Classics World Literature

Mark Twain composed this short essay on the "art of lying" in 1885 for a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, Connecticut. In the essay, Twain laments the four ways in which men of America's Gilded Age employ man's "most faithful friend". The essay, Twain notes, was "offered for the thirty-dollar prize," but it "did not take the prize."

For 300 years, The Pilgrim's Progress has remained perhaps the best-loved and most read of devotional fictions. In plain yet powerful and moving language, Bunyan tells the story of Christian's struggle to attain salvation and the Gates of Heaven. He must pass through the Slough of Despond, ward off the temptations of Vanity Fair, and fight the monstrous Apollyon. In Part II, his wife and children follow the same path, helped and protected by Great-heart, until for them, too, "the trumpets sound on the other side."

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.

Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie's story - Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to the Logan family, even as she learns to draw strength from her own sense of dignity and self-respect.

Que vis-je ! Face à face, dans cette cour où ils ne s'étaient certainement jamais rencontrés (M. de Charlus ne venant à l'hôtel Guermantes que dans l'après-midi, aux heures où Jupien était à son bureau), le baron ayant soudain largement ouvert ses yeux mi-clos, regardait avec une attention extraordinaire l'ancien giletier sur le seuil de sa boutique, cependant que celui-ci, cloué subitement sur place devant M. de Charlus, enraciné comme une plante, contemplait d'un air émerveillé l'embonpoint du baron vieillissant.

The night elf defenders, led by the young druid, Malfurion Stormrage, and the wizard, Krasus, fight a desperate battle to hold back the Legion's terrible onslaught. Though only embers of hope remain, an ancient power has risen to aid the world in its darkest hour. The dragons - led by the powerful Aspect, Neltharion - have forged a weapon of incalculable power: the Dragon Soul, an artifact capable of driving the Legion from the world forever. But its use may cost far more than any could have foreseen.

Walden is the classic account of two years spent by Henry David Thoreau living at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. The story is detailed in its accounts of Thoreau's day-to-day activities, observations, and undertakings to survive out in the wilderness for two years. Thoreau's journal is an exquisite account of a man seeking a more simple life by living in harmony with nature.

Phileas Fogg, a gentleman of stringent and inflexible habits, proposes that he can circumvent the globe in 80 days. He wagers half of his fortune to this effect. But when a high profile bank robbery occurs, the dogged Detective Fix is convinced that Mr. Fogg is an audacious bank robber and that his entire "gentleman's wager" is a charade. Thus begins a wild battle of cat and mouse that takes the clever combatants around the world.

Contents: - Washington Irving. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Edgar Allan Poe. The Gold Bug - Herman Melville. Bartleby, the Scrivener - Bret Harte. The Luck of Roaring Camp - Leo Tolstoy. The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Fyodor Dostoevsky. The Dream of a Ridiculous Man - Rudyard Kipling. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi - Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Yellow Wallpaper - Anton Chekhov. The Lady with the Dog - D.H. Lawrence. The Prussian Officer - James Joyce. Araby - Ivan Turgenev. First Love.

Premier des romanciers modernes, Fiodor Dostoïevski est parmi les plus grands écrivains russes du XIXe siècle. Dans "Les carnets du sous-sol", il fait le récit d'un homme reclus qui depuis son sous-sol observe le monde en contre-plongée. Le narrateur crache ses mots avec aigreur, son refus obstiné du bonheur, déverse ses angoisses et sa haine envers l'humanité. Écrit en 1864, on y retrouve un condensé de la fureur barbare qui fait l'œuvre de l'auteur et les bases des grands romans à venir.

Set 10 years after Little Men, Jo's Boys revisits Plumfield, the New England school still presided over by Jo and her husband, Professor Bhaer. Jo's Boys — including sailor Emil, promising musician Nat, and rebellious Dan — are grown. Jo remains at the center of this tale, holding her boys fast through shipwreck and storm, disappointment...and even murder.

