The novel’s events date back to 1946 and unfold in Wurzburg-on-Main, destroyed by American aviation after the SS command, ignoring the will of the impotent population, rejected the Americans’ demand to surrender the city without a fight and signed an order for defense. Few have any housing left. People mostly huddle in the basement of … Read more
On the main square of Argos there is a mosquito-stained statue of Jupiter, Waving off large fat flies, enters Orestes. Screams scream from the palace. Fifteen years ago, Clytemnestra, the mother of Orestes and Elektra, and her lover Egiof killed their father Agamemnon. Aegisthus wanted to kill Orestes, but the boy managed to escape. And … Read more
Bertolt Brecht The Threepenny Opera Prologue. London. Soho. Fair. The street singer sings a ballad about the Mackey knife: “The shark teeth have wedges All stick out like a show, and Mackey only has a knife, And he’s hidden from the eyes.” If the blood spills the shark, All the water is red around. no … Read more
At the end of the penultimate Turkish campaign, the Cossack Prokofiy Melekhov led a captive Turkish woman home to the village of Veshenskaya. From their marriage a son was born, named Pantelei, as dark and black-eyed as his mother. Subsequently, Pantelei Prokofievich occupied himself with the arrangement of the economy and considerably expanded his estates. … Read more
Sorceress Rose Veneda discusses in her earth grotto with Sister Lilla the course of the battle between the Venedian and Lechite tribes. Ecstatic visions reveal to Rose that her witchcraft does not help the Venedines win the battle, the homeland will be ruined and that Lilla will also die. Lilla cries, what causes Rosa’s wrath: … Read more
The action takes place in a small town in one of the southern states of America. Lizzie McKay, a young girl, comes from New York by train, where she witnesses the murder of a white man by one of the two Negroes who, as the killer later explained, allegedly wanted to rape Lizzy. The next … Read more
At the age of eighteen, Carolina Meeber, with four dollars in her purse, leaves her hometown of Columbia City, and travels to Chicago, where her older sister and her husband live. In 1889, in America, Sister Kerry, so loved and loved people called her Caroline, inspired by a dream for a better life in a … Read more
J. Boccaccio Fiesoland Nymphs In the center of poetic narrative is the touching love story of the shepherd and hunter Afrique and the nymph of Menzola. We learn that in times immemorial in Fiesole, women especially honored the goddess Diana, who patronized chastity. Many parents after the birth of children, who voted, and who in … Read more
Forty-six-year-old George, Ph. D., a teacher at a college in New England, and his wife Martha (six years older than her husband) return home late at night after receiving the father of Martha, the rector of the same college. Already on the threshold they begin to conduct a habitual squabble between themselves, which has been … Read more
Yu. V. Bondarev Hot snow During the Great Patriotic War, the writer as an artilleryman went a long way from Stalingrad to Czechoslovakia. Among Yuri Bondarev’s books on the war, “Hot Snow” occupies a special place, opening up new approaches to solving moral and psychological problems posed in his first novels – “Battalions Ask for … Read more
Henry Miller Tropic of Cancer An experimental field on which a paradoxical and contradictory trend of one human life unfolds-the life of an indigent American in Paris at the turn of the 1920s-1930s-becomes, in essence, the entire western civilization of the twentieth century engulfed in a deadly crisis. With Henry, the hero of the book, … Read more
James Joyce Ulysses The novel tells of one day of June 16, 1904, from the life of the Lipold Bloom, a Dublin Jew of thirty-eight years, and Stephen Dedal, twenty-two. Three parts of a huge book, divided into eighteen episodes, should, according to the author, relate to the Homeric Odyssey (Ulysses – Latin transcription of … Read more
The prehistoric tribe of Ulamaras has a terrible fate: their fire, which was kept in three special cells, and whose life was supported by four women and two men day and night, perished! Fire meant life for the ulamars. And now at once two terrible misfortunes have fallen upon their tribe: the attack of “devouring … Read more
1529 year. On the crossroads of two roads there are cousins. Henri Maximilian, the son of the rich merchant Henri-Just Ligr, sixteen years old: he raves Plutarch and piously believes that he will be able to compete with Alexander the Great and Caesar. He does not like to sit in his father’s shop and measure … Read more
Several travelers are hiding in the inn from the weather. One of them states that “every saved man… the angel guides,” and the angel himself led him. The next story he says, kneeling, because everything that happened – “a very sacred and terrible thing.” Markusha, an “insignificant man,” born in the “old Russian faith”, serves … Read more
Iris Murdoch The Black Prince The text of Bradley Pearson’s book The Black Prince, or the Feast of Love is framed by the foreword and afterword of the publisher, from which it follows that Bradley Pearson died in prison of transient cancer, which he opened shortly after he finished the manuscript. Wanting to restore the … Read more
