Ebooks de historia, página 26 de 2183

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is Oscar Wildes classic tale of the moral decline of its title character, Dorian Gray. When Dorian has his portrait painted by Basil Hallward and wishes that he would stay young while his picture changes, his wish comes true. In exchange for this Dorian gives up his soul and as he ages the bad deeds that he commits are reflected in his painting and not him. "The Picture of Dorian Gray", arguably Wildes most popular work, was considered quite scandalous when it was first published in the late 1800s in Victorian England.

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes. With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first opening, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing though absurdly comic meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction...

Jane Eyre, the story of a young girl and her passage into adulthood, was an immediate commercial success at the time of its original publication in 1847. Its representation of the underside of domestic life and the hypocrisy behind religious enthusiasm drew both praise and bitter criticism, while Charlotte Brontes striking expose of poor living conditions for children in charity schools as well as her poignant portrayal of the limitations faced by women who worked as governesses sparked great controversy and social debate. Jane Eyre, Brontes best-known novel, remains an extraordinary coming-of-age narrative, and one of the great classics of literature.

Discussed and debated from time immemorial, the concept of personal liberty went without codification until the 1859 publication of On Liberty. John Stuart Mills complete and resolute dedication to the cause of freedom inspired this treatise, an enduring work through which the concept remains well known and studied.The British economist, philosopher, and ethical theorists argument does not focus on "the so-called Liberty of the Willbut Civil, or Social Liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual." Mill asks and answers provocative questions relating to the boundaries of social authority and individual sovereignty. In powerful and persuasive prose, he declares that there is "one very simple principle" regarding the use of coercion in society one may only coerce others either to defend oneself or to defend others from harm.The new edition offers students of political science and philosophy, in an inexpensive volume, one of the most influential studies on the nature of individual liberty and its role in a democratic society.

Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They form a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.The stories were written when Irish nationalism was at its peak, and a search for a national identity and purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, Ireland was jolted by various converging ideas and influences. They centre on Joyces idea of an epiphany: a moment where a character experiences a life-changing self-understanding or illumination. Many of the characters in Dubliners later appear in minor roles in Joyces novel Ulysses. The initial stories in the collection are narrated by child protagonists, and as the stories continue, they deal with the lives and concerns of progressively older people. This is in line with Joyces tripartite division of the collection into childhood, adolescence and maturity.

Voi credete di conoscervi se non vi costruite in qualche modo? E chio possa conoscervi, se non vi costruisco a modo mio? E voi me, se non mi costruite a modo vostro? Possiamo conoscere soltanto quello a cui riusciamo a dar forma. Ma che conoscenza puo essere? È forse questa forma la cosa stessa? Si, tanto per me, quanto per voi; ma non cosi per me come per voi: tanto vero che io non mi riconosco nella forma che mi date voi, ne voi in quella che vi do io; e la stessa cosa non e uguale per tutti e anche per ciascuno di noi puo di continuo cangiare, e difatti cangia di continuo Vitangelo Moscarda, e un individuo ordinario, che ha ereditato dal padre una fortuna e vive senza troppo interrogarsi sulla sua condizione. Un giorno, guardandosi allo specchio, scopre che la gente, compresa sua moglie e i suoi amici piu intimi, hanno di lui unimmagine completamente diversa da quella che lui aveva associato a se stesso fino a quel momento. Anzi, si rende conto che gli altri non hanno una sola immagine di lui, ma una serie infinita di immagini sempre cangianti. Da questa scoperta agghiacciante Moscarda decide di risalire alla sua vera identita, di scoprire ossessivamente chi e davvero, al di la di come lo rappresentano gli altri. Ultimo romanzo di Pirandello, senzaltro uno dei piu complessi, Uno, nessuno e centomila e unacutissima riflessione di portata universale sulla condizione umana e cerca di rispondere alla domanda: Chi siamo? .

This historical romance of seventeenth-century Milan, first published in 1827, is the most famous of Italian novels. It has great breadth and depth-- indeed its moral, religious, and political themes are as applicable to the problems of our own day as they were to the Napoleonic times when it was written, or the period of the Thirty Years War in which it is set.

