Best of
Fiction

1886

How Much Land Does a Man Need?


Leo Tolstoy - 1886
    Although Pakhom enjoys health and family happiness, he feels dissatisfied when he learns of the grand fortunes of his relatives. He decides to go on a quest for more land, only to find that with each new acquisition new problems develop... How Much Land Does A Man Need? gives a delightful insight into old Russian values

The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories


Leo Tolstoy - 1886
    They include "The Prisoner of the Caucasus," inspired by Tolstoy's own experiences as a soldier in the Chechen War, "Hadji Murat," the novella Harold Bloom called "the best story in the world," "The Devil," a fascinating tale of sexual obsession, and the celebrated "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," an intense and moving examination of death and the possibilities of redemption. Pevear and Volokhonsky's translation captures the richness, immediacy, and multiplicity of Tolstoy's language, and reveals the author as a passionate moral guide, an unflinching seeker of truth, and ultimately, a creator of enduring and universal art. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

La muerte de Iván Ilich


Leo Tolstoy - 1886
    But one day, death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise, he is brought face to face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth?This short novel was an artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction.A thoroughly absorbing and, at times, terrifying glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation.

The Death of Ivan Ilych


Leo Tolstoy - 1886
    But one day, death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise, he is brought face to face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth?This short novel was an artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction.A thoroughly absorbing, and, at times, terrifying glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation.

The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories


Leo Tolstoy - 1886
    He also, however, wrote many masterly short stories, and this volume contains four of the longest and best in distinguished translations that have stood the test of time. In the early story 'Family Happiness', Tolstoy explores courtship and marriage from the point of view of a young wife. In 'The Kreutzer Sonata' he gives us a terrifying study of marital breakdown, in 'The Devil' a powerful depiction of the power of sexual temptation, and, in perhaps the finest of all, 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich', he portrays the long agony of a man gradually coming to terms with his own mortality.Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN 1840224533 here.

How Much Land Does a Man Need? and Other Stories


Leo Tolstoy - 1886
    With a young man's passion and a great writer's insight and irony, he was already exploring the profound moral questions of war, love, courage, and our relationship with nature and civilization, that were to dominate his whole life and art.As well as the novella "Two Hussars", this volume contains several later tales including the brilliant parable "How Much Land Does a Man Need?", "Where Love Is, God Is", and "What Men Live By", stories characterized by their freshness, biblical simplicity and inspiration.

The Highlander's Last Song


George MacDonald - 1886
    

The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Confession


Leo Tolstoy - 1886
    Carson, the eminent British publisher, editor, and translator who, in the words of his author Mary Beard, “had probably more influence on the literary landscape of [England] over the past fifty years than any other single person,” must have seen the irony of translating Ilyich, Tolstoy’s profound meditation on death and loss, “but he pressed on regardless, apparently refusing to be distracted by the parallel of literature and life.” In Carson’s shimmering prose, these two transcendent works are presented in their most faithful rendering in English. Unlike so many previous translations that have tried to smooth out Tolstoy’s rough edges, Carson presents a translation that captures the verisimilitude and psychological realism of the original Russian text.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories


Robert Louis Stevenson - 1886
    Testing chemicals in his lab, he drinks a mixture he hopes will isolate - and eliminate - human evil. Instead it unleashes the dark forces within him, transforming him into the hideous and murderous Mr. Hyde.The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dramatically brings to life a science-fiction case study of the nature of good and evil and the duality that can exist within one person. Resonant with psychological perception and ethical insight, the work has literary roots in Dostoevsky's "The Double" and Crime and Punishment. Today Stevenson's novella is recognized as an incisive study of Victorian morality and sexual repression, as well as a great thriller.This collection also includes some of the author's grimmest short fiction: "Lodging for the Night," "The Suicide Club," "Thrawn Janet," "The Body Snatcher," and "Markheim."

He Fell in Love with His Wife


Edward Payson Roe - 1886
    Alida marries a man only to find out he's already married. She's so undone when she finds out that she just wants to go somewhere where no one will judge her for her misfortune, where she can work and keep herself fed and clothed. James and Alida meet and arrange for a strictly business marriage, leaving loving and honoring out of the vows. The title of the book tells the rest of the story, but the way it gets there is worth the journey.

