LITMIR.BIZ

Thomas Paine was born in Great Britain; he came to America at the age of 37 for the first time. He is rightly considered to be the Anglo-American writer, philosopher, publicist, as well as «American godfather» for supporting separatist spirits and inspiring Americans to fight for their independence (at that very moment, the break between America and England was imminent). He described his thoughts in a wonderful tract Common Sense, that according to G. Washington, revolutionized the minds. Later, Thomas Paine's arguments were reflected in The Independence Declaration, written by Jefferson.

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"The State and Revolution (1917), by Vladimir Lenin, describes the role of the State in society, the necessity of proletarian revolution, and the theoretic inadequacies of social democracy in achieving revolution to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. Lenin began the composition of an early draft of State and Revolution while in exile in Switzerland in 1916, under the title «„Marxism on the State“». ""Soviets"", legislative bodies of workers and peasants were the de facto governments of Petrograd and many smaller cities. The Russian public was deeply upset with the continuation of Russia's involvement in World War One and the continued economic difficulties that it brought on. On November 7th The Congress of Soviets officially elected a coalition of Bolsheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks to govern. Through the Red Guards, paramilitary organizations of revolutionary workers, sailors and soldiers; the Soviet government was able to storm The Winter Palace and officially abolishing the Provisional government. The revolution was not uniformly accepted among all Russians, resistance and disruption would occur routinely leading up to The Russian Civil War. A particular issue that Lenin covers in The State and Revolution was the right of nations to secession (The right to self determination); during the composition of this book The Mensheviks of Georgia declared independence soon after The Revolution forming The Democratic Republic of Georgia. Among other famous Marxists there were also: Georgi Plekhanov, Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Ernst Bloch, Pyotr Kropotkin, Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre, Wilhelm Reich, Perry Anderson. "

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""«The Monkey's Paw»" is a supernatural short story by author W. W. Jacobs, first published in England in the collection The Lady of the Barge in 1902. In the story, three wishes are granted to the owner of The Monkey's Paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate. It has been adapted many times in other media, including plays, films, TV series, operas, stories and comics, as early as 1903 and as recently as 2017. It was first adapted to film in 1915 as a British silent film directed by Sidney Northcote. The film (now lost) starred John Lawson who also played the main character in Louis N. Parker's 1907 stage play as well. The short story involves Mr. and Mrs. White and their adult son, Herbert. Sergeant-Major Morris, a friend who served with the British Army in India, introduces them to a mummified monkey's paw. An old fakir placed a spell on the paw, so that it would grant three wishes. These three wishes are granted to the owner with hellish consequences as punishment for tampering with fate. Morris, having had a horrible experience using the paw, throws it into the fire. Mr. White not believing Morris, retrieves it. Before leaving, Morris warns Mr. White that should he use the paw, then he might as well be digging his own grave."

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""«Rip Van Winkle»" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains and wakes up 20 years later, having missed the American Revolution. Irving wrote it while living in Birmingham, England, as part of the collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. The story is set in New York's Catskill Mountains, but Irving later admitted, «„When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills.“» ""Rip Van Winkle"" is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War in a village at the foot of New York's Catskill Mountains where Rip Van Winkle, a Dutch-American villager, lives. One autumn day, Van Winkle wanders into the mountains with his dog Wolf to escape his wife's nagging. He hears his name called out and sees a man wearing antiquated Dutch clothing; he is carrying a keg up the mountain and requires help. Together, the men and Wolf proceed to a hollow in which Rip discovers the source of thunderous noises: a group of ornately dressed, silent, bearded men who are playing nine-pins. Among the most significant works Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow‎, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Tales of a Traveller, Bracebridge Hall, The Devil and Tom Walker, Kidd the Pirate, The Alhambra, Woolfert's Roost & The Crayon Papers."

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"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" (Russian: Сон смешного человека, Son smeshnovo cheloveka) is a short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky written in 1877. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing of any value in the world. Slipping into nihilism with the “terrible anguish” he is determined to commit suicide. A chance encounter with a young girl, however, begins the man on a journey that re-instills a love for his fellow man. It was first published in A Writer's Diary. The story opens with the narrator wandering the streets of St. Petersburg. He contemplates how he has always been a ridiculous person, and also, how recently, he has come to the realization that nothing much matters to him any more. It is this revelation that leads him to the idea of suicide. The narrator of the story reveals that he had bought a revolver months previous with the intent of shooting himself in the head. Despite a dismal night, the narrator looks up to the sky and views a solitary star. Shortly after seeing the star, a little girl comes running towards him. The narrator surmises that something is wrong with the girl's mother. He shakes the girl away and continues on to his apartment… Among the most significant works Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Poor Folk, The Double, The Landlady, Netochka Nezvanova, Uncle's Dream, The Village of Stepanchikovo, Humiliated and Insulted, The House of the Dead, Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Gambler, The Idiot, The Eternal Husband, Demons, The Adolescent, The Brothers Karamazov

