The action of the comedy “The Minor” takes place in the house of the Prostakov landowners, distinguished by the dense ignorance and savagery of manners. She is dominated by Ms. Prostakova’s family, a powerful and self-willed woman, brutal with peasants and rough with her family members. Her main passion is a reckless love for her … Read more
The last works of Ivan Turgenev were published in 1882. These were short notes, reflections and observations from the notebooks of the writer. The name of the cycle changed several times. Initially, the author called the collection “Posthumous”, then wrote in Latin Senilia, which means “Starikovskoe”. But the final version, under which the collection was … Read more
Fictional island Pyanosa in the Mediterranean Sea, invented by the author’s fantasy base of the US Air Force. Quite real World War II. However, each of the numerous characters of this extensive literary fresco has its own war, for the sake of victory in which they spare no effort, no life, and some – someone … Read more
Netov, learning about this, goes mad with joy, and Maria Orestovna… “Not the desired birth of a healthy child presented itself to her, and his own death…” Two months later, on Christmas week, the action is transferred to a one-story house on Spiridonovka, where, under the guidance of Katerina Petrovna, eighty, the vast noble family … Read more
A. von Chamisso The Amazing Story of Peter Schlemil Germany, the beginning of the XIX century. After a long swim, Peter Schlemil arrives in Hamburg with a letter of introduction to Mr. Thomas John. Among the guests he sees an amazing man in a gray coat. Surprising because this person, one by one, takes out … Read more
Boleslav Prus Pharaoh Roman in three books, full of excerpts from authentic ancient Egyptian texts, adjacent to the highly modernized social realities of the distant past, begins with an introduction in which the author sets out his views on the history of the ancient Egyptian state: “Egypt flourished as long as a monolithic people, energetic … Read more
Aldemaro, a young nobleman from a noble but impoverished clan, comes to the city of Tudela with his cousin Ricaredo for the wedding of Feliciana, the daughter of one of the most famous and wealthy townspeople, and immediately falls in love with the bride’s sister, Florela. The surprise that struck him unexpectedly is so great … Read more
Seven-year-old Vanya is helping her mother: she drives pigs in the yard, beats them with twigs. Then Vannyka runs to the stables to his father, watches him lubricate the cart wheels. “Vanyanka wanted to do everything that adults do, but not enough strength.” The boy decided to attach a collar himself to the horse, but … Read more
Once upon a time in a small town on the shores of the Mediterranean, the carpenter Giuseppe gives his friend Carlo the organ-grinder a talking log, which, you see, does not want to be heaped. In a poor little room under the stairs, where even the hearth and that was painted on a piece of … Read more
A dull autumn day. In the garden, in the alley under the old poplar, a table is set for the tea. The samovar has an old nanny Marina. “Eat, Father,” she offers to the tea doctor Astrov. “I do not feel like it,” he replies. Telegin appears, an impoverished landowner, nicknamed Waffles, who lives in … Read more