The Europeans: A sketch is a short novel by Henry James, published in 1878. It is essentially a comedy contrasting the behaviour and attitudes of two visitors from Europe with those of their relatives living in the 'new' world of New England. The novel first appeared as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly for July-October, 1878. James made numerous minor revisions for the first book publication. (Summary by Wikipedia)
12 episodes
Apart from "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" - the pieces which made both Irving and The Sketch Book famous - other tales include "Roscoe", "The Broken Heart", "The Art of Book-making", "A Royal Poet", "The Spectre Bridegroom", "Westminster Abbey", "Little Britain", and "John Bull". His stories were highly influenced by German folktales, with "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" being inspired by a folktale recorded by Karl Musäus. Stories range from the maudlin (such as "The Wife" and "The Widow and Her Son") to the picaresque ("Little Britain") and the comical ("The Mutability of Literature"), but the common thread running through The Sketch Book — and a key part of its attraction to readers — is the personality of Irving's pseudonymous narrator, Geoffrey Crayon. Erudite, charming, and never one to make himself more interesting than his tales, Crayon holds The Sketch Book together through the sheer power of his personality - and Irving would, for the rest of his life, seamlessly enmesh Crayon's persona with his own public reputation. (Introduction by Wikipedia)
36 episodes
A Relíquia é um romance do escritor português Eça de Queirós, publicado em 1887. Uma de suas obras mais irreverentes e mais fantasiosas, "A Relíquia"pode ser lida como uma sátira ao catolicismo em Portugal, ou, mais amplamente, ao conservadorismo, através das memórias do narrador Teodorico Raposo, que, para herdar a fortuna da tia velha e solteirona, vive uma vida dupla: extremamente católico e devoto para a família, mas um ébrio galanteador junto aos amigos. Como prova cabal de sua devoção, Teodorico empreende a longa viagem de Portugal à Terra Santa como representante da tia, num esforço de manutenção das aparências que resulta, segundo o narrador, em aventuras que viriam a modificá-lo para o resto da vida. O livro tem como epígrafe a frase "Sobre a nudez forte da verdade, o manto diáfano da fantasia". (Resumo escrito por Leni)
26 episodes
Originally published 1870, this recording is from the English translation by Frederick P. Walter, published 1991, containing the unabridged text from the original French and offered up into the public domain. It is considered to be the very first science fiction novel ever written, the first novel about the undersea world, and is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870. It tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine Nautilus, as seen from the perspective of Professor Pierre Aronnax - Summary by Michele Fry
48 episodes
Mysterious old Captain Coffin not only has a wild story about a Honduran island where treasure lies, he has a map. But they must be wary because it also holds “a poison that kills a man and keeps him fresh as paint”. Nothing can hold Harry back from tagging along and meeting up with murder, intrigue, a collection of colorful characters, and a vociferous parrot. - Summary by Amy Gramour
34 episodes
Englishman Valentine Blount is traveling in Australia, looking for his fortune. He meets up with John Carter, a bushman known locally as Little River Jack, who acts as his guide. They come across an abandoned camp - what is the story behind it? Whose camp was it? Why did they leave? - Summary by Lynne Thompson
18 episodes
Richard and his friend Colin must sadly return from their distant hermitage to New York City at summer's end. However, rather than take the train on the 430 mile trip to the city, the two decide to walk the route, for as Richard stated: "Don't you hate the idea of being hurled along in a train, and suddenly shot into the city again, like a package through a tube?" Certainly a lengthy walk it would be, but the two decide that the trip itself can be the most rewarding, and their trek begins. Along the way, they meet people they never would have met; they witness landscape, nature and habitat which they wouldn't have otherwise seen; and they learn about themselves and their place in the world which they may not have otherwise comprehended. A clever travelogue of two artistic types from first person point of view. - Summary by Roger Melin
6 episodes
Pierre Loti (a nom de plume) was for many years an officer in the French Navy, giving him the opportunity to sample and analyze different national and cultural milieux, in which he deeply immersed himself. The present book, said to have formed the basis for the famous "Madame Butterfly" story, is presented as an autobiographical account of his marriage to a young Japanese woman while his ship was stationed in Nagasaki. His style is surprisingly modern for the period, perhaps anticipating Camus. His descriptions of summer in Nagasaki have a detail which is at the same time personal and detached, while his observations of the people are less than sympathetic. A sense of ennui and lack of conventional morality pervades. (Summary by Peter Tucker)