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The Christmas Tree and the Wedding" is a short story written by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky published in 1848. The piece is narrated by an awkward outcast attending a Christmas party. He observes the party's guest of honour and takes special interest in one of the children. The narrator begins by mentioning to the reader that he had just been to a wedding but recalls a Christmas party that he had found more interesting. The party was given with the pretext of being a children's party, but its real purpose was for the wealthy host's family to talk business with rich members of the community. The wealthiest guest was Julian Mastakovich, a rotund landowner. Without anyone to talk to, the narrator fell to simply observing the guests. The narrator takes particular interest in the children. They were given gifts in accordance with their social standing. The eleven-year-old daughter of a wealthy government contractor received an expensive doll, while the poorest child, the son of the family governess, received only a small book without illustrations or even a front and back cover. After being bullied by the other richer boys, the poor boy retreats to another room where he and the rich daughter play happily with the doll. Julian Matsakovich also retreats from the rest of the crowd to observe the rich daughter, who already had a dowry set aside of 300,000 rubles. As Mastakovich observes the girl, he calculates what her dowry (with interest) would be at age sixteen, and he comes up with the astounding sum of 500,000 rubles. Mastakovich approaches the girl and kisses her on the head. The girl recoils from his gesture, and she looks to her playmate for protection. Mastakovich tries to scare the poor boy away while trying to get a promise of love from the young girl, and eventually he causes a scene where he chases the poor boy around the party, whipping at him with his handkerchief. The wedding that the narrator came across five years later was indeed the wedding between Julian Mastakovich and the rich girl, now sixteen. Famous works of the author Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Poor Folk, The Double, The Landlady, Netochka Nezvanova, Uncle's Dream, The Village of Stepanchikovo, Humiliated and Insulted, The House of the Dead, Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Gambler, The Idiot, The Eternal Husband, Demons, The Adolescent, The Brothers Karamazov.

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Notes from Underground also translated as Notes from the Underground or Letters from the Underworld, is an 1864 novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Notes is considered by many to be one of the first existentialist novels. It presents itself as an excerpt from the rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator (generally referred to by critics as the Underground Man), who is a retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg. The first part of the story is told in monologue form, or the underground man's diary, and attacks emerging Western philosophy, especially Nikolay Chernyshevsky's What Is to Be Done? The second part of the book is called «Apropos of the Wet Snow» and describes certain events that appear to be destroying and sometimes renewing the underground man, who acts as a first person, unreliable narrator and anti-hero. Fyodor Dostoevsky is also famous for such works as: Poor Folk, The Double, The Landlady, Netochka Nezvanova, Uncle's Dream, The Village of Stepanchikovo, Humiliated and Insulted, The House of the Dead, Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Gambler, The Idiot, The Eternal Husband, Demons, The Adolescent, The Brothers Karamazov.

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For a while, the famous writer Irving Washington was an employee of the American diplomatic mission in Spain. He spent three months in the famous Alhambra Palace. This acquaintance with the historical relic inspired him to write this book. In addition to historical descriptions and essays the book contains many magnificent legends that have become loved by millions of readers. By the way, Irving's work is still called the Alhambra guidebook.

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"Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories «„Rip Van Winkle“» (1819) and «„The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“» (1820), both of which appear in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad and George Washington, as well as several histories of 15th-century Spain that deal with subjects such as Alhambra, Christopher Columbus and the Moors. The collection includes the following works Washington Irving are The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, Tales of the Alhambra."

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The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works. Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a «monstrous vermin». He initially considers the transformation to be temporary and slowly ponders the consequences of this metamorphosis. Unable to get up and leave the bed, Gregor reflects on his job as a traveling salesman and cloth merchant, which he characterizes as an exhausting and never-ending traffic. He sees his employer as a despot and would quickly quit his job were he not his family's sole breadwinner and working off his bankrupt father's debts… Famous works of the author Franz Kafka: «Die Verwandlung» («The Metamorphosis»), Der Process (The Trial), «Das Urteil» («The Judgment»), Das Schloss (The Castle), Betrachtung (Contemplation), Ein Hungerkünstler (A Hunger Artist), Briefe an Felice (Letters to Felice).

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