London, the middle of the XVI century. On the same day, two boys are born – Tom, the son of the thief John Kenti, huddling in the stinking cul-de-sac Yard Courtyard, and Edward, heir to King Henry the Eighth. Edward is waiting for all of England, Tom does not really need even his own family, … Read more
Francois Moriak Theresa Desqueira Theresa Deskairu leaves the courtroom. She was accused of attempting to poison her husband, but with the efforts of her relatives the case was stopped “for lack of corpus delicti.” The honor of the family is saved. Teresa is to return home, to Argelouz, where her husband is waiting, who saved … Read more
Dircea begs her father Matius not to rebel against the law, which requires the annual sacrifice of the young virgin of the noble family to Apollo. The name of the victim determines the lot. Only the royal daughters are spared from the terrible duty, and even then because they were sent by the father outside … Read more
Riders are not just horsemen: it was called in Athens a whole class – those who had enough money to keep the fighting horse. They were wealthy people, they had small estates outside the city, they lived by their income and wanted Athens to be a peaceful, closed agricultural state. The poet Aristophanes wanted peace; … Read more
The story takes place in 1833 in Moscow, the main character – Volodya – sixteen years old, he lives with his parents at the dacha and is preparing to enter the university. Soon, the family of Princess Zasekin enters the poor outbuilding in the neighborhood. Volodya accidentally sees the princess and very much wants to … Read more
K. Simonov The Living and the Dead On June 25, 1941, Masha Artemyeva accompanies her husband Ivan Sintsov to the war. Sintsov goes to Grodno, where their one-year-old daughter remained, and where he himself served as secretary of the editorial staff of an army newspaper for a year and a half. Located near the border, … Read more
The great Russian poet M. Yu. Lermontov can rightfully be called a poet of the past and the present. The historical theme, the theme of the generation change, The manners, traditions, foundations are one of the most important in his work. And if in the representatives of the past generations he saw a role model, … Read more
“In one huge forest, there lived a forester named Blackbeard.” He had two sons, the Elder of the twelve years, and the Younger was a nine-year-old. The brothers often quarreled, “like strangers,” so the forester was fun only in the forest. Once, on December 28, Blackbeard told his sons that they will not have a … Read more
Young Volga Svyatoslavovich longs for a lot of wisdom and strength. He gathers a squad of thirty soldiers, and they leave for a clean field. They hear in the plowman’s field: he whistles, and his plow squeaks. They go one day, another, the third – and can not reach the plowman in any way. Finally … Read more
Fox-sister and wolf The woman in the hut makes a patty and puts it on the windowsill so that it is baked in the sun, because they do not even have a stove with their grandfather – so they live poorly. A fox and a wolf pass by and steal a pie. The fox secretly … Read more
Part 1. Prison industry In the era of dictatorship and surrounded by enemies on all sides, we sometimes showed unnecessary softness, unnecessary kind-heartedness. Krylenko, speech at the process of “Industrial Party” Chapter 1. Arrest Those who go to the Archipelago to manage – get there through the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Those who go to … Read more
FM Dostoyevsky Stepanchikovo and its inhabitants Former hussar, retired forty-year retired colonel Yegor Rostanev, owner of the rich and well-appointed estate of Stepanchikov, where he lives together with his mother, the widow of General Krachotkin, an unmarried sister, Sasha’s daughter of fifteen and son of Ilya for eight years. Rostaneva’s wife died a few years … Read more
John Steinbeck Winter of our anxiety “Readers who are looking for what real people and places are described here under fictitious names and names, I would advise you to look around and look into your own soul, as this novel tells what is happening today almost across America. “ On a golden April morning, Ethan … Read more
The novel takes place in the distant future. The protagonist is D-503, the engineer who built the spacecraft Integral. He writes a manuscript, which is a kind of message to the descendants. The manuscript tells how the citizens of the Great State, led by the Benefactor, live happily. The manuscript is called “We”, and this … Read more
Patten’s lawyer is not the full strength and fervor of the dodger and the scoundrel, as everyone around him knew. He grew old, became sick and weak and feels the approach of the end. When he was young, he easily earned money, now his strength is running out and he is of no use to … Read more
AI Kuprin Elephant Little girl Nadia (6 years old) fell ill, according to Dr. Mikhail Petrovich, “indifference to life.” The only way to cure is to cheer. But the girl does not want anything. Once she asked for an elephant. Half an hour later, my father brought her an “expensive beautiful toy” – a gray … Read more
The protagonist of the novel, Jacob Wasserman, was written according to a real person, who was often mentioned and written in Europe. They suddenly appeared in Nuremberg in 1828, this young stranger, he was sixteen or seventeen years old, whose past was shrouded in mystery, and his life was interrupted soon. The beginning of the … Read more
