LITMIR.BIZ

"Black Beauty" is Anna Sewell's classic tale of a horse living in 19th century England. The novel follows the story of a young colt through its life and the experiences it has as it passes from master to master. Black Beauty's experiences are one of both cruelty and kindness. «Black Beauty» masterfully explores the relation between men and animals and strives to impress upon the reader that all animals should be treated with kindness and compassion.

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A parody of the traveler’s tales literary genre and a satire of human nature, from the master of satire himself, Jonathan Swift, «Gulliver's Travels» is his best known and most loved work. The novel whose authorship is assigned to the central character, Lemuel Gulliver, is divided into four parts (Part I: A Voyage To Lilliput, Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag, Part III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibari, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and Japan, and Part IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms). A classic satirical tale «Gulliver's Travels» is a novel that will be enjoyed by readers both young and old.

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Upton Sinclair's most famous novel, «The Jungle» is the fictitious account of a family of Lithuanian immigrants living in Chicago and working in the Chicago's Union Stock Yards. While it is a work of fiction it brought to light the horrible working conditions of the Chicago meat-packing industry at the beginning of the 20th century. Sinclair, a noted socialist, showed the vast socio-economic divide between the haves and have-nots and the corrupt alignment of American politicians with the industrial-capitalist machine.

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Considered by many as the greatest of all Spanish authors, Miguel de Cervantes is most well-known of course for «Don Quixote,» a work of such literary impact that its historical importance cannot be understated. Unfortunately Cervantes' other works are often overlooked and characterized as inferior to his masterpiece. While his other writings never gained the popularity of «Don Quixote,» he did author several other works that are worthy of consideration. Amongst these is «The Trials of Persiles and Sigismunda,» a romantic novel that Cervantes finished just three days before his death, and which was posthumously published in 1617. The work stands in contrast to «Don Quixote» as a work that embraces the fantastic rather than the ordinary. While the history of literature will likely continue to regard «Don Quixote» as Cervantes' greatest contribution he himself believed this work to have been his crowning achievement.

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Fully entitled «The Innocents Abroad, or the New Pilgrims' Progress,» Twain's colorful travelogue is a compilation of the newspaper articles he wrote while on a cruise to Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land with other Americans. His account frequently uses humor to describe the people and places he visits, although this becomes highly satiric at times as Twain becomes frustrated with European profiteering, a pointless historical anecdote in Gibraltar, and the overly institutionalized nature of countries like Italy. Where he critiques, however, he also feels a strange reverence, as in the Canary Islands and the Holy Land. A more serious theme also flows through Twain's experience. Twain sees the conflict between history and the modern world as he travels with Americans through much older civilizations, where they discover that they shouldn't simply believe their guidebooks or what they are told by foreigners. In this landmark novel, Twain seems to search for the American identity after he has left home and embarked on an adventure across the world.

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"A Journey to the Center of the Earth" is one of Jules Verne's best-known works and one of the most classic tales of adventure ever written. It is the story of the German geology professor Otto Lidenbrock who discovers a manuscript from a 16th century explorer who claims to have discovered a passageway that leads to the center of the earth. The professor hastily sets off with his nephew Axel and an Icelandic guide by the name of Hans to find the center of the earth. Great obstacles and wondrous sights await them on their journey.

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The third novel in Zola's twenty-volume series entitled «Les Rougon-Macquart,» this story revolves around and within the 21-acre market Les Halles Centrales of Paris. The starving scholar Florent has escaped his unwarranted exile on Devil's Island, and he is alternately entranced and disgusted by his refuge in 'the belly of Paris.' Zola describes the market and Florent's experiences in the midst of it with his characteristically captivating comprehension, foreshadowing the total mastery of working-class speech in his later works. Florent makes a friend of Claude Lantier, a painter who explains the battle being waged in the vast Central Markets between the 'fat' burghers and 'thin' lower class, in which Florent is soon embroiled. He is a man caught between the fat and the thin, and this lack of allegiance leads to painful condemnation and Florent's ultimate disintegration. Presented here is the somewhat expurgated 1895 translation of Ernest Alfred Vizetelly, entitled «The Fat and the Thin».

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"How to Tell a Story and Other Essays" is a collection of essays on various subjects by America's most famous satirist, Mark Twain. Contained in this volume you will find the following essays: How to Tell a Story, In Defense of Harriet Shelley, Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses, Travelling With a Reformer, Private History of the 'Jumping Frog' Story, Mental Telegraphy Again, What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us, A Little Note to M. Paul Bourget, The Invalid's Story, The Captain's Story, Stirring Times in Austria, Concerning the Jews, From the 'London Times' of 1904, and At the Appetite-Cure.

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This captivating tale of adventure, «The Mysterious Island» tells the tale of five Americans who during the American Civil War escape the siege of Richmond, Virginia in a hot air balloon, only to find themselves later stranded on an uncharted island in the South Pacific when their balloon crashes there. Through the use of their ingenuity the five manage to survive on this island wilderness. Many secrets and adventures await the group as they endeavor to discovery the mystery of this «mysterious island».

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Catharine Sedgwick (1789-1867) was a prominent American novelist of the 19th century. Her work did a great deal to bring women's issues into the public sphere. These progressive narratives, set among Puritanism and moral conservatism, advocated for greater female equality. Set in 17th century New England, «Hope Leslie» (1827) tells the tale of a young New England Puritan woman and her dynamic experiences in recently founded America. The novel is noted for its groundbreaking and sympathetic treatment of Native Americans. Hope Leslie, the protagonist, works her way through romance and cultural conflict in this intense historical drama. The work has become central to scholarship of early gender studies and race relations as it examines with scrutiny the seeds of these cultural issues. «Hope Leslie» helped to alter the fabric of American literature, situated among the likes of Charles Brockden Brown and James Fenimore Cooper. The novel that made Catharine Sedgwick famous, «Hope Leslie» remains a classic of early American fiction.

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