One girl left the house in the forest. In the forest, she lost her way and began to look for the way home, but did not find, but came to the house in the forest. The door was opened; she looked at the door, saw: there was no one in the house, and entered. In … Read more
The first in Italy “scientific” comedy takes place on the island of Metellino, in vague “antique” times. In the prologue, it is declared that modern authors can compete with the ancients in craftsmanship, although the Italian language is still inferior in ecclesiastical Greek and Latin. The play begins with the fact that the young man … Read more
Vasily Ivanovich, a Russian emigrant living in Berlin, was a modest, gentle bachelor with intelligent and kind eyes. Once, at a charity ball, arranged by emigrants from Russia, he won a ticket for a fun trip. He did not want to go anywhere, but he could not sell the ticket. At the station he saw … Read more
FIDELIO Opera in two acts Libretto by I. Sonnleitner and G. Treichke1 Characters: Florestan, the prisoner Leonora, his wife, hiding under the name Fidelio Don Fernando, Minister Don Pizarro, the prison governor Rocco, the jailer Marcelina, his daughter Zhakino, the gatekeeper Tenor Soprano Baritone Baritone Bass Soprano Tenor Prisoners, officers, guards, people. The action takes … Read more
A. A. Blok The Rose and the Cross The action takes place in the XIII century. in France, in Languedoc and Brittany, where the uprising of the Albigoys, against which the Pope organizes the crusade, is beginning to flare up. The army, designed to help the overlords, is moving from the north. The play begins … Read more
Stanislav Lem Solaris In the future – a very distant from us “cosmic future” of mankind – these farewell words are heard: “Kelvin, you fly, all the best!” The psychologist Kelvin, at an incredible distance from the Earth, descends from the spacecraft to the planetary station – this is a huge silver whale floating above … Read more
Denis Diderot Rameau’s nephew The work is written in the form of a dialogue. His characters are the narrator (Diderot himself is implied) and the nephew of Jean-Philippe Rameau, the greatest representative of classicism in French music of the times of Diderot. The narrator first gives a characterization to Rameau’s nephew: he certifies him as … Read more
The captain of artillery and his wife Alice, a former actress, live in a fortress on the island. Autumn. They are sitting in the living room, located in the fortress tower, and talking about the forthcoming silver wedding. The captain believes that it must be noted, while Alice would prefer to hide from their eyes … Read more
Five days a person goes to the depths of the south-eastern steppe of the Soviet Union. On the way, he presents himself as a locomotive engineer, a geologist-spy, or “another organized professional being, just to occupy his head with an uninterrupted thought and distract the longing from the heart” and reflects on the reorganization of … Read more
In a small state where Prince Demetrius reigned, every citizen was given complete freedom in his endeavor. And fairies and magicians above all put warmth and freedom, so with Demetrius, many fairies from the magical land of Ginistan moved to the blessed little principality. However, after the death of Demetrius, his successor, Pafnuti, conceived the … Read more
RP Warren The whole royal army The events of this novel unfold in the twenties and thirties of this century in the United States of America. The narrative is conducted on behalf of Jack Berden. Berden was born in a well-to-do family in the south, graduated from a prestigious school, studied US history at the … Read more
FM Dostoevsky Teenager Arkady Makarovich Dolgoruky, aka Teenager, recounts in his notes about himself and recent events, in which he was one of the main participants. He is twenty years old, he just graduated from high school in Moscow, but he decided to postpone his admission to the university, so as not to be distracted … Read more
P. Calderon Steady Prince The play is based on genuine historical events – an unsuccessful trip to Africa by Portuguese troops under the command of the infants Fernando and Enrique, who tried in vain to storm the city of Tangier in 1437. King Fetz wants to beat off the Portuguese city of Ceuta. Prince Taroudant … Read more
