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World Literature

e-books in World Literature category

Book cover: In VainIn Vain
by - Little, Brown. & Co. ,
This volume contains pictures of student life drawn by a student who saw the life which he describes in the following pages. This student was a person of exceptional power and exceptional qualities, hence the value of that which he gives us.
(6626 views)
Book cover: The TrialThe Trial
by ,
The terrifying tale of Joseph K, who is arrested and must defend his innocence against a charge about which he can get no information. A nightmare vision of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the mad agendas of totalitarian regimes.
(8165 views)
Book cover: The Torrents of SpringThe Torrents of Spring
by - The Macmillan Company ,
This literary work, as an unhappy love story, is often understood by readers as a description of Turgenev's own failure in finding romantic love. The story is partly autobiographical with the main character Sanin representing Turgenev himself.
(7362 views)
Book cover: Swann's WaySwann's Way
by - Henry Holt & Co. ,
A mature man recalls the details of his commonplace existence as a sensitive and intuitive boy in Combray. For a time, the story is narrated through his younger mind in dream-like prose. Considered to be one of the twentieth century's major novels.
(7230 views)

Book cover: Strong as DeathStrong as Death
by ,
Strong as Death by Guy de Maupassant is the love story of a lower class painter who is in love with a countess. As she grows older she fears the artist will fall in love with her beautiful daughter. The fear of growing old is timeless...
(8206 views)
Book cover: Death in VeniceDeath in Venice
by - Archive.org ,
A symbol-laden story of aestheticism and decadence, Mann's best-known novella exemplifies the author's regard for Sigmund Freud's writings on the unconscious. Gustav von Aschenbach is a revered author whose work is known for its formal perfection.
(10143 views)
Book cover: A Simple SoulA Simple Soul
by ,
A story of one woman's apparently fruitless existence. The protagonist, a hardworking, good-hearted, poor and uneducated woman named Felicite, is said to have been modeled after a maid employed by Flaubert's family during his childhood.
(8585 views)
Book cover: RudinRudin
by - Heinemann ,
Tells the story of a superfluous man, weak of will, brimming with indecisive frustration, and yet tormented by ideals. Rudin is made impotent by the dissonance of honoring the older generations while at the same time embracing a new bold epoch.
(9791 views)
Book cover: Royal HighnessRoyal Highness
by - Grosset & Dunlap ,
'Royal Highness' is an early Mann work that might be an excellent introduction to those who are interested in his work. The novel is witty, the story flows naturally and it is much less sombre than many of his later works.
(9086 views)
Book cover: The Charterhouse of ParmaThe Charterhouse of Parma
by - Feedbooks ,
The story of the young Italian nobleman Fabrice del Dongo and his adventures from his birth in 1798 to his death in 1829. Fabrice's early years are spent in his family's castle on Lake Como, while most of the novel is set in a fictionalized Parma.
(10317 views)
Book cover: Ecstasy: A Study of HappinessEcstasy: A Study of Happiness
by - Dodd, Mead and Company ,
This delicate story is Louis Couperus' third novel. At the time when it was written, the author was a leading member of the 'sensitivist' school of Dutch novelists; and the reader will discover that the story possesses an elusive charm of its own.
(10427 views)
Book cover: The Red and the BlackThe Red and the Black
by - K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & co. ,
A brilliant portrait of one of the most ruthlessly charming heroes in literature, The Red and the Black chronicles the rise and fall of Julian Sorel. Born into the peasantry, Sorel connives his way into the highest Parisian aristocratic circles.
(12597 views)
Book cover: Life and DeathLife and Death
by - Little, Brown, and Company ,
Legends and stories written by a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz: Life and Death - A Hindu Legend; Is He the Dearest One? A Legend of the Sea; The Cranes; The Judgment of Peter and Paul on Olympus.
(10834 views)
Book cover: The Dream of the Red ChamberThe Dream of the Red Chamber
by ,
For more than a century and a half, Dream of the Red Chamber has been recognized in China as the greatest of its novels, a Chinese Romeo-and-Juliet love story and a portrait of one of the world's great civilizations. Translated by H. Bencraft Joly.
(17963 views)
Book cover: ResurrectionResurrection
by - Francis Riddell Henderson ,
The story of a nobleman's attempt to redeem himself for the suffering his youthful philandering caused a peasant girl. Tolstoy's vision of redemption achieved through loving forgiveness, and his condemnation of violence dominate the novel.
(14042 views)
Book cover: Dead SoulsDead Souls
by ,
That amazing institution, 'the Russian novel', not only began its career with this masterpiece by Nikolai Vasil'evich Gogol, but practically all the Russian masterpieces that have come since have grown out of it, like the limbs of a single tree.
(11751 views)
Book cover: FaustFaust
by - Arden Book Co. ,
Goethe's most complex and profound work, Faust was the effort of the great poet's entire lifetime. Written over 60 years, it can be read as a document of Goethe's moral and artistic development. Translated into English by Bayard Taylor.
(13361 views)
Book cover: The DecameronThe Decameron
by ,
Set against the background of the Black Death of 1348, the hundred linked tales in Boccaccio's masterpiece are peopled by nobles, knights, doctors, students, artists, peasants, servants, thieves, gamblers, lovers, both faithful and faithless.
(14496 views)
Book cover: The Arabian Nights EntertainmentsThe Arabian Nights Entertainments
by ,
A collection of stories collected over many centuries by various authors in various countries across the Arab World. Burton's translation brought to the English world the legendary tales Shahrazad told King Shahryar in order to remain alive.
(14703 views)
Book cover: Anna KareninaAnna Karenina
by - T.Y. Crowell ,
One of the greatest love stories in world literature, not so much a work of art as a piece of life. Desperate to find truth and meaning in her life, Anna defies the conventions of society and leaves her husband and son to live with her lover.
(16596 views)
Book cover: MetamorphosisMetamorphosis
by - Project Gutenberg ,
Metamorphosis is the story of a man who transformed overnight into a giant insect, becomes an object of disgrace, an alienated man. A harrowing meditation on feelings of guilt, isolation and inadequacy. One of the most influential fiction books.
(17218 views)
Book cover: Madame BovaryMadame Bovary
by - Brentano's ,
Tragic novel and a great portrayal of infidelity. Gustave Flaubert wrote the story of Emma Bovary, a wife unfulfilled and bored by motherhood and marriage. She embarks upon a number of affairs in search of passion and excitement.
(16121 views)
Book cover: SiddharthaSiddhartha
by - Project Gutenberg ,
Hermann Hesse's classic novel delighted and inspired generations of readers and thinkers. Set in a place far removed from the Germany, the novel synthesizes disparate religions and philosophies. Book about friendship, love, work, and fatherhood.
(17359 views)
Book cover: Don QuixoteDon Quixote
by - J. W. Clark ,
The story of Don Quixote de la Mancha, a country gentleman who has read so many stories of chivalry that he descends into fantasy and becomes convinced he is a knight-errant. Together with his squire Sancho Panza he sets out in search of adventure.
(16657 views)
Book cover: Shining StarShining Star
by - Lulu.com ,
A novel of Puerto Rican independence. On the last moments of a presidency, a lame duck president triggers what would become the end of the American presence in Puerto Rico. Unknown to the Americans, Puerto Rico has become oil-rich.
(10498 views)
Book cover: Pulling StringsPulling Strings
by - Lulu.com ,
The Republic of Puerto Rico is strong, and it is setting into motion a plan that will give it control of the Caribbean. The Americans are worried, but there is nothing that can be done as long as the Puerto Ricans continue their friendly policies.
(10939 views)