"The last word of the landlords literature and the brilliant one at that." Fyodor Dostoyevsky"The best ever Russian historical novel." Nikolai Leskov"One of the most remarkable books of our age." Ivan Turgenev"This is the first class work! This is powerful, very powerful indeed." Gustave Flaubert"The best novel that had ever been written." John Galsworthy"This work, like life itself, has no beginning, no end. It is life itself in its eternal movement." Romain Rolland"The greatest ever war novel in the history of literature." Thomas Mann"There remains the greatest of all novelists for what else can we call the author of War and Peace?" Virginia Woolf"Tolstoy is the greatest Russian writer of prose fiction." Vladimir NabokovTolstoys epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soirees alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed. The prodigious cast of characters, both great and small, seem to act and move as if connected by threads of destiny as the novel relentlessly questions ideas of free will, fate, and providence. Yet Tolstoys portrayal of marital relations and scenes of domesticity is as truthful and poignant as the grand themes that underlie them.

I promessi sposi e un celebre romanzo storico di Alessandro Manzoni, ritenuto il piu famoso e il piu letto tra quelli scritti in lingua italiana. Preceduto dal Fermo e Lucia, spesso considerato romanzo a se, fu pubblicato in una prima versione nel 1827 (detta edizione ventisettana); rivisto in seguito dallo stesso autore, soprattutto nel linguaggio, fu ripubblicato nella versione definitiva fra il 1840 e il 1842 (edizione quarantana).Ambientato tra 1628 e il 1630 in Lombardia durante il dominio spagnolo, fu il primo esempio di romanzo storico della letteratura italiana. Secondo uninterpretazione risorgimentista il periodo storico era stato scelto da Manzoni con lintento di alludere al dominio austriaco sullItalia settentrionale. Quella che Manzoni vuole descrivere e la societa italiana di tutti i tempi anche con le imperfezioni di adesso.Il romanzo si basa su una rigorosa ricerca storica e gli episodi del XVII secolo, come ad esempio le vicende della monaca di Monza e la grande peste del 1629-1631, si fondano tutti su documenti darchivio e cronache dellepoca. Manzoni per il suo romanzo prese come base la religione cattolica: infatti uno dei personaggi principali che viene nominato raramente allinterno della vicenda (anche se importantissimo, se si vuole capire laspetto religioso) e la Divina Provvidenza, la mano di Dio che tutto volge verso il bene. In questo senso si possono considerare Renzo e Lucia (i personaggi principali del romanzo) non come unici protagonisti, che si possono invece dividere in tre gruppi distinti.Protagonista storico: il XVII secolo (1600). Manzoni tesse il suo racconto su una base di fatti realmente accaduti durante questo secolo.Protagonista religioso: la Provvidenza, la mano di Dio.Protagonisti materiali: Renzo Tramaglino e Lucia Mondella (i "promessi sposi" del titolo). Altri due personaggi, Fra Cristoforo e la monaca di Monza, sono comunque protagonisti assoluti dei capitoli loro dedicati.Il romanzo di Manzoni viene considerato non solo una pietra miliare della letteratura italiana, ma anche un passaggio fondamentale nella nascita stessa della lingua italiana. Nei dialoghi riporta anche diversi esempi di parlato spontaneo non ammissibili nella lingua standard, tra cui il frequente uso dellanacoluto. È considerata lopera piu rappresentativa del Risorgimento, del romanticismo italiano e una delle massime della letteratura italiana. Dal punto di vista strutturale e il primo romanzo moderno nella storia di tutta la letteratura italiana. Ebbe anche unenorme influenza nella definizione di una lingua nazionale italiana.

Bram Stokers vampire novel Dracula, which paved the way for vampire lore in popular culture, was published today in 1897. Here are 10 facts about the former Daily Telegraph journalist.Bram Stoker wrote 12 novels, including Dracula and The Jewel of Seven Stars, and also published collections of short stories. Dracula was originally titled The Undead. As Dracula says: My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. To date, more than 1000 novels and 200 films have been made about the vampire Dracula.Stoker, who had been an occasional freelance contributor to The Daily Telegraph in the 1890s, began working regularly for the paper as part of the literary staff from 1905 until 1910, during which time he also wrote theatre reviews for the paper. During this period, he was also working on The Lair of the White Worm.Born in Dublin on 8 November 1847, Stoker had an ancient, colourful lineage on his mothers side including the legendary sheriff of Galway, who hanged his own son. It was material the writer mined in his fiction.A key inspiration for Dracula was always said to have been Vlad the Impaler, the 15th-century Transylvanian-born prince also known as Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia. However, historian Fiona Fitzsimons says: Stoker did not use overtly Irish references in Dracula, but his main theme is taken from Irish history the history, we now learn, of his own family recast in the writers imagination. Manus the Magnificent (Manus ODonnell,who once ruled much of Ireland) was Stokers direct ancestor and was an influence on the book."

Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None (German: Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch fur Alle und Keinen, also translated as Thus Spake Zarathustra) is a philosophical novel by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885 and published between 1883 and 1891. Much of the work deals with ideas such as the "eternal recurrence of the same", the parable on the "death of God", and the "prophecy" of the Ubermensch, which were first introduced in The Gay Science.Thus Spoke Zarathustra was conceived while Nietzsche was writing The Gay Science; he made a small note, reading "6,000 feet beyond man and time," as evidence of this. More specifically, this note related to the concept of the eternal recurrence, which is, by Nietzsches admission, the central idea of Zarathustra; this idea occurred to him by a "pyramidal block of stone" on the shores of Lake Silvaplana in the Upper Engadine, a high alpine region whose valley floor is at 6,000 feet (1,800 m). Nietzsche planned to write the book in three parts over several years. He wrote that the ideas for Zarathustra first came to him while walking on two roads surrounding Rapallo, according to Elisabeth Forster.

"Three Men in a Boat" is the story of three Englishman who pile into a boat with food, clothes, and a fox terrier named Montmorency and set off on the Thames to see the English countryside. "Three Men in a Boat" is a first-class comic masterpiece. As the three well-to-do upper class gentleman set out on their excursion they are beset by a series of comic mishaps. Jerome K. Jerome masterfully weaves a tale that is a hilarious critique of the self-centered behavior of the English upper classes so typical of Victorian England.

TREASURE ISLAND is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold". It was originally serialized in the childrens magazine Young Folks between 1881 through 1882 under the title Treasure Island, or the mutiny of the Hispaniola, credited to the pseudonym "Captain George North". It was first published as a book on 14 November 1883 by Cassell & Co.Treasure Island is traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action. It is also noted as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality-as seen in Long John Silver-unusual for childrens literature. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. Its influence is enormous on popular perceptions of pirates, including such elements as treasure maps marked with an "X", schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders.

Oliver Twist, or The Parish Boys Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens and was first published as a serial 183739. The story is of the orphan Oliver Twist, who starts his life in a workhouse and is then sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. He escapes from there and travels to London, where he meets the Artful Dodger, a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal, Fagin.Oliver Twist was born into a life of poverty and misfortune in a workhouse in an unnamed town (although when originally published in Bentleys Miscellany in 1837, the town was called Mudfog and said to be within 70 miles north of London in reality, this is the location of the town of Northampton). Orphaned by his mothers death in childbirth and his fathers unexplained absence, Oliver is meagerly provided for under the terms of the Poor Law and spends the first nine years of his life living at a baby farm in the care of a woman named Mrs. Mann. Oliver is brought up with little food and few comforts. Around the time of Olivers ninth birthday, Mr. Bumble, the parish beadle, removes Oliver from the baby farm and puts him to work picking and weaving oakum at the main workhouse. Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains in the workhouse for six months. One day, the desperately hungry boys decide to draw lots; the loser must ask for another portion of gruel. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes up forward, bowl in hand, and begs Mr. Bumble for gruel with his famous request: "Please, sir, I want some more".

The Brothers Karamazov is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was completed and published in November 1880. The book is a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th century Russia, that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia. Dostoyevsky composed much of the novel in Staraya Russa, which inspired the main setting. Since its publication, it has been acclaimed all over the world by intellectuals as one of the supreme achievements in literature.Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky ( 1821 1881) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and philosopher. Dostoyevskys literary works explore human psychology in the context of the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest and most prominent psychologists in world literature.

Emily Brontes only novel, Wuthering Heights remains one of literatures most disturbing explorations into the dark side of romantic passion. Heathcliff and Cathy believe theyre destined to love each other forever, but when cruelty and snobbery separate them, their untamed emotions literally consume them.

What makes a legitimate government? Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes is a foundational text of western civilization. The book features one of the earliest examples of social contract theory and is essential reading for those who wish to understand government, politics and even business.

