Showing results by narrator "Walter Covell" in All Categories

Merimee's most famous work is the novella Carmen, a story about jealousy and unfaithfulness. It inspired George Bizet's world-famous Opera-Comique. Some 50 movie adaptations have been made from the story, several of which are filmings of the opera.

Merimee was one of the greatest names of the romantic movement in France. Passionate, destructive love was his subject in many short stories.

If you look at any listing of the ten most important books of detective stories published in the United States, chances are you will find Uncle Abner on most of them. It is generally recognized as one of the most important contributions to American dectective fiction between Poe and Hammett. In fact, there are some critics who call it the single finest collecton of American detective stories ever written.

Charles Eastman is unique among Indian writers, whether storytellers or oral historians. He was raised traditionally, as a Woodland Sioux, by his grandmother, from 1858 to 1874, until he was 15. He thus gained a thorough first-hand knowledge of the lifeways, language, culture, and oral history. His father (thought to have been hanged at Mankato, Minnesota) reappeared and insisted he receive the white man's education.

In the tradition of his very popular Candide, Zadig is what might be called a "philosophical tale." Zadig, a handsome young man with a fine education, is puzzled by the uncertainties of his destiny. He attains great success in government but is unsuccessful in love. Despite his wisdom and shrewdness, he meets with a number of misfortunes. The central question of the story is, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

By their nature fables are "fabulous," larger than life, the characters often using wit and guile to save themselves from circumstances. In away, Aesop's Fables are morality plays. They illustrate what was fundamental to Greek culture. Their appeal to us lies in a logic we can still understand. This in turn awakens an appreciation of how far ahead of their time the Greeks were, how enduring their thought was, and how much we have to be grateful to them. This collection features 185 of these famous fables.

Hear some of the greatest American essays ever written! This unabridged collection covers a multitude of subjects, including philosophy, politics, turkeys, and dogs.

Wilke Collins was the author of two of the greatest mysteries ever written, The Moonstone and The Woman in White. However, like Poe before him and Conan Doyle after, he shifted easily from rational domains to the 'superrational'. Like them, he often preferred to indulge his occult predilection, a lifelong indulgence.

The original collection of these stories, published in 1994 in England, did not include "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" because it was considered "too shocking." It was later added to the first American edition.

Wilkie Collins was the author of two of the greatest mysteries ever written, The Moonstone and The Woman in White. However, like Poe before him and Conan Doyle after, he shifted easily from rational domains to the "superrational". Like them, he often preferred to indulge his occult predilection, a lifelong interest. "The Dream Woman" is one his most anthologized stories of the supernatural.

In what is arguably both the best Sherlock Holmes story in the canon and one of the classic all-time mystery novels, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle parlays his interest in the occult with keen scientific detection in a story that prominently showcases Dr. Watson. A lonely English moor, full of ancient woe and inhabited by a hound from hell, and a host of suspects all give Sherlock Holmes and Watson a baffling case to solve.

Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch established a reputation as a literary critic and editor, and was also a successful novelist. Yet Quiller-Couch was also interested in the unseen and unknown, and this prompted him to turn his hand, time and again, to write supernatural stories. The Seventh Man is considered one of the best of these stories. Six men are shipwreaked in the frozen North and about to give up hope when one of them spots a mysterious seventh man, one that the others cannot see.

"Patient Griselda" is arguably the best and certainly one of the most famous tales from The Decameron.

Many consider "The Canterville Ghost" the most famous ghost story of all time. It is a parody featuring a dramatic spirit named Sir Simon and an American ambassador named Mr. Hiram B. Otis. Mr. Otis travels to England with his family and moves into a haunted castle. Lord Canterville, the previous owner of the castle, warns Mr. Otis that the ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville has haunted the castle ever since he killed his wife, Eleonore, centuries ago.

Some of the greatest ghost stories of all time, here to send chills down your spine.

Like Charles Dickens' other early novels, The Old Curiosity Shop was a huge success, even eclipsing The Pickwick Papers. The melodramatic saga of the flight of Little Nell and her grandfather captured the public's attention, so much so that people would wait in long lines for the release of the next installment of the saga. For the character of Little Nell, the beautiful child thrown into a shadowy, terrifying world, Dickens drew on a tragedy in his own life.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are in Boscombe Valley to investigate the death of Mr. Charles McCarthy. Inspector Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, whose meagre abilities are often upstaged by Holmes's brilliant deductions, has concluded that it is a murder, and that McCarthy's son James is the killer. The facts point to something much more complicated, however,and Holmes employs his keen powers of deduction to unravel a tangle of questions and put Lestrade to shame yet again.

The Adventure of the Final Problem was first published in the Strand Magazine in December 1893. It appears in book form as part of the collection, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle later ranked The Adventure of the Final Problem fourth on his personal list of the 12 best Holmes stories. This story introduces Holmes' greatest opponent, the criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty.

If you look at any listing of the 10 most important books of detective stories published in the United States, chances are you will find Uncle Abner, Master of Mysteries on most of them. It is generally recognized as one of the most important contributions to American detective fiction between Poe and Hammett. In fact, there are some critics who call it the single finest collection of American detective stories ever written. This story is from that famous collection.

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was one of the major figures of 19th-century supernaturalism. He helped move supernaturalist fiction away from the gothic's emphasis on external sources of terror and toward a focus on the effects of terror, thus helping to create the psychological basis for supernaturalist and horror literature that continues today. "The Familiar" is one of his most terrifying tales.

Raffles is Sherlock Holmes' polar opposite, a foil for great detectives and a man with all the immoral charms of a hero-thief, plus a remarkable ability at cricket. Raffles is the godson of Robin Hood, the model for Cary Grant in "To Catch a Thief," and the inspiration of Leslie Charteris' "The Saint." As the great reinvention of the trickster for the 20th century, Raffles convinces readers to throw away their scruples and follow along for wit, bold adventures, and thrilling suspense.