LITMIR.BIZ

The Pilgrim's Progress is a 1678 Christian allegory written by the Puritan preacher John Bunyan. Begun while Bunyan served a 12-year jail sentence for his nonconformist preaching, the novel unfolds over two parts, one concerning Christian, and the other his wife Christiana and their sons. Both concern the central characters’ ordeals in traveling from the worldly to the sublime, and are filled with allegorical characters with names like Hypocrisy and Prudence, and places like Plain Ease, and Doubting Castle. Considered one of the most significant works of religious English literature, it has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print.

Подробнее

Anne Elliot lives at Kellynch Hall with her two sisters and vain father Sir Walter. When financial struggles begin to affect the Elliot family, they decide to move to Bath. Anne decides to visit before the move, and runs into many old friends. Most surprisingly she is reunited with Fredrick Wentworth, a past fiance who under advice from her father and friend Lady Russell never married. Wentworth's lack of wealth and rank in the community were their main concerns and therefore eight years later Anne is still unmarried with little romantic prospects. However, through her journey and move Anne may find that what she has been looking for was right in front of her the whole time.

Подробнее

In Madame Bovary, Charles, an awkward country doctor courts and weds Emma, the beautiful young daughter of a patient. Emma, unsuited to the role of housewife, quickly gets restless and begins to explore her passions. This leads to infidelities which she hides from Charles and, eventually, mounting debts as she turns to merchandise for her happiness. Flaubert's novel is cited as the first example of literary realism and has been called a perfect work of fiction. Milan Kundera and Vladimir Nabokov have both described Madame Bovary as poetry in the form of prose.

Подробнее

George Eliot's Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life was first published in 1871-72 in a series of eight volumes. Set in 1829-32 in the fictitious town of Middlemarch, it follows several separate but related stories featuring a large cast of characters. In it, Eliot explores themes of marriage and women's roles in society, idealism and religion, self-interest and hypocrisy, and political reform and education. Featuring the realism that Eliot is known for, Middlemarch is considered her best work and one of the greatest English language novels.

Подробнее

Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of an impoverished family, must navigate a world of desire and romance once she meets Alec d'Urberville. The son of a rich widow, he takes a fancy to her and gets her a position as the poultry keeper on his family's estate. However, her good fortune is soon complicated by Alec's libertine ways, and Tess returns home shamed. Once recovered, she separates herself from the gossip by finding work at a dairy farm outside the village. There, she meets and falls for Angel Clare, the eligible youngest son of the local reverend. But as her life begins to change for the better, she is troubled by a moral dilemma: whether or not to tell Angel about her past. Set in the fictional county of Wessex, Tess of the d'Urbervilles reflects on issues of classism, industrialism, hypocrisy, and virtue. Often considered to be Thomas Hardy's masterpiece, it received mixed reviews upon its publication due to its frank discussion of female sexuality and the hypocrisy of Victorian morality.

Подробнее

From Dorothy's modest Kansas farm, to the yellow-brick road, from the Wicked Witch of the West to the Emerald City, unforgettable icons abound in L. Frank Baum's classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. One of the most memorable stories in American history, this tale has spawned plays, sequels, and most notably the innovative 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. With this brand new recording, follow Dorothy as she meets Munchkins, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion. This edition is not to be missed.

Подробнее

The Virginian is a 1902 debut novel set in the Wild West by the American novelist Owen Wister. Describing the life of a cowboy on a cattle ranch in Wyoming, it helped establish the western novel as a literary genre. The unnamed protagonist in The Virginian, who courts a local schoolteacher and defers personal revenge while meting out justice to a cattle thief, set the tone for the rough but civilized cowboy, a prototype for scores of ensuing books, films, and music that popularized the mythology of the American wild west. The Virginian has been adapted multiple times for film and television.

Подробнее

A cornerstone of African-American literary history, The Souls of Black Folk is a classic work by W. E. B. Du Bois. Originally published in 1903, it contains many essays on race and equality, but is also a piece of seminal history as laying the groundwork for the field of sociology. Some of the essays in the novel were even previously published by the Atlantic Monthly magazine. When writing, Du Bois drew from his personal experiences as an African-American in America to highlight the issues of prejudice that were still going on into the 20th century.

Подробнее

In Heart of Darkness, Polish-British author Joseph Conrad deploys atmosphere, ambiguity and nuance to spin a languid tale of intrigue and madness in late 19th-century Colonial Africa. The story's narrator, Marlow, tells of a trip up the Congo River to rescue a legendary ivory trader, Kurtz, from a mysterious illness. Considered Conrad's masterpiece, and one of the greatest novels of the 20th century (it was written and serialized in 1899 but not published in book form until 1902), others have condemned the dehumanizing depictions of Africans as racist and outdated.

Подробнее

In The Secret Agent, a Soho shopkeeper is a member of a terrorist cell, supported by a foreign power, plotting to undermine the English state by means of a bomb plot. Published in 1907, it is considered to be among Conrad's finest novels, written at a time when he was moving away from the seafaring themes which he was known for. Prescient in its depictions of terrorism and political instability, it has become mandatory reading for anyone wishing to understand terrorism and counterterrorism in the 20th century.

Подробнее