In a small German town on the banks of the Rhine, a child is born to the Kraft family of musicians. The first, still unclear perception of the surrounding world, the warmth of the mother’s hands, the tender sound of the voice, the sensation of light, darkness, thousands of different sounds… The ringing of a … Read more
G. H. Andersen Wild Swans The king had 11 sons and 1 daughter. The royal children lived well and carefree, until the stepmother appeared, who gave Elisa for education in the village, and turned the brothers into swans – they flew away. Beauty Eliza every day more and more beautiful, but all the time she … Read more
This story began in the early December evening in 1793. The draft horses slowly pulled a massive sledge up the mountain. In them sat father and daughter. The father was a respected judge, who was called like Marmaduke Temple, and his beautiful daughter is Miss Elizabeth. This small family were simple settlers. They were among … Read more
E. L. Schwartz Ordinary Miracle Manor in the Carpathian Mountains. Here, after marrying and deciding to settle down and take up farming, a wizard settled. He is in love with his wife and promises to live like everyone else, but the soul asks for something magical, and the owner of the estate is unable to … Read more
Sophocles Oedipus in Colon Colon – a place to the north of Athens. There was a sacred grove of goddesses Evmenid, terrible guardians of the truth – those about which Aeschylus wrote in “Oresteia”. Among this grove stood an altar in honor of the hero Oedipus: it was believed that this Theban hero is buried … Read more
Stanislav Lem Iyon Tikhiy’s star diaries are Ion Tikhiy’s “famous star-explorer, captain of long-distance galactic navigation, a hunter for meteors and comets, a tireless explorer who discovered eighty thousand three worlds, an honorary doctorate of the Universities of Both Bear, a member of the Trusteeship of Small Planets and many other societies, the Chevalier of … Read more
BONNOOSEC “POTEMKIN” Opera in four acts (seven scenes) Libretto by S. Spassky and V. Chulisov Characters: Vakulenchuk Gregory, artillery Non-commissioned officer of the armadillo Grunya, his wife, party worker Matyushenko Athanasius, mine-engine Quartermaster Bass Mezzo soprano Lyrico Drama Tenor Kachura Petro Zavoloshin Kostenko } Sailors of the Battleship Baritone Tenor Bass Baritone Kokhanov, commander of … Read more
Jean Racine Iphigenia The action takes place in Aulis, in the camp of Agamemnon. The yearning king awakens the faithful servant of Arkas. He is extremely surprised by the dejected kind of his master: the descendant of the gods Agamemnon favors in everything – not without reason his daughter wants to marry the unshakable warrior … Read more
Motley dog with big paws and muzzle carotid lay across the full length of the porch, necessarily across to whoever is going – for him and he paused to track broke into the house. In the house Trezor immediately climbed under the table, freely there stretched; if his legs were placed on him, they attacked … Read more
“Sebastian Knight was born on December 31, 1899 in the former capital of my fatherland” – this is the first phrase of the book. Her younger brother Knight, pronounced in the novel by the letter “V.”, pronounces it. Sebastian Knight, the famous writer, a native of Russia, who wrote in English, died in January 1936 … Read more
The main events take place in the boarding house of “mother” Voke. At the end of November 1819, seven permanent “spongers” are found here: on the second floor – the young young lady Quiz Tyfer with a distant relative of Madame Couture; on the third – a retired officer Poiret and a mysterious middle-aged man … Read more
VP Aksenov Crimea Island An accidental shot from a ship’s gun made by the English lieutenant Bailey Land prevented the capture of the Crimea by units of the Red Army in 1920. And now, under the rule of Brezhnev, Crimea has become a prosperous democratic state. Russian capitalism has proved superior to Soviet socialism. Impressive … Read more
About the hero: the public took it with annoyance. Some because they are set as an example of such an immoral person, others because the author allegedly drew his not very attractive portrait. The hero of our time is a portrait, but not one person, but a portrait composed of the vices of our time. … Read more
Oscar Wilde Unusual story happened to the firework patron All were preparing for the wedding of the prince and the beautiful princess, who was brought from faraway Russia. The Court Engineer at the far end of the garden prepared everything for fireworks (the Russian beauty never saw fireworks). Petarda, the Roman Candle and the Fiery … Read more
She wrote her romantic poem in twelve songs “to the cause of broad and liberating morality”, to the ideas of freedom and justice. The poem is written in the so-called Spencer’s stanza. During the thunderstorm raging above the earth, the poet suddenly opens up among the clouds a lumen of heavenly azure, and against this … Read more
“Do you know that you are sleeping since yesterday morning?” – entering the room to the student Don Cleophas, one of his friends asked. Cleophas opened his eyes, and his first thought was that the amazing adventures that he had endured last night were nothing more than a dream. However, very soon he was convinced … Read more
