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(0)Geoffrey Giuliano
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann is a classic novel set in a Swiss sanatorium during the years leading up to World War I. The story follows Hans Castorp, a young engineer, who arrives for a short visit to his ailing cousin but ends up staying for seven years. The novel explores themes of time, illness, and the clash of ideas, with the sanatorium serving as a microcosm of European society on the brink of war. Mann uses the setting to delve into
...The Life in a Siberian Prison
"Whoever has experienced the power and the unrestrained ability to humiliate another human being automatically loses his own sensations. Tyranny is a habit, it has its own organic life, it develops finally into a disease. The habit can kill and coarsen the very best man or woman to the level of a beast. Blood and power intoxicate ... the return of the human dignity, repentance and regeneration becomes almost
...10) Excursions
Though chiefly recognized as a towering figure in twentieth-century philosophy, Bertrand Russell also focused his attention on matters related to politics, culture, and society. The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism attempts to place the Russian revolutionary movement in a broader historical and cultural context, as well as to elucidate its philosophical foundations.
16) Ghosts
The innovative dramas of Henrik Ibsen created a sensation among 19th-century audiences with their mordant attacks on social conventions. Among the finest of these ground-breaking works was Ghosts, first performed in 1881. In it, the playwright assailed the hypocrisy of moral codes, offering a daring treatment of such then-taboo issues as infidelity, venereal disease, and illegitimacy. Ibsen substituted the modern scientific idea of heredity
...17) The good soldier
18) American Notes
19) Mortal Coils
Today, British author and essayist Aldous Huxley is best remembered for the bleak dystopian vision he set forth in the classic novel Brave New World. In the engaging short pieces collected in Mortal Coils, Huxley spreads his creative wings, dabbling in murder mysteries, romance, and satire.
French writer Maurice Leblanc was heavily influenced by Arthur Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes. After devising several characters inspired by Holmes, Leblanc hit his stride with Arsene Lupin, a criminal mastermind with a heart of gold. In this collection of short tales, readers follow Lupin through a number of his outrageous capers and heists.