Novels 1881–1886: Washington Square / The Portrait of a Lady / The Bostonians


Henry James - 1886
    Studies in the exercise of power that marks relations between sexes, classes, and cultures, they show James’s special solicitude for the young heroines who occupy the center of his fictional world.Washington Square (1880) examines the life of Catherine Sloper, a plain, sweet, young woman who lives imprisoned by the selfishness of those close to her: her lover, who cares only for her fortune; her aunt, who meddles for the sake of romantic intrigue; and her protective father, who repays her adoration with irony and wit. Set in the New York of the 1840s, Washington Square evokes the still-intimate city of James’s childhood while presenting a frightening moral lesson in the human consequences of manipulation and indifference.The Portrait of a Lady (1881) is the story of Isabel Archer, a beautiful, idealistic, and inexperienced American woman who is made wealthy by her uncle at the instigation of her dying cousin. Surrounded by the seductive pleasures of nineteenth-century Europe, she preserves her idealism despite involvement with some who would divert her life to uses of their own—Caspar Goodwood, virile American captain of industry; Lord Warburton, scion of British aristocracy; Gilbert Osmond, connoisseur and collector of beautiful objects; Madame Merle, subtle and charming expatriate of unknown connections, and indomitable Henrietta Stackpole, roving journalist and steadfast friend. James’s many-layered masterpiece concerns the perilous American pursuit of individual freedom.The Bostonians (1886) presents an unusual contest for the affections of Verena Tarrant, the lovely, naïve, and pliant daughter of a mesmerist lecturer. She is courted by two cousins: Basil Ransom, an impractical Mississippi landowner now pursuing a meager New York legal practice, and Olive Chancellor, a rich young Boston feminist. Against the richly textured backdrop of Boston and New York society, they enact a drama of confused identity and willful calculation that demonstrates the power and the perils engendered by the refusal of self-knowledge.

One Commonplace Day


Pansy - 1886
    Hundreds of people attended the gathering; but for one small group of picnic-goers who sat together to eat pickles and chicken and cream, life would never be the same again. For in the midst of that average picnic, God went to work in their hearts and set in motion a series of extraordinary events. Before long the small group of picnickers banded together to do the Lord’s work, and to shape the destinies of each other’s souls.This edition of the 1886 classic Christian novel includes a biography of the author and additional bonus material.

The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine


Frank R. Stockton - 1886
    Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Fifty Years Among the Bees


Charles C. Miller - 1886
    C. Miller made beekeeping his sole business, beginning as a hobby in 1861 and continuing until his death in 1920, following a long and distinguished career that produced many articles and books on the subject. This volume, long a classic within the beekeeping community, is a practical, yet endlessly charming handbook on all aspects of a romantic and arcane pursuit. Offering advice, observations, and information gleaned from more than a half-century of beekeeping, it covers, among many other topics, the importance of keeping hives clean and well-ventilated, mending combs, maintaining proper hive temperatures, winter storage, the Queen's nursery, harvesting honey, plus a special section of recipes that range from honey cake to salves for frostbite. Written by a major figure in apiculture history, this volume remains a standard text on hive management and the practices and principles of efficient, effective beekeeping.

The Death of Ivan Ilych and the Devil


Leo Tolstoy - 1886
    And, as Tolstoy takes us back to Ivan Ilyich's early days, it is a life of futility, of emptiness and primarily of spiritual barrenness that is revealed. Yet Tolstoy also reveals how, in the face of serious illness, Ivan Ilyich had made a final resolute gesture to come to terms with his mortality and to embrace his impending death.

Little Lord Fauntleroy


Eva Mason - 1886
    When young Cedric Errol learns that he is actually a British lord and heir to an estate, his life is transformed. He leaves Boston for Dorincourt Castle to live with his uncle, the Earl--a tyrant who's loathed by one and all. Will Cedric succeed in melting his cold, cruel uncle's heart?

A Daughter of Fife


Amelia E. Barr - 1886
    This Elibron Classics edition is a reprint of a 1886 edition by Dodd, Mead & Company, New York.

A Modern Telemachus


Charlotte Mary Yonge - 1886
    Yonge's classic (and true ) tale of piracy, kidnap, derring-do, and adventure on the Algerine main. (jacketless library hardcover.)