Dog Beck, born from St. Bernard and the Scottish Shepherd, did not read the newspapers and did not know that thousands of people rushed to the North in search of gold, and therefore now they need large breed dogs suitable for hard work. Back lived in the mansion of Judge Miller, warmed himself by the … Read more
When Konstantin Aleksandrovich Saks announced to his wife that he must go for three weeks to the province, Polinka burst into tears and began to ask her husband to refuse to travel. She is sad, she is tormented by bad forebodings. But Sachs is not just an official at large, but a man of duty … Read more
The theme of the war did not pass Russian literature. A bit of stories, novels, poems are devoted to this cruel time and the post-war period. One of these stories belongs to Eugene Nosov. Let us recall his problems and brief content. “Doll” by Evgeny Nosov is a short but heartfelt story about the human … Read more
Tomáš is a surgeon and works in a clinic in Prague. A few weeks ago in a small Czech town he met Theresa. Theresa works as a waitress at a local restaurant. They spend together only an hour, then he returns to Prague. Ten days later she comes to him. This unfamiliar girl awakens in … Read more
BA Pilniak Mahogany In the first short chapter, the two parts are divided by sharpness, they are given the most expressive strokes of Russian life: they describe foolishness and holy fools, but also Russian craftsmen and artisans. “Beggars, pimples, pobroshy, volobotshebniki, lazari, wanderers, miserable, empty saints, caliki, prophets, fools, fools, holy fools are the unequivocal … Read more
Vassa Borisovna Zheleznova is an influential woman, she owns a large steamship company. She is 42 years old, she lives in her own house with her sixty-year-old husband Sergei Petrovich, a former captain, a lover of cognac and women. They have two daughters, Natalia and Lyudmila, who live with them in the house, and the … Read more
Steppe grass bunch is dry, He and dry smells! And at once steppe over me All the charm resurrects. When in the steppes, beyond the camp, Horde wandered nomadic, There was Khan the Child and Khan Syrchan, Two brothers, batyrs (1) dashing. And since they had a feast, the mountain Velik was full was taken … Read more
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
The novel takes place in St. Petersburg and Pavlovsk late 1867 – early 1868. 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 … Read more
Having received an invitation from the well-known Pushkinist Schweitzer to come to Mikhailovskoye, the Leningrad restorer Nikolai Vermel put aside his urgent work on the frescoes of the Trinity Church in Novgorod and, along with his partner and pupil Pakhomov, went to Schweitzer, who rummaged in the Mikhailovsky Museum in the hope of finding unknown … Read more
IA Bunin Countryside Russia. Late XIX – early XX century. The Brothers of Color, Tikhon and Kuzma, were born in a small village of Durnovka. In their youth they were engaged in small trade, then they quarreled, and their ways parted. Kuzma went to work for hire. Tikhon took off his inn, opened a tavern … Read more
Lewis Carroll Alice in the Looking Glass In this book, Lewis Carroll, a great fan of puzzles, paradoxes and “flip-flops”, the author of the already famous “Alice in Wonderland”, sends her favorite heroine girl Alice to another fairy country – Through the Looking Glass. As well as last time, Alice embarks on adventures thanks to … Read more
Mark Twain The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The middle of the last century, the town with the pretentious name of St. Petersburg… America, where no factories, no railroads, no class struggle, but instead chickens wander among the houses with kitchen gardens… A pious province where Aunt Polly, alone raising Tom Sawyer, does not take up … Read more
In 1918-1920, Bunin recorded in the form of diary notes his immediate observations and impressions of events in Russia at that time. Here are some fragments: Moscow, 1918 1st of January. This damned year is over. But what’s next? Maybe something even more terrible. Even probably so… February 5th. Since February 1, they ordered us … Read more
After an unsuccessful testing of the steam engine, two cronies Mishka and Kolya decide to make an incubator to remove the chickens. From a pile of old junk they master the apparatus and with the help of an electric lamp set the desired temperature. Taking the eggs in the village, which the chicken just took, … Read more