One of Charles Bukowski's best, this beer-soaked, deliciously degenerate novel follows the wanderings of aspiring writer Henry Chinaski across World War II-era America. Deferred from military service, Chinaski travels from city to city, moving listlessly from one odd job to another, always needing money but never badly enough to keep a job. His day-to-day existence spirals into an endless litany of pathetic whores, sordid rooms, dreary embraces, and drunken brawls, as he makes his bitter, brilliant way from one drink to the next.

"Le passe-muraille" de Marcel Aymé (recueil de nouvelles en 1943), n'a pas, au contraire du "Huis clos" de Sartre, de prétention philosophique. Le merveilleux du "passe-muraille" fait office de métaphysique. Marcel Aymé parlant de la littérature pour enfants : "la vie quotidienne leur offre plus rarement qu'aux adultes ce visage ingrat qui incite à chercher hors du réel un refuge ou une revanche... Le monde réel, solide, qu'ils commencent à interroger, ne leur a pas apporté de déceptions suffisamment graves pour qu'ils éprouvent le besoin de s'en absenter...".

À l'approche du baccalauréat, deux amis lycéens voient leur vie de famille bousculée et tentent une émancipation désordonnée cependant que des intrigues parallèles interfèrent et étoffent le déroulement de ce roman qui s'interroge sur la littérature. Cette œuvre virtuose, de forme libre et novatrice compte parmi les romans majeurs du XXème siècle ; André Gide reçoit le Prix Nobel de littérature en 1947.

L'immensité de la steppe, l'avidité et la fatuité française précipitent la Grande Armée vers la défaite. Koutousov, en fin stratège, ne fait qu'accompagner la décomposition de l'adversaire. À la suite de plusieurs défaites dues à une totale impréparation, les Français n'ont d'autre choix que de quitter Moscou et de se replier dans le plus grand désordre, harcelés par des groupes de partisans, suivis de près par les troupes russes et abandonnés par leur empereur.

A seminal and controversial figure in the history of political thought and public relations, Edward Bernays pioneered the scientific technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion, which he famously dubbed the "engineering of consent". During World War I, he was an integral part of the US Committee on Public Information, or CPI, a powerful propaganda apparatus that was mobilized to package, advertise, and sell the war to the American people as one that would "Make the World Safe for Democracy".

Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji in the 11th century to entertain the other women in the court. It follows the romantic exploits of the title character, an emperor’s son, as he navigates life within aristocratic society and eventually outside of it. Praised for its psychological insight into the characters’ motivations, the book greatly influenced Japanese culture and is widely considered the world’s first novel. In 1882, Suematsu Kencho translated a condensed version of the text into English, allowing this classic tale to reach a wider audience.

Jim Loney is a mixed-blood, of White and Indian parentage. Estranged from both communities, he lives a solitary, brooding existence in a small Montana town. His nights are filled with disturbing dreams that haunt his waking hours. Rhea, his lover, cannot console him; Kate, his sister, cannot penetrate his world. In sparse, moving prose, Welch has crafted a riveting tale of disenfranchisement.

Ce roman de Louis Robert Stevenson paru en 1886 retrace l'enquête d'un notaire, M. Utterson, qui s'interroge sur les actions d'un individu fort peu recommandable, Edward Hyde. Peu à peu, il découvre qu'un lien étrange semble unir cet individu dépourvu de scrupules et le docteur Henry Jekyll, un honorable gentleman de la société londonienne. Pourquoi le bon docteur semble-t-il ainsi protéger celui qui semble être un criminel ? Cette œuvre a fait l'objet de nombreuses adaptations au cinéma, à la télévision et au théâtre.

An espionage thriller that has been called the first great spy novel, it has sustained its popularity, being embraced by each new generation. The first in a series of five novels it features the spy Richard Hannay, an action hero with a stiff upper lip who gets caught up in a dangerous race against a plot by German spies to destroy the British war effort. When Richard Hannay offers sanctuary to an American agent seeking his help in stopping a political assassination, he takes the first step on a trail of peril and espionage.