Humor Classics

"Il fantasma di Canterville" ("The Canterville Ghost", 1887) è un celebre racconto umoristico giovanile di Oscar Wilde. Pubblicato per la prima volta sulla rivista Court and Society Review, il racconto ebbe un enorme successo e alcuni elementi della storia sono entrati nell'immaginario popolare. Ne sono stati realizzati numerosissimi adattamenti per il cinema, la televisione e il teatro. È una divertente parodia delle storie di fantasmi.

Fitzgerald's tale of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences. This story was the basis for the Oscar-winning Brad Pitt film of the same name.

Il racconto - che fa parte della raccolta 'Arabeschi' e 'Racconti di Pietroburgo' - scritto in prima persona nella forma di un diario, narra la progressiva discesa nella follia del burocrate Aksentij Ivanovic. Attratto dalla bella figlia del suo direttore, e volendo sapere qualcosa di più sul conto di lei, Aksentij Ivanovic sottrae le lettere che sarebbero state scritte dalla cagnolina Maggie, nelle quali egli crede di leggere tutto il disinteresse della ragazza verso di lui.

In New Orleans, Louisiana, something with a weird sense of humor is stranding myth in a non-magical world. Dr. Tiffany Crews and gang find themselves no longer chasing Damn Duck, running into walls or spilling soup. As a matter of fact, no accidents have happened in the last week. It isn't until they find Damn Duck sitting quietly on the balcony, Miracai, the carnivorous unicorn, eating greens without flatulence, and her klutz tendencies missing, Tiffany realizes something is up.

Celebre racconto umoristico giovanile di Oscar Wilde, pubblicato nel 1887. Il racconto ebbe grande successo come parodia delle storie di fantasmi: in realtà, dietro al noncurante umorismo dello scrittore, la storia è pervasa di dolcezza e di poesia.

Un piccolo capolavoro dell'umorismo inglese che mette in ridicolo la paura tutta umana dei fantasmi...

Uova Fatali, di Michail Bulgakov, racconta la vicenda umana, comica, stupefacente, fantascientifica, irrisoria, e infine tragica, del Professor Vladimir...

A delicious and unexpected return engagement from such favorite characters as Jane Eyre, Ebenezer Scrooge, Jay Gatsby, Holden Caulfield, Wilbur the Pig, and Captain Ahab, Book: The Sequel is a perfect gift for book lovers everywhere - or for anyone to whom "The End" is simply the starting point for the imagination.

¿Es amor el querer poseer de forma absoluta al ser amado?LA BELLEZA INÚTIL - ¡ Quien va a creer que es amujer ha tenido siete hijos !- Pues los ha tenido, sí señor, en once años. Cuando llegó a los treinta, cerró su período de producción, para entrar en el de exhibición, cuyo final no se adivina todavía. -¡Pobres mujeres!-¿Por qué las compadeces?-¿Por qué? Ponte a pensar un poco, amigo mío. ¡Once años de preñez para una mujer como ésa! ¡Qué infierno!

El misterio que rodea el pasado de su esposa, y que él se comprometió a respetar, entorpece la aclaración del nerviosismo y la inquietud de la señora Cubitt. Holmes tranquiliza a Hilton Cubitt y le promete su ayuda una vez termine un caso delicado que está resolviendo.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American poet, critic and writer of fiction and is particularly well known for his morbid and supernatural stories. 'Never Bet the Devil Your Head' is a tale which reveals Poe's sense of humour - a gruesome and fantastic humour. It is a witty take on the Faust theme - an antihero inadvertently enters into a terrible wager with the devil.

The streets of eighteenth-century Dublin were rife with an appalling level of poverty. Desperate mothers regularly begged for alms to feed their children, and although passersby might have occasionally contributed a few coins, no large-scale remedy had proved remotely practical or effective.

Стивен Ликок широко известен абсурдистскими, юмористическими и сатирическими произведениями. Первый писательский опыт - студенческая газета. Ликок писал короткие рассказы для поддержки своего финансового состояния, однако рассказы вскоре принесли ему много больше того, чего он ожидал.

Mark Twain, incensed by increasing religious and political imperialism around the globe, characterizes a large nation's invasion and occupation of a smaller country as the "strange and over-showy onslaught of an elephant upon a nest of field mice, on the pretext that the mice had squeaked an insolence at him conduct which 'no self-respecting government could allow to pass unavenged' as Mr. Chamberlain said. Was that a good pretext in a small case when it had not been a good pretext in a large one?- for only recently Russia had affronted the elephant three times and survived...."

One of Edgar Allen Poe’s more lighthearted stories, this details the investigation of a mummy named Allamistakeo. After finding the body of the mummy in good condition, the mummy researchers use electricity to bring him back to life. Allamistakeo then proceeds to have a conversation with the crew - from what ancient Egypt was like to what religion was like. The conversation ends abruptly when the researchers ask him a question about the beginning of the universe, calling to play the reigning religion at the time.

Gramma Tickle, elemental witch and possessor of a brain of rocking-horse proportions, takes a trip to the seaside to remind the sea of its obligations to her family. This year, however, she finds herself trying to faggle out a mystery. Why did a little doggie washed up on the beach neither live nor die? The answer lies in the fairground at the end of the pier, but does she have the courage to face the House of Fear? What do you think?

Three short stories by Anton Chekhov including "The First-Class Passenger", "The Harmfulness of Tobacco", and "A Transgression".

This short story first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1920, and later became part of Flappers and Philosophers. Fitzgerald was the master of exposing the underbelly of the aristocracy and the pompous, and here, Horace the prodigy falls in love with Monica the dancer. Horace puts his lofty goals on hold to pursue a more lucrative career as an acrobat, while Monica writes a book.

The full title of Swift's pamphlet is A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burtden to their Parents, or the Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick."The tract is an ironically conceived attempt to "find out a fair, cheap, and easy Method" for converting the starving children of Ireland into "sound and useful members of the Commonwealth." Across the country poor children, predominantly Catholics, are living in squalor because their families are too poor to keep them fed and clothed.

Mark Twain takes his humor to the graveyard in this memorable short story. Twain carries on a conversation with a skeleton that has been neglected in the cemetery. While we aren't told what a smiling skeleton looks like, Twain is clear it's not a pleasant view. None of us want to be forgotten and this story helps the hearer understand that even in death we do not want to be neglected.