9 episodes
In W.H. Hudson’s first novel, an Englishman wandering on horseback across the pampas finds adventure and romance in Uruguay. The full title became: “The Purple Land: Being the Narrative of One Richard Lamb's Adventures in The Banda Oriental, in South America, as Told By Himself”. In the preface to "The Sun Also Rises", President Teddy Roosevelt said that everyone should read "The Purple Land."- Summary by A. Gramour
31 episodes
Los Viajes de Gulliver pertenece al género fantástico y es unn serie de viajes imaginarios, que leídos en profundidad, constituye una de las mejores sátiras que se han escrito. Swift escribió los Viajes de Gulliver, desde la experiencia de Swift con los Tories y sus conflictos con los Whigs, estas disputas fueron la causa para escribir libros que burlando la opinión religiosa, gubernamental o popular, ponían en evidencia los diferentes puntos de vista entre ellos y con él mismo.La obra relata los cuatro viajes por mar, realizados por un médico de abordo llamado Lemuel Gulliver. A través de Gullliver, J.Swift en sus cuatro viajes por diferentes países, representa cada uno, una parte corrupta de Inglaterra. Swift critica al gobierno, la sociedad, la ciencia y la religión. No solamente hace crítica de las costumbres de cada país, sino que además se burla del hombre ingenuo, quien tiene la incapacidad para figurarse el doble sentido de las cosas. Summary by Phileas Fogg
36 episodes
H. Rider Haggard (author of King Solomon's Mines the Allan Quatermain Series, and many more) and Andrew Lang (author of, among others, the rainbow coloured fairytale books) collaborate to lend their talent to one of the most fascinating and well known stories of all times. Odysseus returns home from the war, but does not find the peace and quiet which he craves. His home is ravaged, and his wife Penelope is dead. He comunicates with an old flame, the beautiful Helen of Troy, who sends him to his ultimate and defining last journey. Read about his adventures, and what might have been, in this beautiful novel by two of Britian's best Vctorian novelists. - Summary by Stav Nisser and Wikipedia.
28 episodes
Washington Irving is, arguably, one of America's greatest writers. He spent many years in Europe and kept records of his observations, which formed the basis of such classics as "Old Christmas," "Bracebridge Hall" and "Tales of a Traveler." This volume is the latest entry in a series of collected essays written during these early years. The fragility of the heart forms the basis of many of these short stories. Irving handles the issues of love, heartbreak and death in a caring and compassionate way. ( Greg Giordano)
6 episodes
Marcia Copley, an American Heiress, comes to Rome. Typically for the period, she may want to attract an aristocrat. He brings the title, she brings the money to support it. Her adventures in Rome are different than she anticipated. Rich and poor live side by side, and the author does her best to describe both walks of life vividly and truthfully. Jean Webster is the author of Daddy Long Legs and Dear Enemy. This particular novel would also please fans of Henry James and George Gissing. - Summary by Stav Nisser.
27 episodes
When a nursemaid mixes up her baby boy and the baby of the family she works for, the family decides to keep both. Years later, the nursemaid returns, intent on using the boys to get money. When the boy she chooses first refuses to help and instead runs away, his adopted family is willing to do everything they can to rescue him. But will it be enough when war threatens in the Sudan--the runaway's destination? - Summary by Adele de Pignerolles
21 episodes
One of the very first New Zealand novels, Over the Hills and Far Away is a heavily romanticised tale of a woman's journey from England to Otago, New Zealand, and her subsequent experiences in the wild new colony. - Summary by Lewis Fletcher
34 episodes
Einer der Klassiker der Weltliteratur, der seit Generationen Groß und Klein fesselt: Lemuel Gulliver bereist ferne Länder und erlebt dabei unerhörte Abenteuer, er trifft auf phantastische Einwohner unbekannter, ferner Gegenden, wobei alle diese skurrilen Erlebnisse immer wieder satirisch die damalige (und auch unsere heutige) Gesellschaft reflektieren. Eine ungemein phantasiereiches Buch, das überaus unterhaltsam ist, allerdings auch jede Menge Stoff zum Nachdenken bietet und über ein reines Kinderbuch weit hinausgeht. - Summary by Boris
41 episodes
El profesor Lidenbrock, que une a su condición de verdadero sabio una terquedad sin límites, descifra un viejo pergamino devolviendo pacientemente su sentido a los incomprensibles signos que en él se contienen. ¡Extraordinarios peligros de la lectura! El descifrado de aquel texto arrastrará inevitablemente al propio Lidenbrok, a su joven sobrino Axel y al valeroso cazador Hans Bjelke hasta el mismísimo centro de la Tierra, poblado de animales antediluvianos, tempestades terribles y otros riesgos sin mayor importancia. - (Phileas Fogg)
45 episodes
Повесть основана на подлинном случае миссионерской деятельности архиепископа Нила (1799-1874), но написана с характерным для Лескова гротеском и тщательной шлифовкой персонажей. Затронута необычная для русской литературы 19-го века тема свободы вероисповедания.
