According to the laws of the genre picaresque, the novel begins with a description of the hero’s childhood years. Pablos’s parents – a witch mother, a thief-father – are always arguing, whose profession is better. “Theft, son, this is not a simple craft, but an elegant art,” assures the father. But the boy already cherishes … Read more
R. M. du Gar Family Thibault The beginning of XX century. Gentle friendship connects two classmates – Jacques Thibault and Daniel de Fontaine. Opening one of the teachers correspondence between the boys leads to a tragedy. Insulted in the best of his school mentors, who roughly mastered his treasured “gray notebook” and vilestly interpreted friendship … Read more
E. L. Schwartz Shadow Strange adventures have occurred with a young scientist named Christian-Theodore, who came to a small southern country to study history. He settled in a hotel, in a room where the storyteller Hans Christian Andersen lived before him. (Maybe this is the whole point?) Annunciate’s host daughter tells him about the unusual … Read more
Earth. The second half of the XXI century. Quite an ordinary mediocre radiochemist Frederic Hallam accidentally discovers that in a dusty flask with a label “Wolfram” suddenly turned out to be some other substance. Spectrometric analysis shows that this is an isotope of plutonium, which theoretically can not exist, in addition it turns out that … Read more
At the beginning of the story there is a story about the endless expanses of the steppe and endless sea. The narrator at night talks with the old gypsy Makar Chudra, who guarded the horses of his camp. The old man says that no one in this life needs anyone, he is not a stick … Read more
E. and J. Goncourt Germini Laserte Third quarter of the XIX century, the era of the Second Empire, Paris. In the poorly furnished room is an old woman – Mademoiselle de Varandale. Near the bed on her knees stands her maid – Germini Laserte. Rejoicing at the recovery of the hostess, the servant embarks on … Read more
The narrator, the protagonist of the novel Watanabe Tooru, recalls how at 37 he landed on an airplane in Germany. Of the onboard loudspeakers, the Beatles’ Norwegian wood was poured, and Watanabe felt dizzy with memories. “Even now, 18 years later, I can clearly imagine that field… The breeze ran across the field, slightly swept … Read more
Aristophanes of the Cloud In Athens, the most famous philosopher was Socrates. For his philosophy, he then paid with his life: he was brought to trial and executed precisely because he had questioned too much, corrupted (allegedly) morals, and this weakened the state. But before that it was still far: first it was only brought … Read more
LN Tolstoy The power of darkness The power of darkness, or claws, is bogged down, to the whole birdie abyss Autumn. In the spacious hut of the well-to-do, morbid peasant Peter – the wife of Anisya, Akulina, his daughter from the first marriage, they sing songs. The owner himself again calls and scolds, threatening to … Read more
Charles Matyurin Melmot wanderer One of the features of the composition of the novel – the so-called “framework narrative.” The general plot canvas serves as a frame for numerous false novels. However, in the novel Maturin, the attentive reader will catch the absolute sequence of the general plot, in which the author does not for … Read more