Book picks similar to
Collected Works of H. Rider Haggard by H. Rider Haggard
lit-gb
literature
speculative-fiction
pre-20th-century
King Kong
Delos W. Lovelace - 1933
So great is the mighty Kong’s hold on the popular imagination that his story–a gripping yarn of man versus nature, coupled with a fantastical update of the Beauty and the Beast legend–has been thrice made into a motion picture (most recently in 2005) and referenced endlessly in every medium, from books to prime-time sitcoms. Beneath King Kong’s cultural significance, however, is a tense and surprisingly tender story. One cannot help but be frightened by Kong’s uncontrollable fury, be saddened over the giant’s capture, mistreatment, and exploitation by venal showmen, or sympathize with the beast’s ill-fated affection for the down-on-her-luck starlet Ann Darrow. This Modern Library edition of a true colossus among adventure stories is reprinted from the original 1932 novelization of the movie script, and includes a Preface by Mark Cotta Vaz, the preeminent biographer of Merian C. Cooper, producer of the original 1933 classic film.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Sweet Diamond Dust: And Other Stories
Rosario Ferré - 1988
A finalist for the National Book Award with her 1995 novel, The House on the Lagoon, Ferre here uses family history as a metaphor for the class struggles and political evolution of Latin America and Puerto Rico in particular. The result is writing of the highest order--provocative, profound, yet delightfully readable.The "sweet diamond dust" of the title story in this debut collection is, of course, sugar. In this tale the De La Valle family's secrets, ambitions, and passions, interwoven with the fate of the local sugar mill, are recounted by various relatives, friends, and servants. As the characters struggle under the burden of privilege, the story, permeated with haunting echoes of Puerto Rico's own turbulent history, becomes a splendid allegory for a nation's past. The three accompanying stories each follow the lives of the descendants of the De La Valle family, making the book a drama in four parts, raising troubling issues of race, religion, freedom, and sex, with Ferre's trademark irony and startling imagery--a literary experience no reader would want to miss.
Dante's Divine Comedy: Boxed Set; Adapted by Marcus Sanders
Marcus Sanders - 2006
The pair's innovative and authentic adaptation of Dante's epic, coupled with Birk's striking play on Gustave Dor's classic illustrations, make this a "Divine Comedy" for the 21st century. Acclaimed by both the literary and art worlds; rife with contemporary turns of phrase and slang (just as the original poem was written in the vernacular of its day) and pointed visions of the afterlife as contemporary cities; and rich with bold allusion, cultural critique, and witthis is the must-have collection of modern classics.
Collected Works Of George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw - 2008
Warren's Profession; Pygmalion. Eight full-cast performances featuring: Kate Burton, Roger Rees, Shirley Knight, Anne Heche, Eric Stoltz, Martin Jarvis, Paxton Whitehead, Richard Dreyfuss, Bruce Davison and many more.
Female Quixotism: Exhibited in the Romantic Opinions and Extravagant Adventures of Dorcasina Sheldon
Tabitha Gilman Tenney - 1801
Davidson, who places the novel in an historical and literary perspective. Ranging from serious cautionary tales about moral corruption to amusing and trenchant social satire, these books provide today's reader with a unique window into the earliest American popular fiction and way of life.First published in 1801, Female Quixotism is a boisterous, rollicking anti-romance and literary satire. It takes place in the fictional village of L---, Pennsylvania, where its central character Dorcas Sheldon—who styles herself the romantic "Dorcasina"—sets out on a quixotic quest for the kind of romantic love portrayed in her favorite English novels. Having rejected the prosaic yet honorable advances of her first suitor, "Lysander," Dorcasina narrowly escapes marriage to a series of unscrupulous rogues interested mostly in her considerable fortune. Moving from one misadventure to another, the heroine's journey ends in a lonely old age bereft of romantic illusion.Female Quixotism was written during a period of self-definition for the fledgling American republic, and offers a telling glimpse of gender, race, and class issues—as volatile then as they are today. Its woman's-eye view of the life and literature of the age provides a tragicomic parody of the limited choices available to women in a society dedicated to the principle that all men are created equal.
David Copperfield, Volume II of II by Charles Dickens, Fiction, Classics, Historical
Charles Dickens - 1850
Barkis. Along with David comes his handsome school friend Steerforth and he learns that he is no longer in Steerforth's shadow, but has become a young man of his own. Returning to London, David meets Dora Spenlow, a beautiful, but shallow young woman with whom he falls desperately in love. A sudden tragedy -- the death of Peggotty's husband Barkis -- brings David back to the seashore, where he finds his childhood friend little Em'ly about to marry the honest, loving Ham. But Em'ly falls prey to the charms of Steerforth and abandons Ham at the altar, thinking that Steerforth will -make her a lady.- But Steerforth, of course, does nothing of the sort. He abandons Em'ly, who becomes a -ruined woman.- David eventually marries Dora -- who proves to be ill-suited to the married life. Meanwhile, the treacherous Uriah Heep has been weaving his web, destroying the Strongs, Aunt Betsy, and the Micawbers through his fraud and deceit. All is put right in the end, in part from the unlikely heroism of a grown-up Tommy Traddles. Dora tragically dies. Little Em'ly is rescued and reunited with Mr. Peggotty. Ham dies tragically during a terrible storm while trying to rescue the wicked Steerforth (who, for his own part, does not end well), and after David overcomes his grief, he realizes that, all along, he has loved Agnes Wickfield best, and she, him -- and they marry -- she becomes his -bright star, ever pointing upward.- At first it may seem that Dickens' characters are too -black and white, - too obviously either good or evil, and his stories long, complex, and perhaps not immediately clear as to their plot and meaning.
