Classics World Literature

When Prince Oroonoko's passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonoko's noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behn's visit to Surinam, Oroonoko reflects the author's romantic view of native peoples as noble savages in 'the first state of innocence, before man knew how to sin'.

Two Years Before the Mast is a book by the American author Richard Henry Dana, Jr., written after a two-year sea voyage starting in 1834 and published in 1840. While at Harvard College, Dana had an attack of the measles that affected his vision. Thinking it might help his sight, Dana, rather than going on a Grand Tour as most of his fellow classmates traditionally did (and unable to afford it anyway), and being something of a nonconformist, left Harvard to enlist as a common sailor.

How to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines. In 64 BC when idealist Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest orator, ran for consul (the highest office in the Republic), his practical brother Quintus decided he needed some no-nonsense advice on running a successful campaign.

Vittorin, a young Austrian officer, has just been released from a Russian POW camp toward the end of the Great War. In Vienna his family, his girlfriend, and his old job await him, but Vittorin can’t think of settling down until he has settled the score with the sadistic camp commander, Staff Captain Selukov. Private obsession and political turmoil mix as Perutz leads his hero on a manhunt into the thick of the Russian civil war. In and out of prison, starving in the gutters of Moscow, thrown into revolutionary battle, Vittorin pursues his elusive quarry across postwar Europe. At each turn, he encounters only Fate’s joker, until, back in Vienna, Fate plays him the biggest joke of all.

The Master of the World is a sci-fi novel by Jules Verne. A string of inexplicable occurrences take place throughout the eastern United States, triggered by objects moving with such great velocity that they are almost imperceptible. Robur, a talented inventor, has completed a new machine, which he has dubbed the Terror. It is a ten-meter long vehicle, capable of functioning as a speedboat, submarine, automobile, or aircraft. It can travel at the (then) unheard of speed of 150 miles per hour on land and at more than 200 mph when flying.

“This is not a book to promote tranquility, and readers in quest of peace of mind should look elsewhere,” writes Paul Fussell in the foreword to this original, sharp, tart, and thoroughly engaging work. The celebrated author focuses his lethal wit on habitual euphemizers, artistically pretentious third-rate novelists, sexual puritans, and the “Disneyfiers of life”. He moves from the inflammatory title piece on the morality of dropping the bomb on Hiroshima to a disquisition on the “naturist movement”, and more.

The Lost World is the account of a scientific expedition by four highspirited Englishmen - two scientists, a biggame hunter, and a journalist - deep into the Amazon jungle. In this region, cut off from the outside world by unscalable vertical cliffs and fetid swamps, they encounter a world where dinosaurs roam free and natives fight a murderous war with their fierce neighbors, the apemen. Trapped on the isolated plateau with only hunting rifles as protection the four must use savvy and intellect to escape from this primeval terror.

Н.В. Гоголь начал работу над своим главным трудом - "Мертвые души" в 1835 году. Ни над одним из своих произведений ранее писатель не работал так кропотливо и тщательно, так вдумчиво и напряженно.

This is the timeless science fiction classic, depicting man's struggle against technologically superior invaders from Mars.

A first-rate thriller about an American millionaire who owns the House of Cain, a haven for murderers wanted by the law. Austilene Thorpe is accused of murder but then disappears from gaol. Her fiance, Martin Sherwood, goes blind from shock. His famous adventuring brother Monty learns that Austilene is in a refuge for murderers in the far north-east corner of South Australia, and together the Sherwoods set out to find her and bring her back to Melbourne....

Gwen's barely gotten a taste of normal when her resident god shows up with an assignment. The bridge between the human world and the world of the gods is weakening, and the nine hosts of Heimdall must find each other if they hope to fix it. One small problem - Gwen and the Keens must travel to another world to find Heimdall's remaining hosts. Gwen has always relied on books for her education, but no amount of reading can prepare her for what waits outside the human world.

On a wager, the eccentric English gentleman Phileas Fogg accepts a challenge to circle the globe in 80 days. Follow Phileas and his faithful valet Passepartout in this classic fantastic adventure.

Some of us were lucky enough to have one passionate, funny, inspiring English teacher who helped us fall in love with books. Add a lifetime of teaching Dharma - authentic, traditional approaches to meditation and awakening - and you get award-winning author Dean Sluyter. With droll humor and irreverent wisdom, he unpacks the Dharma of more than twenty major writers, from William Blake to Dr. Seuss, inspiring listeners to deepen their own spiritual life and see literature in a fresh new way: as a path of awakening.

Are you ready to be engulfed in a world in which man battles with deep emotions of vengeance, the pressures of society, and passive resistance? Herman Melville’s descriptive style of storytelling captivates and thrills listeners as he deftly reveals the undertones and themes of racial conflict, truth, and social injustice.

1812. Napoléon rompt brutalement la paix avec la Russie. Les russes, pris de court, n'ont d'autre choix que de se retirer précipitamment, évitant tout contact avec l'ennemi. Finissant, sous la houlette de Koutousov, par se réorganiser, ils livrent la plus terrible des batailles de l'épopée napoléonienne : la victoire de la Moskowa pour les uns ou de Borodino pour les autres, faisant plus de 70.000 morts dont beaucoup d'officiers, de généraux, de maréchaux renommés et laissant la grande armée de Napoléon exsangue et épuisée.

Finn McCoul is the greatest champion in all of Ireland, but when he discovers that the brutish giant Cucullin is after him, even the great Finn gets a wee bit nervous. But with some ingenious culinary magic on the part of his clever wife, Finn manages to get out of the scrape with his dignity intact. Well, most of it! This rollicking version of a beloved Celtic legend, read by actress Catherine O'Hara, with music by Boys of the Lough, will light up your ears.

The Book of the Courtier remains the definitive account of Renaissance court life. Because of this, it is considered one of the most important Renaissance works. The book is organized as a series of fictional conversations that occur between the courtiers of the Duke of Urbino in 1507 (when Baldassare was in fact part of the Duke's Court). In the book, the courtier is described as having a cool mind, a good voice (with beautiful, elegant and brave words) along with proper bearing and gestures.

No collection of Japanese literature is complete without Natsume Soseki's Kokoro, his most famous novel and the last he completed before his death. Published here in the first new translation in more than 50 years, Kokoro - meaning "heart" - is the story of a subtle and poignant friendship between two unnamed characters, a young man and an enigmatic elder whom he calls "Sensei".

In this slyly funny and lavishly inventive novel, Nobel Prize winner V. S. Naipaul traces the unlikely career of Ganesh Ramsumair, a failed schoolteacher and impecunious village masseur who in time becomes a revered mystic, a thriving entrepreneur, and the most beloved politician in Trinidad. Witty, tender, filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of Trinidad's dusty Indian villages, The Mystic Masseur is Naipaul at his most expansive and evocative.

It is an INVASION! H. G. Wells' classic story of Martians invading an unsuspecting and unprepared world continues to thrill and terrify listeners around the world. Following strange explosions on the surface of Mars, metallic cylinders crash in the English countryside - objects that carry hideous aliens possessed of deadly weapons and a rabid hunger for human flesh. No army can stop these monstrous hordes, no weapons can harm them - a terrified humanity watches helpless as cities are reduced to cinders and ash. There is no hope...here is no future...our world is lost - unlessa?S