The author sails along the Yenisei, a strong, wide river. Sails to the homeland of his childhood. Standing on the deck of the ship, licking drops of spray from the lips, he, like many – many before him, asks a rhetorical question – why? Why so little time devoted to what is really expensive, why … Read more
V. M. Hugo Ernani Spain, 1519. Palace of the Duke of Rui Gomez de Silva in Zaragoza. Late evening. The old man is not at home. Dona Sol, his niece and bride, is waiting for her lover Ernani – today their destiny must be decided. Duenna, hearing a knock on the door, opens and sees … Read more
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
On May 12, 1827, a meeting of the Pickwick Club was held, devoted to the message of Samuel Pickwick, Esq., And entitled: “Reflections on the origins of the Hamsted ponds with the addition of some observations on the theory of sticklebacks.” It established a new department called the Correspondent Society of the Pickwick Club, composed … Read more
The only daughter of a wealthy noblewoman lost her mother early and her father again married a lady with two girls. Since then, the fate of the young Cinderella has changed. Now she was serving her stepmother and in every way pleasing her daughters. I cooked, sewed, washed and cleaned the whole house and did … Read more
VG Korolenko The river plays Tyulin – the hero of the story, the carrier on the river Vetluga. He has a youthful face, “almost without a beard and mustache, with expressive features,” a bassy chest voice, “slightly hoarse, as if from a strong hangover,” but there are “notes as direct and naive as this church, … Read more
N. V. Gogol Portrait The tragic story of the artist Chartkov began before a shop in the Shchukinsky yard, where, among the many paintings depicting peasants or landscapes, he discerned one and, having given the last twenty-ruble for her, brought home. This is a portrait of an old man in Asian clothes, it seemed unfinished, … Read more
The action takes place in 1890-1918. The work is written in the form of the author’s memories of his peer, a young English officer who died in France at the very end of the First World War. His name appeared in one of the last lists of those who died on the battlefield, when hostilities … Read more
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 calculate Nikita, a dapper boy of about twenty-five, an employee of a lazy and walking man. For him, Anisya angrily … Read more
In the ancient castle on the shore of the lake live a baron and a baroness. Fortunately, there seems to be no limit, especially since they found it already in adulthood. Edward loved Charlotte from his youth, but he had to marry a wealthy woman, who was much older than him, under the compulsion of … Read more