Literary Criticism
Father Goriot
One of Balzac's most popular works, set around 1815 during the re-ascendancy of the Bourbon kings following the defeat of Napoleon. Said to …
The Three Sisters
Fascinated as she was by the lives of the Brontë siblings, May Sinclair loosely based her subtly sensual, quietly insurrectionary 1914 …
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist was published in 1838 as a three volume book. The novel was the first of Dickens' works to realistically portray the degradatio…
The Last of the Valerii
An unnamed American painter resident in Rome serves as narrator in this story, watching as his god-daughter Martha, becomes the wife of Prin…
A Student's History of American Literature
Engaging history of American Lit from the 1600's up through the late 1890's. The author, who was a professor at Knox College, really put a …
Kriloff's Fables
Kriloff's Fables presents a rich collection of 86 fables by the renowned Russian fabulist Ivan Krylov, translated into English for modern au…
The Plain Speaker
The Plain Speaker is a thought-provoking collection of essays by the renowned English essayist William Hazlitt, curated posthumously by his …
The Harbor
The Harbor was written in 1915 by Ernest Poole. The novel is considered by many to be one of Poole’s best efforts even though his book, The …
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian's beauty …
Shakespeare Identified
That one who is not a recognized authority or an expert in literature should attempt the solution of a problem which has so far baffled spec…
The Custom of the Country
Edith Wharton was a novelist of manners of late 19th Century New York "Society", who spent much of her life in France. In this nov…
The Last Day of a Condemned
A man who has been condemned to death writes down his cogitations, feelings and fears while he is waiting for his execution. He does not bet…
Christmas Stories
Twenty stories originally published in the Christmas editions of the magazines “Household Words” and “All The Year Round”. Some of the stori…
Olive
Inspired by Jane Eyre, Dinah Maria Craik's 1850 novel, Olive, was one of the first to feature a disabled central character. 'Slightly deform…
The Dark
The Dark is a novella about a desperate young man, a “terrorist and nihilist”, trying to avoid arrest by taking refuge in a brothel. The sto…
Companionable Books
Many books are dry and dusty, there is no juice in them; and many are soon exhausted, you would no more go back to them than to a squeezed o…
Bel Ami
“He had faith in his good fortune, in that power of attraction which he felt within him - a power so irresistible that all women yielded to …
A Far Country
The book follows the career of Hugh Paret from youth to manhood, and how his profession as a corporation lawyer gradually changes his values…
The Birthplace
Neither the name of Shakespeare nor that of Stratford appears directly in this short piece by James, and yet both are absolutely central to …
Curiosities of Literature
This is the second volume of the collected Curiosities of Literature by Isaac D'Israeli. As in volume one, D'Isreali again takes us on a tou…