century ago, Jack London's harrowing vision of class warfare and a totalitarian state anticipates the development of fascism, the spread of terrorism, and the oppressive forces of government surveillance and authority. A short novel with remarkable depth, it continues to resonate with modern readers as both a satire and a warning.

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This comprehensive collection showcases Oscar Wilde's brilliant storytelling skills and his amazing stylistic versatility, ranging from fairy tales and ghost stories to detective yarns and comedies of manners. It includes the complete texts of «The Happy Prince and Other Tales,» «A House of Pomegranates,» «Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories,» «Poems in Prose,»and the critical essay «The Portrait of Mr. W. H.»Originally published in the late 1880s and early 1890s, these tales predate Wilde's fame as a dramatist. When he wrote them, he was best known among fashionable London society as a drawing-room raconteur. Many of the character types now familiar from his comedies first emerged in these stories, along with his gifted uses of parody, melodrama, paradox, and irony. Even more significantly, they reflect the author's preoccupation with opposites &#8212; idealistic love and desire, art and life, sincerity and artifice, innocence and sin, altruism and greed, and honesty and deceit &#8212; offering captivating expressions of the themes that dominated Wilde's life and thought.

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Enter into one of the twentieth century's liveliest and most articulate minds with this long-unavailable book of delights. This jolly medley of drawings, fables, and poetry&#8212;all laced with satirical wit&#8212;abounds in G. K. Chesterton's unique combination of whimsy and profundity. Its satirical ballads and original fairy tales include early works and previously unpublished material, all illustrated by the author's distinctive color and black-and-white illustrations.Chesterton's fantasies reflect his overall philosophy of life, proclaiming the need for wonder in the face of the world of fact. His view of reality penetrates to the roots of these fruitful fantasies, which simultaneously hide and reveal truth: «The Disadvantage of Having Two Heads,» a cautionary tale about a young giant-killer; «The Wild Goose Chase,» a search for the elusive goals that make life worth living; and «Half-Hours in Hades,» an amusing handbook of demonology. Colorfully illustrated poems include «Stilton and Milton,» a witty meditation on the relative appeal and durability of cheese and literature. A perfect introduction for readers unacquainted with Chesterton as well as a treat for long-time aficionados, this new edition features an Afterword by Martin Gardner, a leading authority on the author

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