J. Casanova The Story of My Life The illustrious Venetian adventurer, whose name became a household name, was a brilliant narrator; gradually he began to write down his stories; these records grew into memoirs. Like any true adventurer, Kazakova spends life on the road. Arriving one day in Constantinople, he meets the venerable philosopher Yusuf … Read more
Lieutenant Sergei Kostrov in the autumn of 1941 falls into captivity. Having detained the prisoners for several days in the cellars of the destroyed Klin glass factory, they, built on five people in a row, are escorted along the Volokolamsk highway. From time to time shots are heard – it’s the Germans who shoot the … Read more
Jean-Paul Sartre Flies In the main square of Argos is a flakes-stained statue of Jupiter, Waving off large fatty flies, enters Orestes. Screams scream from the palace. Fifteen years ago, Clytemnestra, the mother of Orestes and Elektra, and her lover Egiof killed their father Agamemnon. Aegisthus wanted to kill Orestes, but the boy managed to … Read more
By the end of the XVII century. After the death of Emperor Fyodor Alekseevich, a struggle for power begins in Russia. Rebellion streltsy, instigated by the princess Sophia and her lover, ambitious prince Vasily Golitsyn. There were two tsars in Moscow-the youngest Ivan Alekseevich and Pyotr Alekseyevich, and above them the ruler of Sophia. “Everything … Read more
NIKOLAI ANDREEVICH ROMAN-KORSAKOV 1844-1908 Rimsky-Korsakov – an outstanding composer, music and public figure and teacher – left a huge creative legacy. It includes 15 operas, 3 symphonies, a number of orchestral works (among them the symphonic suite “Scheherazade”, 1888 and “The Spanish Capriccio”, 1887), numerous romances and other works are most popular. He also owns … Read more
Peter Weiss Inquiry In accordance with the original intention of the author, who wanted to create a modern “Divine Comedy”, the composition of the play, which uses the materials of the Frankfurt process over the Nazi criminals of 1963-1965, repeats the structure of the 1st and 2nd parts of the epic of Dante: in each … Read more
P. Calderon Life is a dream In a deserted mountainous area, not far from the court of the Polish king, Rosaura, a noble lady dressed in a man’s dress, and her servant, lost their way. The night is approaching, and there is no light around. Suddenly travelers distinguish in the twilight a tower, from behind … Read more
Astrid Lindgren composed a fairy tale evening after night about the girl Peppi for her daughter Karin, who was sick at that time. The name for the main character, long and difficult to pronounce for a Russian person, was invented by the writer’s daughter herself. This fairy tale in 2015 turned sixty years old, and … Read more
The events of this novel unfold in the twenties and thirties of this century in the United States of America. The narrative is conducted on behalf of Jack Berden. Berden was born in a well-to-do family in the south, graduated from a prestigious school, studied US history at the University of the State, and later … Read more
L. de K. Vovenarg Introduction to the knowledge of the human mind Pascal says: “All the rules of decent behavior have long been known, stopping for a small – for the ability to use them.” Any principle is contradictory, any term is interpreted in different ways. But, having comprehended the person, it is possible to … Read more
M. Maeterlinck There, inside the Old Garden, in the Willow Garden. In the depths of the house, three windows of the lower floor are lit. Father is sitting by the fireplace. The mother leans her elbows on the table and looks into the void. Two young girls in white embroider. Leaning head on the mother’s … Read more
Three parts of a huge book, divided into eighteen episodes, should, according to the author, relate to the Homeric Odyssey (Ulysses – the Latin transcription of the name of its main character). But this connection with the ancient Greek epic is very relative and, rather, from the opposite: in a lengthy novel nothing important, in … Read more
FM Dostoevsky Netochka Nezvanova Eight-year-old Netochka lives in the closet in the attic of a large St. Petersburg house. Her mother sewing and concoction earns for the whole family. Stepfather, Egor Efimov, a strange man. He is a talented violinist, but abandoned music, because the “villain” wife allegedly ruined his talent. Only her death will … Read more