The end of XIX century. Countryside in Russia. Mironositskoe village. The veterinarian Ivan Ivanovich Chimsh-Himalayan and the teacher of the grammar school of Burkin, after having spent the whole day, are staying for the night in the barn of the village elder. Burkin tells Ivan Ivanych the story of the teacher of the Greek language … Read more
No matter how people try to gather together in one small place several hundred thousand, mutilate the land on which they huddle, no matter how they pile stones on the ground, so that nothing grows on it, no matter how scraping any trampling grass, no matter how fumed with coal and oil, – spring remains … Read more
H. R. Jimenez Platero and I “Platero and I” is a cycle of lyrical sketches of the poet Juan Ramón Jiménez. The hero of the cycle is the gray donkey Platero, who throughout the year is almost the only friend, companion and companion of the author. In the first lines a portrait of this charming … Read more
Late in the evening on the street of Ujjayini Samsthanaka, the ignorant, rude and cowardly brother-in-law of the king of Palaka, pursues the rich geteru beauty Vasantasen. Taking advantage of the darkness, Vasantasena eludes him through an unlocked gate into the courtyard of one of the houses. By chance, it turned out that this is … Read more
The action of the parable novel was moved to medieval England. The abbot of the Cathedral of the Most-Pure Virgin Mary Joslin planned to finish building the spire that was supposed in the original design of the cathedral, but for some reason remained on paper. Everyone knows that the cathedral has no foundation, but Joslin, … Read more
John Gardner Autumn Light The novel “Autumn Light” takes place in the American province, far from the big cities. The quiet life of small towns, far from the senseless fuss and the frenzied rhythm of megacities, is not alien to the “accursed” problems of technocratic civilization, the dark, vile sides of big business and big … Read more
PART I The prologue tells about the events that occur in the poem itself. That is, about how seven peasants from the villages of Zaplatovo. Poorly. Dyryavino. Znobishino. Ridovo. Neelovo. Gorelovo began a dispute on the topic “Who lives weight ate, free in Russia?”. This nonsensical social question, Nikolai Alekseevich, not without reason gives to … Read more
The action of Bulgakov’s story “The Dog’s Heart” takes place in Moscow. Winter of 1924-25. In the big house on Prechistenka there lives and conducts patients’ reception Professor Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky. He lives and works in an apartment, where there are seven rooms, which can not fail to pay attention to “zhilotovarchestvo”, carrying out a … Read more
In a provincial town, a young merchant of Bavarian kvass meets a walking woman in the evening. She, drunk, stands in a puddle and stomps her feet, sprinkling mud like children. The trader leads her to her house; she agrees to go with him, thinking that he is her client. “House” is a basement hole … Read more
Cesare Pavese Beautiful summer of Italy in the thirties of this century, the working suburb of Turin. In these dim scenery unfolds a sad story of the first love of the young girl Ginia to the artist Guido. Ginia works in the studio and leads the company with the factory workers and the neighborhood guys. … Read more
FM Dostoyevsky Poor people Makar Alekseevich Devushkin is a titular counselor for forty-seven years, rewriting for a small salary of paper in one of the St. Petersburg departments. He has just moved to a new apartment in the “capital” house near Fontanka. Along the long corridor are the doors of the rooms for the tenants; … Read more
Moliere Plutni Scapien, from the experience of his own youth, knowing full well that his sons need eyes and eyes, Argant and Geront, when they left Naples on business, were entrusted with the care of the children to servants: Octave, son of Argant, was left under the supervision of Sylvester, and the son of Geront … Read more
Patrick White The Human Tree This is a story about the life of two simple Australians – farmer Stan Parker and his wife Amy. Their life begins with the century, and in it the events of its history and the processes taking place in the Australian reality are reflected in its own way. A story … Read more
G. Hauptmann Before sunrise The action takes place in the contemporary writer of Silesia. In the estate of Krause appears Alfred Lot, he would like to see the master of engineer. Frau Krause – a screaming peasant woman, appreciating the modest look and rustic clothes of a stranger, takes him for a petitioner and drives … Read more
Georges Duroy, the son of the well-to-do peasants, the keepers of the vegetable marrow, is endowed with a happy appearance on the whim of nature. He is slender, tall, blond, he has a wonderful mustache… He really likes women, and he is in Paris. But he has three francs in his pocket, and his salary … Read more
No matter how people try to gather together in one small place several hundred thousand, mutilate the land on which they huddle, no matter how they pile stones on the ground, so that nothing grows on it, no matter how scraping any trampling grass, no matter how fumed with coal and oil, – spring remains … Read more
In Yelets, my hometown, all the old merchants’ surnames were double. Our first name, Prishvin, was clan, official, and the second, “street”, was the Alpatovs. I was born in 1873 in the village of Khrushchevo, Solovyov volost, Yelets county, Oryol province. The village of Khrushchev was a small village with thatched roofs of earthen floors. … Read more