"Making up things is hard labour for me, so I've always felt the need for having before me real faces which could intrigue me with their spirituality; then they get hold of me and I infuse them with new life, using some real-life stories as a basis," wrote Leskov about the characters of this book. Bigger than life characters meet at a missionary expedition to the Siberian North. The subject of freedom of faith is unusual for the 19-century Russian literature. - Summary by Mark Chulsky (& Wikipedia)
13 episodes
Rachel Vinrace embarks for South America on her father's ship and is launched on a course of self-discovery in a kind of modern mythical voyage. The mismatched jumble of passengers provide Woolf with an opportunity to satirise Edwardian life. The novel introduces Clarissa Dalloway, the central character of Woolf's later novel, Mrs Dalloway. Two of the other characters were modelled after important figures in Woolf's life. St John Hirst is a fictional portrayal of Lytton Strachey and Helen Ambrose is to some extent inspired by Woolf's sister, Vanessa Bell.[7] Rachel's journey from a cloistered life in a London suburb to freedom, challenging intellectual discourse and discovery very likely reflects Woolf's own journey from a repressive household to the intellectual stimulation of the Bloomsbury Group.
27 episodes
In a nineteenth century Sicilian fishing village, the Malavoglia family gambles everything on being able to profit from a cargo of lupin nuts. The cargo is lost at sea and a succession of misfortunes and tragedies assails the family. A masterpiece of social commentary hailed within Italy but neglected by the wider world, The House by the Medlar Tree ranks alongside the works of Zola, Dickens or Balzac among the great books of European literature. The book is the inspiration behind the 1948 film 'La Terra Trema' ('The Earth Trembles'), one of the earliest works of the great Italian director Luchino Visconti. - Summary by Tom Denholm
20 episodes
Martin Overshaw and Corinna Hastings are leading dull and unproductive lives in Paris, having fled humdrum England. They fall in with Fortinbras, who calls himself a Marchand de Bonheur. He predicts a bright future for them and suggests they set out on a journey through France together.
The book follows their adventure which turns out to be far more complicated than it might at first seem. They meet a variety of characters on the way and the looming threat of the First World War overshadows the second half of the book, which nonetheless ends happily for all concerned.
24 episodes
"El Anacronópete" es la primera obra en la que aparece una "máquina del tiempo" en la Historia de la Literatura, escrita en 1881 antes incluso que los textos de H.G Wells o Eugene Mouton. En esta peculiar máquina su creador: Don Sindulfo junto con su ayudante Benjamín y de la mano de otras alegres companías vivirán curiosas aventuras, viajando en el tiempo a la Granada de 1492, la Pompeya durante la erupción del Vesubio o la China del siglo III entre otros pintorescos lugares y momentos históricos. This is the very first book in the history of literature about a time machine, predating the famous book by H. G. Wells by 8 years. A very funny and hilarious science fiction novel. (Summary by Epachuko)
20 episodes
Written in the first person, The Secret City is a novel in three parts of a journey through post World War I Russia and the Revolution, during a period of Civil War and economic collapse. Our hero sets sail in 1916 and is swept up into the Revolution.The memories of a more opulent life remain.
53 episodes
Otra de las escasas incursiones de Galdós en el género de la ficción. Theros representa el verano dentro del almanaque que compuso el autor junto con Celín (noviembre) y Tropiquillos (verano). Está ambientada en un viaje, desde Cádiz hasta Cantabria. Nuestro protagonista viaja en tren y tiene un encuentro muy particular... - Summary by Emilio Herrero
9 episodes
