On December 2, 1851, President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I, made a coup d’etat by dissolving the National Assembly and arresting the figures of the parliamentary opposition. On December 4, the army suppressed the uprising that had begun in Paris, and many unarmed townspeople, including women and children, were killed. Victor Hugo was … Read more
G. Sienkiewicz Camo ridge? Rome of the times of Emperor Nero, mired in crimes and debauchery. A nephew, a young and beautiful warrior, the patrician Marcus Vinicius, is Petronius, a writer, an esthete, a connoisseur of luxury and pleasures, an “arbiter of grace”, the approximate Nero. The young man says that when he returned to … Read more
US Maugham The burden of human passions The action takes place at the beginning of the 20th century. Nine-year-old Philip Carey remains an orphan, and he is sent for education to his uncle-priest in Blackstable. The priest does not feel affection for his nephew, but in his house Philip finds many books that help him … Read more
The story “The Chorus and Kalinich” by IS Turgenev was first published in 1847 in the journal Sovremennik. The work opens the cycle of the writer “Notes of the Hunter”, dedicated to the life of the simple Russian people. Turgenev’s story “The Chorus and Kalinych” refers to the literary realism direction. Main characters The chorus … Read more
F. M. Dostoevsky Uncle’s dream Marya Aleksandrovna Moskaleva, thanks to her unrivaled ability to throw dust into her eyes, “kill” her opponent with a sharp word and cleverly fired gossip, is recognized as the “first lady” of the provincial town of Mordasova. Hating and fearing, everyone, however, recognizes its influence. Her husband Athanasius Matveyevich, rustic … Read more
NN, an elderly man of the world, remembers the story that happened when he was about twenty-five. NN then traveled without a purpose and without a plan and on his way stopped in a quiet German town of N. Once NN, coming to a student’s party, met in a crowd with two Russian – a … Read more
V. Irving The Legend of Sleepy Hollow On the eastern shore of the Hudson, in the depths of one of the bays, there is a village, not far from it there is a hollow, which for its quiet and serenity, and also for the phlegmatic disposition of its inhabitants, was called Sleepy. The place seems … Read more
Two generals found themselves on an uninhabited island. “Generals have served all their lives in some registry, they were born, educated and grown old, therefore, did not understand anything, even the words did not know anything except:” Accept the assurance of my full respect and devotion. ” They came to the island dressed in nightgowns, … Read more
The adult Ilya Ilyich, although later learns that there are no honey and dairy rivers, there are no good sorceresses, although he jokes with a smile over the stories of a nanny, but this smile is not sincere, it is accompanied by a secret sigh: the tale is mixed with life, and he unconsciously sad … Read more
A. N. Ostrovsky Forest In the estate of Raisa Pavlovna Gurmyzhskaya, “a very wealthy landowner”, Bulanov, “a young man who did not finish school in a gymnasium”, pestered Aksyusha’s pupil. Aksyusha leaves, and lackey Karp hints to Bulanov: do not he pay attention to the lady herself. At this time, Gurmyzhskaya herself appears and, along … Read more