The story that happened with Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin begins with the story of his birth and his bizarre name, and proceeds to the narrative of his service as a titular adviser. Many young officials, laughing, fixing him with bothers, showering him with papers, pushing him by the hand, and only when he is unbearable, he … Read more
On a rainy summer night in 1912, on one of the docks of the Amur, the steamer leaves a young man alone. This is the German Otto Meisner, master of philosophy, a pet at the University of Konigsberg. The vague feeling that he once was here is stored in his soul. It seems to him … Read more
Italy of the thirties of this century, the working margin 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. Once she meets Amelia. About … Read more
Although Terence wrote in Latin for the Roman spectator, his characters carry Greek names and it is assumed that the action often takes place in Hellas. So in this case. Severe old man Menedemos so cursed his son Kliniya for his hobby of a poor neighbor’s girl that he was forced to flee from his … Read more
The first book. The Sisters Beginning in 1914, St. Petersburg, “tormented by sleepless nights, deafening his longing for wine, gold, bezlyuboy love, tearing and powerless sensual sounds of tango – the death hymn lived as if waiting for a fateful and terrible day.” A young, clean girl, Daria Dmitrievna Bulavina, arrives in St. Petersburg for … Read more
The action of the poem covers the time from the beginning to the 60s. XIX century. and occurs in Norway (in the Gudbrann valley and surrounding mountains), on the Moroccan coast of the Mediterranean, in the Sahara Desert, in a crazy house in Cairo, at sea and again in Norway, in the homeland of the … Read more
X. Laxness The Icelandic Bell The action of the novel-trilogy of Hallordor Laxness (part I – Icelandic Bell, part two – The Golden-Maiden, part three – The Fire in Copenhagen) unfolds at the end of the 16th – early 17th century. in Iceland and Denmark, as well as in Holland and Germany, where one of … Read more
New Year’s Eve. during the game of two brothers, Chuk and Huck, there was a ring at the door. Opening it, they saw the postman standing in the doorway, who brought a letter from their father. The children were delighted and began running around the apartment, not noticing that their mother had come. After reading … Read more
E. de Filippo Filumena Marturano The action takes place in Naples in the rich house of the fifty-two-year-old Don Domenico Soriano, a successful entrepreneur. In the room are himself Don Domenico, Donna Filumena Marturano, the woman with whom he lived for the last twenty years, Donna Rosalia Solimene, a seventy-five-year old woman who shared the … Read more
Stefan Zweig Twenty-four hours from the life of a woman Ten years before the war, the narrator rested on the Riviera, in a small boarding house. In a nearby hotel, a major scandal broke out. A young Frenchman arrived by day train, who immediately attracted everyone’s attention with his beauty and courtesy. He very quickly … Read more
During the Crusades at the end of the XII century. The crusaders are defeated in their third campaign and are compelled to conclude a truce with the Arab sultan Saladin, the ruling Jerusalem. Twenty captive knights were brought to the city, and all but one of them were executed on the orders of Saladin. The … Read more
A. Pushkin Poltava “Kochubei is rich and glorious, / Its meadows are boundless,” he owns many treasures, but the main wealth of Kochubei is his daughter Maria, which is equal in all Poltava. Maria is not the only beauty, but everyone knows her gentle nature. A lot of suitors are wooing to her, but Maria’s … Read more
“Ghosts” (1881) is also one of Ibsen’s best plays. It constantly reveals some secrets, the characters are constantly discovering something new for themselves, hence the tension. The main character is a widow Fru Alving. In the town there was an opinion about her late husband Captain Alvinge as a noble, ideally decent, generous man, and … Read more
On the morning of November 3, 1948, Alphonse Klenen, a police officer from Twann, stumbles upon a blue Mercedes standing on the roadside in the direction of Aambuen. In the car he discovers the corpse of a man killed the night before by a shot in the temple from the revolver of the lieutenant of … Read more
The novel is preceded by two epigraphs. The first is taken from the book “Being reasonable, or Moral view of the dignity of life.” “Every minute swears to fate in preserving a deep silence about our lot, even up to the time when it merges with the course of life, and then when the future … Read more
A. Bestuzhev Test “Listen, Valerian,” said the hussar lieutenant colonel Gremin to his friend Major Strelinsky, “do you remember that black-eyed lady who drove all the young people crazy at the ball with the French envoy three years ago?” This conversation took place in 182 … on the day of winter Nikola, not far from … Read more
Yu. V. Davydov The deaf time of the fall leaf Yablonsky (the secret agent of the secret police) comes to Petersburg; he meets with Sudeikin, the inspector of the secret police. Recently in Kharkov Yablonsky gave the police to Vera Figner (she was arrested, brought to Petersburg and “shown” to the director of the police … Read more
