Memorial Day (the end of summer, the beginning of autumn). The aged Tolgonai comes to the field to pour out his soul. This strong woman has no one to complain about her life. In childhood, during the harvest, Tolgonai was led to the field by the hand and put into the shade under the mop. … Read more
Germany after the First World War. Economic crisis. The ruined fates of people and their souls. As one of the heroes of the novel says, “we live in an era of despair.” Three school and then front-line comrades – Robert Lokamp, Gottfried Lenz, Otto Kester – work in a car repair shop. Robert was thirty. … Read more
Every day after school, children played in a wonderfully beautiful garden. But one day the giant returned – the owner of this garden. He drove out all the children and forbade them to return. He was a big egoist. When the time came for spring, she did not come to the garden of the giant. … Read more
R. Akutagawa The Flour of Hell The lady, who served at the court of his lordship Horikawa, tells the story of the writing of the screens “Flour of Hell.” His lordship was a mighty and magnanimous ruler, therefore all the inhabitants of the capital revered him as a living Buddha. There were even rumors that … Read more
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783, New York – November 28, 1859, Tarrytown, New York) is an outstanding American romantic writer. For some time he was preparing for the practice of lawyers. During the war with England, in 1812, was adjutant under General Tompkins, then he took part in one trade enterprise, but so unsuccessfully that … Read more
AI Hertel Gardenins, their servant, adherents and enemies The widow of the actual state councilor Tatyana Ivanovna Gardenina together with her three children usually spent the winter in Petersburg. Because of the signs of anemia in her daughter Elise, an impressionable girl of about seventeen, the family lived abroad for some time in the summer, … Read more
During the Great Patriotic War, the writer as an artilleryman went a long way from Stalingrad to Czechoslovakia. Among Yuri Bondarev’s books on the war, “Hot Snow” occupies a special place, opening up new approaches to solving moral and psychological problems posed in his first novels – “Battalions Ask for Fire” and “The Last Salvoes.” … Read more
ADOLF Roman ADOLF. The story of A. told by Constant is not too rich in events. A. Son of the Minister of a German Elector, after graduating from the University of Goettingen, he comes to a small German town. He is lonely, used to hide his true thoughts behind jokes and slander, he lives without … Read more
Jacques Cazot The Devil in Love The narrative is conducted on behalf of a young Spanish nobleman, who almost fell prey to diabolical intrigues. When Don Alvar Maravillas was twenty-five years old, he served as captain of the Guard of the King of Naples. Officers often indulged in philosophical conversations, and one day the conversation … Read more
Petrograd, mid-20’s. The main character is Andrei Nikolayevich Svistonov, a writer. “Svistonov did not work out systematically, not suddenly appeared before him the image of the world, not suddenly everything became clear, and not then he wrote.” On the contrary, all his things arose from ugly notes on the margins of books, from stolen comparisons, … Read more