നക്ഷത്രങ്ങളേ കാവല് | Nakshathrangale Kaval
P. Padmarajan - 1971
The story is split into parts which first explore the world from the point of view of each of these protagonists. A carefree Kalyanikutty is brought home in the middle of her exams by her widowed mother following the rumours that had been running around the town on her affair with a boy with a bad character, Prabhu. She surprises everyone with her cold attitude towards what they think is taboo in this society, she attain maturity and becomes strong enough to shock the society once again. Subha, her best friend is forced to marry the man whom she despised the most, Prabhu. She finds self-destruction as the only way to take revenge against the people who are trying to subjugate her and as a bad omen to the family it works. Prabhu, the spoilt , charming, womanizing rascal of the town completes the equation. His failure starts with Kalyanikutty, but gets the fatal blow from Subha that turns him around. His reprisal and how he finally realizes the mistakes prompts him to attempt the final act of redemption. In the depths of a canvas of very calm individuals and a modern town life this story runs as a strong undercurrent of tragedies. To all these drama only stars are the witness.
The Forsyte Saga, The Modern Comedy, The End of the Chapter (the complete Forsyte collection, 9 books and 4 interludes)
John Galsworthy - 2010
Following the life of the duty-bound but passionless Soames Forsyte, stuck in an unhappy marriage with his quick-witted and sensitive wife Irene, his domineering uncle Old Jolyon, and his libertine cousin Young Jolyon, it exposes fully the realities of Victorian society of the day. The sympathetic and evocative picture it paints has made this trilogy.a classic.A Modern Comedy takes up where the Forsyte Saga leaves off, following the lives of the next generation of Forsytes: Jon Forsyte and Fleur Mont, living with the legacy of their parents misadventures. Written after "the great earthquake", as Galsworthy puts it, of World War I, the second Forsyte trilogy speaks of the changes in British society of the 1920s, depicted through the prism of the Forsyte family.The End of the Chapter is the third trilogy in the series, continuing the story of the Forsytes as the old Victorian society declines further under the onslaught of the Edwardian era.This material was NOT merely scanned from an ink-and-paper book, like many Kindle e-books are. All e-books offered by Di Lernia Publishers are hand-edited and checked for spelling and punctuation errors.
The Robert Silverberg Science Fiction MEGAPACK®
Robert Silverberg - 2016
Fan. Author. Editor. Creative force. He has been an integral part of the field for longer than most of his readers have been alive. Earlier this year, he kindly agreed to put together a MEGAPACK® of his short stories, so here, then, is a selection of early works by one of the all-time greats. Included are:ALAREEBIRDS OF A FEATHERBLAZE OF GLORYDELIVERY GUARANTEEDTHE DESSICATORTHE HAPPY UNFORTUNATETHE HUNTED HEROESTHE IRON STARTHE ISOLATIONISTSTHE LONELY ONETHE MAN WHO CAME BACKNEUTRAL PLANETOZYMANDIASTHE PAIN PEDDLERSTHE PLEASURE OF THEIR COMPANYPOINT OF FOCUSPOSTMARK GANYMEDEPRIME COMMANDMENTTHE SONGS OF SUMMERSPACEROGUETHERE WAS AN OLD WOMANTHE WOMAN YOU WANTEDVALLEY BEYOND TIMEWE KNOW WHO WE AREIf you enjoy this ebook, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see more of the 300+ volumes in this series, covering adventure, historical fiction, mysteries, westerns, ghost stories, science fiction -- and much, much more![Version 1.4]
The Man in the Iron Mask
Elizabeth Gray - 2002
Should D'Artagnan keep his promise and protect the headstrong and selfish King Louis or should he do what was right for France and put Philippe on the throne? But will Philippe really be a better King than Louis? Alexander Dumas' thrilling tale of one man's struggle with the conscience take us into 17th century France and examines the lives of people in power and those at their mercy
The Found World
Hugo Navikov - 2018
To entice him to travel underneath one of the most dangerous volcanoes on Earth to find the scientist, this shadowy organization will pay him the only thing he cares about: information that will allow him to avenge his family's murder. But before he can get paid, he and his team must enter an underground hellscape of killer plants, giant insects, terrifying dinosaurs, and an army of other predators never previously seen by man. At the end of this journey awaits a revelation that could alter the fate of mankind ... if they can make it back from this horrifying found world.
Melmoth the Wanderer
Charles Maturin - 1820
In a satanic bargain, Melmoth exchanges his soul for immortality. The story of his tortured wanderings through the centuries is pieced together through those who have been implored by Melmoth to take over his pact with the devil. Influenced by the Gothic romances of the late 18th century, Maturin's diabolic tale raised the genre to a new and macabre pitch. Its many admirers include Poe, Balzac, Oscar Wilde and Baudelaire.
Persian Love Poetry
Sheila R. Canby - 2005
This collection offers extracts translated by the authors from the best of traditional and contemporary Persian poetry and illustrates them with examples of Persian art in the British Museum. It also includes a brief introduction to its tradition and a short biographical note about each of the major poets.