The play unfolds throughout the day in London, in the mansion of the couple of Chilterns and in the apartment of Lord Goring, in the early 1890’s. A party in the octagonal hall of the baronet of Sir Robert Chiltern, occupying the responsible post of Comrade Foreign Minister, is one of the most exquisite rides … Read more
Prince Leo Nikolayevich Myshkin arrives in St. Petersburg from Switzerland. He is twenty-six years old, he is the last of the noble noble family, he was orphaned early, as a child he fell ill with a severe nervous illness and was placed by his guardian and benefactor Pavlishchev in a Swiss sanatorium. There he lived … Read more
JV Jensen The Fall of the King The Danish King Christian II (or, according to the starodat form of this name, Kristiern II) is a fairly vivid personality in the history of Scandinavia. He ruled Denmark and Norway in 1513-1523. and Sweden in 1520-1523, another nine years struggled for power, allowed in 1532 to deceive … Read more
“It was at a time when people revered frivolity for virtue, and life has not yet been overshadowed, as in our days, severe hardship.” It was an age of idleness… “People went for everything for the sake of beauty, without stopping to cover their body tattooed. Among fans of such jewelry were not only porters, … Read more
T. Smollett The Journey of Humphrey Clinker “Journey of Humphrey Clinker” – the last work of an English writer: the novel was published a few months before his death in Livorno, where Smollet voluntarily went to a kind of “exile.” The novel is written in an epistolary style, which was not an innovation for English … Read more
Sergei Yesenin is one of the most vivid and original poets of the 20th century. In his lyrics, feelings and words, images and thoughts merge. The poet’s talent lies in the fact that he could catch and convey the most gentle shades of emotions and moods that arose in his soul. Such harmony is permeated … Read more
Nikita Sapykhon-Shchedrin Poshekhonskaya antiquity Life of Nikanor the Prehistoric, the posthekhon nobleman Preceding the story of his past, Nikanor Sapatozny, the heir of the ancient Poshekhon noble family, informs that in the present work the reader will not find a complete account of all the events of his life, but only a series of episodes, … Read more
M. Maeterlinck Monna Bath Events unfold in Pisa at the end of the XV century. Head of the Pisa garrison Guido Colonna discusses the situation with his lieutenants Borso and Torello: Pisa is surrounded by enemies – the troops of the Florentines, and the troops sent by Venice to help the Pisans could not get … Read more
Spain, early XX century. Mountain village. The play begins in the house of the Bridegroom. Mother, learning that he is going to the vineyard and wants to take a knife, breaks into curses to the one who invented the knives, and the guns and pistols are all that can kill a man. Her husband and … Read more
Walter Scott Puritans May 5, 1679 in the quiet wilderness of Upper Ward Clydesdale, a place in Scotland, all the new members come to the annual review. Dressed ladies and gentlemen, a motley crowd of onlookers. The picture is quite peaceful. But it only seems so. The Privy Council, the supreme executive authority in Scotland, … Read more
At the beginning of the story, the description of the midday beauties of the end of summer in Little Russia. On the way to the fair in Sorochinets, loaded with goods, wagons are moving, many people are walking there too. On one of the carts sat a black-browed girl – Paraska and her wicked stepmother, … Read more
Beginning the narrative, the author declares that his main goal is to show the general character of the epoch, its mores, concepts, beliefs, and therefore he allowed the deviation from history in detail – and concludes that his most important feeling was indignation: not so in John, as a society that is not indignant at … Read more
Somehow returning from a hunt, the author noticed a funeral procession. The coachman acknowledged the relatives of the deceased: it turned out that they were burying Martyn the carpenter. At the bar’s cart at this time broke the axis, in which the coachman saw the consequence of the appearance of the deceased. The author had … Read more
The play precedes the dedication of Henrietta of England, the wife of the brother of the king, the official patron of the troupe. The author’s foreword informs the readers that the answers to the condemned play are contained in Criticism. Two old friends – Krisald and Arnolf – discuss the intention of the latter to … Read more
Summer. The last time the main heroine of Alya Amosova was in her native village of Letovka last year, at her mother’s funeral. Now she wanted to know as much as possible about the news from her aunt Anisya and Mani, who came to visit. They told her about the main thing – the construction … Read more
Aristophanes (other Greek, Greek) (444 BC – between 387 and 380, Athens) is an ancient Greek comedian, “the father of comedy.” Aristophanes put his first comedy in 427, but under a different name. When a year later (426) he ridiculed in his “Babylonians” a powerful demagogue, Cleon’s tanner, the latter accused him before the council … Read more
English engineer William Perry, generously rewarded by the Russian Tsar Peter for diligence in arranging locks on the Voronezh River, with a letter calling his brother Bertrand to Russia for the execution of a new tsar’s plan – the creation of a continuous navigable passage between Don and Oko. There are big sluice and channel … Read more