The Hours have oped the palace of the dawnAnd through the Eastern gates of Heaven, AuroraComes charioted on light, her wind-swift steeds,Winged with roseate clouds, strain up the steep.She loosely holds the reins, her golden hair,Its strings outspread by the sweet morning breeze[,]Blinds the pale stars. Our rural tasks begin;The young lambs bleat pent up within the fold,The herds low in their stalls, & the blithe cockHalloos most loudly to his distant mates.But who are these we see? these are not men,Divine of form & sple[n]didly arrayed,They sit in solemn conclave. Is that Pan,Our Country God, surrounded by his Fauns?And who is he whose crown of gold & harpAre attributes of high Apollo?

This highly imaginative work of Mary Shelleys twenty-sixth year contains some of the authors most powerful ideas ; but is marred in the commencement by some of her most stilted writing.The account of the events recorded professes to be found in the cave of the Cumsean Sibyl, near Naples, where they had remained for centuries, outlasting the changes of nature and, when found, being still two hundred and fifty years in advance of the time foretold. The accounts are all written on the sibylline leaves; they are in all languages, ancient and modern; and those concerning this story are in English.We find ourselves in England, in the midst of a Republic, the last king of England having abdicated at the quietly expressed wish of his subjects. This book, like all Mrs. Shelleys, is full of biographical reminiscences; the introduction gives the date of her own visit to Naples with Shelley, in 1818; the places they visited are there indicated ; the poetry, romance, the pleasures and pains of her own existence, are worked into her subjects ; while her imagination carries her out of her own surroundings. We clearly recognise in the ideal character of the son of the abdicated king an imaginary portrait of Shelley as Mary would have him known, not as she knew him as a living person. To give an adequate idea of genius with all its charm, and yet with its human imperfections, was beyond Marys power. Adrian, the son of kings, the aristocratic republican, is the weakest part, and one cannot help being struck by Mary Shelleys preference for the aristocrat over the plebeian.

How Agamemnon and Achilles fell out at the siege of Troy; and Achilles withdrew himself from battle, and won from Zeus a pledge that his wrong should be avenged on Agamemnon and the Achaians.CONTENTSINTRODUCTION.POPES PREFACE TO THE ILIAD OF HOMERBOOK I.-THE CONTENTION OF ACHILLES ANDAGAMEMNON.BOOK II.-THE TRIAL OF THE ARMY, AND CATALOGUE OF THE FORCES.BOOK III.-THE DUEL OF MENELAUS AND PARIS.BOOK IV.-THE BREACH OF THE TRUCE, AND THE FIRST BATTLE.BOOK V.-THE ACTS OF DIOMED.BOOK VI.-THE EPISODES OF GLAUCUS AND DIOMED, AND OF HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE.BOOK VII.-THE SINGLE COMBAT OF HECTOR AND AJAX.BOOK VIII.-THE SECOND BATTLE, AND THE DISTRESS OF THE GREEKS.BOOK IX.-THE EMBASSY TO ACHILLES.BOOK X.-THE NIGHT-ADVENTURE OF DIOMED AND ULYSSES.BOOK XI.-THE THIRD BATTLE, AND THE ACTS OF AGAMEMNON.BOOK XII.-THE BATTLE AT THE GRECIAN WALL.BOOK XIII.-THE FOURTH BATTLE CONTINUED, IN WHICH NEPTUNE ASSISTS THE GREEKS: THE ACTS OF IDOMENEUS.BOOK XIV.-JUNO DECEIVES JUPITER BY THE GIRDLE OF VENUS.BOOK XV.-THE FIFTH BATTLE AT THE SHIPS; AND THE ACTS OF AJAX.BOOK XVI.-THE SIXTH BATTLE, THE ACTS AND DEATH OF PATROCLUSBOOK XVII.-THE SEVENTH BATTLE, FOR THE BODY OF PATROCLUS.THE ACTS OF MENELAUS.BOOK XVIII.-THE GRIEF OF ACHILLES, AND NEWARMOUR MADE HIM BY VULCAN.BOOK XIX.-THE RECONCILIATION OF ACHILLES AND AGAMEMNON.BOOK XX.-THE BATTLE OF THE GODS, AND THE ACTS OF ACHILLES.BOOK XXI.-THE BATTLE IN THE RIVER SCAMANDER.BOOK XXII.-THE DEATH OF HECTOR.BOOK XXIII.-FUNERAL GAMES IN HONOUR OF PATROCLUS.BOOK XXIV.-THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY OFHECTOR.CONCLUDING NOTE.Footnotes